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]]>Last year, QPR Chairman Tony Fernandes’ use of the network to ask suggestions for new signings for the squad was certainly innovative and proved if used well, Social Media is a valid and capable utility for engaging fans with the club. It’s particularly important as questions arise over some clubs lack of interactivity with fans via these networks.
Admittedly, questions like that will place strain on the chairman’s relationship with the manager who may feel undermined (and in fact, former manager Neil Warnock later claimed he felt that Twitter had poisoned Fernandes against him), however, if managed well and used by asking sensible productive questions, there are opportunities to benefit from the likes of Twitter and help create a two-way relationship between club and fan. In the past, much research has shown that clubs are content to ignore fans via social media, however, Fernandes has shown there is an opportunity to narrow the gap between the two.
However, as like any stakeholder in the game, Social Media can bring more trouble than its worth.
West Ham United Chairmen David Gold recently lashed out at Alan Hansen who he claims said ‘real chairmen shouldn’t have a football opinion’ and that ‘a good chair is a chair that doesn’t sign autographs or interact with fans’ via his Twitter account.
It is important for chair persons to be seen engaging with fans and asking for feedback and social media presents them with that opportunity. In the larger picture of the club, players uses of Twitter can be good but is really too restrictive to have any real benefit for the club, whilst Chairman have the power to seek productive feedback via social media channels.Whilst I don’t agree with everything David Gold has said in the past, I have to agree that his use of Twitter is productive and engaging. He reads tweets, retweets and replies to fans questions and is the type of chairmen fans want to interact with.
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]]>The post QPR owner Tony Fernandes transfer suggestions via Twitter appeared first on Digital-Football.com - Football Social Media & Digital Sports news.
]]>Since day 1 of taking over the club Fernandes has been instrumental in getting the football club into the Social Media sphere. Refreshingly, Fernandes has listened and talked to the fans, and clearly recognises that Sports Social Media should revolve around the fanbase, and not just the clubs own brand.
Since the start of the season, Digital-Football research shows that QPR has seen a 39% growth in it’s Twitter following, as well as a staggering 49% increase in the number of Facebook fans – the highest growth for any EPL Facebook page.
It is truly great to see such a busy and influential owner take time and effort (as well as investment) to properly engage with the fans and look for longer term solutions for Social Media, rather than just spamming followers with merchandise/RSS feeds – as many continue to do so. By asking his fans about transfer expectations over Twitter, Fernandes can firstly ensure that he isn’t seen as being supportive to his manager regarding transfer budgets, and secondly, he can get his own idea about the fans expectations. Thirdly, and most importantly, it shows that he cares about his fans – one of the biggest gaps in football at the minute is the lack of affinity between the stereotypical ‘penny pinching boardroom’ and the passionate ‘spend spend spend’ fanbase.
The strategy is very similar of Tony Evans and his Twitter vote for transfer targets for Stockport Countyin August.
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