The first leg of #SowetoDerby – the biggest league game in South Africa that also has a rich history – is behind us in this 2014/2015 Professional Soccer League (PSL) season.
A comfortable 2:0 win by Kaizer Chiefs against Orlando Pirates has ensured an emphatic log leadership at midway stage with 36 points, and a margin of 13 points ahead of the next team on the log.
Pirates is at lowly 9th spot with 18 points.
Despite their log leadership, larger Twitter following and higher tweeting frequency, it was rather counter intuitive to learn that the Phefeni Boys – translated as the boys from Phefeni (in Soweto), the founding home of Kaizer Chiefs – are not doing as well against their arch-rivals in the Twitter engagement stakes.
Let us demonstrate with stats from Twrland.
Twitter followers - as at 6/12/14
Chiefs Twitter followers exceed those of Pirates by more than 50%.
Daily tweeting frequency - as at 6/12/14
Kaizer Chiefs’ level of daily tweeting activity is far superior to that of Orlando Pirates, with a ratio of more than 4 is to 1.
Response by tweeps
Kaizer Chiefs’ current performance on the field and on Twitter should be leading to lots of love from tweeps, right?
Well not as compared to Pirates, according to our comparative analysis of RT’s and Replies.
See the results below.
Amplification (RT’s per 100 Tweets):
RESULT: Pirates receive more RT’s per tweet than Chiefs.
Engagement (Replies per 100 Tweets):
RESULT: Pirates receive more Replies per tweet than Chiefs.
Let's bring it all together
In comparison to Pirates; Chiefs have a larger Twitter community and tweet more, but their followers are less engaged.
In our view, higher engagement is more valuable than larger community.
Verdict
Rate of tweep engagement is not necessarily determined by the size of a brand’s following or how active it is on Twitter.
Do you know which are the key factors that determine high tweep engagement?
