This series, in partnership with Snack Media, will look at the best branded football campaigns from advertising to social media on a monthly basis, as Digital Sport evaluates how the biggest names in business are using their partnerships in football to create stand-out content. 

Football is relentless & fans are consumed by it all the time, whether it be via the TV or scrolling through social media. What with the persistent nature of the sport, how do brands find a way to stand out from the crowd and deliver a content campaign more memorable and effective than the hundreds it competes with on a daily basis?

Here are 5 stand out pieces from the month of January.

1. QUEST

If you want to engage with an audience, especially one with as big a following as QUEST’s (30k Twitter followers), then a competition is always a great way to reel people in. Anything that’s low-risk, high-reward is bound to do well on social media, and that’s why QUEST’s opportunity to win free tickets is a brilliant move. It’s not the first time we’ve seen something like this, but it’s a tried and tested plan which always raises engagement levels.

The Carabao Cup has seen it’s finalists claim their places, with Manchester City and Aston Villa contesting the final at Wembley, bidding to win the first domestic silverware of the season (if you don’t count the Community Shield). Whether you’re a Villa fan or a City fan, everyone wants tickets to a Wembley final! So to see a very simple set of instructions offering you the chance of a big prize is a no-brainer – you’re going to try your luck.

Rarely do people engage on social media ‘for the sake of it’, but with a post like this, they just might. The more people comment on a post, and maybe like and retweet it, the more it’ll appear on other people’s feed, and therefore raise awareness of the campaign.

The post has earned 229 comments, 83 retweets and 141 likes, by far one of their most successful posts (in terms of engagement) of the month.

📣 Competition Alert!
We're giving away 3 pairs of tickets to the #CarabaoCup Final! To be in with a chance of winning, reply in ONE TWEET to this post telling us who you'd take with you & why you deserve to win.

Full T&Cs: https://t.co/Kwgxxlchqk #EFLonQuest pic.twitter.com/riPuEaYncW

— Quest (@QuestTV) January 31, 2020

2. SPORF

If in doubt – get a familiar face on board! SPORF have done a brilliant job of creating these #MagicMoments for the Carabao Cup, and they’ve got a Premier League champion in Micah Richards to appear as a guest.

📆 January 2010:

🏆 @Carabao_Cup Semi-Final Second Leg
🔴 @ManUtd 3-1 @ManCity

🤔 Can @MicahRichards name the entire @ManCity starting 11…

💪 … and be the first to Beat the Beast @daRealAkinfenwa?

🤝 #MagicMoments w/ @EFL #ad pic.twitter.com/eTVuVBuxJP

— SPORF (@Sporf) January 30, 2020

A five minute video on social media can generate plenty of views, especially if it’s a video of current or past footballers, because they have the views and insight you rarely get to hear, what with players being so media trained these days.

So to get Micah Richards to discuss his time at Manchester City among many other things is a real coup which would certainly get some discussion and debate going on social media. If the video is being viewed aplenty, then so is the SPORF brand alongside it. The video currently has over 13,000 views – that’s 13,000 times that the SPORF brand has been seen alongside a piece of their content.

3. The Emirates FA Cup

The FA Cup is still magical, Shrewsbury’s comeback against Liverpool in January shows anything is still possible in the cup. Ok, some would disagree that it’s still ‘magical’, but for those who do still love and appreciate the tournament, the FA Cup’s official Twitter page made sure to interact with that fanbase and spark up some conversation and debate around the 4th Round ties.

Emirates FA Cup Team of the Round 🚨

We asked you to send us your stand-out players from the #EmiratesFACup fourth round to make a final XI.

Choose your right-back 👀

— The Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) January 31, 2020

Polls are a great way to interact with your audience. Just like videos, they’re fairly effortless, but they kick-off an instant debate and discussion. They’re often a great way to earn retweets and comments, and give you a good idea as to the potential interaction your content can receive. Not only are they easy to contribute to, but they’re incredibly easy to set up!

4. Paddy Power Fan Denial Series

Paddy Power are wonderfully entertaining and no doubt controversial, and their latest ‘Fan Denial’ series is as true to their colours and their brand as it gets.

Having previously mocked Ryan Giggs, VAR & kit sponsorship, they’re now collating the best reactions from the fans across match-days and other main talking points in the football world.

This content is genuinely fun to watch. It’s funny, it’s bitesize and it’s easy to understand. Most fans can relate to the sheer carnage on social media, and this series taps into that by bringing you the best bits.

A warning though, these videos do contain some bad language and inappropriate themes…

5. talkSPORT deadline day

We ALL love Transfer Deadline Day. It probably is overhyped by broadcasters, and the buzz may have slightly died as football clubs realised quite quickly that they’re far, far better off signing players early in the window rather than paying a premium on the final day.

However, it still remains a day in the calendar that all football fans keep a close eye on just in case their club do any late business. We all like to have fun with it – even video games like Football Manager and FIFA have included Deadline Day in the gameplay!

So have you ever wondered what your Deadline Day what look like if you were a professional footballer? Well, talkSPORT created a brilliant graphic and a simple set of instructions to find out what move you’re going to enjoy on the final day of the window.

What’s your #DeadlineDay move? 🤔

Use talkSPORT's brand new transfer generator to find out! 📝

Reply & tell us what move you got! 🗣 pic.twitter.com/ha5ih7EuU3

— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) January 31, 2020

Again, it’s a bit of fun, and it gets people commenting on the post to tell their transfer story. It’s a surprise we’ve not seen more of these to be honest! So credit to talkSPORT for creating a bit of Deadline Day content that’s unique and original.

This article was sponsored by Snack Media, which is a leading independent sports digital media company with over 30m sports fans. They specialise in multi-channel content creation, distributed at scale. Through data driven engagement strategies Snack Media creates authentic connections between brands & fans. To find out how Snack Media can connect your brand with 30m sports fans, contact rupert@snack-media.com.