Facebook "is hoping the World Cup will win it the upper hand in live events marketing, as it takes on Twitter and even the TV networks" by claiming it can reach 500 million football fans, according to Hannah Kuchler of the FINANCIAL TIMES.
The social network "is touting its user base as the 'biggest stadium in the world' -- a global audience for advertisers to target during the football tournament which begins this week."
Facebook Global Accounts Dir Will Platt-Higgins said that '14 "will be the first World Cup that will be followed on people’s smartphones." He said, "For the first time in 2014, we, all of us, are carrying around a mobile stadium in our pockets, where you will be watching, learning scores, team sheets, changes, injuries, substitutes -- all of it -- and sharing it. That is a hugely compelling thing for a marketer."
Facebook said that it has identified 500 million users "with an interest in football, based on links they have clicked on or pages they have liked." This is almost double Twitter’s total monthly active userbase of 255 million. Platt-Higgins said, "This 500 million -- it is very, very difficult to find reach like it in TV."
With no single social media site "proving the definitive home of live events, brands are creating more personalised ads to adapt for use across internet networks."
Budweiser "is opening a social media studio in São Paulo, where it will help handpicked 'influencers' from different countries create videos to post online, while McDonald's will re-enact some of the key moments of the tournament by using French fries instead of footballers" (FT, 6/8).
