University of Tennessee Athletics
Inside The T - Eye-Popping Numbers
February 20, 2015 | Football
By Brian Rice
UTSports.com
There are plenty of ways that we can measure the passion and support of Tennessee fans.
There are attendance numbers at Neyland Stadium and Thompson-Boling Arena. There are TV ratings, where Knoxville consistently ranks near the top nationally for college football and men's and women's basketball. Tennessee's Twitter accounts all rank among the leaders in total followers by sport.
For our social and online content, there are page clicks, video views, retweets, favorites, shares and a bevy of other metrics that show us how involved you the fans are in Tennessee athletics.
Because of these various measurables, it is quite rare that we get a number that surprises us. But on National Signing Day, we were blown away across the board.
Between our Facebook and Instagram pages, Twitter feed, YouTube page and UTSports.com, our fans generated 14.5 million interactions on NSD.
You read that correctly. 14.5 million.
9 million of those interactions came on Facebook, where fans flocked to see videos, photos and information on the newest Volunteers as they sent in their official paperwork.
The first post of the day ended up being the biggest, reaching nearly 404,000 people on the Tennessee Football Facebook page. The biggest player post of the day came for the announcement of offensive lineman Drew Richmond, a player that had generated a lot of interest among Tennessee fans because of his 5-star talent and the fact that he had not made an announcement on his college choice until he sent in his letter.
Twitter was a similar story, both in reach and in its biggest post. Tweets from the @Vol_Football account generated 4.7 million impressions. 21,388 tweets featured the #VolsNSD15 hashtag, the only school-generated hashtag to trend nationally.
"Tennessee Vol" was a worldwide trending topic, while eight Tennessee-related phrases trended in the United State.
Check out these National Trends on #Twitter Tennessee Vol #VolsNSD15 Welcome to Rocky Top Butch Jones pic.twitter.com/1ofsSNTdZE
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) February 4, 2015
Our biggest tweet of the day was again on Richmond, this official announcement that had 118,686 impressions:
BRICK IN: Let's give a BIG ORANGE welcome to our new #Team119 member - Drew Richmond (@TheDream_75) #VolsNSD15 pic.twitter.com/l4hDKsHTsT
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) February 4, 2015
It was also a big day here on UTSports.com. Our live five-hour National Signing Day show was the primary component of our morning coverage, which was complimented by a continuously-updated stream of information and profiles on the newest Vols as soon as Butch Jones made each announcement.
With 353,687 page views, UTSports.com was the third-most-viewed college site in the CBS Interactive network, behind only Michigan and Notre Dame. In unique users, Tennessee ranked second in views.
It was a big day with a lot of work behind it. But we do it all for you, the fans. Seeing the numbers in black and white verified what we already knew. Tennessee fans are the best in the nation. And every bit of work that we put in is worth it when you respond the way you do.
So thanks, Vol Nation. Let's keep this up and post another eye-popping stat. How about 102,455 in Neyland Stadium for the Orange and White Game on April 25?
