According to Buzzmetrics, discussions about EURO 2024 have heated up with each round, surpassing 4 million mentions from the beginning of June to the end of the quarter-finals. This is a potential topic that brands can leverage. Through the lens of Social Listening, let's explore what marketers need to know this season to optimize their social marketing strategies around football.
Euro and the World Cup are the two most thrilling international football tournaments globally. With UEFA Euro 2024, June and July have officially become the peak season for "Football" discussions on social media this year. Through the lens of Social Listening, let's explore what marketers need to know to optimize their football-related social marketing strategies this season.
Although the official kickoff was on June 15th, discussions about Euro 2024 had already started gaining momentum from early June, coinciding with the conclusion of club tournaments. Between early June and the end of the group stage, there were 2.4 million discussions about Euro 2024, surpassing any other sports event (even though discussions about the Premier League, Champions League, and FA Cup were tracked from the start of 2024). By the end of the Round of 16, Euro discussions had nearly reached 3 million. The buzz around Euro 2024 continues to intensify with each round, surpassing the discussion levels of Euro 2020 (held in 2021, generating 3.6 million discussions).
When analyzing discussions for individual matches, the following trends emerge:
Short Discussion Duration for Group Stage Matches:
(1) Discussions around a group stage match typically last only three days due to two main factors:
- The lower stakes of most group matches, where a team still has a chance to advance even after a loss.
- The rapid succession of group matches, which quickly shifts user focus. Brands can group these matches together for more effective media campaigns (e.g., instead of analyzing each group match, focus on the overall group dynamics and predictions for the Round of 16).
(2) Longer Discussion Duration for Knockout Stage Matches:
From the Round of 16 onwards, discussions extend from 5 to 7 days, with the buzz starting 2-3 days before the match. Brands can launch campaigns earlier to attract more user engagement.
(3) Swift Decline in Post-Match Discussions:
Almost all matches see a rapid decline in discussions within 7-9 hours after the final whistle. Brands opting for post-match campaigns should act quickly to capitalize on this short window.
Buzzmetrics analyzed nearly 50 matches from the group stage to the quarter-finals and found:
The average discussion volume for a match is between 12,000 to 14,000.
The total discussions of the five least popular matches account for less than 70% of those of one of the top five most-discussed matches. The top three hottest matches each garnered over 40,000 discussions. Common factors in top matches include:
(1) Involvement of at least one major team (e.g., Germany, France, England, Italy, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain).
(2) Presence of famous players with high recognition (e.g., discussions about Portugal’s matches often center around Cristiano Ronaldo, regardless of his performance).
(3 )Unexpected developments (e.g., Ronaldo assisting Bruno Fernandes in scoring, which is uncommon given Ronaldo's usual style).
(4) High stakes: Matches determining which team advances.
(5) Surprising outcomes (e.g., Italy, the defending champions, being eliminated by Switzerland).
Conversely, low-discussion matches typically feature:
(1) Matches with no impact on a team’s advancement.
(2) Lesser-known teams with lower profiles.
(3) Absence of famous players.
Every major football event sparks special discussions beyond just scores, creating emotional surges on social media. For Euro 2020, it was Italy’s victory after a 53-year wait, Ronaldo matching the international scoring record, or Chiesa’s goal that sent Italy to the quarter-finals. By the quarter-finals of Euro 2024, several moments had already generated over 10,000 discussions, such as:
(1) Ronaldo's Emotional Tears After a Dramatic Penalty Shootout with Slovakia. This moment resonated with many on social media.
(2) The “Sleepy” Playing Style of England and France Despite having some of the most expensive squads in the world, their performances left fans unimpressed.
(3) Mbappe’s Broken Nose in the Opening Match The striker’s mask in subsequent matches amused many online.
(4) Final Tournament for Iconic Players like Ronaldo and Modric
Fans showed increased interest in their last performances.
Brands can capitalize on these moments with fast-paced marketing campaigns, known as Fastvertising. For example, adidas quickly seized the moment with a close-up shot of Jude Bellingham's strike in the England-Slovakia match. Swiftly recognizing and leveraging these special moments in content can greatly benefit brands in capturing user interest.
Understanding the discussion topics that social media users focus on before, during, and after matches can help brands and marketers tailor content and communication strategies to attract user engagement more effectively.
Before the Match: Score predictions and match scenario forecasts dominate discussions.
During the Match: Although user attention is mainly on the game itself, discussions explode when there are game-changing moments (e.g., red cards, penalties, injuries, goals).
After the Match: Users share their emotions, insights, and recall memorable moments from the game. The volume of discussions during and after the match often hinges on these key moments.
Buzzmetrics observed over 50 brands generating discussions around Euro 2024, with the following notable activities:
(1) Score Prediction Minigames: This is the most common activity among brands due to its simplicity and wide appeal (e.g., predicting scores, top teams). However, this has led to saturation, making it harder for brands to stand out.
(2) Fun Predictions on Match Moments: Brands like MacCoffee - Café Phố have added a unique twist by encouraging fun predictions about players like Lukaku and Mbappe, rather than just score predictions. While these special moments offer great potential, they remain largely untapped by most brands.
(3) Interactive Campaigns on Owned Channels (Website, App): Beyond minigames, some brands have expanded their activities into broader campaigns and events with football themes. Social media plays a vital role in driving users to their websites and apps, as seen with FC Online and HDBank, enhancing long-term engagement throughout the football season.
As one of the most "hot" sports events on social media in 2024, Euro presents both opportunities and challenges for marketers. With the tournament lasting just a month and each match bringing its own surprises, finding the right trends at the right time is crucial. Buzzmetrics concludes with these key takeaways:
The global economy has just experienced a tumultuous 2023, leading to gold - the safest haven - continuously hitting new highs. On social media in Vietnam, public reactions to the topic also correlate with the price fluctuations.
The global economy has just experienced a tumultuous 2023 marked by soaring inflation, escalating political tensions, and anticipation regarding fiscal policies in major countries, leading to gold - the safest haven asset with the best performance - continuously reaching record highs. On social media in Vietnam, public reactions to the topic also show a certain correlation with price fluctuations. Let's delve into analysis and insights with Buzzmetrics in the following article.
Since early February, Buzzmetrics' observations indicate that discussions on social media regarding gold prices only began to pick up after the Lunar New Year period, coinciding with a time when the short-term trend of gold prices was still uncertain. However, after February 15th, as the upward momentum of gold prices continued and consistently broke records, the volume of discussions also simultaneously trended upwards. However, the discussions truly surged due to specific catalysts, notably:
(1) The emergence of a special occasion: By February 16th, the volume of discussions surpassed the usual levels due to the unusual fluctuations in gold prices and peaked officially on the Day of the God of Wealth (February 19th). This day is considered by Vietnamese people as a time to rush to buy gold to seek good luck for the year. Hence, discussions about gold prices surged due to buying and selling activities. In a humorous sense, discussions about gold prices were even influenced by spiritual factors. However, afterwards, the daily discussions about gold prices returned to pre-Day of the God of Wealth levels until the end of February.
(2) Gold price reaching a notable milestone: On March 2nd, when the price of gold reached the milestone of 80 million VND per tael, users began to reignite their interest in gold prices. Prior to this, gold prices experienced a decline on the Day of the God of Wealth before rebounding for over a week consecutively.
(3) Significant fluctuations between two consecutive days: Despite gold prices continuing to rise throughout the first half of March, social media discussions only surged once again on March 13th - the moment domestic gold prices dropped by 2 million VND after surpassing the 82 million VND per tael mark.
As of March 21st, discussions about gold prices are showing signs of an upcoming increase, following a proposal to abolish the gold bar monopoly - a proposal that caused a plummet in gold bar prices.
In summary, over the past two months, the topic of gold prices has heated up sequentially due to the following news events: (1) The Day of the God of Wealth - (2) Gold reaching a notable milestone (80 million VND per tael) - (3) Significant fluctuations in gold prices between two consecutive days (2 million VND). However, each time reaching a peak, discussions about gold prices quickly cool down the next day, despite the media continuously updating developments regarding gold prices.
Gold prices are a topic primarily discussed by users (including regular users, investors, and analysts), while the media represents the second largest discussion force with almost continuous posting frequency, closely following the daily fluctuations in gold prices. Alongside the sharp rise in gold prices, while many users express joy over profitable investments, numerous individuals who do not yet own gold or are considering acquiring more pose a significant question: Should they buy gold at present? This is also the dominant discussion topic, accounting for 47% of the total discussions related to gold prices during this period.
(1) To buy or sell gold: The largest analytical topic, involving participation from several financial experts. These experts not only analyze whether one should buy or sell gold but also provide education about gold and investment. According to Buzzmetrics' evaluation, the general consensus among these experts is that it is not advisable to invest in gold at this time. Further details will be explored in the following section.
(2) Explaining the current situation: Providing insights into why gold prices globally have experienced such significant fluctuations and why there is such a large disparity between the price of gold in Vietnam and the global price. By March, the price of gold in Vietnam and globally had diverged by 20 million VND.
(3) Government impact: With gold prices skyrocketing, public opinion is raising questions about the role of the government in regulation. The decision of the State Bank to abandon the monopoly on gold bar prices has sparked even livelier discussions. Public discourse is focused on analyzing the correlation between government policies and the gold price situation.
(4) Predictions of gold price movement: A topic involving participation from both analytical experts and regular users. Both experts and ordinary users predict that gold prices will continue to rise if considering the long term. Even when gold prices decrease on a given day, users still believe they will rise again in the future. Predictions of gold price decreases usually take into account short-term future scenarios or considerations of government policies.
When considering specific growth levels, international experts believe that gold could reach 110 million VND within the next 12-18 months. There are several reasons cited by experts, including inflation, the US dollar, geopolitical factors, and economic conditions. Domestic experts also share the view that gold prices will increase, but not to the extent of 110 million VND. In the upcoming period, gold could potentially reach 85 million VND. The reason given by experts is that gold in Vietnam is not heavily influenced by microeconomic conditions but rather by government policies, especially the topic of gold bar monopoly that has been mentioned. Experts also do not rule out the possibility of gold prices sharply decreasing if Decree 24 is adjusted. Gold dropping to 60 or 70 million VND per tael is a possibility.
In general, Buzzmetrics' survey of gold prices on social media indicates:
(1) Alongside the fluctuation of gold prices, the volume of discussions on social media also experiences corresponding fluctuations.
(2) Faced with the continuous record-breaking performance of gold, users often pose questions about whether to buy or sell gold, predicting the movement of gold prices. This indicates users' interest in the topic of gold prices.
(3) Both users and expert analysts share the common belief that gold will increase in value in the long term. However, experts also add that government adjustments will help significantly decrease gold prices and narrow the gap compared to global gold prices. In the upcoming period, Decree 24 and other government adjustments will be the focal point of discussions on gold prices on social media.
Social Listening is a form of market research based on social media discussions, helping to analyze brand health, campaigns, special events, and more...
Along with the development of social networks, Social Listening is also growing in application capabilities. If in the past, Social Listening was only about collecting social media data, today data collection is only a part of Social Listening. Measuring buzz volume or sentiment is no longer the only function of Social Listening. In the context of this article, let's look at old questions through a new lens: What is social listening and what role does it play in social media marketing?
Social Listening is a form of market research that analyzes online user discussions across social media platforms. It involves the collection and analysis of conversations from various online platforms, including social media, forums, blogs, news sites, and review websites. Unlike traditional research methods, Social Listening works primarily with unstructured data, offering businesses real-time feedback from diverse users across different online platforms.
Typically, a Social Listening process follows these steps:
- Step 1: Build an analysis plan
Researchers begin by defining the context and research objectives, then set the key questions to be addressed.
- Step 2: Data collection
Using Social Listening tools, researchers gather data based on keywords from all social platforms, ensuring an accurate and comprehensive understanding of trends and industry data.
- Step 3: Data filtering and analysis
After collecting data, researchers filter out irrelevant or misleading information to ensure accuracy. Data is processed through AI systems and human verification to find potential insights.
- Step 4: Data visualization and reporting
Finally, the results are compiled into a complete report with visualized data for easier understanding and decision-making.
Social Listening data sources are not limited to major social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or Threads. They also cover any medium that allows multi-way interaction, including forums, e-newspapers (comment sections), blogs, and e-commerce review sections.
(A) API Data Collection
This method connects Social Listening tools to the APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) of social networks to retrieve posts containing specific keywords.
- Advantages: Allows access to all data from the network, including personal pages.
- Disadvantages: API reliability may fluctuate, leading to incomplete or inconsistent data over time.
(B) Site Data Collection
This method involves accessing listed sites to collect data without disrupting the websites, either by manual or automatic data gathering processes.
- Advantages: Ensures 100% of data on the site is collected.
- Disadvantages: Certain issues, like site changes or blocking, may cause temporary data shortages.
When conducting research via Social Listening, marketers should focus on key metrics to gain a comprehensive view of the research landscape and measure the effectiveness of their Social Media Marketing strategies:
- Buzz Volume: The number of discussions (posts, comments, or shares) about a specific topic.
- Share of Voice (SOV): Compares the discussion volume of a brand against competitors.
- Audience Scale: The number of individuals participating in discussions about a topic.
- Sentiment Score: Indicates users' emotions toward a topic, calculated by comparing positive and negative discussions.
Initially, Social Listening was seen by many marketers as a purely measurement tool, providing basic metrics about campaigns or brands in comparison with competitors (such as discussion volume, participant count, sentiment scores, etc.). However, over time, social media has expanded significantly in scale. Users have become more familiar with Digital Transformation, sharing more than ever, and social media trends are emerging increasingly. As a result, the scope of social media data has broadened, offering a wealth of potential information to support Social Media Marketing strategies. Consequently, Social Listening has also evolved to gather data across various platforms and meet diverse research needs from marketers.
For each research focus, marketers can apply Social Listening to a range of different areas. Typically, marketers can use Social Listening for three main research directions: (1) Insight Understanding, (2) Campaign Tracking, (3) Crisis Management.
This research can provide a comprehensive overview of a specific industry, including e-commerce performance, brand image identification, and opportunities for differentiation. It also outlines the target audience's profile, capturing public attitudes and usage toward products/brands/industries.
a. Industry Competitive Landscape:
For instance, the chart below shows the most-discussed functional food brands over a certain period. From this, brands can identify their competitors, understand their position in the competitive landscape, and aim for top-of-mind awareness among consumers. Moreover, by quoting user discussions, researchers can pinpoint issues regarding public perception of both the brand and its competitors. This allows the brand to compare, recognize problems, and take corrective action if needed.
→ Read more: Exploring Insights in the Functional Food Industry: Challenges and Opportunities in the Digital Era
b. Brand Image and Differentiation:
An example of Buzzmetrics research on leading diaper brands paints a detailed picture of brand differentiation. Compared to other brands, Molfix’s product performs exceptionally well in absorbency. However, aspects like softness and thinness received negative feedback. Molfix’s branding team can also monitor current customer perceptions of competitors and identify areas for improvement.
c. Usage and Attitude Research (UnA):
UnA research focuses on consumer discussions and plays a key role in unveiling the consumer landscape of an industry. It addresses key questions like:
- Users' interest levels in the product/brand on social media
- Awareness, usage, and consumer behavior displayed on social platforms
- Motivations and barriers to product/brand consumption
- General satisfaction/dissatisfaction with current products/services
- Users’ needs, unmet demands, or general expectations
d. Target Audience Segmentation:
In some cases, brands aim to understand consumers not just from a product buyer perspective but from a broader context that includes their lifestyle and habits. Social Listening can support brands in achieving this.
For instance, analyzing the most-discussed topics within Gen Alpha revealed that "love" was the top theme, surpassing even "education" and "games." This insight shows that to engage Gen Alpha, brands should consider using "love" as a central theme to attract attention and foster interaction.
→ Read more: Gen Alpha: What Sets the Next Generation of Consumers Apart?
Notably, social media is segmented by interests. Therefore, identifying user groups and their main concerns is crucial in segmenting the social media audience. Pinpointing key interests and insights will help brands align their marketing tactics with user interests. As a result, branded content and messaging are more likely to appear in users' feeds, capturing attention, generating engagement, fostering recall and affinity, or even leading to user-generated content (UGC) related to the brand.
Social Listening supports marketers in planning, creating content, and adjusting strategies in real time throughout all phases of a campaign. It helps track brand sentiment and ensures campaigns align with audience expectations.
Today, even a small complaint on Facebook can cause significant damage to a brand. As consumers become increasingly familiar with social media, the likelihood of crises occurring rises. Our Social Listening data shows that while the number of crises has decreased as brands take a more proactive role in crisis management, the average scale of a crisis has grown significantly.
Crises may seem to occur randomly and can impact any brand for seemingly arbitrary reasons. This makes social media crises difficult to track and challenging for brands to respond to. However, through Social Listening, not only can crises be monitored, but their patterns can also be identified, allowing brands to develop strategic response plans.
By analyzing user discussions on social media and providing actionable insights to brands, Social Listening plays a critical role in shaping communication strategies. The most common applications of Social Listening include gathering insights, tracking campaign performance, and managing crises.
To learn more about metrics, marketers can refer to here
Occasion-based marketing is a strategy to help brands connect customers to special occasions or product selection contexts.
Occasion-based marketing is a strategy to help brands connect customers on special occasions. By showing up at the right time, touching the specific needs of the customer at the time, the level of engagement and purchasing intention will increase. Occasion-based marketing helps customers answer when they should buy products of a brand, giving customers reasons and occasions to remember the brand.
Just by correctly identifying the concerns during a special occasion, the brand will able to reach customers. This is something not easy to identify on “normal occasions”
Event-Based Marketing is a solution that helps marketers target a group of concerns that have a strong impact on a large number of customers but only appear in a short period of time
There are many shopping decisions that are made at special occasions. If the brand is able to connect with customers on these occasions, the chances of being remembered and chosen by customers will be higher. Occasion-based marketing also helps increase consumption by encouraging users to use the product at more times.
It is advised to consider the case of 7Up Revive Isotonic Drinking Water. Since 2014, 7Up Revive is the brand of energy-intensive sports activities. Since 2016, 7Up Revive has been associated with everyday activities such as walking, playing or working in sunny weather. Thus, Revive has expanded the theme of products from “exercise/sports” to “dehydrated activities” to increase product consumption.
In a more strategic perspective, occasion-based marketing is used to emphasize the differences between brands.,especially in the catering industry (F&B) - where dining activities are heavily dominated by the times.
Kitkat is one of the best examples of using occasion-based marketing to strengthen brand positioning.
In Vietnam, occasion-based marketing is most popular on major holidays such as: New Year, Summer holidays. However, there are still many other special occasions and moments that the brand can take advantage of to attract more customers.
For the convenience of determining the tactics of choosing a special occasion, Buzzmetrics divides all types of special occasions into 4 categories based on differences in characteristics, frequency of occurrence, and time of occurrence:
Especially suitable for brands that want to take over the platform by creating a big bang throughout the year, to help customers remember them every day.
Usually suitable for brands that want to appears frequently, every day, tightly tied to the life of the consumer.
There are so many moments in life when a consumer becomes especially “sensitive”, letting unexpected concerns and needs appear. With the advent of social networks, consumers tend to share more oftenabout each moment in their lives in search of empathy. Especially at sensitive times, consumers are more motivated to share these things on social media as well as seek out people with similar situation, to talk about common concerns. This makes it possible for the social network to record such special emotional moments of a consumer. There are more and more “Special Moments” that social media marketers can exploit to help brands find new opportunities. For example:
These “Special Moments” are predicted to be the future of Occasion based marketing because of the high frequency of repetition (usually daily/weekly/monthly). The brand only needs to capture a “Special Moment” to become a part of a customer's daily life.
Special seasons are similar to special days. They are for brands that want to put resources into a specific period of a year, using different tactics to convey brand message. Special seasons last longer than special days, which is suitable for brands telling a longer story. They are recommended for brands that want to change a longtime habit or behaviour of consumers, which is not easy to adjust in a short time (1 day/1 week).
Hot events are often predictable and therefore difficult to plan in advance. However, a hot event really needs to be taken advantage of when the target customer is the most affected in that event. This is a golden opportunity for the brand to get closer to its target consumer, sharing the same atmosphere and concerns.
Hot events are a must since a brand can gain high attention in a short period of time. However, if the brand image is in contrast or irrelevant to the theme of the hot event, trying to make use of that event will bring no benefit. In fact, brands can experience negative feedback when they try to become “an attention freak” in the eyes of consumers. More dangerously, brand image and personality will likely suffer greatly, and leave a bad impression on consumers.
- Relevance: There are many special moments but depending on each brand, only some moments are worth using.
- “Deep” or “wide”: If your brand is overly focused on a special moment, you can miss other moments. You can try to "conquer" one special moment, but please be aware of the others.
- Understand the target customer: Look closely at every moment in the life of your target customer. There are very ordinary moments In everyday life that can provide opportunities for brands to engage with customers.
- Target customers are always changing: Always listening to consumers to discover a new special moment and connect with consumers through that moment.
The Syndicated Report Hub online reporting library aggregates research proactively conducted by Buzzmetrics based on observations of common market needs. These studies do not serve a specific customer but will provide a panoramic view of users and the goods industry on the social network.
