UConn outperformed Kentucky on social media during the NCAA March Madness tournament despite having a smaller Twitter following. UConn's simple text-only tweets generated more engagement than Kentucky's image-based hashtag posts. Additionally, Florida received more YouTube views and outperformed UConn on social media despite losing to them in the Final Four. Finally, despite losing in the championship, Kentucky rose to the number one spot for social media performance across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest among March Madness teams.

1. 1 BrandSnapsm
THIS IS
BRANDSNAP MADNESS
NCAA March Madness
April 9, 2014

2. 2 BrandSnapsm
BRANDSNAP
GENERAL TRENDS

3. 3 BrandSnapsm
Sports brands perform just below famous people
 Celebrities’ and Politicians’ accounts have the highest BrandSnap Scores* in the
overall social arena followed by Sports, TV/Movie/Radio and non-alcoholic beverages
– *The BrandSnap Score measures brand social performance across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest
Sports
BrandSnap Score/Social Performance by Sector
April 2013 – April 2014

4. 4 BrandSnapsm
Sports is big on video platforms such as YouTube
 People/Celebrities may rule Facebook and Twitter, but Sports still owns a small but
noticeable share on both platforms. Sports was a strong contender on YouTube, with
its share nearly rivalling People’s. The top Sports brand is NBA.

5. 5 BrandSnapsm
GETTING YOUR HEAD
IN THE GAME

6. 6 BrandSnapsm
UConn outperforms Kentucky despite smaller audience
 Despite a much smaller Twitter following
(45k vs Kentucky’s 74k), Connecticut’s
game-day posts garnered significantly
greater engagement on Twitter 45K
74K
Twitter Followers
 On Twitter, Kentucky always outperformed
its final rival, UConn, until UConn took the
March Madness crown home
Simple. Text-only.
Smaller fan base. More
than 2.5K Retweets and
Favorites total
Image-based.
Hashtag-fiesta.
Larger fan base.
Engagement
half that of
UConn.

7. 7 BrandSnapsm
Florida may have lost to UConn in Final Four, but it beat the
Huskies on social!
Florida and Connecticut both used the same content strategy: showcasing their teams’
homecomings. However, Florida not only received tens of thousands more views, but it
also beat UConn in overall YouTube performance!
After UConn’s win, its YouTube score rose quickly, but it still wasn’t enough to beat the
Gators.

8. 8 BrandSnapsm
Despite loss, Kentucky rises to number one in social
* BrandSnap measurement only across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest
Ranking at 3/31/2014
After Elite Eight
Ranking at 4/8/2014
After Championships
 Despite Kentucky’s loss in the
Championships, it claimed the crown
on social
 After the Championships,
Connecticut climbed the ranks
from10 to seven
 Two out of three Southeastern teams,
Kentucky and Florida, maintained
positions in top three throughout
March Madness period
 Michigan State and Arizona swapped
fifth and sixth spots while Tennessee
fell below Virginia and Iowa fell two
places while Stanford rose two,
effectively swapping their eleventh
and thirteenth positions

9. 9 BrandSnapsm
The Final Four and Arizona beat the Sweet Sixteen on YouTube
 On a weekly average, the Sweet Sixteen Teams generated 7,545 YouTube views
 Wisconsin, Kentucky, Florida, UConn, and Arizona did even better than that, with an
average of 20,665 YouTube views

10. 10 BrandSnapsm
Having a high overall ranking doesn’t necessarily mean you rock
across all platforms
 Wisconsin’s Celebration of Elite 8 (190K views) beat Paris
Hilton and Lil Wayne’s “Good Time” Teaser (7K views),
Elton John’s 40th anniversary videos (119K views), and
nearly all of Donald Trump’s content!
Ranking Chart (based on BrandSnap Score)
Sports, People, and TV/Movie/Radio Sector only
April 2013 – April 2014

11. 11 BrandSnapsm
Kentucky and Wisconsin beat big-name social media accounts
 Despite Print and TV/Movie/Radio-related brands having a higher share on YouTube,
Kentucky and Wisconsin actually outperformed several big name media outlets like The
New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated and TV Land
YouTube Performance by Sector
during March Madness
Kentucky
Wisconsin

12. 12 BrandSnapsm
UConn’s victory goes tow-to-toe with SuperBowl Blackout
 Justin Bieber may be the reigning top dog of social media (by BrandSnap Score), but
the Huskies are holding their own: UConn’s tweet announcing their March Madness
victory received more favorites and almost as many retweets as Audi’s famous tweet
at competitor Mercedes-Benz during the SuperBowl Blackout last year
X O