The footballer’s global popularity on social media mirrors his success on the pitch as many social media users predict a Ballon d’Or.
Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah has had an exciting string of achievements in the last 2 weeks, mirrored by the buzz surrounding him on social. His social media mentions increased by 102% between the first and second half of April.
After winning the prestigious PFA Player of the year award on April 22nd and leading Liverpool to victory in the Champions League semi-final against his former club AS Roma in the same week, Salah’s social media mentions peaked dramatically.
In the GCC, Saudi social media users dominated the discussions around Mo Salah. According to research conducted by Meltwater between 16-29 April, Saudi football fans have posted over 4,700 times about Salah across platforms, compared with 2,300 posts from the UAE, and 2,000 posts split amongst the remaining 4 GCC countries.
In his home country, Egypt, Salah generated over 18,000 social media mentions. The mentions in Egypt are more than all GCC countries combined, but still fewer than mentions from the UK (25,000). The keywords of these mentions were similar globally, with “Champions League”, “Roma” and “Congratulations” trending worldwide.
According to Zubair Timol, Director of Strategy EMEA at Meltwater “Mohamed Salah has moved from the front page during the last few weeks. He has transcended sport and entered the mainstream, based on his impact on and off the field. If we continue this trajectory, Salah has every opportunity to increase his social footprint with Liverpool entering the late stages of the UEFA Champions League and Egypt competing in the FIFA World Cup during the summer.”
The data-driven insights from Meltwater reflect what football fans have been noticing: Salah really is the next big thing.
Check out the infographic below for more insights >>>
