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Sporty and the Social

Monday, April 9th, 2012

Sports 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:

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:

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:

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:

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

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 Page – Cover Section

Highlight:

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

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:

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.

Highlight:

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.

Tags:Basketball, Cricket, EPL, fan page, Football, I-League, IPL, NBA, Sports, Sports franchises
Posted in Brand Promotion, Social Media, Social Media Marketing | 1 Comment »

Use Facebook to promote your brand

Sunday, February 8th, 2009

I love Facebook.

There I said it. The reason I was having dilemma stating it openly was that till all this while I considered it as one more yuppie social networking site that will die a quick natural death. But I was wrong. And that only makes me happy. Having turned an entrepreneur, I have realized the kind of benefits I have reaped from its features.

So this post is to those features that each of you can use to promote your brand. Use them wisely and you will experience success whichever category your brand may be operating in. Here goes:

1. Start a Community:

As Facebook is all about networking, it is only right to start a community related to your brand. Keep the community generic in nature with the objective of adding value to people by providing them content – text or visual. Community allows people to join in and share their views. It becomes a good platform to interact and dialogue. Since all like minded people will join in, you know that all members would be your potential consumers. A word of caution here: Do not bombard them with only brand messages but try to be informative too. Community allows you to upload pictures, videos, write on walls, start discussions; basically enough opportunities to interact with people.

2. Profile Page:

Sections on profile page:

The profile page is the most critical and you must use it optimally. There are sections on the profile page that can carry your brand information which is easy for your friends to find. Given below are the pictures which highlight the places that can be used to guide your friends and fans to your brand website or blog.

Status Updates:

This is Facebook way of micro blogging. And they have got it right. It is one of the most used feature already. Its fun reading status updates of friends and then commenting on them. This feature should be used creatively to talk about your brand. Make it interesting, unique, creative, first ever whatever that captures eyes balls.

Status updates for announcements

Using Tabs:

You can add tabs next to the Wall and the Info area as is shown in the picture below. Add other tabs like Photos, Videos, Blog Cast which will further help your friends find out more about your brand. Update them by adding relevant pictures, videos (ads in some cases) and blog posts.

Make it easy for friends to know about your brand

3. Incorporating Applications:

I have personally found several applications of great value. These should be added to your profile as well as your brand’s.

One is Simplaris blogcast:

This application automatically updates your blog feeds and publishes it in your FB account. So whenever you have added a new blog post, this app will get that feed and publish it in your profile thereby generating visibility. So all your friends would know that you have uploaded a new post without you having to tell them.

Update your friends about your new blog post thru FB feeds

Second app that I like is Web Presence:

This app helps you in giving out all the places in the Internet where you have a presence. So this app consolidates all the presence in one box. So add on your blog address, your twitter account, Photo account on Flickr or Picassa, your videos on You Tube, your bookmarks on Delicious or Magnolia. Put it all in as this will help your fans connect with your brand on several other platforms too.

The third app is Twitter update. You can send out tweets from this app that is installed in your FB profile. This saves the trouble of login to Twitter separately. You can use twitter app and FB status updates as announcement platforms.

4. Creating Brand Page:

Facebook allows you to create a brand page where all the details about the brand can be added. This is more direct approach of brands connecting with people. Users can become fans of your brands thereby becoming loal ambassadors. The wonderful aspect is that fans can comment on the brand, its features and its advertisements. There are other features like Wall and Discussion Board where the conversations and discussions between the brand and users and even among users can be carried out. The fan page can be used by the brand to announce its on-ground events, invite users to participate in contests or update on new variant launches.

I recently become fan of Phantom sweet cigarettes that I enjoyed immensely as a kid. It was very nostalgic to find its brand page and I immediately signed on to become its fan. Now I get regular updates on what is the company planning as its new launch and I quite look forward to it!!

Fan page of Phantom Sweet Cigarettes

The golden rule that applies to all the above points is that the brand must be alive on FB. It must be updated regularly. There must be one person to accept and listen to user’s feedback on fan pages and communities. The action of each user should be acknowledged which makes the community active and ensure participation at all times.

Tags:brand, community, Facebook, fan page, groups, profile, Promote, Social Media, social media agency, social networking site, status update, Twitter, Windchimes Comm
Posted in Blog Visibility, Brand Promotion, Essential Series, Facebook, Social Media | 39 Comments »

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