The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles will play in the 2023 Super Bowl on Feb. 12, but the teams are already facing off in the social media arena.
Of the 32 NFL teams, the two franchises playing for the championship are also the ones with the most TikTok followers, which was the case prior to the Super Bowl teams being finalized. The Chiefs have 2.6 million followers, with the Eagles trailing at 2 million. But it would be a leap to conclude these teams have the best content in the NFL based on their follower counts. Engagement rate—which measures the percent of likes, comments and shares an account gets—is becoming an increasingly important metric in evaluating how popular a social media account is. Neither team performed in the top 25 percent for engagement.
With 80 million monthly active users in the U.S. and 1 billion globally, TikTok is a way for sports teams to reach their audiences and build fandoms, particularly among younger users who may not have locked into following a particular sport or team. The app’s strikingly accurate algorithm recommends content based on what a user previously liked, commented on, saved and spent time watching.
TikTok’s For You page makes it easy to explore new content. Users don’t necessarily have to be Chiefs fans to see content from the Chiefs, said Krishna Subramanian, CEO of influencer marketing company Captiv8. If the content is performing well, “it just shows up in front of you,” he said. For creators, the emphasis is on making quality content, and engagement will follow.
Most teams post hype videos, clips from the locker room and snippets of players answering questions like “What’s your favorite Thanksgiving food?” The content that performs the best shows players being funny and authentic. Based on engagement rate, post count, follower count and how unique the content is, the Observer’s top picks for the TikTok account championship are the Detroit Lions, the Minnesota Vikings, the Tennessee Titans and the Denver Broncos.
The average engagement rate among NFL teams on TikTok is 6 percent. While the Las Vegas Raiders blow the rest of the league's engagement rate out of the
Here are our top picks:
The Detroit Lions
The Lions have an above average engagement rate and one of the highest follower counts in the NFL, and its content stands out from the rest. The Lions post content clearly filmed for social media, including athletes playing Guess Who? with teammates as the characters and meme videos poking fun at other teams.
The Minnesota Vikings
The follower count and post total for the Vikings aren't in the top 10, but the team has unique content, and is the sixth most engaging account. Videos include brain teasers, blind tastings, players interacting with their kids and pranks.
The Tennessee Titans
With an above average engagement rate and high post total, the Titans also have an impressive TikTok account. Like the Lions, the Titans post videos outside the norm, including players reacting to videos of TikTok users imitating the athletes and posts responding to content from other NFL teams.
The Denver Broncos
The account for the Broncos stands out because of the abundance of holiday content and pranks, even if its follower count and engagement rate are below average.
