UEFA have announced wide-ranging plans to engage with fans through Facebook when the Europa League knockout stages begin in February.

The competition already has a presence on the social networking site with over 150,000 fans (http://www.facebook.com/#!/uefaeuropaleague) and Europe’s governing body will be hoping to attract far more with the launch of a series of initiatives between now and the final in May.

Ahead of the round of 32 a fans’ social mosaic will be launched which will create a picture of the Europa League trophy using users’ profile pictures.

In the next round of games fans will be encouraged to share their location and state which game they are watching as UEFA look to “light-up Europe”.

At the quarter-final stage supporters will be asked to upload pictures of their favourite Europa League memories which will then be voted on by other fans.

The completed social mosaic will return ahead of the semi-finals and users will be able to win prizes by finding special tiles among the profile pictures.

For the final, which is being played in Bucharest on May 9, fans will be asked for vote for their favourite Europa League player from a pre-selected list with the winners receiving a match ball.

Manchester United, Manchester City and Stoke are England’s three remaining teams in the competition which returns on the week beginning February 13.

(Ed: we did have pic of how the app may look but had to take it down. sorry)

We see in many posts how clubs should be utilising social media for fans who come along to the games. The likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona have upped the game by making wifi powerful enough to actually be able to use your smart phone when there are 30,000+ other people in the area trying to do the same thing.

The owner of NBA team Dallas Mavericks Mark Cuban wrote an article on his blog recently to say that he doesn’t believe in any of this in-game digital entertainment with his post ‘The Fan Experience at Sporting Events – We don’t need no stinking smartphones!‘.

I can’t say that I agree with everything that he says but some of it does make sense. When people go to a game it is about the experience, otherwise they would just stay at home and watch it on TV right? (its cheaper and more comfortable for starters). The first aim for any club is to make the event day the most memorable, fun experience possible both on and off the pitch, or at least try to.

So when we start talking about in-game apps, talking to fans at the game on Twitter, etc should we be getting them staring at their smartphones and away from the match day experience they should be enjoying?

For one it depends on the sport. If you go to football, basketball or another fast-action sport then you will be too ‘in the game’ to give a damn about looking at your phone checking up on the latest stats of the players. But for a more drawn out event such as cricket, long distance running or motor racing then there will be things you can do that can actually add to the experience of the day, when they won’t actually be seeing that much action.

This is not to say there is not a role for using social media with fans coming to a game of football or basketabll. But I would recommend sticking to this mantra…. ‘be useful’! What do I mean by this? I mean that when you are looking at doing something for the fans, put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself ‘Would I find this useful? Does it add to my experience? Would I use it?’ and ask the others you work with or friends who are fans the same thing. If not, then stop!

Take time out and think about what content is right for the fans on your different pages and apps. Are they are going to be either at the game or watching it on TV? Are you adding that much by giving out score and action updates? (If they’re watching it you would presume they already know).

An alternative would be to set up an @XXXXlive account so people who want live updates, when they are out shopping or on holiday, can opt-in by following the account and follow the game. Thats a useful benefit without creating lots of spam.

Likewise, how about offering fans some useful match day info when they are on their way to the game. Give out traffic news from the area, updates on what the car parking situation is like, let fans know if tickets are still on sale, etc.

This is all information which is useful to those coming in and at a time when they are more likely to be on their phones. Answer peoples questions and add to making the day the best possible experience for everyone coming along.

Before they set off for the game, Facebook and YouTube could be used to show the players getting ready for a match and offering behind the scenes clips that add to the pre-match buzz. Inform them of where they can get match updates or which channel the game is being shown on or when highlights will be on. Remember….think about which fans you are targeting with which platform.

There are so many platforms out there now, and not forgetting club websites, that it can be tempting to treat them all the same and farm out links and replicate content. If you can put together a strategy that gives each a purpose and is targeted so you know which audience you are speaking to then you really are being ‘useful’.

This is the last mash up summing the week in social media and sport before the Christmas celebrations really start!  It has been a fantastic year, a sentiment I hope you share too.

2012 is going to be another year of massive change in the world of social media as we see adoption rates accelerate and new technologies spring up.  With so many massive sports events to look forward to, including the first ‘social’ Olympic Games here in London.

Anyway, back to the week that was.  Here is your weekly round up…

David Villa on YouTube straight after surgery

Barcelona and Spain striker David Villa fractured his leg playing in the World Club Championships in Tokyo, meaning he will miss at least the next 4 months which may even extend to the Euro 2012 Championships.  To show his fans how we was getting on, his team posted a video of him coming out of surgery and then him giving a message to his fans.  This was posted on his own YouTube channel.  Who needs journalists to break news when the players can do it themselves?!

Super Bowl to be streamed online in 2012

Big news for all fans of the Super Bowl.  It was announced that next years big game will be streamed online by NBC Universal on their website and via Verizons NFL mobile app.  With the tight broadcasting rights around many sports this is going to be an interesting one to see what the uptake is like.  With the BBC planning to show all the Olympic sports via red button and their website next year too, could we see the rise of the internet enabled TV?

Canadian players develop own social media policy

The coach os a world junior ice hockey team is not on Twitter, and does really too much for it. But his players do enjoy it. So when it comes to making a policy for their conduct on it why not let those who know it best decide how they should use it?  It sounds like a great plan and appears to be working well.  Could this be the way forward for social media policy making?

Arsenal Facebook – Emirates 360 Panorama

As part of the clubs 125th anniversary celebrations, they have developed a Facebook app to enable fans to take themselves and friends who went to the Arsenal v Everton game on the 10th December.  Not a new idea but one that adds something new to their page and fans always like seeing themselves in the crowd to show friends.

Michael Owen fires back on Twitter to fan banter

One of the drawbacks for any ‘name’ on Twitter is that they are open to people throwing abuse at them or trying to wind them up enough to get a response.  This time it was Michael Owen’s time to lose his cool at one fan in particular.  It did seem to catch him at a sensitive time as he was tweeting about how he was upset by the amount and type of abuse levelled at Blackburn manager Steve Keen during the game against Bolton on Tuesday night.  Sometimes a simple ‘block’ or ‘block and report spam’ is the best answer though when emotions are running high it is easily done.

Pro team to sport Twitter handles instead of names on jerseys

Another trip over the pond to see what our friends in the US are up to.  This time it is one of the National Lacrosse League teams who have made some headlines.  They have announced that for their Feb 12th game each player will have their Twitter handle in place of their name on the back of their shirt.  In the meantime this requires each player to have a Twitter account and the club will be running Twitter training sessions in the lead-up to the game.  A bit of a PR gimmick but with the traning they are heading in the right direction at least.

Social Media and Football: a Match Made in Heaven

An article from The Wall Blog telling us something that most of us know, that football and social media are a perfect match with so much potential.  It takes a brief look at footballers and social, clubs and what they are doing plus a roundup of what the future holds.  It is a subject that could go on for much longer than a couple of hundred words as it does here but still quite a nice little summary.

As one of the teams that is continuously pushing the boundaries when it comes to engaging their fan base and trying new things, especially on Facebook, Real Madrid are at it again.

This is actually an idea I have had at the back of my mind for a while now but not had the opportunity to try out (someone was going to do it sooner or later).  What the club have done is launch a quiz app on their page that allows fans to indulge in that favourite football fan pastime of proving their footballing knowledge.

This app has a few different quizes available and there is a leaderboard for each one, each with its own prize at the end of it.  One nice feature is the countdown clock to show you how long the leaderboard is open for and how long you have to get to the top and win the prize.

You can prove your knowledge on a few different topics including; World Cups, Real Madrid, Zidane, La Liga and Pot Luck.  There are also ones for Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos, though you have to have enough Facebook coins to play these ones.

This is one element I am less sure about. You can purchase coins to bypass having to win one of the quizzes and play the ones that require you to pay first.  This is a revenue driver for the club, but how much of one is to be seen.  I imagine this is a revenue share between Real Madrid and the company who made the game Supporter Arena.

Supporter Arena claims to be “a supporter interactive social media platform and the umbrella term for a suite of simple participation tools that encourage fan interaction on Facebook.  These tools help clubs, governing bodies and companies interact and engage with sports through social media, enabling them to grow, mobilise and ultimately monetise their communities.”

One downside with the game for me is that you can re-take the quiz as many times as you like and you get the same questions.  Thus anyone with half a memory can score 10/10, it then just comes down to who can be the quickest with their answers.

As an app it has the advantages that it pushes messages into your own ticker news feed saying;

Data collection will also be possible as you have authorised them to do so in using the app and you can invite friends easily through it as well.  Fan engagement is becoming more sophisticated on Facebook now and companies and clubs alike are trying new things.  A quiz is an easy and great way to find your top fans whilst giving them something entertaining and a reason top come back to the page again and again.

You can tell when Christmas is approaching when you write a blog.  The updates slow down as the pre-holiday rush to get work completed kicks in, as well as the christmas parties/drinks most evenings of the week.

Thus this week has been one where it has been head down and concentrate on the day job.  A quick thank you as well to everyone who came along to the drinks in London on Monday.  It wasn’t the best weather to be out and about but it was great to catch up with everyone.  Thanks as well to We Are Social for sponsoring the night.

This week in the world of social media and sport it also seems to have slowed down a little.  Less new campaigns and initiatives are being launched as people prepare for a week or two (or three!) off.  Here is a wrap up of those items that have caught the eye in the last few days.  As always just click on the title to link through to the full article…

Facebook Time goes live for everyone

Originally it was just New Zealand (any idea why just NZ?) that could get the new timeline set up for their Facebook profile, and the geeks amongst us who put the code in to get it early.  Now it is available to everyone to opt into having.  The testing phase where it is optional, giving everyone a short time to get used to the change before the old profile is dumped forever.  Here USA Today look at 9 things you need to know about the new Timeline.

Man City to extend Augmented Reality to include swappable content

The current Premier League leaders are again pushing the boundaries in the digital space.  I feel I could write something every week about something new they have launched or tested, they are going full tilt with plans and are not scared to fail along the way.  This week they have extended the AR capabilities of the membership cards to allow them to swap content using the built in RFID technology.

Premier League Social Media stats for December

Digital agency Freestyle Interactive, whom our very own Sean Walsh works for, have released an interesting infographic that summarises the social media stats of premier league football for the month. It looks mainly at the size of the Twitter and Facebook following and the rate of growth they are seeing.

Heres what People Look at on Facebook Brand Pages

This doesn’t have anything sports specific in it but for any club, NGB or brand with a brand page on Facebook it is interesting stuff.  It looks at where it is on the screen that people look when on a page which should help anyone running a page to make best use of the spaces most looked at and move away from those that dont.  I think its safe to summarise that people look at the picture gallery at the top and the top post the most.  Interestingly the tab links on the left are looked at only a few times.

OneUp turns live football (US) into a game of play-making bingo

Another Mashable article (shocking I know) and its from our friends in the US.  It is interesting as it another attempt to help gamify the sports viewing experience.  Many companies have taken variations of this and tried to help people do more whilst watching from the comfort of their own sofa.  There is a fine balance between adding a valuable extra experience and becoming too much of a distraction that it takes people away from the game itself.  Ahead of Euro 2012 and London 2012 there are going to be more of these types of 2nd screen experiences being developed for the sports fan.

5 social media tactics every football club ‘must have’

An interesting summary from Sean as he looks at what he has learned from looking at football clubs in the social media space over the last year or so.  Here he puts together those thoughts and picks out 5 of the most important areas a club must have to be successful.  Are these the key 5 in your opinion and are there others?

Lots of love for broken leg victim David Villa from fans and players on twitter

To finish on a positive note and show how Twitter can be a platform of support as well as aimless gossip and talk about food.  After the unlucky David Villa of Barcelona fractured his shin bone playing in the FIFA World Club Championships this week, fans and players alike took to Twitter to show their support for him at what would be a really difficult time for any player.  He faces 4 or 5 months out of the game and lot of work to get back to where he was before.  All the best from the UK David.

This weeks #DigiSport mash-up has brought together a whole host of great stories from the last few days.  With the seasons first El Classico coming up this weekend and Shaq O’Neill giving an insight into his social media plans its been all go.

To go to the actual articles and find out more on the story, click on the title of the article and it will take you straight there.  If you hear of any interesting #DigiSport stories during the week then tweet them to me at @danielmclaren or @uksportsnetwork and we’ll add them in next week.

For anyone still interested, the drinks on Monday in London has a couple of places (is just about full) so DM or email me for more details.  The great news is that We Are Social (my place of work) will be sponsoring the evening which is fantastic news!  Thanks guys

Have a great weekend all and enjoy the articles below…

Twitter launches brand pages – interesting for sports teams!

Tonight, Twitter has come out and made a major announcement in regards to a redesign of its platform and more interestingly what it is doing for brands.  The article concentrates on what is in it for brand marketeers but this is also interesting for sports teams and leagues.  Be interesting to see what more comes out in the coming days from all parties.

The Match Day Experience: a Social Media trial goes live

After last weeks post about Man City’s social media experiment they have again come out and explained more about whaty has been happening.  It is great to read about what they are doing, why they are doing and sharing their successes and failures.  I cant think of many other companies who would do the same. Well work keeping an eye on their MCFCgeeks website and twitter

Big Shaq talks up Social Media plans

The Big Aristotle announced via Twitter in June that he was done with basketball. But since then, he has busied himself by promoting his book, “Shaq Uncut,” and by preparing to team up with Charles Barkley as a TNT basketball analyst this year.  O’Neal has also been working on his website, Shaq.com, which is what he wanted to talk about during a phone interview last week. During a call that included his brand manager, Mary Gleason, he also discussed his business plans, dispensed social-media advice and talked a little Barkley and basketball.

Barcelona’s new website gives links to players social media profiles

Barca’s newly designed website has come with some really cool new features.  The one I was drawn to, unsurprisingly, was the players info area where not only can you find out about the usual player biog stuff but also see embedded news streams from either Twitter or Facebook pages.  Awesome integration!

Fastest growing Facebook pages in sport this year dominated by Messi and Barca

This interesting snippet of information as we near years end has come from Facebook and their ‘Memology 2011′ tab.  Here you can see the fastest growing sports (as well as music, news and entertainment) pages in terms of growth of fans.  Messi’s FB page launch this year means he went from 0 to 27m pretty quickly.  6 footballers are in the top 10 and Barca, Real and Man Utd make up top 3 in teams (shock).  Some interesting info none the less.

Real Madrid v Barcelona – social media battle

You may need Google Translate for this one but this Spanish article ahead of the first El Classico of the league season this coming weekend.  It compares the giants of both the football and social media world with some interesting stats and take on what they are doing well.  A good read from Sportwist.

Social Saviness – NBAers, NCAAers and Media members talk social media

An interesting look by Jeremy Bauman and Peter Robert Casey on Slam Online at the impact social media has had for fans, players and media alike in how they consume and follow the game.  They’ve snippets from players on their experiences and media alike.  A good read if a fan of basketball and social media in the US.

This evening saw the first launch of the new adidas [client] Messi signature range for kids on Facebook.

A tease post went up on his site yesterday to let people know that something was coming and today saw an e-commerce tab launched on his page to his fans.

Although this isn’t available in every country yet via the e-commerce tab just yet, many can get hold of the range via retail outlets and see useful info on the tab (the shop doesn’t show to them, they see the last image listed below).

Now that both Messi and Ronaldo have their own ranges available on their Facebook pages through their sponsors, is this going to be a lucrative new initiative more players (and athletes) will look to do as they become bigger brands online?

5 tips for marketing to sports fans on Facebook

Mashable spoke to reps from the pro world of Sports Marketing including Christy Berkery (New England Patriots), Jim Spinello (rEvolution), Dan Lobring (rEvoltion), Laura Clemente (New York Jets), Kristen Baier (NETS Basketball).

Marseille receive 60k submissions for ‘fan designed kit’ competition

Back in March we posted an article praising French team Olympique Marseille for their asking fans to submit their own designs for a new official kit. Marseille used the landmark of hitting 1 million Facebook fans to reward their international fanbase and are the first football club world wide to essentially crowd-source their jersey. This week the club announced that they received a staggering 60,000 submissions for the competition and that after months of development and judging – they let their Facebook fans have the final decision.

JD Sports get top marks for social media

A quick look by Football Trade Directory on the social media presence of the Bury based sports retailer.

Using social media to make your sponsorship budget go further

Apparently, the 2012 Olympic Games aren’t just any old Games. They’re the world’s first social Olympic Games. Sponsors are lining up their social campaigns, most notably BT’s Storytellers and Lloyds TSB’s ‘Local heroes’ campaigns. But what of the (hundreds) of brands sponsoring major but non-Olympic events? The Grand National, FA Cup, Six Nations, Wimbledon, and the soon-to-be-not-the-Carling Cup?

Social media in Sports and Entertainment: Three mega trends in 2012

Beverly Macy from Gravity Summit LLC takes an early look at the top 3 trends to watch out for in 2012, in this edition of the Huffington Post.

BMW launches iPad app for Olympics

Not so much an article but a link to new BMW iPad app brought out as part of their sponsorship of the London 2012 games.

Shaq’s Social Media Guru Shares Her Secrets

Amy Jo Martin, CEO of Digital Royalty, tells Mashable how Shaq took over Twitter, what makes for a successful online presence and where she sees social media going in the future.

This is a post by Manchester City’s Head of Digital, Richard Ayers taken from the club blog www.mcfcgeeks.co.uk first published on 26th November this year.  Its a really honest appraisal of the clubs efforts and is well worth a read.

Pies, beer, football – that’s all you need for the perfect day out. At least, that’s the view of some people who think that media and technology are a distraction – both in terms of the organisation of a football club and also the fans’ experience on the day.

Last week I was speaking at the inaugural How-Do Sports Business and Marketing conference and I listened to Robert Elstone, Everton’s CEO, speak about the importance of the match-day experience for fans. He was very clear about doing everything he can to ensure that when you turn up at Goodison, you have as good a time as possible.

Where he and I differ is that I believe that digital media has an increasingly important role to play. Robert said he wasn’t convinced and felt that there were more important things to focus on for now – and as he’s infinitely more experience in football than I am, I’m sure he’s right – for Everton. Digital media can be an addition to the excitement, not an alternative.

I know some diehards feel that nothing should distract from the action on the pitch, but my bet would be that it won’t be long before some fans are using handheld devices during the match to add something to the game.

Football isn’t like many US sports where there are long breaks mid-play that give you time to check up on the last play or the stats or watch a replay (like with FanVision)… but I think it would be foolish to bet against services being used by a large enough audience in the near future. In fact, if you include the use of SMS, then you could argue that handheld devices and their communication capability has already changed a match-day. How many people do you know who are in touch with mates at other grounds during the game?

Now, putting aside the fact that all stadia act like Faraday cages and so getting a signal (never mind 3G) can be nigh-on impossible, and assuming that this will change, then it’s interesting to consider how social media might affect the fans on a match day.

[as an aside, thanks to all the @mcfcgeeks twitter followers who continue to ask about our progress with boosting signal or installing wifi in the Etihad stadium - we're working on it and it's a high priority for me so it's good to hear your needs]

I wanted to experiment with social media on a match day. So we decided to run a test using twitter, discussion between two blogger/supporters over twitter, and integrating that into the pre-match media that we run in City Square.

As an experiment, it was a great success.

As an enhancement of the match-day experience it was, well… rubbish.

If you follow me on twitter, or @vickistansfield or @mcfcgeeks then you will know how much we try to be open and straight-talking with fans about what we’re trying to achieve as well as sharing with the digital community about our plans and progress. So, in that spirit, I wanted to share with you the case-study that we put together to debrief this experiment.

You can view or download the Manchester City FC Matchday Tweets Case Study_MCFC vs NUFC 19.11.11.

Our project manager, John Kearney, comes to some clear conclusions about what didn’t work and why: the conversation was out of context, it wasn’t live enough, you couldn’t interact with it … to name a few. But he also comes up with a series of recommendations which gives me hope for trying this again and making it work better next time.

Our American geek friends are particularly fond of a phrase that sums up our approach here – and it’s one we’ve taken to heart in the @mcfcgeeks team: Fail Better. Working with new technologies, new forms of social interaction, and integrating them into such a well-developed experience as the warm-up to a Premier League football match is never going to be easy, but we’re experimenting, learning and innovating…. and that leads to success.

When I wrapped up my talk about engaging a fanbase online at the How-Do conference, there was one thing I should have added: The reason why we feel like this kind of thing is important isn’t just to do with being innovative for the sake of it; it’s not because we like spending time and money on the latest digital fad; it’s not because we want to find a way to make money out of fans. The reason why we do this is because our fans deserve it.

City fans use mobiles and facebook and twitter and foursquare and and youtube every day, just like everyone else, and if we can give them more access to the club they love via those platforms, we will.

I know its not yet December, we’ve got 2 more days left yet, so apologies for the Santa covered picture but I’m sure you wont mind.

Anyway, I cant believe it is almost Christmas again.  I’ve absolutely no idea where the last year has disappeared to!  I’m sure you are all feeling the same way too.

To help bring the festive season in with a #DigiSport bang there is going to be a get together in central London on Monday 12th December.  It’s free to attend and hopefully someone kind out there will put some money behind the bar for at least one free drink!

If you would like to come along then drop me an email at daniel@theuksportsnetwork.com to be added to the guest list.  There is limited room at the venue but there is also a public bar downstairs so we can always overspill a little.

If you would like to meet up with some new people in the industry or get together with some old friends then this is going to be ideal.  It will certainly start the main Christmas party week off well!

At the moment it is a pure networking/drinks gig (no sales pitches going on please) but we may add in some yuletide surprises to liven the night up.  I promise not to keep you up too late as it is a school night but it would be great to see you there even for a short while.

As way of a teaser here is the venue.  Can you guess where it is??

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