At the end of this month I’m lucky enough to be heading over to Paris to cover an event that will include some of the best minds in digital and football.

The event is the inaugural ‘Football Production Summit‘ which will take place in the iconic French national stadium, Stade de Paris, on 29th February.

What interests me most about the conference is that it will be first chance to hear (and hopefully meet up with) the new Head of Digital at Manchester City, Russell Stopford.  He has taken over from the interim boss of the last year Richard Ayers, who is working for City still from his London base.

The panel session that Russell will be taking part in is on ‘Football Club Perspectives’ and also includes Guiliano Giogetti (Head of New Wed & New Media at AC Milan), Kieron Kilbride (Director of Biz Development at Football League) and Warren Perk (MD, Northern Europe at Perform).

The panel is being moderated by an old aquaintance in Cas Knight, formerly the MD of Chelsea Digital and now SVP at Wasserman Media Group.  If nothing else it is worth heading along to hear these people give their thoughts and, hopefully, get to meet them too.

To help set our expectations here is what the panel session is about;

“Clubs have more ways of engaging with their fans than ever, with a spectrum of possibilities that run from social networking initiatives all the way up to running their own TV channels. What are the perils and pitfalls of joining the broadcasting business? How much does the equipment cost? What is the minimum technical spec that should be considered? And how do clubs monetise one of the most precious assets that they have; their archive?”

There is more to this show than the one panel, though that is where most of my interest is going to lie.

There is also a EURO 2012 overview from the Head of TV Production at EUFA.  A panel session on broadcast technologies with FIFA, STATS, Opta and deltatre.  Finishing off with a panel session on next-generate technologies (3D, 4k, etc).

Its an awesome line up for what promises to be a really interesting event.  If you fancy hopping onto the Eurostar to Paris then head to http://svgeurope.org/football-production/ first to book your place.

Hopefully see you there!

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’.

Guest Post: Iain Taker is an associate at Kemp Little LLP, specialising in commercial and sports law, and a registered lawyer under the FA Football Agency Regulations.  You can follow him on twitter @iaintaker or on LinkedIn

Is Social Media an opportunity or potential threat?

Messages can now instantaneously be sent across international borders to millions of people at little or no cost.  Although this reality brings with it significant public relations and marketing opportunities, there is also the possibility of serious damage resulting from ill-considered comments.

This article looks at the positives and negatives of using social media (in particular Twitter) from the perspective of a professional sports body and suggests some safeguards that should be implemented to reduce the risks.

Is social media really that important for sports clubs and players?

Social media is already a very large industry – Facebook alone has in excess of 800 million users and over a billion tweets are posted on Twitter every week.  Players and clubs have shown an increasing drive to tweet and be actively involved in social and digital media in order to interact with their fans.  It has now reached a situation where fans expect to be able to interact with players and clubs through social media platforms.

The most popular teams and players on Twitter (as at 17 January 2012):

Top 5 followed Sports Teams

• Real Madrid (@realmadrid) – 3.171m (20,015 tweets);
• FC Barcelona (in English) (@FCBarcelona) – 2.770m (8,155 tweets);
• LA Lakers (@Lakers) – 2.292m (9,360 tweets);
• FC Barcelona (in Spanish) (@FCBarcelona_es) – 1.624m (16,657 tweets); and
• Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) – 1.154m (7,026 tweets)

Top 5 followed Sports Professionals

• Kaka (@Kaka) – 8.040m (2,239 tweets);
• Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) – 6.418m (750 tweets);
• Shaquille O’Neal (@Shaq) – 4.870m (4,130 tweets);
• LeBron James (@KingJames) – 3.268m (2,300 tweets); and
• Lance Armstrong (@lancearmstrong) – 3.220m (8,237 tweets)

Top 5 followed UK Sports Professionals

• #13 Wayne Rooney (@WayneRooney) – 2.591m (679 tweets);
• #25 Rio Ferdinand (@RioFerdy5) – 1.882 m (8,239 tweets);
• #35 Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) – 1.237m (7,793 tweets);
• #47 Rory Mcllroy (@McllroyRory) – 792k (1,999 tweets); and
• #51 Jenson Button (@JensonButton) – 741k (1,301 tweets).

The importance of interacting with fans through social media should not be underestimated. A player’s or club’s potential reach in terms of the active number of followers they have gives them a particular influence in terms of both framing or adding to the debate of the day and (potential) in terms of revenue generation.  Social media enables players to develop a personal profile that is not only based or dependent upon their on-field performances.

It is my belief that Twitter has so far been under-utilised from a revenue generation perspective, and that in the near future clubs and players will be able to advertise significantly more on their page and through their tweets.  While advertising on platforms such as Twitter can lead to legal issues such as requirements to comply with consumer protection legislation in relation to endorsements of products these can easily be overcome with specialist advice.  The potential power placed into the hands of the clubs and players, through social media platform, can help to create significant additional income streams.  Such opportunities are however not fully understood or appreciated by many and yet specialist sports social media organisations, such as the industry specialists recently employed by Wayne Rooney, are available to assist in this area.   This may result in, the next few years, an extension of the traditional sponsorship model.

Benefits of using Twitter

Twitter was launched in 2006.  One of the great appeals of Twitter for both the sender and the follower is its simplicity; messages are capped at a 140 characters so tweets are short and to the point. Followers find this approach more personable than email and perceive that they are not being overly bombarded by sales materials (even though tweets can contain sales messages or links to marketing materials) or excessive content.

Speed and cost

A significant benefit of Twitter is the ability to be able to speak to millions of fans spread across the world in an instant for free.  While sports teams (and players through personal websites) will have significant mailing lists, the likelihood is that Twitter may offer the opportunity to access a significantly larger and geographically more spread fan base than was previously possible (and possibly attract followers that would not otherwise consider themselves fans).  The tweets themselves can contain a simple link which will take the receiver to a specified site enabling existing marketing promotions/information to be displayed to any and all users who click on the link.

Multi-platform access means that the average Twitter user spends significantly longer on the site than they do reading their email account.  The increasing use of tablet and mobile devices mean that people look at tweets on the way to, during and after work. This ‘hit rate’ is also increased through the use of push notifications which alert the reader when their favourite team or player posts a tweet.

Self-promotion

The player or club can send tweets which contain a link to news concerning themselves which in turn creates greater exposure for their activities and (potentially) their sponsors.  This may, for example, be a link to awards they have been given (e.g. Mark Cavendish on his victory in BBC Sports Personality of the Year) or activities that they are involved within (e.g. Phil Neville’s charity work including Cornerstones in Manchester).  It has increasingly been used to link into business activities that the professional is involved in whether it be a restaurant they own (e.g. Rio Ferdinand and Rosso Restaurant), computer game they are involved with (e.g. Tim Cahill and FIFA 12) or a connection with a sponsor (e.g. Lance Armstrong and Nike).

Social media platforms are the modern equivalent of ‘word of mouth’ advertising but their functionality and reach is such that campaigns can ‘snowball’ quickly.  A good example of this is the American football player Chad Ochocinco who launched a mobile app called Mad Chad solely through advertising and word of mouth on Facebook and Twitter.  This app became one of the five most downloaded apps on Apple iTunes Store on the day it was released.  A similar ‘traditional’ campaign (namely one which would have reached a similar number of potential customers) would have involved significant expense and advertisement.

Public image

In addition to revenue raising aspects, Twitter has also played a significant role in the public perception of players and clubs.  The platform offers fans a way of ‘getting to know’ what the player is really like by being able to seemingly interact with them on a level that previously was impossible for most.  It has also helped players re-establish a positive reputation after negative portrayals such as the American football player Reggie Bush in the US who successful dealt with public criticism over allegations relating to his time at USC.

This type of openness and interaction helps to remove the dis-enfranchisement that many fans feel about today’s sports industry. The possibility to enter into discussions (or competitions set by) with high profile sports stars reduces the ‘disconnect’ and makes them more human.  For many youngsters receiving a retweet (or reply) from their hero is the modern day equivalent of getting their autograph or photo.

Examples of where Social Media has caused issues

Although there is much good about social media, the bad and the downright ugly are often not far behind.  Even though there is the possibility to remove posts and comments, the nature of the internet is such that once something has been posted it is very difficult (if not impossible) to prevent the contents from being accessible in one form or another.  Although in some instances too much information is revealed or unwise comments are made deliberately this can also happen quite innocently and unintentionally.  A few examples of negative consequences of using social media are set out below.

The footballer, Paul Konchesky, was on the wrong end of an unfortunate social media incident that was not of his own making.  During an unsuccessful time at Liverpool FC Konchesky’s mother Carol apparently updated her Facebook status to label the club’s fans in a derogatory fashion (see screen shot below).  Unfortunately, her comments were visible to all Facebook users as her privacy settings were not sufficiently strong enough to limit the comment to her ‘Facebook friends’.  Despite the removal of the post, it spread through local and national press and did little to help her son’s popularity in and around the club.

A second example is the NBA player, Michael Beasley.  In August 2010 Beasley found himself in hot water after posting a photo of his new tattoo on Twitter.  The problem was nothing to do with the tattoo itself rather two plastic bags that purportedly containing marijuana.  The apparent presence of the drugs in the picture was widely reported on local and global sports blogs and resulted in the player entering into a rehabilitation hospital a few days later.

A third example is the football player Ryan Babel. Babel has the dubious honour of being the first Premier League footballer to be charged by the Football Association due to a posting on a social media site.  Following a contentious FA cup match between Manchester United and Liverpool, Babel retweeted (forwarding another person’s tweet) a picture (see below) of the match referee, Howard Webb, which contained the comment “[a]nd they call him one of the best referees? That’s a joke” the picture has been manipulated such that Webb appeared to be wearing a Manchester United shirt.  Babel subsequently apologised for the retweet and was fined £10,000.  In this situation it is important to note that Babel did not create the image itself but merely passed on a link that another user had created.

Measures to restrict potential problems

There are a number of potential measures that can be implemented by professional sports clubs in order to help prevent issues from arising or to protect themselves in the event that a situation arises.

1.       Comprehensive social media policy

Surprisingly, a number of professional sports clubs do not have an estbalished social media policy either included in the playing contract or given to and agreed by the player.  Such a policy should set out clear instructions over what is, and what is not, permitted.  Best practice would be for it to include a quick reference guide for the player and list contacts of the club who are nominated to handle social media queries who can be contacted as and when necessary.  The policy should also set out the internal punishments that may result from an infringement.

2.       Set parameters as to what players are allowed to tweet about

A number of football clubs set strict guidelines over what their players are allowed to comment on.  For example, matters relating to the club (ranging from team selection, thoughts about fellow players or officials to transfer speculation) are usually off limits.  While these guidelines would appear to be no more than common sense it is clear that they are not always followed or effectively enforced, (see for example Joey Barton’s tweets (@Joey7Barton) for a number of examples of disputes with fellow players).

Neil Warnock (former Queens Park Rangers Manager) has gone on record as saying that his squad are allowed to use Twitter only on the proviso that it has nothing to do with the club.  While the photo may actually turn out to be innocent it is the public perception of them that can be very harmful, see for example the criticism given to Steven Ireland’s (Aston Villa football player) as a result of a photo showing him smoking a shisha pipe with an unidentifiable drink in his hand. In addition, players should be warned against putting up pictures that may portray them in a bad light such as images that show them smoking, drinking, late night partying and/or gambling.

3.       Players (and connected persons) should use privacy settings

The use of strict privacy settings should help to prevent situations of unauthorised tweets/comments being made from player accounts.  Any such guidelines or advice should apply equally to persons connected to the player as it is often the case that comments of the player are displayed on their friends’ and family’s pages see the Paul Konchesky case above.  Both Twitter’s and Facebook’s default privacy settings are such that tweets and comments are publicly available.  Clubs should be able to provide the necessary advice as to how to ensure the settings can be adjusted to avoid personal information being unintentionally sharing of personal information.

4.       Blackout periods

Players should not be allowed to use social media for a few hours prior, during and for a few hours after the game.  The NFL enforces a social media blackout for the period commencing 90 minutes prior to the match and ending after the post-game media interviews.  The NBA has enforced a similar rule starting 45 minutes prior to the match until after the post-match obligations.  Chad Ochocinco (Cincinnati Bengals player) was fined $25,000 for posting two messages during a pre-season game in August 2010.

As emotions run high, the danger of reacting to a situation in the immediate aftermath is significant and can have far reaching implications.  As shown by the £10,000 fine given to Ryan Babel (discussed above), the Football Association will punish players for indiscretions.  It is not inconceivable that severe indiscretions will in the future be met with a suspension and little is likely to upset a player’s employer more than having their star player banned for heat of the moment comments.

5.       Pre-approval of content

While this may on the face of it seem an arduous step for players, the reality is that often ‘communications’ through player’s websites/blogs are not actually written by the player themselves.  An increasing number of celebrities (for example the actor Ashton Kutcher) do not post to Twitter directly but rather through an intermediary.  In a world that takes an instant to read but a significant time to forget a post such a pre-caution would be wise.   The consequence of having a dedicated individual at the club who handles social media issues for players is that the club will have a greater awareness over any potential conflict and can implement damage limitations procedures quickly. For example the Manchester United players have access to a member of the club’s staff to clear any tweets which relate to the club.

6.       Educate the players themselves

An important step to minimise issues is to educate the players over the potential pitfalls of inappropriate use of social media.  The potential implications can include a ban from playing, fine from governing body, fine from club, loss of sponsors and loss of fans.  Such an education should include the potential consequences of re-tweeting without fully understanding (or examining) the content of the tweet which may include an unsuitable link.  The advice to the players should be:

• do not share too much;
• know who they are sharing it with;
• double check that they are happy to be associated with everything they are sharing; and
• if in doubt check with a club official.

The education should include details of the legal consequences that may arise from the use of Twitter such as potential claims for defamation or breach of contract (e.g. where a contract has a morality provision and the player is shown drunk/using drugs etc.).  What may seem a harmless comment or bit of fun can soon turn out to be a very damaging and expensive decision.

7.       Have a damage limitation plan

Where a situation comes to light that a tweet which contains unsuitable comments/links or photos has been posted, the player or club should have a clear and detailed damage limitation plan that should be implemented as soon as possible. While the damage may not be fully contained as it is likely to have been captured or retweeted, it is important to minimise the damage/publicity as far as possible. In addition, it may be beneficial to clarify a statement which has been taken out of context.  An apology should also be issued if any offence (or potential offence) has been caused as in the case of Ryan Babel (as shown below). This may help reduce the knock on effects (as often it is how situations are handled that is remembered) and any subsequent punishment handed out.

8.       Seek specialist advice for monetising the potential

Further to having a social media policy in place in order to fully exploit the potential, in particular in relation to revenue making opportunities that social media can offer it is essential to deal with experts within the field.  Such specialists can implement solutions that would ensure potential public relations issues can be avoided such as a player advertising a product that is a direct competitor to a principal sponsor of the club.

Conclusion

Twitter is a platform that offers clubs and professionals significant opportunities to increase awareness, business opportunities and their public perception.  The important part is to recognise (and limit) the potential pitfalls that such an opportunity can present.  Both clubs and players would be well advised to use a specialist to handle this aspect of their marketing.  The financial benefits of social media have yet to be fully developed and exploited, a situation that will undoubtedly change as the trend away from traditional to digital media forms continues.  The implementation (and enforcement) of a clear but complete social media policy is fundamental as clubs will no doubt wish to retain some control over their players’ ability to make public comments. Given the potential benefits and costs associated with social media, it is highly advisable to implement and enforce a very thorough social media policy as well as a comprehensive education programme. In my opinion the potential and opportunities of social media have yet to be fully realised by most and clubs and players who focus upon this area will be well rewarded.

Note – You can check out other articles on Twitter and athletes below:

‘Twitter Ye Not’  – a BBC article

Are the media obsessed with banning players from Twitter?

Football clubs must take responsibility for their players twitter mishaps!

How would I advise sports stars on using Twitter and avoiding the pitfalls

The first Mashup of 2012 (last one here) and this start to January has been a very eventful one for social media and sport in the news.  Some of it has been positive as social becomes more intertwined in major sports event and this week sees the start of the Australian Open tennis down in sunny Melbourne.

It has also been a time for apologies and fines in equal measures as sports stars take to Twitter to let their views been known.  Some has been a case of some careless banter and have received no more than a ticking off, while for others it has been much more costly.

If you haven’t caught our look into the future of social and sport we ran recently, you can via the links here for the USA/Spain Social Media 2012 predictions and for 2012 Predictions in the UK.

Anyway, there is much to get through so here we go (click on titles for full articles)….

Mark Williams set for disciplinary over twitter comments

Snooker star Mark Williams is set for disciplinary with the governing body over the use of offensive language on Twitter.  The players were warned about the use of social media platforms during the summer by letter from the board.

Snooker Star Ronnie O’Sullivan faces fine for Twitter comments

Carrying on the snooker theme, the star who always seems to get on the wrong side of the snooker laws has been threatened with a fine.  This time it was not for anything said about snooker but the 36-year-old, and three-times World Champion, criticised the Welsh glamour girl for going to the High Court to clear her name over claims she had tried to blackmail the Manchester United star over their six-month fling.

FA Cup game highlights available in iTunes

The FA has taken to step of making the FA Cup highlights, something that has always been reserved for TV and the broadcaster websites, onto iTunes.  You can now buy a ‘season pass’ to watch highlights from every round and from last season final.  If your a fan of cup football then this looks like a great purchase.

How the Australian Open is acing digital

The 2012 Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament may just be the most digitally connected major sporting event of all time.  This Mashable article looks at how the fist major tennis event of the year is showing the way for the rest of sport in 2012.  A Slamtracker already provides real-time updates of qualifying play that began on Wednesday, and fans can relive and share their favorite moments via Facebook and Twitter through a database of classic matches.

Wales captain Aaron Ramsey takes to Twitter to clarify comments

The Arsenal midfielder took criticism for saying he was disappointed at players not being consulted over Gary Speed’s replacement. But in a series of tweets, Ramsey clarified his comments to defend what he had initially said.  It should how Twitter can be used to defend players reputations and come at at the press for what they see as quotes being taken out of context.

Oxford City sack Lee Steele for homophobic tweet

A footballer who posted a homophobic remark on a social media website has been sacked by his club.  Oxford City striker Lee Steele made a comment on Twitter about the gay former Wales rugby player Gareth Thomas.

Tweeting about Thomas’s appearance on Celebrity Big Brother, Steele, 38, wrote a “strongly-worded” message about being in a bed near the contestant.  Oxford City manager Mike Ford said: “On this occasion Lee’s had to pay for his error of judgement.

Leo Messi shares Ballon D’Or win on Facebook with most shared post ever?

The Argentinian genius strolled to his third World Football of the Year award in a row last Monday and to celebrate this achievement his sponsors adidas put together a video with the man himself.  The video was released solely on Facebook and YouTube with no other promotion around it.  Since its release on Monday night it has racked up 1.9m views on YouTube together with 372k likes, 45k shares and 41k comments!  Is this the most ever in the sports world?

Rory Lamont apologises after Twitter blast at Barack Obama

Scotland and Glasgow Warriors winger Rory Lamont has apologised after describing Barack Obama as a “whore” on a social networking site.  The rugby international has used his Twitter account to make disparaging remarks about a number of politicians.

These have included the United States president, Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  The Scottish Rugby Union has described the language as “inappropriate” and the 29-year-old has apologised via Twitter.

Premier League Social Media stats – January 2012

Finally, here is the last infographic by Freestyle Interactive to enjoy showing the lastest social media stats from the Premier League….

This is a new app that I was made aware of and thought would be good to get your thoughts on too.  It is made by the guys at Slipstream who work with the likes of Volvo Sailing and British Triathlon.

Sportsday.co is an idea to bring tweets into one place where you can watch all the information about your team; follow games, transfer news, team updates, etc in an easy to view and aesthetic manner.  Something not really possible via Twitter lists.

The dashboard means you can follow all teams tweets (from anyone mentioning the official team account) or just the one that you are interested in.  The idea is to make more available through the site as time goes by so that it includes more content.

As Dan Griffey, Director at Slipstream, told me;

“We made it… as a proof of concept and intend to develop the app further to include more sports (and a dashboard to show sports / leagues / clubs) and eventually a mobile app.

We have added some features, including permalinks (http://sportsday.co/#!/mcfc) and stats, and will evolve the stats so that match day trends can really show through. We also plan to hook into Foursquare events for each of the main stadia.”

It sounds exciting and even now it is easy and enjoyable way to follow what is happening in the football world.  Its an idea that could evolve into following individuals within teams and even reporters/PR staff from them too. That would mean you would get all the breaking news from one place.

Unfortunately for me my team, Manchester United, dont have an official Twitter account (aside from the little used PR one).  Thus I have to stick to Twitter and Tweetdeck for my news for now.

Its a great idea and looks to work well.  What do you think of it?  Here are some screenshots of the site…

Following on from last weeks table that gave a first glimpse of what the new “Who’s Talking About This” number that Facebook now gives on every Page on the platform, here is a look at the last week and how it has changed.

Instead of it being a one off look I want to have a look at how this works over a longer period and answer the question on everyones lips….does it actually mean anything??

This will take some time to answer and I dont think we can make any judgements after two weeks.  After a few more weeks I’ll take a more in-depth look to this question and see if it is a metric that clubs (and brands) should take seriously or not.

For one it is hard to know if there were any quirks in the first weeks numbers as there had not been anything like this before or whether the International break meant that clubs had less to talk about (no match write-up, photo’s or team news).  It could be a mixture of the two but the lack of local action would certainly have impacted.

If you look at the change from last week to this, just about every page has suffered a major drop (all except Man Utd, Liverpool and Wigan).   It is going to take a while before we get a solid figure by which to go by but there will always be outside influences with some being obvious and others not so.

To reflect these changes I havent changed the positions by the numbers for this week.  Instead I thought it would be a fairer reflection to use an average of what we have seen so far.  This means there are smaller shifts in the positions in the table that we would otherwise.  I think the % from this week are going to be more accurate and expect similar next week too.  The idea will be to build up to a monthly figure which should give us more accuracy in the long term.

It is interesting as well to see the % gain in new fans that clubs are achieving.  There is actually only a small difference between each club with the gain being between 0.7% (Wolves) to 3.4% (Aston Villa).  Most sat in the 1-2% mark showing that there is small organic growth.  If a club uses some new marketing or advertising to boost numbers then this should be apparent in the numbers and easy to spot.

I hope you find this useful and will ook forward to your comments as always.

(W.T.A.T. = Who’s Talked About This)

(E.R. = Engagement Rate)

It has been well publicised recently that the world’s richest football club has taken the step of getting a YouTube brand channel.  To many this may get a ‘so what’ reaction and many of the articles so far have only mentioned the news but not looked into what this means to the club and for football.

If this had been in any other industry it would not make the news as most decent sized businesses have their own channel that they spend extra on to make it look cool.

But this is football and so far they have stuck to basic marketing strategies and the biggest marketing costs they will have is a club website.  Most have now (with some prodding) ventured into the new domains of Facebook and Twitter but YouTube has been largely forgotten about. But why?

This is a hard one for clubs.  They are watched on TV by millions of people, at least twice a week these days, with the games being beamed all over the world.  But, and it is a big BUT, they don’t own any of the match footage.  This is controlled by the Premier League and broadcasters and there are numerous deals in place.

One slightly odd possibility is, though I’ve never seen the contracts (strangely enough), is that any match footage is not allowed to be shown on social media platforms.  It may sound strange but am 95% sure on this one that is true.

So this leaves clubs with only their own content to use.  What this does is narrow down the field of who is likely to produce their own content and use a video platform to the big clubs.  Those who have their own TV studios and channels, usually on their website.  Those clubs such as Man Utd, City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.

One thing to point at this stage is that gaining a YouTube brand channel is not cheap and certainly not free (sorry to those were getting excited about what they can do with a channel).  This is another restrictor when it comes to which clubs will follow suit with City.

What City have done, and managed to leap in front of the rest in the process, is take it seriously as an additional revenue generator and seen the possibilities.  They started slowly with a normal ‘official’ YouTube channel, much the same as any of us can set up if we so wish.

This allowed them to give away content that would otherwise sit on their CityTV channel being played out to a small audience.  When you are building from scratch to develop a global brand as City are, then reaching out to new fans is a must and YouTube allows that to happen.

Now they have over 4,000 subscribers to the channel and deliver regular (good) content that fans are interested in then they have been able to take the next step. A Brand Channel!

So what does this allow them to do now?

Basically it allows the club to customise how their page looks and what it can do including the channel banners, background image and branding box.  They can also moderate comments and automatically redirect people depending on there geographical location (could be a good one for the future).  It also opens up the possibilities with gadgets (opening up YouTube’s API), syndication (channel can live anywhere on the web) and metrics.  I am a fan of ‘annotations’ which allow the linking off to other videos/sites via clickable links within the video, something you only get with a brand channel.

This last one is key to any brand being on the platform.  It gives you great information on how videos (and the channel) is performing.  It can also tell you more about the content you are putting up and how engaged with it people find it.

They have already made changes to the page with links to areas of their website.  I especially like the map integration where you can buy tickets for upcoming games (as you can see below)…

There are opportunities to get even more creative as time goes by and we’ll see how it goes, as am sure other clubs will be doing.  What it does open up when it comes to revenue, I’ve finally got round to mentioning it, is the advertising/sponsorship opportunities it presents.

They can look at running sponsors messaging on their site, incorporate annotation links within videos, have a company sponsor their page and open up another opportunity, link off to sponsor channels/videos….. there is a lot they can do to monetise this space.

Here’s what those involved had to say about the partnership;

Richard Ayers, Head of Digital, for Manchester City (who has been nominated for a DADI award!), said:

“Manchester City is having a phenomenal year of growth and development online. Our goal is to deliver a market leading experience for fans in terms of online video.  That means delivering the great content we make to where the audience is – i.e. on YouTube. This deal is the first move in laying the foundations of our syndication strategy and is part of a series of deals to expand our online capabilities. The ability to extend our reach and to increase accessibility to audiences is great, but we’re also looking forward to exploring the differentiating factors of YouTube, like using annotations, making bespoke interactive video and, more than anything else, becoming part of the thriving YouTube community.”

Jeff Nathenson, Head of Sports Partnerships for YouTube, said:

“We are excited that Manchester City has become the first English Premier League club to become a commercial partner with YouTube.  They are proving to be an exciting club both on the pitch and in the digital media space.  We believe this kind of deal will have a global impact, allowing them to reach new fans in new territories with compelling original content.”

To finish, here are some examples of cool brand channels and what City could look to achieve (if they want to spend the money on doing it).  Its great to see them pushing the boundaries and hopefully they will pull others with them.

With the brand new introduction of the ‘whos talking about this’ function on all Facebook Pages as from last night, I thought that I’d put together a Premier League table (before anyone else does!).

It is interesting without delivering many shocks.  The bigger clubs with large followings get the most engagement…nothing new there.  The gaps between some of the clubs, or lack of them in some cases, is more eye opening and you can see that Norwich City do a great job with a small fan base.

The hope from Facebook is that this will encourage those who administer the pages to deliver content which is more sharable and have comment comment, like, etc rather than just spam with poorly thought out posts.

To benchmark Man Utd‘s feat, their main rivals in size on Facebook are Barcelona who’s engagement score is 561,727 and Real Madrid  with 815,437 (by far the best score).

Here is the league as it stands today (stats correct as of Friday 7th Oct 2011).  Love to hear your thoughts…

Having blogged about how sports and teams can use social media for a while now, the most surprising thing I have noticed has been the lack of fan generated content used by sporting bodies and institutes. Arguably, the greatest ingredient of sport is the fan element – a collective identity that all share the same fanatical ideology over a game.

The greatest ingredient of social media is that it literally connects people together and transcends the usual barriers of location, wealth and even language. Yet, many sports teams still seem hesitant to really understand this, and as such, seem to ignore that they have potentially millions of content creators ready to help their club out.

Yes, sports social media has come a long way in the last 12 months, but it is still incredibly one way broadcasting – particularly with UK football clubs and their social media presences. If clubs really wanted to be truly social, they would scrap their digital marketing strategy (Which is probably out of date), and worry less about ‘brand’ and more about ‘fans’.

Just imagine the possibilities of tapping into that network of talented and eager fans. One need only look at YouTube or fan forums to see the colossal amounts of fan art (some humourous photoshops, others utterly brilliant displays of art), the myriad of match reports on fan blogs, videos taken from matchdays, video compilations celebrating their sporting heroes, Facebook campaigns for social & ethical issues the fans want to support, photography of events on Flickr and the endless discussion that dominates Twitter, Facebook & Forums. The list goes on.

Sport doesn’t necessarily need to drop their employed website journalists or multimedia team, they just need to make space for their fans on that team. By all means, have the website editor write the match report, but why not ask a fan to write one as well? Or at least use quotes from Twitter? Perhaps call for budding photographers (on their DSLR or iPhone) to send in their photos to be added to the official websites gallery.

Rethink the way the websites works. It is no longer acceptable to just broadcast match reports, spam with merchandise marketing and host some awfully designed e-ticketing client (Why is it so hard to find seats together?!). Instead, sports teams should be using fan video (obviously with permission) from the stands, promoting fan written articles and most importantly using social media channels like Twitter, to talk AND listen to the fans. Marketing departments, want to know what the fans want to buy? Well ask them!

Social recommendation and referral is a huge part of marketing now, equally, social has become ever-present in the way content is written and distributed. It isn’t enough to simply sit and broadcast, get involved, leverage your online communities and empower your fans to help build your social media presence.