Football game day is all about stadium fan engagement. One easy way to do it is by getting the crowd’s social media posts up on interactive stadium screens during the game. A social wall collects fan content from the stands and concourse and displays it live so people feel like they’re part of the show.
This article will show you how you can use Walls.io at arenas during game day.
Stadium fan engagement has become one of the most important success metrics for entertainment venues, arenas, festivals, and live events. Since fans already post about live events on social media, there’s a big opportunity for entertainment venues to turn those posts into shared excitement.
A social wall collects fan posts from platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook, and X, or content submitted through QR code uploads, and displays them on venue screens, concourses, event apps, and websites. When fans see their content on the screen, it encourages more participation and strengthens the connection between the audience and the event.
To drive stadium fan engagement successfully:
- Display fan posts on concourse screens, fan zones, and high traffic areas
- Run scheduled fan highlight segments on main screens during breaks or intermissions
- Use sponsor photo activations and branded hashtags to encourage participation
- Allow direct uploads via QR codes so fans can participate without posting publicly
- Moderate content with AI filters and manual approval for key screens
- Repurpose fan content for post-event marketing and sponsor reporting
When implemented well, social walls turn user-generated content into a live part of the show, increasing fan engagement while creating measurable value for sponsors, marketing teams, and venue operators.
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A social wall is different from a typical social media feed because it is designed specifically for events and venues. It is branded, moderated, and strategically placed to improve the live experience. Venues often display social walls on screens in the concourse area, LED ribbons next to the stage, VIP lounges, event apps, and websites for the venue.
How fans are recognized
Fans get immediate feedback when their posts appear on a screen inside the venue. Recognition encourages more fans to participate, which leads to more content and stronger stadium fan engagement.
⭐ Related: Turning Fan Posts Into On-Site Fan Engagement at Entertainment Venues
Filling in the gaps between moments
Live events include natural pauses, such as when people arrive, line up, and take a break. Showing fan content during these moments helps keep people interested in the event.
Include sponsor
A social wall gives sponsors a branded and highly visible space for photo opportunities, hashtag campaigns, and lead generation. Fans become part of the event, which makes sponsors more visible and increases interaction.
Reach across channels
The same fan content, chosen and organized by us, can be shown on screens, in apps, and on websites across different events. This helps fans connect with the event even when they’re not there, keeping the conversation going online.
Justin Walters, the ThunderVision Manager for the Oklahoma City Thunder, explained it like this: “Fans love to see themselves on the video board, and we wanted to give them another way to contribute.”
How do you turn fan posts into big screen fan activities during a game?
Fan content in concourses and fan zones
Concourse screens are placed in areas where a lot of people walk or drive, and where people naturally slow down. These spaces often include areas near food and drink stands, shops where you can buy things, places where you can take pictures, and places where you can meet.
In these places, a social media wall is like a gallery of fan moments. People look at the screen when they walk by, but they tend to stop longer when they see their own post or see friends in the feed. That simple moment of recognition can greatly increase fan engagement inside the venue.
Sweetwater’s GearFest is a good example. It hosted more than 17,000 people. Heather Herron, the VP of Corporate Communications, explained that their team put the social wall in the dining area, which kept a lot of people coming and going during the event. “People could look at it as they walked by or spend time looking at it while they ate.”
The team also discovered that looping videos get more attention than static posts. Motion content made people want to watch for longer.
This type of placement works just as well for football stadiums, where it can be used for concourse screens showing pre-game arrival photos, sponsor photo opportunities, and tailgate or group moments from the crowd.
Scheduled fan highlights on major screens
Fan content doesn’t have to run on the main screen all the time. Many places use it as a planned part of the show that happens at certain times.
For example, fan highlights can appear at these times:
- before the show begins
- during breaks in the show
- between performances or acts
- during breaks in gameplay
This approach keeps user-generated content from being a distraction. It also gives the production team predictable timing for moderation and screen transitions.
The Oklahoma City Thunder focuses on posts that look good on big screens. The team looks for photos where you can clearly see people’s faces, and it’s clear that the fans are enjoying the experience.
The most important thing is to be ready to use the screen, not the volume. A few well-written fan posts can create stronger fan engagement than showing everything that’s submitted.
Brand activations and sponsor photo opportunities
Social walls are great for sponsors and brands.
When a sponsor puts up a photo backdrop with their brand on it, a nearby social wall gives fans an immediate reason to join in. Attendees post their photos using a special hashtag. These photos appear on venue screens as they happen.
This makes it easy for sponsors to see that fans are participating, and it encourages fans to contribute to the event.
Walls.io’s Direct Posts feature lets fans upload photos directly to the wall through a QR code without needing a public social media account. This makes it easier for people to participate and increases the number of contributors.
So, everyone at the event can join in, not just those who post on Instagram or TikTok. When more people participate, it can lead to a higher return on investment (ROI) for sponsors.
⭐ Related: Sports Marketing Examples and Strategies to Score Big
Hashtag storytelling across an event or season
Hashtags are still a useful tool for organizing conversations between fans about a specific event, rivalry, or season.
They put all the fan posts from different social media platforms, like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn, into one collection.
When a hashtag is used consistently on signs at events, on social media, and in announcements, it can connect the experience of fans at events and online.
The NAMM Show is a good example of this. Jessica Duarte, the Associate Director of Strategic Project Management, said that their social wall appeared in several places. These places included the NAMM Show+ event app, large concert screens at the Yamaha Grand Plaza Stage, the NAMM.org homepage, and the NAMM Idea Center.
The event team collected posts using the hashtag #nammshow and from multiple social channels.
The social wall was active for one week before the show and one week after the event. This made the event last longer and got more people involved. If a football team uses the same approach during a rivalry week or a whole season, it will have the same effect.
Direct uploads for fans who prefer not to post publicly
Not everyone who attends wants to share content publicly on social media. Some people keep their profiles private, while others simply prefer not to tag venues online. Using hashtags alone might prevent these fans from joining in.
Direct uploads solve this problem by giving attendees another way to contribute content. Fans can scan a QR code and upload photos directly to the social wall.
The Oklahoma City Thunder showed how well this approach worked. Their Direct Posts feature lets anyone join in, no matter how active they are on social media.
The team collected more than 9,000 photos of fans. During one game, fans uploaded a total of 458 posts.
These numbers show how making it easier for people to attend can greatly increase stadium fan engagement inside the venue.
Capturing live fan moments with Walls.io Lens
Walls.io Lens helps you capture special moments during game day and add them directly to a social wall.
Using the Lens mobile interface, event staff or brand ambassadors can take photos of fans around the venue and upload them right away to the wall. There, fans can be moderated and displayed on venue screens.
Hybrid events and remote audiences
A social wall can be more than just screens inside a venue.
The same fan-created content can appear in event apps, microsites, or on a venue’s website. This allows remote viewers to participate in the same fan experience as the people inside the building.
NAMM’s hybrid event used this approach successfully. The event app, which was powered by Swapcard, allowed people attending the event from all over the world to interact with the social wall. Half of the event’s 24,000 active app users interacted with the platform during the show, creating a shared experience for everyone, whether they were there in person or virtually.
University and campus events
Social walls are popular in entertainment venues, but they’re also used in university settings, like college football games.
Many campuses use digital signs to show students’ achievements and celebrate events like orientation, sports games, and graduation.
These walls often display posts from campus hashtags and student social media accounts on different platforms, like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and X. The same rules for getting people to engage with social media apply here.
The rules for getting people to engage with social media are:
- Use a clear hashtag
- Put displays in places where a lot of people go, like student unions and dining halls
- Moderate content to keep the brand safe
When done well, these displays make students feel more connected to the campus community and encourage them to contribute to the shared campus experience.
How do you implement a big screen stadium fan engagement wall step by step?
Step 1: establish your fan engagement goals
Before launching a social wall, define what success looks like.
Your goals will determine what content you collect and where it should be displayed.
Common objectives for entertainment venues include:
- making fans feel recognized during the event
- supporting sponsor activations with visible participation
- filling concourse dwell time with engaging content
- extending the event story before and after show day
- collecting lead data such as email addresses through fan submissions
Clear goals make it easier to design an engagement strategy that fits the event environment.
Step 2: choose your content inputs
Walls.io can collect content from multiple sources simultaneously. Venues can combine social media aggregation with direct uploads to create a diverse content stream.
Common sources include:
- Instagram posts from hashtags or business profiles
- TikTok posts from profiles or hashtags
- X posts collected through keywords, hashtags, profiles, or lists
- Facebook content from pages or groups
- LinkedIn posts from pages, hashtags, profiles, or keywords
- Direct Posts through QR code uploads
For many venues, starting with Direct Posts works well when the goal is strong on-site stadium fan engagement without requiring public social media activity.
Step 3: design participation prompts that work in a venue
Fan prompts must be simple and easy to understand in a fast paced event environment.
Effective participation cues include:
- placing QR codes where fans already pause, such as sponsor activations or concession lines
- using simple instructions such as “scan to share your photo on the stadium screens”
- showing participation prompts on screens during natural breaks in the show
Sweetwater’s GearFest team also encouraged participation during workshops. Hosts reminded attendees to post using the event hashtag #GearFest. Throughout the two day event, fans who posted using the hashtag were entered into a guitar giveaway. Linking participation to incentives helped increase fan engagement.
Step 4: plan moderation before doors open
Live user-generated content requires active moderation. A layered moderation strategy helps protect brand safety while keeping content flowing.
Typical moderation setups include:
- AI Moderation filters to detect spam or inappropriate content
- manual approval for high visibility screens such as scoreboards or stage displays
- faster auto publishing settings for lower risk screens such as concourses
The Oklahoma City Thunder described the implementation as straightforward, with guidance from Walls.io on moderation workflows.
NAMM’s team also used scheduling features to maintain a steady stream of curated posts and event reminders.
Step 5: design for distance
Venue screens are viewed from a distance and often by people who are moving. Design choices should prioritize readability and visual impact.
Sweetwater’s team made several adjustments for their event screens:
- increased font size for better readability
- reduced the number of posts displayed at once
- prioritized video content over static images
Walls.io’s Custom Design tools allow venues to adjust layout density, apply brand colors, and create different layouts for different screen environments.
Fan content performs best when it follows the rhythm of the event. Instead of running continuously everywhere, venues often schedule content around key moments.
Common timing patterns include:
Pre-show arrival: welcome messages, early fan posts from Walls.io Echo, and venue atmosphere content.
Intermissions or breaks: fan highlights, sponsor prompts, polls, or voting.
Post-show: thank you moments, recap content, and extended highlights displayed online.
NAMM used scheduling features to keep a consistent flow of curated posts and reminders throughout the show. This avoided content gaps without requiring constant manual updates.
Case study: how the Oklahoma City Thunder runs big screen fan engagement
It’s game day; you’ve got an arena full of people and a team ready to put it all on the line. How do you bring everyone together and make it engaging? With a social wall.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, also known as the Thunder, are doing just that. They set up a large social wall screen in the arena on game days and let fans post photos of themselves directly to the wall using a QR code. Whether it is to drive fan engagement, collect unique UGC, or motivate players, they are doing a great job.
Stadium fan engagement via user-generated content
Oklahoma City Thunder won the Walls.io Best UGC & Lead Generation Social Wall Award for collecting hundreds of fan posts during the games. So far, they collected over 9000 unique photos that their fans uploaded directly on the wall.
On 22 December, the Thunder played the LA Clippers, and their social wall peaked that night with 458 direct posts. The Thunder’s 134-115 win over the LA Clippers shows the value of social wall in engaging a crowd during a game. We asked them a few questions about how they use a social wall for stadium fan engagement, this is what they answered:
How has letting fans post directly on the social walls changed their game experience, compared to just using regular social media? “Having the Direct Post option is great. It allows every fan the chance to get involved and feel they are part of the show. The seamless integration of user-generated content has added a personal touch, allowing fans to share their passion in real-time.”
What kinds of posts have you seen from fans on the screens? We see posts from everywhere in and around the arena. Some of our most popular spots are the designated photo areas in our concourse and fans taking selfies in their seats.
How do you choose which fan posts get shown on the big screens? “We’re mainly looking for images where faces can clearly be seen, and the fans are having a good time. We don’t want to have the subjects in the image be too far away or too close to the camera.”
You’ve been using the Lead Generation feature to collect email addresses from fan posts. Has that been useful? Lead generation is always a great tool. Collecting that information will be very valuable for us in the future.
What do fans and other stakeholders think about the social wall screens? People all around the organization have been impressed with the social wall. Based on feedback, we’ve made some slight design changes and added some additional signage on surrounding LEDs to complement the main video board with the photos. Overall, we’re seeing great responses from inside and outside the organization.
OKC’s future plans for stadium fan engagement
A young team with one potential 2023-24 MVP winner, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, plans to expand their reach in the short term. So we had to ask about their future plans.
Do you have any plans to expand or evolve the use of social walls? “We’d love to expand our usage of the social wall. We’re currently focused on just the main video board, but we have multiple digital displays throughout our concourse that would be great locations for additional content. We hope to capitalize on those areas in future seasons.”
The Oklahoma City Thunder found a way to collect and share fan-generated content during games. They focus on displaying in-arena content: people smiling, fans supporting the players, and attendees having fun.
Football stadiums can run the same playbook for football fan engagement: big screens, direct uploads, and a moderation plan built for game day.
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