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Recommendation Archives - Digital-Football.com - Football Social Media & Digital Sports news http://digital-football.com/category/recommendation/ Football Social Media: The ultimate guide on how football clubs are using Social Media. News, tactics, opinion and stats Sun, 09 Oct 2016 19:15:24 +0000 en-US hourly 1 26265896 5 Sponsorship Activation tactics for Sports brands on Social Media http://digital-football.com/featured/5-sponsorship-activation-tactics-sports-brands-social-media/ http://digital-football.com/featured/5-sponsorship-activation-tactics-sports-brands-social-media/#comments Sun, 09 Oct 2016 19:12:14 +0000 http://digital-football.com/?p=6176123504 Recent Social Media data from Digital-Football.com showed English Premier League clubs have added an additional 30 million followers on Twitter alone in the past 3 years. As clubs have managed to clearly grow their...

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nflsleepover

Recent Social Media data from Digital-Football.com showed English Premier League clubs have added an additional 30 million followers on Twitter alone in the past 3 years. As clubs have managed to clearly grow their social media presence, they’ve also been able to look to monetize these channels and attract new sponsorship revenues. With just football shirt sponsorship growing by 30% across the Top 6 leagues in 2016 alone, sports clubs and their sponsors have been thrust forward and forced to work together to make the most out of the relationship.

For the sponsor, their objective is to get the most from the fees they’ve paid and ensure that their brand awareness and reputation benefit from the deal. For the sports brands, they want to ensure that they provide sponsors with everything they need but don’t jeprodise the integrity or relationship built their fans across their social networks. Getting the balance right between the two can be difficult and easy to over-complicate.

With this in mind, we’ve put together 5 very simple sponsorship activation tactics that can be employed from smaller clubs on a budget up to the global elite. If you want to explore how to implement one of these tactics, or just want a general chat please do get in touch to see how you can work with Digital-Football.com in the future.

#1 – Branded Twitter Q&A

askgirffthsThe branded Twitter Q&A has been about for years – sponsors live tweet fans questions with a particular athlete either under a branded up hashtag or through their own brand Twitter account. The tactic relies on using an athlete who firstly warrants the attention and can draw in engagement for the sponsor, but also that the athlete understands the opportunities/pitfalls of Twitter as to avoid a PR disaster.

Typically, live Q&As last for 30 minutes to an hour and are usually moderated by a Social Media expert either from the club or the sponsor to ensure things don’t go out of hand. Sponsors tend to ask the athlete to tweet out/promote the live hashtag a few days in advance to build anticipation as well as brand awareness. Crucially, it’s important that some of the questions are actually interesting/engaging. A mix of humour, insight and a tad of personal opinion goes a long way.

#2 – Video Content

arsenalnflBecoming every popular but perhaps more difficult to execute is a sponsored video campaign. The continuing trend, and one we highlighted nearly 4 years ago, is to provide behind-the-scenes content with staff and athletes. Some clubs/sponsors choose to take the Q&A further by making is a Skype session, others have worked with clubs to go behind the scenes at the training ground in order to offer fans an insight into what makes their club work. Increasingly though, sponsors are desperately trying to inject humor into the videos and often engage players in some form of challenge.

Such challenges can be as simple as a crossbar challenge or a keepie up challenge. More creative clubs have leveraged the sponsors country of origin and tried to get the players to participate in some activity that has cultural significance e.g. attempting to kick an NFL football. Video can be tricky as it does require athlete access during busy periods and relies on the athletes actually being open and up for having some fun, which depending on the current performance may be harder to generate.

#3 – Creative Content with a simple “Sponsored by”

programmeThis year football has seen some wonderful creative content pieces produced by football club art teams – there’s numerous great programmes out there that have changed their artwork from the usual drab “us vs. them” footy programme to following themes more akin to a comic book. Sponsors and clubs should be jumping on the back of this and looking at ways they can do more with their creative.

As an example, any football programme enthusiast will know, there are some seriously great vintage designs from the 50s and 60s out there. Clubs are already redesigning their traditional matchday programmes to give them a vintage twist. Sponsors should be working with clubs to reproduce / mock-up glorious famous matches or try hype up upcoming derby games by going back to their routes with vintage programmes.

#4 – Social Media isn’t just online – bring your online fans offline

sleepoverAmerican sports, as ever, nail the concept of taking a social media audience online and bringing them into the real offline world of a football stadium. Clubs and sponsors need to be doing more with their brand influencers across Social and hosting offline events that allows these precious brand ambassadors more access than ever before. Whether that’s a “blogger training session” with the gaffer or inclusion in the press pit for core fan led blogsites.

Marriot recently announced a competition allowing superfans to sleepover in the stadium ahead of the next Super Bowl so they can be their first to take in the atmosphere. This isn’t anything new in the NFL in fact, as it’s been going on for nearly 6 years – in most cases with a charitable angle to help kids without beds sleepover in the same stadium their heroes perform in week in / week out.

#5 – Sponsored App Development

Unbelievably many sports brands are still struggling to get a half decent app developed that actually has a purpose. A purposeful and well built app costs money, and whilst sports like football are multi-billion pound industries, marketing budgets are often tight. Therefore, there’s a fantastic opportunity for sponsors to stump up the cash to develop the club app in partnership with the club.

This might mean sacrificing an area of the map to some branded/sponsored content somewhere, but it will also allow the club to create a new potential revenue stream and partnership with their sponsors and fans. Whether thats the design and build of an informational live match day app or perhaps just a branded game, there’s a great opportunity for both sites to collect audience data and help each another out

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5 Ways Sports teams can leverage Social Media Influencers http://digital-football.com/recommendation/5-ways-sports-teams-can-leverage-social-media-influencers/ http://digital-football.com/recommendation/5-ways-sports-teams-can-leverage-social-media-influencers/#comments Thu, 28 Mar 2013 09:02:31 +0000 http://digital-football.com/?p=6176123057 As more sports teams begin to see the value in their Social Media audience – which has undoubtedly skyrocketed in the last 12 months – the next challenge is around how to make better...

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As more sports teams begin to see the value in their Social Media audience – which has undoubtedly skyrocketed in the last 12 months – the next challenge is around how to make better use of their followers. Few teams make the most of fans who are influential in the Social Media space and have an invaluable skillset in networking, content creation and even brand protection.

Social Media influencers can be the difference in a small complaint going viral and truly damaging the brand’s reputation. Likewise, positive sentiment from a fan influencer can vastly improve the reach and overall success of a campaign on Social Media. With so much at stake, it’s surprising to see (particularly in football where there is a plethora of influencers) so few teams willing to publicly engage and leverage their influencers.

With this in mind, here are 5 ways that sports teams can utilise their Social Media influencers to help support their Social Media strategy:

1. Fan meet-up days

Fan days are increasingly popular in US sports (who have long been leaders in fan engagement via Social Media) and there’s no reason they can’t take off here. The premise behind the day is to invite a number of influencers to a club location, usually the stadium, and simply give them a forum to ask questions, raise issues, find out more about the club as well as talk to other influencers that they probably have only communicated with via Twitter.

Fan days help portray the club as being transparent in their dealings and  also being seen to be actively engaging with the fanbase – which is an issue many fans cite never seems to happen.

2. Access all areas

We’ve talked about the value of behind-the-scenes content before, and really this is just a natural development of this concept. Fans want to consume content that they view as valuable, so if you’re struggling to get views or shares on official club content, then perhaps think about what you’re actually offering. A simple invite to 3 or 4 influential fans to access an area of the club not usually accessible, and letting them record the visit – will go a long way. For example, you might invite influencers to take a tour of the training ground, meet the physio team or find out some basic training techniques from the coaches. If a club wanted to be really ambitious, that might even let an influencer shadow the team on a game day…

3. Fan content

Website content such as match reports are often written by journalists at the club, and as such tend to be similar to mainstream media and traditional content. Whilst it’s obviously important to have a high standard of writing, it can sometimes get a bit too over familar and go stale. Many of your influencers are likely to be proficient bloggers and as such can write to a good standard, so add a bit of variety to official club content and ask them to contribute every so often. You may find that the content is more reflective and resonates with the fans better, and it is equally more likely to receive more Social Media engagement if the influencers aggresively promotes his involvement with the club with pride.

4. Match-day coverage

Something we have discussed before is integrating your influencers into matchday coverage on your Social Media channels. Whilst US sports have managed to allow influential fans to take over the Twitter and Facebook channels, this might be too scary for UK based sports teams who are not quite there yet in terms of passing on the responsibility.

With this in mind, you could still invite influencers to live blog the match, be involved in the commentary or at the very least retweet/share influencers thoughts at halftime. This is a really easy and effective way of leverage your influencers and getting them more involved.

5. Supporting campaigns

Last but not least, simply putting some time and effort to build a relationship with influencers with a tweet here and there can prove to be a wise investment in the future. Sometimes, a Social Media campaign can be flagging or not really taking off. A quiet word via email or direct message asking for a bit of support or just a retweet can be the kickstarter your campaign needs. This is the simplest of solutions and nothing but old fashion PR translated onto Social Media. Of course, you can’t just do this without any work or previous effort – influencers need to feel like that you’ve bothered to actually care about their involvement. Simply mass tweeting influencers to retweet will not go down well and will more than likely stir up negative sentiment.

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5 Predictions for Football Clubs on Social Media in 2013 http://digital-football.com/recommendation/5-predictions-for-football-clubs-on-social-media-in-2013/ http://digital-football.com/recommendation/5-predictions-for-football-clubs-on-social-media-in-2013/#comments Sun, 06 Jan 2013 19:23:23 +0000 http://digital-football.com/?p=6176122911 2012 was most certainly the year that football clubs got their acts together and began to use Social Media more strategically. In the last 12 months, we’ve seen clubs move from broadcast marketing to fan engagement,...

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2012 was most certainly the year that football clubs got their acts together and began to use Social Media more strategically. In the last 12 months, we’ve seen clubs move from broadcast marketing to fan engagement, we’ve seen football stadiums begin to promote Social Media a lot better – whether it be improved WiFi or signage and finally we’ve seen more and more clubs flock to the likes of Twitter and Facebook.

With the foundations of Football Social Media already set, what does 2013 mean for the 1,551 football clubs currently using Twitter and even more on Facebook?

1. Blogger Outreach

As the power of influence continues to shift towards the blogger-sphere from the traditional press (And note, I’m not saying bloggers have more influencer, just more than they used to!) – clubs must start to take notice of the opportunity that influential fan bloggers hold. Football clubs will begin to develop deeper relationships with bloggers as a way of changing fan perceptions, improving fan engagements and help generate Social Media noise. This will come in the form of blogger match invites, bloggers at press conferences and providing bloggers with behind the scenes content. Fans will always trust their fellow fans over club communications (Which are often perceived to have a commercial agenda).

2. Curated Tweets for media publications

Fan tweets are increasingly becoming the go-to device for measuring fan opinions. Very slowly, we’ve seen fan and player tweets appear in sports TV shows and print media as a way of representing the thoughts of a fanbase on a particular issue or incident. If clubs are savvy enough, they will look to promote their own Social Media and brand by encouraging fans to tweet more often. Clubs can do this by curating the best and most influential tweets from fans and players into their offline and online media. Whether this via projecting tweets throughout stadium concourses as Manchester City have done or including them in website match reports – it’s a great way of involving fans with content production.

3. More use of “Datatainment” in club media

No longer a new concept, the aptly named “Datatainment” ideology is the process of using big data as a way to entertain and engage with fans. A fantastic example of this has been Arsenal’s Stats Zone content on their website before playing opposition.

The London giants use performance data such as pass completion, goals scored, clean sheets, team form etc. as a way to predict the outcome of the match and help entertain fans by giving them some insight before the game. This has to be adopted by more clubs as data – or stats – fits the psyche of a football fan perfectly. Datatainment content is a great way for clubs to build excitement around football matches, help bust myths about player performances and generate substantial levels of Social Media noise with engaging and visual content.

4. Bigger fines, harsher punishments for player Twitter mischief

In 2012 we finally saw footballing bodies like the FA and the Premier League issue Social Media guidelines for football players in the UK. We’ve also learnt that many clubs are internally training and educating players around good and bad practice as players have become more active on Social Media channels like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Still in it’s early stages, we can expect clubs to develop these pieces of governance and regulation further – so expect to see tougher and harsher punishments for football players making mistakes on Twitter in the future. Club Brand and PR can take huge hits in the mainstream press from negative tweets – so ensuring players don’t portray the club in a bad light will be a priority for every Social Media manager at football clubs this year.

5. Monetization of Social Media channels

Last but certainly not least, finding a way to make money from Social Media will be perhaps the most important issues football clubs face in 2013. If 2012, was the year clubs got to grip using Social Media and showing how influential it is, 2013 will be the year clubs will have to prove it’s worth the investment to their board of directors. Expect football clubs to be inventive in ways of trying to monetize their Social Media – this might be through making more content to sell match day tickets, more tie-ins with partner sponsors and better use of Social Media to help aid merchandise sales.

So there you have it – our official predictions for 2013. After getting a decent number of our Football Social Media predictions right for 2012, hopefully we can continue our good track record and continue to bring you the most exclusive and very latest news about how football clubs are using Social Media.

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Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech hosts Google+ Hangout http://digital-football.com/recommendation/chelsea-goalkeeper-petr-cech-hosts-google-hangout/ http://digital-football.com/recommendation/chelsea-goalkeeper-petr-cech-hosts-google-hangout/#respond Thu, 04 Oct 2012 12:57:33 +0000 http://digital-football.com/?p=6176122560 Following on from the success of Manchester City’s Google+ Hangout with Patrick Viera two weeks ago, Chelsea FC are the latest club to use the ailing social network as a way to engage with...

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Following on from the success of Manchester City’s Google+ Hangout with Patrick Viera two weeks ago, Chelsea FC are the latest club to use the ailing social network as a way to engage with their supporters. Chelsea’s star goalkeeper, Petr Cech, hosted a live Google+ Hangout to engage with over 500 fans and talk about fitness, player language barriers, training, the Champions League final and how his head injury affected him.

The session was due to start at 1pm but it took longer than anticipated to get Cech from the training ground to Chelsea’s media centre. This caused some confusion and deflated the start of the campaign which started some 35 minutes late, but is to be expected considering the club had never done something like this before. Cech answered a number of questions from 5 fans around the world (e.g. Ghana, United States, England, Sweden & Austria) that had been selected in advance.

It’s fair to say that football clubs have struggled to find a use for Google’s own social network (as have many other brands!), but this is a great development by Chelsea and Manchester City – showing they are not scared to at least be the first to try something new. Chelsea currently are the 5th largest club on Twitter worldwide with 1.4 million followers and also have a hefty 12.3 million on Facebook. Chelsea’s own Google+ presence is quite impressive with over 2 million +1s.

Andrew from the US asked Cech about squad fitness

Google+ Hangouts are a feature of the social network that allow users to hold video conferencing conversations over Google+ running simultaneously with a “chat room” message thread. Manchester City and Chelsea have both used Hangouts as a way of allowing fans to ask players questions. The success of player Q&A hashtags on Twitter (pioneered by Manchester City) quickly spread as many other clubs replicated the tactic. Using Hangouts is perhaps an evolution of this and we may see other clubs attempting to use Hangouts as a way to boost their Google+ Pages (which will most likely help clubs search engine ranking).

Such initiatives are positive for football fans as it shows that clubs are willing to allow their players to open up and engage with their fans in a very personal and direct manner. Player Q&As are incredibly important for ensuring that the club appears authentic, engaged and transparent in it’s dealings. All of which inevitably have an effect on match day sales, season tickets and general club sentiment across the web.

The only criticism we have of the campaign was picking a player who perhaps doesn’t have a very active social media presence – with the goalkeeper absent from Twitter and Facebook. Perhaps Chelsea might’ve attracted more viewers if they had utilised one of the clubs more active social media users. That being said, Cech answered all the questions eloquently and did a could job in coming across as a genuinely friendly and down to earth player. During it’s peak, the Hangout had around 700 viewers according to Google stats, which is slightly disappointing considering the size of Chelsea’s social media audience but we are yet to confirm these stats.

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Interview: AC Milan on Football Social Media http://digital-football.com/recommendation/interview-ac-milan-on-football-social-media/ http://digital-football.com/recommendation/interview-ac-milan-on-football-social-media/#comments Thu, 05 Jul 2012 11:43:22 +0000 http://digital-football.com/?p=6176122374 Here at Digital-Football.com we’ve been fortunate to interview some of football’s most elite football clubs and chat to the people who are actively working in Football Social Media ( look at our past interviews...

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Here at Digital-Football.com we’ve been fortunate to interview some of football’s most elite football clubs and chat to the people who are actively working in Football Social Media ( look at our past interviews with Barcelona, Manchester City, AS Roma and Celtic). This week, we are delighted to add 7 time European Cup winners and Italian giant – AC Milan to our ever growing list.

Our thanks goes to AC Milan’s Head of Web and New Media, Guiliano Giorgetti, who took the time out of his busy pre-season preparations to give us a unique insight into the life of a football clubs on social media. Milan boast over 11 million Likes on Facebook, 594k followers on Twitter and a staggering 73 million views on YouTube.

Q. How long have AC Milan been using Social Media and why are they using it?

GG: The social media strategy of AC Milan started almost two years ago, with the Facebook page, and it continues to grow more and more everyday. Now AC Milan has an official account on all the major social networking platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Flickr, Youtube and Chinese social network Tencent QQ. Each account – daily updated with news, images and video – offers exclusive services to our international supporters and has a different communication style. Social Media channels represent a key asset for the Club since they allow supporters to feel more “closer” to AC Milan, even if the live far away.

Q. What kind of tactics have AC Milan undertaken in the last year on social media and which has been the most successful in terms of return on investment?

GG: In order to increase the value of our social media channels, we tried to publish a lot of exclusive contents, dedicated to our followers and fans following us from all over the world. An example? The live Q&A with Adriano Galliani – our CEO – on Twitter. The official hashtag for the initiative – #askGalliani – has been used more than 40,000 times in a day, becoming trending topic in both Italy and Indonesia.

Q. How do you cater for AC Milan’s global fanbase? It’s notable that your Twitter stream is in English and not Italian?

GG: On Twitter, we “speak” both languages – Italian and English – since our audience is an international one (we also have an account updated in Brazilian language and one in Japanese). Even if we know Italians are just a little part of our Twitter community, we like to maintain our mother tongue on social media, especially since “made in Italy” is one of the core value of AC Milan brand. As for Facebook, we work with geo-target posts, translated in different languages at different times of the day.

Q. What challenges have you faced since embracing Social Media?

GG: I would say one of the major challenges I have to face everyday is to make social media a key strategy asset for the Club, which can be useful for all the departments, in many different ways (first team, Junior activities, Milan Foundation, sponsorship, CRM etc).

Q. Are there any future developments you can tell us about on Social Media? If not – where would you like to take AC Milan in the next year?

GG: To have a connected stadium is of course really important: it would allow supporters to have a better and complete experience of the event/match, to share it with their friends through the potentials  of mobile devices and interact even more with our social media channels. Concerning the next steps, we’re working in order to have a more specific social CRM strategy.

Again, thanks to Guiliano and everybody at AC Milan for agreeing to the interview and providing us with valuable insight about how Europe’s biggest clubs are coping with social media. As football social media continues to grow, things such as the connected stadium, social CRM and integration right across the business will become larger challenges for clubs. In order to make sure they don’t end up being too far behind, they need to start today and treat social media with the same attention (and budget) they do for traditional marketing.

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Premier League clubs failing to respond to Twitter users http://digital-football.com/recommendation/premier-league-clubs-failing-to-respond-to-twitter-users/ http://digital-football.com/recommendation/premier-league-clubs-failing-to-respond-to-twitter-users/#comments Fri, 01 Jun 2012 12:04:29 +0000 http://digital-football.com/?p=6176122277 English Premier League clubs are massively failing to respond to their followers tweets according to new data. Mashable recently called the 2011/12 season the “Social Media  Season” due to the significant growth and engagement...

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English Premier League clubs are massively failing to respond to their followers tweets according to new data. Mashable recently called the 2011/12 season the “Social Media  Season” due to the significant growth and engagement enjoyed by Premier League teams. However, despite increased activity from teams, many are still failing to understand the true nature of football social media – engaging with the fans.

Data from UK company – EngagementIndex – measures brands responding to their customers. Using Twitter monitoring, the company records the number of ignored tweets direct to @officialclubaccounts sent from customers to brands. In a special report for the Premier League, it has become apparent that clubs are ignoring thousands of tweets sent to official club accounts every day.

Ignored Tweets

As the graph above shows the ratio of ignored to replied to tweets is massive, with Chelsea (15,341 @chelsea tweets ignored), Arsenal (8,066 @arsenal tweets ignored) and Manchester City (7,488 @mcfc tweets ignored) the biggest culprits. However, it should be remembered that these 3 clubs do command a global following and therefore the sheer volume of tweets sent to them will be considerably larger than the average EPL club. Furthermore, it should be noted that Manchester City engage and interact with their  fans better than no other club in Britain.

Another notable insight from this data is that Liverpool FC seem to have a much smaller percentage of “ignored tweets” to @LFC despite having a significant global brand and Twitter following. Perhaps, these differences can be explained by the factors such as the date the data was recorded? We are told the data is from over a 30 day period so it is very possible that competitions such as the UEFA Champions League may distort these figures – especially if Chelsea or Arsenal had been involved in “talked about” games.

Whilst we couldn’t get the raw data to verify – it does appear (if you look very closely) that Wolves have the best response rate of any club and made the most replies to tweets directed to their official account.

EngagementIndex CEO Mark Shaw urged clubs to better consider their customer service on Twitter and explained:

“Football clubs like businesses are going through a tough time financially. Great customer care may not help the players score more goals or win more matches, but it will certainly keep the fans motivated, interested and if done correctly buying more products from the shop & perhaps renewing that season ticket…”

Whilst managing huge volumes of tweets can be difficult does this excuse major football clubs from doing so? After all, these are multimillion pound companies and fans deserve a certain level of customer service. Airlines, banks and retail organisations are set up to receive this kind of demand – so why not football clubs?

 

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Tunnel Cam: Manchester City celebrate on YouTube http://digital-football.com/recommendation/tunnel-cam-manchester-city-celebrate-on-youtube/ http://digital-football.com/recommendation/tunnel-cam-manchester-city-celebrate-on-youtube/#respond Mon, 14 May 2012 12:43:32 +0000 http://digital-football.com/?p=6176122191 Very recently we blogged about the value and effectiveness of behind the scenes video content for Football Social Media. We also specifically mentioned the excellent work of Manchester City and talked at great length about...

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Very recently we blogged about the value and effectiveness of behind the scenes video content for Football Social Media. We also specifically mentioned the excellent work of Manchester City and talked at great length about their “tunnel cam” initiative. City have pushed the boundaries this season both on the pitch and in the social media world. So, their latest tunnel cam video on YouTube is an intriguing and brilliant watch for City and non-City fans alike. It shows the tense preparations before kick-off right through to the sheer exhilaration of winning the Premier League.

We often hear TV presenters talk about the “fantastic atmosphere” generated in the club whenever a team wins a major trophy, but we so rarely get see it fully. This tunnel cam shows how much the win meant to everyone connected to Manchester City – the players, fans, groundsmen and staff. It’s a fantastic piece of emotive content that will no doubt receive huge levels of engagement in the future.

Watch from within the tunnel just as City score their 3rd late into injury time by clicking here.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnxnPl8A4rY

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Joey Barton uses Promoted Tweets to apologise for red card http://digital-football.com/recommendation/joey-barton-buys-promoted-tweets-from-twitter/ http://digital-football.com/recommendation/joey-barton-buys-promoted-tweets-from-twitter/#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 11:00:26 +0000 http://digital-football.com/?p=6176122175 Everyone may be talking about Joey Barton for other reasons this week, but it has come to light today that the “colourful” midfielder has been taking advantage of Twitter’s paid for “Promoted Tweets” service....

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Everyone may be talking about Joey Barton for other reasons this week, but it has come to light today that the “colourful” midfielder has been taking advantage of Twitter’s paid for “Promoted Tweets” service. This would be the first time an English athlete has paid Twitter in order to have their own individual tweets reach a larger audience than just their followers.

Barton’s tweets tend to range from bizarre philosophical debate through to puerile insults, so it’s quite strange to see a player choose to pay to promote tweets that aren’t for marketing any commercial ventures. However, though Barton’s tweets may not be everyone’s cup of tea, his Twitter antics are clearly working in improving his brand profile.

This is a fascinating tactic and almost surely a first in the world of Football Social Media. Whilst Barton’s “bad boy” image might not win a future career as a pundit, almost certainly the publicity will come in handy should be pen an autobiography or whatever he does  after he retires from the game. Barton today used a promoted tweet in order apologise for his horrendeous sending off during QPR’s last EPL game against Manchester City. Perhaps, promoted tweets amongst athletes might become the new press release or media statement in the digital world?

It’s fair to say that Barton will never be an elite level player – he maybe lacks the ability to play at the highest level and arguably his blemished history would be a stumbling block for Champions League level teams. But, with that being said, Barton has managed to use Social Media (and controversy) to make a name for himself in an industry in which it’s increasingly difficult to hog the limelight.

Barton commands a huge 1.4 million followers on Twitter – higher than most athletes globally. And whilst his content and character may be called into question, he is clearly making the most of the opportunity. By using ‘Promoted Tweets’, Barton is continuing to expand his “reach”, meaning that his tweets will appear in timelines of football fans and Twitter users who don’t even follow him.

Barton’s self-promotion is a clever and innovative method and surely many other athletes will now be looking to find out how they can do something similar for their own ventures.

What are Promoted Tweets?

  • Promoted Tweets are ordinary Tweets purchased by advertisers who want to reach a wider group of users or to spark engagement from their existing followers.
  • Promoted Tweets are clearly labeled as Promoted when an advertiser is paying for their placement on Twitter. In every other respect, Promoted Tweets act just like regular Tweets and can be retweeted, replied to, favorited and more.
  • All Promoted Tweets are first displayed as regular Tweets to the timelines of people following an account. The advertisers can then promote those Tweets to spark additional conversation.

Photo & story credit: http://www.barker.dj/

Thanks to @BeatTheFirstMan for making Digital-Football.com aware of this 🙂

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Football Clubs and Instagram http://digital-football.com/recommendation/football-clubs-and-instagram/ http://digital-football.com/recommendation/football-clubs-and-instagram/#comments Fri, 04 May 2012 11:02:41 +0000 http://digital-football.com/?p=6176122056 With Facebook’s recent purchase of picture-sharing social network Instagram and the site’s rapid growth (50 million users already and counting), it’s time for more football clubs to consider including Instagram in their social media...

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With Facebook’s recent purchase of picture-sharing social network Instagram and the site’s rapid growth (50 million users already and counting), it’s time for more football clubs to consider including Instagram in their social media strategy. It’s easy to use – simply take a photo on a mobile device, add a filter to it, add a tag and post. With the app available on both iOS and Android devices, the network should continue to grow.

Users have come to Instagram in droves because of the visual experience. The whole experience of a football match and everything that surrounds it is filled with visual stimulants. Clubs can take advantage of Instagram by using these photos to tell a story about their brand and connecting fans to the brand through photography.

Ways Teams Can Use Instagram

Engage fans with imagery

Photos can tell a story quicker and oftentimes, better, than words. Football is filled with powerful images – goal celebrations, the joy of fans, the vibrant colors in the stadium on matchday. Photos can evoke strong emotions in fans. A team with a rich history could go with a strategy of posting classic photos and memorable moments in team history. Perhaps after each match, a team could post a great photo or two from the game to connect with fans.  Here’s some ways other sports brands are engaging fans through imagery:

Promotional vehicle (Philadelphia Eagles)

Provide a visual connection to a final score (New York Knicks)

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Share what it’s like behind the scenes

One of the big draws for fans to follow any social network is the chance to see what it’s like “behind the curtain.” Fans love to see what goes on behind the scenes. The opportunity to catch a glimpse of that “secret” world can create a strong connection between a fan and a brand. Photos of the dressing room before a big match or the manager’s office can get fans excited. Images such as these can help build excitement and buzz leading up to a match.

Before/After Shot of Arena with 9,000 t-shirts ready for fans for big game (Univ. of South Florida Athletics)

Team dancers practicing in-game routine (Boston Celtics)

Showcase the personality of the brand

Images posted through Instagram can tell a visual story about the brand. Visual imagery is a powerful way of  communicating the values and beliefs of a club. What does it mean to be a fan of a particular club? Each and every professional club has a tradition and “personality” that is reflected in the style of play, the fans, the stadium and the club history.  A team can use Instagram to tell that story and build a stronger bond with old and new fans.

Red Bull posts a daily “awesome” photo that reflects the nature of the brand

Engage fans through sharing user-generated content

Instagram is an excellent resource for crowdsourcing for user-generated content. Levi’s Jeans is using Instagram to find the star for their next ad campaign. All fans have to do is upload a photo of themselves and tag it with #iamlevis. Starbucks provides an outlet for fans of its brand by re-posting creative shots tagged with #starbucks.

At my job here at the University of South Florida Athletics Department, we recently had an in-venue “Instagram Photo Contest” during one of our spring scrimmages. Fans could enter the contest by tagging their photo with #USFSpringGame and one of the following categories: #Fans, #Action, #BestShot. The following week, we posted the top five photos on our website and allowed fans to vote on the winners. The winning photos will be printed and signed by our head coach.

Instagram can be a very useful tool in a club’s social media assets and provide another way to connect fans to the brand. A few Premier League clubs (Arsenal &  Manchester City) have made some forays into the world of Instagram, but I haven’t seen as a serious a commitment as some of the brands listed above.

 

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AS Roma Interview on Social Media, 1m Facebook Likes & ROI http://digital-football.com/recommendation/as-roma-interview-on-social-media-1m-facebook-likes-roi/ http://digital-football.com/recommendation/as-roma-interview-on-social-media-1m-facebook-likes-roi/#respond Mon, 23 Apr 2012 08:41:43 +0000 http://digital-football.com/?p=6176122027 Last week AS Roma passed 1 million Facebook Likes – one of the key landmarks for any club employing a Football Social Media strategy. The Italian side have been ever present in the Social...

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Last week AS Roma passed 1 million Facebook Likes – one of the key landmarks for any club employing a Football Social Media strategy. The Italian side have been ever present in the Social Media world this year, with presences on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest (- and being the first club in globally to use the Pinterest). Very quickly, the Giallorossi have become one of Europe’s most innovative sports teams that use Social Media to engage with their international fanbase. It always pleases us to see a club so committed and willing to give Social Media a real chance, especially when so many other clubs are afraid to even set up a Twitter account, let alone engage. As such, this week we’re delighted to get the chance to talk to the man behind the plan, Roma’s Director of Digital Business, Shergul Arshad:

How long have Roma been using Facebook and Twitter?

Roma started using these channels the first week of October, 2011, a week after I joined the club as the Digital Business Director.  Hard to believe, given the fact that AS Roma is one of the world’s top teams, but prior to our arrival there was only a brochureware flash site, no eCommerce and no social media.  In a little over six months, we have launched Facebook with over 1MM fans, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, the AS Roma Dream League, and online AS Roma Membership, the AS Roma Fantasy Manager on iTunes and Facebook, a new eCommerce Site (asromastore.it), and the biggest project of all, our new main team site, asroma.it.

Roma are already well known for their excellent fan engagement

How does the club use Social Media to engage with their fans?

We view social media as the ideal platform to engage our fans.  Providing great original content in the form of backstage pictures and videos, breaking team news, practice reports, but also exclusive promotions or the chances to interact with players all serve to foster this engagement.  The key to social media is providing entertainment and allowing a conversation to happen.  We try not to over-moderate, and we interfere if called upon (we try and answer relevant Tweets, etc.)  Our fans appreciate the content, the videos and they are sharing our content with friends around the world – it is this virality that has allowed us to grow rapidly.

Q3. What value does Social Media provide to the club?

Everything is connected.  The more fans interact with the brand and spend time on our site, the more it helps the AS Roma brand.  Over time we monetize with eCommerce, ticket sales, AS Roma Membership Program and our early forays into social gaming and Apps.  But it all starts with giving the fans the place to congregate, comment, interact and enjoy themselves online. Eyeballs on the site means that fans enjoy the experience and are entertained. It also means they will be monetized via ads or commerce, and this helps us grow new revenue streams.

What has been the best experience on Social Media since the club has started using it?

This is the hardest question I have faced while being at AS Roma because there are too many to choose from.  Early on we got our legend, Francesco Totti to pose on a training table while giving the thumbs up – and this photo was picked up by newspapers everywhere.  We had a fan photo promotion where we featured the best photos of fans wearing the Roma colors around the world.  Just last week, we organized a fan appreciation video and photo where our team thanked the fans for reaching 1MM – certainly a great highlight.  But I think nothing beats the simple joy of having given these great fans the platforms and the content for them to interact every day.

What has been the most challenging aspect of using Social Media?

We are still at Day 1 in getting the overall organization and team behind it.  Twitter is still not heavily used in Italy, and our main Twitter stars are foreign players. Few players even have their own public fan pages on Facebook. I would like to see this medium grow as rapidly as it has in the US, but I’m proud to see AS Roma already ahead of most Italian Serie A teams.

With the club already using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and even Pinterest – what is next for AS Roma?

Well now, what fun is life without surprises? This whole experience has been like Santa Claus popping in every few weeks and dropping gifts around the world to AS Roma fans excited to open their digital toys and play with them.  We certainly are looking to add more Apps and games, and as other social platforms emerge, we will be there if it makes sense for us!

AS Roma are certainly a club to watch in the next few months, and as more clubs invest and improve their Social Media offering, Roma will undoubtedly be in a better position as an early adopter. Our thanks goes to Shergul and the club for taking the time to respond to these questions.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf8kmE7lXrI

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