Manchester City in Top 20 UK Social Brands

This morning the Social Brands 100 list was revealed, detailing the best social media brands in the United Kingdom. Included in this list was our favourite Football Social Media club – Manchester City. For the best part of 18 months we’ve been keen to advocate and shout about the innovation and creativity of the Premier League Champions – particularly how they use content to engage with their fanbase.

Manchester City was held with high regard throughout the report and this is a notable development for Football Social Media as it shows that if clubs want to do a good job of social media they need to adopt the same practices and strategies as if they were a major consumer brand. City told Digital-Football.com in an interview this year that they position their brand in the entertainment industry. Content is created to entertain the fans, not simply sell match-tickets (Something most clubs solely focus on).

City not only finished 16th in the overall table but:

• – 7th for Twitter
• – 4th for YouTube
• – 10th for Foursquare
• – 5th for Facebook Brand Engagement

City’s Social Media Community Manager – Chris Nield told the report:

“We do different things on these niche platforms and won’t expect big numbers but it’s good to be there getting to know a really interested and educated fanbase.”

Just because the season is over, doesn’t mean City will be stopping in their strides for better social media. Over the summer City is set to release an app (aligned with the launch of the summer music festivals) where users can download tracks by Manchester bands, remix and edit them and reshare – playing on the rich musical history of Manchester.  Yet again, this demonstrates that club social media doesn’t necessarily need to be about football but rather the fans.

City will also be joining the likes of Liverpool FC and Barcelona by launching an official club presence in China – in order to capitalise upon the teams pre-season tour in the far east.