Posts Tagged ‘Sports’

Growing Facebook Interactions

Tuesday, July 10th, 2012

FG-LogoBrands on Facebook have always tried to increase their engagement levels so as to keep the audience of the page glued. Sports has, for ages, kept people glued to the television screen. From a late night football match to an early morning cricket contest, sports keeps people coming back for more.

Considering that the months of June, July and August are heavy on sports, Future Generali Life Insurance brought about a change in its communication plan on social media to leverage this opportunity.

With predominantly male audience on page that was hooked to French Open, Euro 2012, Wimbledon and now waiting for Olympics, Future Generali went sporty. Updates on FG’s Facebook page were crafted around major sports events and matches that were being played.spain -fg

The brand also launched a contest around sports called the ‘Friday Famous Faces’ that required the fans to identify a popular sporting personality. 3 winners each week stood a chance to win backpacks and other goodies. The brand garnered 90 fans in a span of just 3 days via the contest. Not bad, wouldn’t you say?

The communication plan also incorporated:

· Live tweeting during matches (@Future_Generali)

· Events stats on Facebook page

· Trivia about the events

 

 

 

 

fedex -fgTo drive home the message, the ‘Worry Not Wednesday’ updates served as a unique property where quick trivia and links were shared with the fans.

Avinash Janjire, Deputy General Manager – Brand & Corporate Communication at Future Generali India Life Insurance Company, adds “We wanted to break the clutter by creating share-worthy engagement around sports like Tennis, Football and Formula 1 which are gaining wide acceptance in a cricket crazy nation. The response we got was amazing. It only shows that if you give people interesting content it will have the viral affect, which is the biggest advantage of social media from a brand’s point of view.”

The result so far has been gratifying to say the least. Interaction on the page has jumped by 49% during the campaign. This is shear indication that people have liked the communication put out by the brand.

Also organic fan growth through these campaigns has been observed. 102 fans were added on the Facebook page. We believe that a brand has to be smart and willing to engage with its audience on topics that the audience wants to engage in. Future Generali showed a willingness to give people what it wanted. And thus, they are reaping the benefit of the same.

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Having said that, we would love to hear what you think about the above mentioned campaigns. How important do you think is engaging on current and relevant topics in order to increase interactions? Do share your views about the same.

Bloggerati of the Fortnight: Siddhartha Vaidyanathan

Monday, April 16th, 2012

siddhartha_vaidyanathanSiddhartha Vaidyanathan, popularly known as Sidvee, is a journalist based out of greater New York City area. Having said that, to bracket Siddhartha as just a journalist would be a gross understatement. Sidvee, who has by now, already earned the distinction of contributing to Forbes, Chicago Journal, The Daily Telegraph and BBC world service is an avid cricket enthusiast. Something that doubles his credibility is the fact that he had previously held the position of an Assistant Editor at ESPNcricinfo for almost half a decade. He is currently engaged as a reporter with Bloomberg News. He has also been instrumental in setting up the popular quizzing platform on Twitter bearing the handle name @kweezzz, for general and brand specific quizzes.

Siddhartha’s blog www.sidveeblogs.wordpress.com is a reflection of someone who has nurtured the art of story-telling with a special focus towards cricket. This kind of skill only comes to someone who has a keen eye for detail. Each post forces the reader to visualize the game in its most intrinsic sense. Most importantly it makes one feel the sport, the religion that is cricket. . Unlike most bloggers, Siddhartha doesn’t make short posts over regular intervals. His posts come in every once in a while and are in form of short stories. His signature style of blogging is mostly narrative and based on hard facts.

In terms of aesthetics, the blog is simple, straight forward and clutter-free. Each post is characterized by a mast photograph that is akin to a Facebook cover photo before the actual tale commences. Pretty evident from his blog, it appeals to readers who are suckers for the written word. By the end of each post it makes sure, just like most stories do, a message is driven home and the reader leaves fully aware of what the writer intends to say. Such laden are the posts that almost all of them guarantee comments that run into long threads of interaction between him and the followers.

Although cricket is what most of his posts are about, few of them address his fondness towards other sports such as tennis and football too. Sidvee, sure is a connoisseur when it comes to blogging and his ability to provide us readers with the sheer joy of reading if not just romancing cricket entitles him to be our Bloggerati of the fortnight.

Sporty and the Social

Monday, April 9th, 2012

Twitter_sports-470x250Sports and sporting events have always been at the nerve centre of media attention. In current times we have seen the gradual transition of the media providing spotlight to various sports for mass entertainment to a whole gamut of revenue generating sports franchises cropping up that have relied on social media to reach out to their fan base. We will be taking a closer look at how the various league franchises are placed in the Social Media. Be it the English Premier League (EPL), National Basketball Association (NBA) or the one closer home, Indian Premier League (IPL), they have all been heavily present on various social networking platforms and engaging with their fans and prospects.

It is not only the immense reach and personalized communication that lures various teams and franchises to jump onto the Social Media bandwagon but also how it enables them to give back to their passionate and often rabid fans, for their unwavering support and contribution, what they deserve. From dissemination of information regarding athletes, game dates, merchandise sale and other salient bits of information to fan generated comments and content, Social Media provides it all. In fact it is an inherent nature of Social Media to influence behavior and decisions of users subjected to time and condition. Having said all this, when it comes to sports, a game is all it takes eventually that wins a franchise its coveted patronage.

Here’s a glimpse at how some of the top sports franchises around the world are scoring on Social Media:

International Franchises

Manchester United:

ManU Logo
Manchester United Football Club – Logo

Considered to be the world’s largest franchise with over 23 million red devils (a MUFC aficionado) on Facebook and way over 200,000 twitter followers, MU football club has one of the most dominating presences on the social media. In November 2011, the club made a startling announcement of launching its very own social networking platform acknowledging its fan base of over 500 million globally. As of now, the Facebook and twitter pages are pretty much feeding the fodder for the red devils with contests, game schedules, exclusive photos and videos etc.

Highlight:

ManU
Sign for United – Facebook Tab

The club has created a unique ‘Sign for United’ app for its Facebook page where fans can sign in receive player’s bonus and an exclusive message from the coach, Sir Alex Ferguson.

 

Football Club Barcelona:

FCB logo
FC Barcelona – Logo

One of the most popular and revered franchises across the globe, Football Club Barcelona has a fan base that is enviable within most sporting communities. With a fan count of over 29 million on Facebook and about 4.3 million plus twitter fan following, FCB is arguably the heaviest player present on the Social Media. FCB has a strong connect with its fans and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they have a dedicated tab showcasing pictures of their fans on Facebook. Besides this, there are regular polls, contests, photo and video grabs and timely alerts so that one doesn’t miss out on a game that matters.

Highlight:

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YouTube Channel of Football Club Barcelona

Football Club Barcelona’s YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/fcbarcelona has the most number of channel views till date with a surplus of 85 million views. The viewership alone stands to testify how FCB is placed on the Social media.

 

LA Lakers:

LA Lakers logo
LA Lakers – Logo

The distinctive purple and gold team has a healthy count of over 12.7 million unique fans on its Facebook page while the twitter page has about 2.4 million followers. The Facebook timeline documents the illustrious history of the franchise right from their foundation with pictures, videos of the erstwhile players, coaches and achievements that connect with their fans who swear by them. At times it’s the simplest of things that holds the key to attraction and when it comes to Lakers’ fans, their twitter page does it like none other. Featuring Andrew Bynum’s 30 rebounds on their cover photo lets fans know how Lakers reward achievements.

lakers twitter
Lakers Twitter Page – Cover Section

Highlight:

Lakers Online
Lakers Memorabilia Collection – Online 

Lakers currently hold the distinction of presenting world’s biggest memorabilia collection online at http://www.lakers.fanatics.com/

 

Indian Franchises

Mumbai Indians:

Mumbai-Indians_logo_team
Mumbai Indians – Logo

Closer home, in India, Mumbai Indians lead the pack with a whooping fan count of over 2.5 million on Facebook and a steadily climbing twitter fan following of about 38,000. Mumbai Indians is one of the heavyweights the Indian Social Media space, when it comes to sports franchises and the lengths to which they go to engage their fans is pretty impressive. While their twitter page engages fans with real time game updates, discussions and information, their Facebook page has dedicated application tabs like the graffiti that is a collection of doodles made by fans and showcased on the page. This and all exclusive associated events and bite on their favourite players along with photos, videos and game highlights is what makes this franchise a top grosser.

Kingfisher East Bengal Football Club:

eb-logo
Kingfisher East Bengal Football Club

The Kingfisher East Bengal FC is a franchise under the wing of I-League. East Bengal FC has the most prominent presence amongst the 14 other franchises of the recently resurrected I-league on the Social Media front. It has a Facebook page fan following of about 330, 000 and a twitter follower base of about a little over 1000.

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Kingfisher East Bengal Football Club – Facebook Page

It is the only club to have a noteworthy presence on Social Media and one of the pioneers from the Indian football arena.

The Road ahead:

Social Media has definitely played a pivotal role in launching franchises into stellar heights. So far it is not only Facebook and twitter that have essentially been targeted by major franchises. In fact, Pinterest, the latest platform that has been hogging a major chunk of limelight is also gradually becoming a subject of fancy for quite a few franchises. One such franchise is the NBA’s (National Basketball League), Boston Celtics.

There is no dispute to the fact that Social Media enables sports franchises around the world to gain and maintain a steady climb in terms of fan count and in turn push their top line. What appears is, although there are a lot many franchises that have got the mix of Social Media right and are delving more into it, there are still many others who need to recognise this exploding platform. In India, IPL franchises have already started cashing in on this goldmine of an opportunity. The advantage of having a highly engaged fan base is that the franchises can get more willing sponsors and in turn shoot up their business prospects. It’s just a matter of time that other burgeoning sports like football, hockey etc. would start exploring and engaging their prospective fans and further their chances of glory.