Ignoring social media in 2026 means being out of the game in the padel world. These platforms, where tens of millions of fans gather, are now the main arena to exist, unite, and grow. Mastering the ins and outs of Instagram and TikTok is therefore an essential growth strategy, as crucial for a club as for an ambitious player. Unpacking the best practices for the coming year.
For Players: Building Your Personal Brand
Whether you’re a professional or an informed amateur, social media allows you to tell your story and attract sponsors.
- A Look Behind the Scenes: The public loves authentic content. Share snippets of your training, tournament preparations, or travels. Pro players like Ale Galán (745k followers) or Arturo Coello (701k followers) excel at this, blending performances and personal moments.
- Creating Educational Content: Analyze your points, explain a technical shot, or give advice. This type of high-value content positions you as an expert and generates high engagement. Short, impactful tutorials on TikTok work particularly well.
- Collaborating with Brands: An engaged audience is attractive to equipment brands. The biggest brands like Nox (400k followers) or Bullpadel (284k followers) rely heavily on their sponsored players to promote their products. A strong online presence is therefore a major commercial asset.
For Clubs: Attracting and Retaining Players
A modern club uses social media as an interactive showcase and a community management tool.
- Bringing Club Life to Life: Regularly post photos of the courts, home tournament results, and friendly moments at the clubhouse. Showcase the unique atmosphere of your facility. Oasis Padel Club, for example, uses Instagram to share its calendar, tournaments, and even posts detailing skill levels.
- Facilitating Interaction and Booking: Use ‘Stories’ to announce last-minute open slots. Integrate the online booking link into your Instagram bio. Create a WhatsApp or Facebook group dedicated to your members so they can organize their matches, thus strengthening their sense of belonging.
- Leveraging Local and Events: Target residents in your area with geo-targeted ads. Promote your group classes, camps, or special events. On-site content featuring your players is the best argument to attract newcomers.
Key Trends for 2026
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Highlights: Visual showcase, established community. Best Practices: Reels (short videos), Stories for instant content, curated feed. | |
| TikTok | Highlights: Virality, young audience, discovery. Best Practices: Ultra-short tutorials (15-60 sec.), challenges, humor, trending sounds. |
| Highlights: Community groups, events. Best Practices: Create a private group for members, announce tournaments. |
In summary, success on social media in 2026 relies on authenticity and consistency. Whether you share the trajectory of a perfect smash or the smiles after a friendly match, the goal is to create a strong bond with your audience. By adopting a strategy tailored to your profile and the codes of each platform, you will transform your followers into true ambassadors for your brand or club.
Need to audit your social media strategy or create impactful content? Contact the Actu Padel team for a personalized analysis and discover our community management services.
Key takeaways
- Social media has become a key driver for visibility in padel, for both players and clubs.
- Behind-the-scenes content + educational content = the most effective duo for creating engagement.
- For a club, Stories, calendar, tournaments, and practical info strengthen loyalty and facilitate bookings.
- Instagram remains the showcase, TikTok accelerates discovery, Facebook structures the community.
- To understand the global growth of padel, see also: Padel Figures: How many people play this sport worldwide in 2026?
