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Whether or not you’re a football fan (yes, football, not soccer), it’s hard not to be absolutely impressed by the FIFA World Cup. For those who aren’t aware, it is consistently the most viewed and followed sporting event in the world, even exceeding the entirety of the Olympics. During the last World Cup (held in South Africa in 2010) an estimated 700 million fans around the world watched the final match.
Regardless of which industry you’re working in, right now is when your business needs visibility online — across multiple channels and through a consistently integrated online strategy. From Facebook and Twitter to an engaging and responsive website design and optimized PPC campaigns, online marketing rules. And the World Cup can explain why.
Apart from 64 games (which equates to roughly 128 hours of globally broadcasted excitement), the World Cup affords marketing analysts with an incredibly large amount of consumer data to look at. For this year’s World Cup, no data is more relevant than the statistics about how people are interacting with the sport online, and what companies are doing to capture their attention.
Consider these five facts:
- There were more tweets about the 2014 World Cup before the opening match than there were during the entire 2010 World Cup. (Twitter)
- Adidas will spend about half of their World Cup marketing budget online this year, compared to 1/5th of their budget that was spent by online in 2010. (bdlive.co.za)
- Also in 2010, about 18% of soccer relevant searches during the World Cup final were done on a mobile device. In 2014, Google has seen up to 63% of similar searches during a UEFA Champions League match coming from mobile users. (Google)
- Nike’s latest World Cup ad (which starred the infamous Cristiano Ronaldo) was viewed by 78 million people in four days through YouTube alone — before the ad was ever aired on television. (Bloomburg)
- By the time the 2018 games roll around, it is anticipated that advertisers will spend 17% more on their online campaigns than traditional media. (eMarketer)
That’s a lot to digest, but the overwhelming conclusion is that the shift to online marketing within the last four years has been staggering. Even for companies with impressive strategic foresight, 2010 was a time when a well-designed website and social media channels allowed a brand to gain recognition online. Fast forward to four years later, and online is where most business is thriving (or failing).
So, step back and ask yourself: Is your online strategy stuck in 2010? Does your business focus come from a time when marketers in the football industry were only budgeting 20% of their efforts online during the the largest sporting event in history?
When the entire planet gets involved in an event like the World Cup, it serves as a reminder of how consumer interaction can change within just a few years. At Cucumber, our goal has always been to help your business keep up and grow.
Get in touch with us for help with all things online today!