Although England have sadly succumbed to defeat in this year’s World Cup, that hasn’t eradicated the social media frenzy surrounding the matches. With this year’s tournament predicted to be the most social sporting event ever, we at The Practice were keen to explore what’s been going on.

In the past year leading up to the World Cup, the event has received almost 19 million mentions across social media channels, exceeding those of the Sochi Olympics and the 2014 SuperBowl. This can be attributed to its status as a global event, as around 230 countries have been actively engaged online, with viewership exceeding 3.2 billion worldwide. Cristiano Ronaldo and Brazil’s Neymar, are the most talked about players, receiving 1.5 million mentions and 1.2 million mentions respectively, in May alone. Understandably, the event is expected to break social media records as the most engaged with sporting event of all time, even beating that of the 2012 Olympics.

In anticipation of the social media excitement, Facebook and Twitter have upped their game with new features for users to enjoy and use to keep track of proceedings. Facebook is jumping on its success with Trending topics, launching a feature called “Trending World Cup”, which will allow users to check information, scores, the events calendar, and their friends’ comments. This will be present at the top of the user’s News Feed, when he or she inputs the relevant key words such as “Fifa World Cup” or “Trending World Cup.” Twitter is also encouraging users to get into the World Cup Spirit with its “Starter Kit”, allowing fans to follow news surrounding their team, and connect and follow those who are doing the same. The site is even going one step further with interactivity, allowing users to keep up with the games in real-time. And similarly to Facebook, the platform has launched a designated World Cup section under the #WorldCup hash tag, for users to view a calendar, scoreboard, tweets, player profiles, photos and videos.

Amidst all the social media fun that can be had for users, it’s a different ball game for marketers and public figures, who have to be exceptionally careful with what they share. Marketing regulations surrounding the World Cup are particularly tight, with marketers forced to adhere to Brazil’s self-imposed “General World Cup Law”, which came into effect in 2012. The rules prohibit brands from engaging in certain tactics, including sending messages to athletes and teams, without having official sponsorship rights. This, known as “ambush marketing by association”, has serious implications, because it can cause official sponsors to have their deals tarnished or undermined as a result, and affect the offending brand’s reputation. In one of the largest cases at this year’s event, it was Hyundai who violated the rules, for only mentioning the Brazilian team in their World Cup commercial, as opposed to the World Cup as a whole, which is what they should have done as an official World Cup sponsor. It was this technicality that was punished by the Brazilian team’s rights holder, the CBF, because it breached limits, and threatened the rights of the official Brazilian team sponsor, Volkswagen. Something else that brands have to be aware of, is implicating the World Cup trademark or name in their marketing campaigns. It was this that travel company, Decolar.com, were reprimanded for with their “Viva O Mundial” campaign, which was condemned for citing the word “Mundial” as a synonym for the World Cup. Whether knowingly or not, this is evidence of the extremely strict ground rules, and just goes to show how conscious marketers must be if they are to comply with regulations in their summer campaigns.

Have you been using social media to voice your opinions and keep up to date with the World Cup? And do you agree with the event’s strict marketing enforcements? We’d love to hear how you think social media is being used to leverage this year’s event, so please tweet to us @PracticeDigital, and share your comments with us on our Facebook page.