The Social Side of Football
Social media platforms, now have hundreds of millions of subscribers, and are no longer the exclusive plaything for teenagers, students and techie hipsters. Most have applications useful for any number of businesses, including football clubs.
Most major football clubs worldwide are taking social media seriously enough to invest in it to deliver what the fans and sponsors desire.
The key is focusing on the passion of the fans,clubs who do not and are only investing a marginal amount of time and money into social media and are failing to take full advantage of its power to connect and bond with fans. Most major clubs are on top of social media and have tens of people working on social media projects.
Have a look at the top Social Football Clubs tracked by MeetTheBoss.TV
The potential is staggering, it costs next to nothing to open an account on Facebook or Twitter (you just need someone to build followers). But given time you could have 700,000 followers (see graphic) that the club can promote sponsors, tickets and merchandise and also offer it to sponsors as an outlet for promotions.
Because of the high cost of sponsorship, particularly in the English Premiership. Sponsorships are more than ever about ROI rather than awareness, this makes engagement via social media even more vital. If Bayern Munich have 700,000 followers on Twitter, I-Mobile has a chance to promote a new phone to all of them in one message. Even if just a small percentage of followers buy the phone, it’s still pure profit.
One could argue that club websites should be the platform.
The clubs can also use social media as a new distribution avenue for merchandising at a very low cost. For example Liverpool FC promoted their new jersey launch via Facebook.
But clubs need to be careful not go overboard on sales, it’s not always what the fans really want from their club. The fans care about a whole range of things, but mainly they want to feel part of the club, not just a money making option. They want to know what player is injured, who is signing for them and what the team had for dinner. Interaction via social media is an ideal method of doing this.
Lander Unzueta at Barcelona FC get’s it right understanding the power of branding & reach using social media.
At Chelsea, the club mascot ‘Stamford the Lion’ is tweeting, providing a face for club messages, but some clubs can go one better and get the players to tweet. Of course, boundaries need to be set to avoid problems similar to last summer when unsettled Tottenham striker Darren Bent tweeted a transfer request “Do I wanna go Hull City NO. Do I wanna go stoke NO do I wanna go sunderland YES so stop f****** around levy.”
But social media is simply something teams can’t ignore. It costs little money but opens up so many new opportunities.”
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