The FC Barcelona basketball team reaches 1 million followers on Instagram

Record figure for the Barça basketball team as the @fcbbasket Instagram account has reached 1 million followers, the second from the ACB league to do so and the third from the Euroleague. 

The figure conforms the excellent growth of FC Barcelona on social media amongst the professional sports teams. In the last 12 months the Barça basketball account has added some 150,000 followers on Instagram to reach the record figure. This achievement shows that the Club is continuing its effort to be a leader in the creation of digital content on social media. 

Reels, an important factor 

One of the keys for growth has been the strategy for creating short form content, with 'reels' more focused on entertainment without ever losing the desire to inform. This type of content serves to capture a younger audience and one that reflects the values of the FC Barcelona brand as it a strategy used by several of the Club's professional teams. 

The objective continues to be this combination of informing and entertaining to be able to attract the Generation Z audience, one familiar with the consumption of digital content. Via these mentioned short form vertical contents, Barça is adapting to the current need to create a loyal following and keep growing. 

The season comes to an end with record figures 

During the last week, coinciding with the league play offs and Barça's victory, no other team in Europe has been able to match the @fcbbasket account on Instagram with a total of 1.2 million interactions not including reels, the format that creates most interactions by some margin. Barça are ahead of Partizan (also league champions this week) with 938,000 interactions, Crvena Zvezda on 433,000, Olimpia Milano on 304,000 (also league champions this week) and Real Madrid on 172,000. 

With regards to 'reels', in the month of June the @fcbbasket account on Instagram recorded 12 million reproductions and more than a million likes, making a total of 13 million interactions, more than any other basketball team in Europe. 

Events and the Palau, another tool for growth

In the last few months the number of events and activities taking place at the Palau Blaugrana has also helped the channel to grow. This season, the games at the Palau have seen various events take place - live music, themed events, celebrations of the section's history, dance themed events and interaction with fans via camera (kiss cam, dance cam, doble cam), tournament, quizzes and games for younger fans have all helped create more fan engagement. 

At the Palau, the fans have become loyal thanks to these events with many people trying the experience and coming back for more thanks to the activities taking place around the game. 

All these activities at the Palau also serve to generate content on social media and have been a topic to take into account when it comes to creating content on the platform. Taking advantage of these opportunities and using them as digital content has been key for achieving this growth.