This document should be a solid foundational basis in knowing social platforms;
The ability to hold a confident conversation with a client about their content offering and challenges; Data to benchmark a client or prospects’ social performance;
And the knowledge to play in Two Circles’ Content Capability to deliver fan-focused, strategic content services to grow audiences and revenue.
Content varies wildly by platform, audience, market, the size of property and their offering – the insights and approaches set out within this document should be taken as a guide, not gospel.
These Heuristics intend to get you to the start line in client conversations, not the finish.
If you have specific questions or require support, please discuss with the Heuristics captains.
If you require visuals from these Heuristics, please contact the ‘Knowing Fans Best’ team. See the last slide for a Glossary.
The Social Landscape
Social is where fans live; they spend an average of over 2hrs a day on social platforms
Using social media is an integral part of a fan’s daily routine
Social media is where fans spend a significant amount of their time consuming content and interacting with organisations.
Younger and female audiences over-index in time spent on social media; social networking apps are the most-used apps amongst 16-34 year olds.
This total will be higher in markets with higher smartphone utilisation and internet penetration, and lower in less digitallydeveloped nations.
Where this time is spent will also vary by geography, based on differences in social media platform based by market.
Social media is a primary route to originating new fan relationships, growing audience engagement and driving direct and indirect revenues.
The Social Landscape
There are a total 15.2Bn global social user accounts, used by an estimated 5.2Bn individuals.
What is a social user?
There are 15.2B total global social user accounts.
A social media user is anything from your personal account, your favourite football team, to Grumpy Cat on Instagram.
Platform size data is a guide to help educate clients on the size of their social market, and how this breaks down across platforms.
Consider the most relevant platforms for your client:
Size isn’t everything: X has punched above its weight through an ability to drive real-time and cultural conversations.
Assess emerging platforms based on the (new) audience opportunity and content diversification vs ease of launch and longevity potential.
The Social Landscape
Social media is almost unavoidable for those with internet access, representing an unrivalled opportunity for sports properties to connect with their fans across multiple touchpoints.
of Internet Users over the age of 16 use Social Media
% of the global population have access to the internet, meaning around 5.2B social media user identities globally.
Social media usage varies greatly by region, from as high as high as 97% of internet users in Eastern Asia, to 30% in Middle Africa.
Age also influences usage rates and patterns, with younger generations having higher usage rates than older generations and trending towards platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube more so than older generations where Facebook is more popular.
The reasons for using social media are plentiful, including sports, news, work, entertainment, social connection, and commerce.
Unmissable opportunity – With 94% of internet users using social media of some form, it has never been more possible for sports properties to reach existing fans and capture new ones.
Audience segmentation is key – Regional and agebased variations in usage and platform preferences mean a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work. Tailored content that finds your fans where they are is crucial in the current landscape.
The Social Landscape
Gen Z consume sports content through a more diverse mix of channels than any prior generation, with social media representing the primary channel for consuming sport.
Play Video Games
Diversifying your Channel Mix
Traditionally, watching sport on TV broadcast has been the dominant channel for the consumption of sports content over any other.
More sport content consumed on by Gen Z than Baby
However, as modern media proliferates and digital channels mature, younger generations are spending increasingly less time per week consuming sport on TV and more time on other channels.
Gen Z are the first generation consuming more sport on social media than any other form of media.
Social media platforms are preferred to search engines for discovery by nearly half of Gen Z.
Search Engines
Gen Z prefer social media platforms to traditional search engines for discovery.
Social platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube offer dynamic, engaging, short-form content over static search results – appealing to Gen Z’s preference for visual and interactive discovery.
Personalised influencers, fan content, and realtime discussions are perceived as authentic and first-hand, boosting trust for Gen Z audiences.
Social platforms double as discovery and commerce hubs allowing for instant discovery, engagement, and purchase.
Optimising content for social search is crucial Using searchable and relevant keywords, tags, audio, and thumbnails will increase discoverability.
The landscape is changing. Sports properties willl need to ensure that traditionally search enginebased content and information is tailored for social and easily searchable for younger audiences.
The Social Landscape
32% of internet users under the age of 35 use social media as their primary source for brand discovery.
Social media
Place to discover brands for under 35’s
Social media is the play for driving brand awareness in under 35’s.
Social media ranks first for brand discovery sources in 16-24 and 25-34 year-olds, with 33% and 31% of internet users using these platforms, respectively.
Social usage for brand discovery declines with age, although it remains relatively high at 29%-30% between 35-54 years-old, it drops out of the top-5 sources for older age groups, being replaced sources such as:
o Searchengines
o TVAds
o Wordofmouth
o Brandwebsites
Future-proof your audience and engagement by investing in carefully curated brand-aligned content on social platforms that appeals to younger audiences and matches their digital-first habits. An omni-channel approach is required to ensure older audience discovery and engagement remains strong.
The Social Landscape
Increasingly, users on social media are purchasing directly via in-platform commerce experiences.
Social commerce is on the rise and showing no signs of slowing
Social commerce: aformofe-commercethatleveragessocialmediaplatforms todirectlyfacilitateproductdiscoveryandpurchase.
Fans are spending more time using and buying through mobile devices. To capitalize on this, social platforms are increasingly adding new features to facilitate social commerce
In 2025, the total global value of social commerce is estimated to reach $2.2 Trillion.
Of users have made a purchase through a social media platform
All Generations are using social commerce
25% of social buyers are aged under-24
42% of social buyers are aged 25-44
33% of social buyers are age over-45
(DataisUSAOnly)
Meta and TikTok dominate western social commerce
This data is for 2024 and excludes Chinese platforms, which deliver higher revenues solely in China
The Social Landscape
The engagements of posts relevant to casual fans dramatically increases in an ‘most relevant’ period.
Core fans will produce most of the engagement day to day and creating a content strategy that engages core fans throughout the year will be pivotal to success.
However, the ‘most relevant’ periods offer rights-holders the opportunity to grow their channels and engage fans by reaching more casual audiences.
On social, casual fans typically get served more content on social platforms:
During the most relevant periods – i.e. on the event
When content is over-performing on the channel
This shows us the importance of creating content aimed at casuals during the ‘most relevant’ periods.
The Social Landscape
It is not only important for rights holders to build a strategy for the tournament/matchday, but equally important engage fans outside of moments where interests naturally peaks.
Engagement
Pre-Event Eventday Post-Event Left Shoulder Right Shoulder
Event Shoulders = ‘Shoulders’ of an event is the period immediately before and after your event starts and finishes.
Typically the ‘peak’ of an event’s social engagement will be around the highest-attention moments on-pitch. Often the peak will be narrow and short, with a sharp appearance and regression to the baseline on either side.
Broadening shoulders grows the audience for an event and further opportunities for monetisation.
Raise the bar before and after the event
Create content that aims to raise the base level of engagements and views outside of key event periods.
In practice:
Create new story-telling moments
Utilise archive content
Build anticipation by signposting, teasing & hyping
Slowly increase posting rate ahead of an event
Plan reactive content as best as possible
Double dip into the biggest moments after the event
Understanding Platforms
Understand what actions you’re measuring on social, how to measure them, and what value they hold for your organisation.
Comment Share
Auseris advocatingfor yourcontent Like Save
Mentionof another user,usually using‘@’ Tag
Viewthispiece ofcontent again Follow Auserwantsto seemorefrom youraccount. Follow Comment Like View Share Save Tag
Engagement value depends on the purpose of a post. One engagement or view on a post that is driving a business objective can be far more valuable to an organisation than multiple engagements or views on another post.
Understanding Platforms
The social ecosystem is dynamic with roles and capabilities varying platform to platform.
Bio
Discovery-based feed
Multi-surface platform with feed, stories, broadcasts
Uses
Search, trends, education, storytelling
Diverse content mix with elevated creative
2nd largest search engine & best for monetisation Shorts, highlights, series, interviews, live streaming
Content
o Vertical Video
o Photo Carousels
o Live broadcasts
o Vertical Video
o Carousels, Images
o Stories
o Broadcast messaging
o Long-form video
o Vertical video
o Live broadcasts
o Community tab
Text-based, go-to for live coverage, news & conversation
Heritage platform with typically older audience
News, live coverage, conversation
o Video
o Text-only
o Photos
o Live broadcasts
Live rights, memes, family & friends
o Long-form video
o Vertical video
o Photos
o Live Broadcasts
Tips
o Sound is key
o Experiment with long-form as platform evolves
o Best for mixed-media
o Collaboration posts should be a key strategy pillar
o Watch time is the driving metric
o Find the balance between Shorts and long-form
o Videos < 1 minute
o Focus coverage on live events
o Engage in two-way conversations
o Audiences trend towards nostalgia and simpler content
Understanding Platforms
There is variation amongst social channels in the type of content they best deliver and the audiences they enable sports organisations to engage with; each platform needs to play a part in a multi-channel strategy.
Sport
Service, retain, & create community amongst core fans
Casual
“Enjoythesporton occasion”
Reach & engage new, casual fans
Lifestyle / Culture
Core
“Thisismymain passion”
Use this guide to challenge clients on where their channels & content sit
Challenge clients on where their channels currently sit, and where they should be to grow their audience.
Illustrate the opportunity to grow and engage different audiences through bespoke offerings by platformsand sub-brands.
Conduct analysis to see which content offerings currently perform best on each platform.
TikTok users say they use the platform for entertainment.
of X users say they use the platform to keep up to date with news and events.
Understanding Platforms
Younger audiences are using closed, community-focused social sites alongside open, distribution-based ‘big social’.
Younger audiences are looking beyond traditional ‘big social’
Social media channels have primarily been used for open distribution of content to large, passive audiences.
However, Gen Z are looking to supplement this with more closed, community-based ‘campfire’ sites, with chatroom and forum opportunities.
Campfire channels, include WhatsApp, Messenger, Discord and Reddit. Whereas “Big social” channels include Instagram, Tiktok, Pintrest, X, Facebook, Snapchat.
Diversity your channels without abandoning established ones
Consider exploring additional platforms to include these ‘campfire’ sites alongside your traditional ‘big social’ offering
Skills built up from ‘Big social’ will carry over to the anonymous sites such as Discord and Reddit but these sites are a different proposition as communities are able to be gate-locked.
Understand the challenges that come with managing, active and global communities’ as you will potentially feel more exposed.
Understanding Platforms
TikTok usage occupies more total time for fans than any other platform, whilst YouTube delivers longer individual session durations.
TikTok surfaces short-form content via its ‘For You’ feed based on an advanced recommendation algorithm built on user signals including engagement, searches and watch time. As a result, TikTok drives highfrequency, short-form engagement and extended viewing in its users.
YouTube is the traditional social home of long-form content and prioritises content driving extended watch time. It launched Shorts to compete with TikTok and other social platforms, building on user search behaviour to surface trending content.
Adapt your content and distribution strategy to the differences in these platforms.
TikTok: leverage short-form content and viral themes to reach and engage more casual audiences
YouTube: Use long-form content to grow depth of engagement and build loyalty with core audiences. Attract casual interest and engagement through short-form videos.
TOTAL TIME SPENT PER MONTH AVG SESSION DURATION
Average monthly time spent on TikTok vs YouTube
Average session duration on YouTube vs TikTok
Understanding Platforms
34% of content watched on YouTube is watched on a TV, which is a significantly higher proportion than any other social channel.
Of YouTube content consumed is on a TV
(vs <1% for other social channels)
YouTube over-indexes in consumption via TVs
Traditionally social media is native to mobile devices: over 90% of content consumed on Facebook, X, Instagram & TikTok is via mobile.
However, this figure is only 37% for YouTube, with close to an equivalent amount (34%) consumed on a TV.
Driven by smart TVs and YouTube formats
This trend is supported by the increased sophistication & adoption of smart TVs, which enables consumption of YouTube via its native apps.
YouTube has traditionally housed landscape 16:9 content, while other channels focus on portrait 16:9 content. This means that longer-form content on YouTube is more naturally suited to a TV’s dimensions.
YouTube’s maturation as a platform and creator remuneration model has seen production standards increase. Consuming higher production YouTube content on a TV therefore creates an experience for fans which is closer to their traditional experience with broadcast TV.
Optimise your channel mix for more than just mobile
Ensure a mix of vertical, Shorts and longer-form horizontal video within your client’s YouTube content slate.
Prioritise YouTube for longer-form and higher production content.
Understanding Platforms
Shorts drive 13% more views whilst VOD drives 56% more subs and 1,229% more watch time.
Finding a balance between formats on each platform is essential to serve different audience groups and fuel growth.
Shorts consistently drives reach and views, while Video On Demand (VOD) (mid/long form content) over-indexes in generating subscribers and watch time.
Convert curious users to fans through recurring content formats that build affinity and offer fan value.
E.g. compilation videos dominate views and watch time, while Highlights, Analysis and Storytelling series over-index by subscriber growth.
Three quarters of your YouTube views will come from non-subscribers discovering your content while searching or browsing. of YouTube video views come via suggested videos or search / browse features
Did you know…?
YouTube is as much a search engine as a social media platform, with a large majority of content discovered via recommendations, searching or browsing.
Your video’s thumbnail, title and description are the ways in which you can influence how likely a fan is to click on your video.
Recognisable stars are more likely to capture attention in your thumbnail. Editorialise content to include keywords your audience may be searching for to ensure your video reflects the language of your audience.
Templated thumbnails drive familiarity & discoverability for repeat content. Don’t use the title and thumbnail to say the exact same thing: they represent two different opportunities to capture a video view.
Understanding Platforms
Meta platforms increasingly represent three or four channels in one: video discovery, follower feed, stories, messaging and more. Understanding the right approach for each surface is essential for growing and engaging a wide audience.
50% of content published should be on IG are Reels
Reels are short-form vertical video and best support engagement, storytelling and awareness objectives.
Reels are best at reaching new, curious audiences.
30-40% of content published on IG should be Carousels, Feed Images or Live
Carousels are galleries of images & videos. They are often served twice in the feed and are best for brand-led storytelling.
Carousels best support engagement and storytelling objectives.
Feed images are static graphics or photos. They best support announcement or engagement objectives.
Lives are live streams of video content, which can feature Q&As or interviews. They best support announcement or reach objectives.
Of time spent on Instagram is watching Reels
20-30% of content published on IG should be Stories or IG Broadcast
Stories are interactive, short-lived posts geared to two-way engagement (e.g. quizzes, polls), additional coverage (e.g. athlete access, BTS) or driving to owner channels.
Stories best support announcement, reach or conversion objectives.
IG Broadcast is a one-to-many messaging feature allowing you to send direct messages to followers. Broadcast channels best support announcement, engagement or conversion objectives.
Understanding Platforms
Social media is becoming increasingly driven by discovery feeds than who you follow.
f video views come from discovery feeds
TikTok changed the game for video on social
80% of video views comes from the discovery – based For You page vs who you follow.
Discovery feeds are powered by AI algorithms predicting what the user wants to watch next based on behaviour, interest and watch history.
Other platforms are pivoting to compete with this format, for example, Meta’s use of Reels as well as YouTube’s Shorts and Up Next recommendations.
Your posting approach needs to be optimised towards the discovery feed’s algorithms
Grab attention in the first 1-2 seconds with an intriguing hook to engage users early.
Keep videos short and tight: 7-20 seconds is ideal (especially on Tiktok)
Use captions and text overlays, as many people watch with the sound off.
Posting consistently gives the platform a chance to test your content with different audiences.
Interactive content on social media increases total interactions with our clients’ content.
Social algorithms reward interactive content
Social media algorithms favour content with interaction signals as it is deemed of more interest to users. Therefore, interactive content which actively elicits user interaction will be considered more favourable by platforms’ algorithms.
Interactive content overcomes content saturation
More interactions with regular interactive content – such as polls and quizzes.
Interactive content acts a pattern interrupter for users as it changes the expectation of their interaction from passive consumption to active interaction.
Interactive posts vary by channel. For example…
Stories (polls, quizzes, sliders), interactive carousels,“tap to reveal” reels
Video On Demand. This includes all video content requested on-demand by users. Pre-recorded and edited video content are provided directly to individual customers for immediate viewing. For example OTT platforms, YouTube, Netflix
Platforms META Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads
FB & IG – Reels and videos: A view is counted when the video plays for at least 3 seconds
Metrics Video View
X - A video view is counted when the video **plays for at least 2 seconds at 50% visibility** on a user’s screen.
Tiktok - A video view is counted as soon as the video **starts playing** (no minimum watch time required).
Youtube - A view is counted when a user **actively initiates** playback and watches for **at least 30 seconds** (or the full video if shorter).
Metrics Engagement Sum of ‘like’ + ‘Comment’ + ‘Share/repost’ . Engagement importance ranked from most to least: Follow, Share, Save, Comment, Like, View
Metrics Impressions The total number of times content (post, image, video, or ad) is shown on a screen, regardless of whether the viewer interacts with it.
Measuring success Goals Targets to achieve, tied to strategic objectives For Example: Owned and operated audience growth, business goals, sponsorship returns
Measuring success Performance Metrics to monitor content and channel performance. For Example: Growth, engagement, clickthrough and retention rates. Traffic sources and audience engagement makeup.
Measuring success Input The makeup of your content offering. For Example: Post and format tallies, campaigns, content taxonomy.
Functionality Social platform algorithm Algorithms are rules, signals and data that govern the platform's operation. These algorithms determine how content is filtered, ranked, selected and recommended to users. In some ways, algorithms influence our choices and what we see on social media
Functionality Social commerce A subset of e-commerce which involves buying and selling products or services directly within social media platforms, allowing users to browse, share, and purchase items without leaving the platform.
Functionality Shorts
“Youtube Shorts”: short-form, vertical videos, up to 60 seconds long, designed for mobile viewing and easy creation and sharing within the YouTube platform. They are a response to the popularity of short-form video content on platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels.
On Instagram, "shorts" refers to Instagram Reels, which are short-form, engaging videos, typically ranging from 15 to 90 seconds in length, that can be creatively designed with music, effects, and editing options.
Functionality Vertical Video o video content presented in a portrait orientation, typically with a 9:16 aspect ratio, designed for viewing on mobile devices, and increasingly popular on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
Functionality Mentions Mention: When a user tags or references another user or brand in a post or comment.
Functionality Sponsored content Content that is paid for by an advertiser or brand, often disguised as organic posts.
Functionality Organic content The free, non-paid content shared on social media platforms. This can include posts, photos, videos and stories shared by individuals or businesses without paying for advertising.