Guest post: how @sportsbetcomau took a big bite of #WorldCup action

In the lead up to the #WorldCup, Sportsbet.com.au, like many brands, recognised that despite the awkward match times in Australia, Twitter’s role before, during and post-match social banter would play an important role in our overall approach to the major sports event.

The 2014 #WorldCup hasn’t been short of quality matches and big moments, and it has been the aim of our business to seize upon these memorable events with timely, on-brand content.

Arguably none have been bigger on social media than @luis16suarez taking a chomp out of @azzurri defender @chiellini.

The @sportsbetcomau content team have been live-covering all major matches and this dedication and shared passion for the game has been well and truly appreciated by our followers. Like many brands we recognise the ‘social moment’ — the ice cube that upon closer inspection turns out to be a massive social iceberg.

The bite by Suarez was on our radar instantly and we responded with our first Tweet within seconds:

We followed this Tweet up with two more Tweets with images over the next 10 minutes, tapping into the growing interest.

However, the greatest engagement for @sportsbetcomau was to come from a Tweet delivered hours after the initial incident. Our “unphotoshopped/photoshopped” Tweet of Suarez getting through a dismembered arm delivered over 4,500 Retweets:

Beyond the direct engagements with the Tweet such as Retweets, favourites and replies, where @sportsbetcomau wasn’t credited, brand integration on Giorgio Chilleni’s shorts ensured we were mentioned wherever in the world the image was shared off Twitter.

Over the #WorldCup, @sportsbetcomau has focused on a mix of larger production and smaller scale content initiatives from the #KeepTheFaith air balloon stunt to partnering with Native Digital to deliver a trivia competition offering three questions daily to our followers.

For us, the mix of prepared and reactive, passion-based content continues to drive great results.

Vines have been used to reinterpret stunning goals to date such as the @Persie_Official
circus act against SeFutbol, Lionel Messi twisting through @NFSBiH defenders and the
@jamesrodriguez masterpiece against Uruguay.

Being in the moment with fans and televised coverage has helped deliver our biggest-ever month on Twitter, with June serving up 400% more engagement than in our previous record month.

As the matches and skill level continue to raise the bar we’ll continue to stay tuned like the rest of the world till we have our world champions for 2014.