One match to go. Two teams left and one of them 80 minutes from glory. Now it’s your chance to get involved and make a difference to the two Aviva Premiership Rugby finalists.  This is the message being driven by Premiership Rugby ahead of the big day between Leicester and Northampton at Twickenham next week (25th May).

It’s a game I was looking forward to going to but its going to be all about football for me instead (more details to follow soon).  My better half will be there cheering them on, my rugbyt will have to wait for the next day when its England v Barbarians. Should be a cracking weekend!

Aviva and Premiership Rugby have joined together to give the fans a chance to have their messages of support actually seen by the finalists. All you have to do is send in your messages of support via Twitter using the hashtag #LittleThingsMatter and the best messages will be selected to appear at Twickenham on the day. These messages will be displayed on the LED boards in the stadium, in the tunnel for the players to see, or even on boards that will placed in both dressing rooms.

Aviva’s Senior Sponsorship Manager, Louisa Cheetham explains the thinking behind the campaign;

“Players and coaches love to hear messages of support from their fans. The connection between rugby fans and their club sides is so strong they appreciate every word of encouragement from their supporters.  So this year we are going to make it as easy as possible for the players and coaches to find out what their fans think and how much they want them to bring the Aviva Premiership Rugby trophy home.  Think about the little thing you could say that could help your team on the day and use that thought.”

The best messages will be mounted on boards in the Northampton Saints and Leicester Tigers dressing rooms, displayed on LED screens around Twickenham and written on the tunnel. So your message might be the last thing the players see before they run out onto the pitch at Twickenham.

It’s a nice touch by the league and stadium as they look to maximise the use of the screens on match day.  We have seen a trend for their to be more fan engagement around big matches in different sports over recent times.  The technology is getting better, stadiums are starting to ramp up their wifi and 3G capabilities and its all about the fan experience.

Here’s a great video to help promote the initiative.  They gained the help of players from both teams, fans and some other notables.

Part-time – (approximately 19 hours week)
Salary – Up to £25,000 pro rata (dependent on experience)

Closing Date – Friday 21st June at 17:00

Performance Nutrition are looking for a Digital Content Manager who has a passion for social media and producing engaging nutrition content. As part of the Sport & Exercise Nutrition consultancy, the role will involve ongoing contact with leading organisations worldwide. The successful candidate will be given the opportunity to lead and drive online strategy, within their growing team.

Responsibilities

• Producing and managing online & social media content for the Harley St clinic, and around the new online platform & app, launching later this year.
• Writing engaging applied articles and media comment, specialising in sports & exercise nutrition and weight management.

Skills

• Excellent writing skills – web content/social media content
• Experience of writing SEO optimised copy
• The ability to identify the best social media channels and how best to use them
• Quick to learn new systems and processes
• A genuine passion for social media & nutrition

Qualifications/experience

• Postgraduate or equivalent qualification in nutrition/dietetics or sport & exercise science
• Content management systems/blogging platforms

The position is part time, though flexibility will be required. This would suit a candidate currently working in the field, or undertaking postgraduate research.

To Apply

Please send an email to: info@performancenutritionltd.com explaining why you’re the right person, including links to online work or online community management.

Every year, the great British institution of Gumball3000 turns 3,000 miles of public roads into an international rally course.  The event pits around 120 of the most eye-catching and/or head-turning cars against one another in the ultimate road trip adventure.  This year, Berkshire-based digital agency, Rawnet, have unleashed their passion in designing and developing the official website to the point where you can almost catch the whiff of petrol in the air.

As the Official Digital Partner, they were keen to apply their digital savvy to create a compelling online meeting place for all the participating Gumballers, as well as the hundreds of thousands of fans worldwide.  Among the more high-profile entrants in this special 15^th anniversary rally are David “The Hoff” Hasselhoff, musician and actress, Eve, skateboarding legend, Tony Hawk, bands Cypress Hill and Nero, rapper, actor and TV host, Xzibit and Formula One Driver, Kimi Raikkonen, to name but a handful.

Rawnet are helping everyone to track the Gumballers’ progress en route from Copenhagen to Monaco with their Interactive Live Map.   Gumballers simply capture a picture on their phone, then tweet the photo adding the hashtag #rawnet.  By enabling Location Services on their mobile devices, they can share moments and memories from the rally on the Live Tweet map in mere seconds.  It’s a great way for Gumballers to update all of their followers, fans and fellow drivers on their position while effortlessly creating their own photo blog throughout the event.  Whoever takes the picture that best captures the ‘Spirit of Gumball’ will win a Nikon D5100 along with a signed copy of the winning picture from founder, Maximillion Cooper.

As part of the new website, Rawnet have also built Gumball an interactive Entry Grid for 2013 that allows fans and Gumballers alike to get their favourite team on pole position for the starting grid in Copenhagen by raising money for the Gumball3000 Foundation.  The team that raises the highest amount as of Sunday 19^th May will be leaving Copenhagen first under the chequered flag.

The Gumball3000 Foundation is a non-profit charitable trust that has been established to benefit underprivileged youth through Education, Infrastructure and Environmental projects.

Show your support by donating today as all monies raised will go to this fantastic cause. Just choose your favourite team and click the donate button.  The total raised so far is £49,789 with Team 86 from Italy in the lead www.gumball3000.com/rally/entry_grid

So, get involved and experience a taste of the action at www.rawnet.com/gumball3000 from Sunday 19^th May 2013 where the adventure begins in Copenhagen.  Accompany us on a journey that winds through Stockholm, Helsinki, St.Petersburg, Riga, Warsaw and Vienna before rocking up in Monaco just in time for the Formula 1 Grand Prix on Sunday 26^th May.

Yesterday’s game at Wembley was full of late drama and emotion.  It was David Vs Goliath.  It was the return to the place that had ended Wigan chairman Dave Whelan’s footballing career back in 1960.  It was the FA Cup Final.

We have spoken on how recently about how Vine should be used and how it is currently.  We have seen many a view of an empty stadium or some other uneventful posts.  But how good would it be to capture something different and of-the-moment.

Usually we only look at the business accounts of clubs, NGB’s and brands but today I wanted to put an individual on here.  I had been to see the FA only last week, though we didn’t talk about Vine, and it was great to see it being used on the day.

Mark Gilbert, who heads up editorial content at the FA, has been experimenting with the app and managed to time it perfectly yesterday.  Sat behind the dugouts of the teams he caught the celebrations as Wigan’s Ben Watson steered in a great last-minute header.  By capturing the manager, coaches and subs going crazy it gave a snapshot that we didn’t see much of on TV and also gave us some emotion.

People love to share things that they feel something towards.  Seeing people celebrating a monumental moment in a clubs history is one of those special times.  Mark’s quick video has already been shared over 400 times.  Imagine is it had been through the main FA account?  It was retweeted by the @FA and also Twitter UK’s Lewis Wiltshire plugged it after seeing his use of Vine in his timeline.  It’s well worth a look.

Here is the main Vine that caught so much attention.  For other events, clubs, NGB’s it worth noting and looking to build into your plans.  It doesn’t step on broadcasters toes as there is no match footage and gives something that fans love to see and share.

The Formula 1 giants have been at the forefront of digital technology (online as well as on the track) for a number of years now and continue to innovate.  Some fans though will be sad to see the renaming of the industry-acclaimed @TheFifthDriver as it becomes @McLarenF1.  This change will be promoted at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix with the new handle appearing on the front wing endplate of Jenson Button and Checo Perez’s cars.

The change will make it easier for McLaren’s global fanbase to identify and engage with the team on Twitter and reflects the wider digital engagement strategy to make the team as accessible as possible to a greater number of people – in turn providing them with a unique insight into the heart of a living and breathing Formula 1 team.

Over the last 12 months, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has seen strong growth in follower numbers and engagement across its social media channels, owing to a revised approach to content strategy, social media campaigns and entering new and emerging digital platforms:

•     During the last 12 months, the number of followers on the official Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Facebook page has increased by 40% to over 700,000.
•     In the same period, Twitter numbers have grown by 80% to almost 350,000
•     Since entering Google+ in December 2012, follower numbers have surpassed the 100,000 mark

As part of a new digital engagement strategy, the official Vodafone McLaren Mercedes website was also re-launched at the start of the 2013 season. Developed in a responsive format, the new website further empowers fans to stay up to date with the latest from the team across multiple devices. As part of the relaunch, the team’s long-standing adaptation of a second-screen viewing experience – now rebranded McLaren LIVE – continues to add to the race-day experience for fans and looks great.

McLaren.com/Formula1 will also be launching in Spanish, reflecting McLaren’s increasingly global fan base, which has been boosted by the signing of the latest Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver, Sergio Perez.

These developments are the latest in a series of achievements for a team that has developed a reputation for its forward-thinking approach to digital and social media – a fact that has been proven over the past four years. McLaren were the first Formula 1 team to offer fans the opportunity to view live telemetry during races and practice sessions, the first front-running team to start using Twitter, and more recently the team has embraced the full breadth of its social media platforms to spectacularly live-stream the MP4-28 car reveal.

Martin Whitmarsh, Team Principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes said:

“Our fans are at the heart of our digital strategy. We’ve strived hard to develop world-leading digital platforms that our fans can enjoy, while creating compellingly insightful content that draws them in and makes them feel part of our team.

@TheFifthDriver has not retired. Through the new handle of @McLarenF1, the mysterious micro-blogger will continue to give our fans unique access to the inner workings of one of the most successful teams in the history of Formula 1, the pinnacle of global motorsport.”

Article taken from original release on McLaren.com/Formula1

The news that I (and many other United fans) had dreaded finally arrived this morning.  Twitter had been awash with rumours of his immanent departure since last night when The Telegraph went with an exclusive article.

The news was posted on Twitter and quickly stirred much debate.  Initially there was a dismissive feel to it but when more facts became clear it sent the Twitterverse into overdrive.  No comment was made by the club which only added to the rumours, though this was of no surprise due to the stock listing in NYC that meant that any change would have to be disclosed to them first.

Then it happened.  At around 9.17am the only Manchester United presence on Twitter (there is no official team account, only the Press Office) tweeted a simple short message that left no doubt.

The move by the club shows how the platform has become the number 1 place to break news.  It is where all the press have a presence and where clubs have been able to enable some kind of control over their ‘brand’.  Players use it to have a voice whilst clubs will always use it for marketing and PR (not so much engagement goes on still).

As soon as the new broke it sent Twitter into meltdown.  People like myself posting messages of disbelief and thanks to a manager who is without doubt the most successful manager ihn the history of the game in England.  I’ve been a fan for over 25 years and have only ever known one manager.  It’s a day we’ve feared will one day inevitably arrived but we didn’t want to happen yet (if ever).

A little after this post was first published I was sent a neat infographic from the guys at Simplyzesty.  It shows the reaction over a longer period of time and some more details of Facebook as well.  Make sure you have a read of their full article on the announcement here.

Taking a quick look at the stats (via Topsy) you can see when the story first broke late last night and then when the official announcement was made.  A total of over 300k mentions in half an hour shows how people from around the world were talking about it.

The use of the hashtag by the club was nicely done and lead it becoming the number 1 trending topic in the world.  At one point 8 out of the 10 trends were related to it and in there was the name David Moyes.  Once the initial shock receded then the next obvious step was to start speculating over who will take over.

The bookies favourite is Moyes, the Everton manager who has managed to over deliver almost every year for the last 11 years.  Will he succeed and be up to the task?  Will it be Jose Mourinho, someone who has shown no secret as to his desire to manage at Old Trafford when Sir Alex calls it a day?  Or an outsider such as the successful Jurgen Klopp from Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund?

It is rumoured that his successor will be announced within the next 48 hours so we will wait and see.  It’s going to be a nervous time to firstly see who gets it and then if they can carry on from where Sir Alex left off.  Taking another snapshot from Twitter most of the conversation is around Jose but Moyes is close behind.  Can this be a judge on who will actually get it?

Once again Twitter has shown that it is the place to be for breaking news such as this.  It would be interesting to see how many people have used Facebook as well to let friends and family know.  It is still a platform to take into account and United used that as well to break the news.  It also added a great banner to the top of their page, which I and many others have taken and used on our profiles.

Not only that but the club have reacted quickly by starting a new Facebook tab allowing fans to send in their messages to SAF.  A selection of these thank you messages will be published in an exclusive #ThankYouSirAlex book and a lucky few will win a signed copy of the book.  Nice touch by the club and very reactive.  The club have improved immeasurably in their use of Facebook (and now Twitter), so a well done from me.

Thank you Sir Alex.  It’s been a great journey!

European Football Clubs have shown increasing efforts to enter Chinese Social Media and connect with Chinese fans online. This week, Mailman Group released findings to show which teams and footballers have made the most effort to impact their Chinese fans online. The study was conducted over a 7 days period ending on May 1^st and across the top 25 footballers on Sina Weibo, China’s no.1 social network by usage.

Andrew Collins, CEO of Mailman Group, said;

“These results demonstrate that individual footballers’ pages are much more effective than the team pages themselves.  We believe this to be a key area of growth for football clubs, the advantages of launching your top players on Weibo as well as having an official club presence, are overwhelming.”

It’s interesting to see about-to-be-retired Michael Owen being one of the top players in China.  This could be due to his use of social media, which has been very good (if uncontroversial), or equally through his former clubs Liverpool, Real Madrid and Manchester United.  All massive clubs with fans based in every corner of the world.

The inclusion of Nakata shows the Asian influence within the superstar list of those involved in European football.  Much as we in the UK follow the exploits of our players when they head to foreign clubs, and the same can be said about GB athletes in the NBA and NFL.  Chinese fans are going to be interested in the voice of a ‘local’ (Nakata being Japanese of course) who is plying his trade far from home.

It’s fair to say that there is a long way to go for European clubs in this market, an untapped market.  Liverpool have been one of the pioneers from a club perspective with Man City, Real Madrid, Barcelona and the other powerhouses not far behind.  It will be interesting to see if Manchester United step up their efforts in this region (I’m sure there are plans afoot).

From a player perspective, those who take their ‘brand’ seriously will exploit their popularity from tours and the club they play for.  For others, getting to grips with Facebook and Twitter is proving challenge enough!

Key insights of this study include:

-       The top 3 players on Sina Weibo play for Spain’s La Liga and have alltogether 29M+ total followers.

-       LaLiga players dominate Sina Weibo, with 8 times more followers than the English Premier League players

-       Player-celeb Gareth Bale’s fan numbers and engagement skyrocketed after he won English Premier League’s Player of the Year and the Young Player Awards.

This month sees the launch of a new event and it promises to be the best yet!  At the the last UKSN Meetup where we spoke to leading digital leader Richard Ayers and gained some great insights into his career and his thoughts on social media.  Now we are looking at a different topic within social media, one that has really come to the fore this last year….. video.

http://uksnvideo.eventbrite.com

The venue is the fashionable Bar Kick in Shoreditch and we have some great guests coming along to speak. They include;

Mark Coyle - Head of Digital Production, BT Sport
Stephen Nuttall - Senior Director (Sports), YouTube EMEA
Tim Hines - Digital Content Strategist, The Rugby Football Union
Richard Welsh - Creative Director, BigBalls Films & Copa90

This last year we have seen the role of video within social media become more prominent. With Twitter launching Vine, YouTube backing their ‘Originals’ channels and sport starting to realise the potential these platforms offer.  When YouTube worked with Red Bull on ‘Red Bull Stratos’ they proved to the world that they can handle huge amounts of traffic and that live events have a place on the platform. With 8 million people (!) from around the world tuning in at any one time it really was a massive global event.

Twitter have been pushing new products and making the user experience richer without them having to leave the app. Personally I’ve worked with Livestream to push live content through Twitter that helped launch a new product and it was great. You can also do the same using Ustream and YouTube.

In the football world we’ve seen Man City’s ‘Tunnelcam’, England’s live streaming of training sessions and even QPR using Ustream to connect with fans on a weekly basis. And there is much more besides.  But are we missing a trick? How engaging is video content for fans? And what can we do without using game highlights?

This and much more will be discussed at the event. There are still spaces and you can book at http://uksnvideo.eventbrite.com

The event is being kindly sponsored by Pusher and Somersault Video Productions (it will be filmed and we’ll release edits from the event in the weeks after it runs).

Below is a lovely pic from our last event at the Sports Bar where I had the pleasure of interviewing Mr ‘Datatainment’ himself, Richard Ayers.

Last week I wrote a post that focused on Eye of the Fan which is an innovative campaign run by Turkish Airlines.  This operates via a series of cameras that are attached to a ‘fan’ who has been given complete, unrestricted access to the ‘Final Four’ and reacts to tweeted requests from contributors.

Since then, Turkish Airlines have released a slick 2013 campaign teaser trailer (check it out below).  An addition to the 2013 campaign is ‘#whoisup’. This is a new hashtag to find someone to accompany the ‘UpTeam’ behind the scenes at the Final Four event in London. Users have to upload their favourite fan photo with the hashtag #whoisup to be in with a chance of joining the Team. Another addition is that the best tweets will be transferred into ‘fan-banners’ that will held up in the crowd for the arena to see – and also viewable by the TV audiences.This is a great example of an integrated multi-media campaign and I look forward to watching it in action.

 

Guest Post:  Tom Kelk is a tech/sport blogger and Account Exec at global social media agency We Are Social.  You can find him on Twitter (@TomKelk), LinkedIn and his blog.

Eye of the Fan is a neat campaign run by Turkish Airlines to attempt to promote the basketball Euroleague through social media. Whilst basketball doesn’t have the biggest UK following, it is massively popular in mainland Europe and therefore, Eye of the Fan has received the required interest to return for a second stint.

Simply put, Eye of the Fan is a series of cameras attached to a ‘fan’ who has been given behind the scenes access to basketball matches and reacts to live requests from contributors. The heart of the campaign is its integration with social media. Those following the action can tweet their requests to the ‘Fan Cam’, who will duly oblige to the requests chosen by the ‘Up Team’ in London, and a team in Istanbul which will deliver tweets right to the ‘Fan’ in the O2 Arena. Further to this, these teams will keeping an eye on activity within the stadium and direct the Fan towards events of interest. This responsive caveat brings the fans closer to the game, but also engrosses them in the app.

This a great use of the popular go-pro equipment and fantastic to see it revolving around social media engagement. How well it captures the atmosphere of the stadium and an event is yet to be seen but there is clearly potential. The access to athletes away from the traditional media will certainly attract interest from the majority of sports fans who rarely see players in an ordinary light. The most important aspect to the success of this is the completely free-rein of the Fan who “will be going everywhere cameras normally can’t or won’t go to offer fans and media an exclusive behind the scenes view.” Fans can ask him to joke around with a player, chat with a manger or find the best-looking person in the crowd (see video…).

In my latest blog I spoke about Vine and how it could be used to capture an atmosphere and how clubs were not making the most of their assets and behind the scenes footage; Eye of the Fan manages this with a real-time and responsive element added-on.

Here is the video of the 2012 ‘Final Four’ and this gives an indication of what can be expected this time around. There have been no significant changes since last year’s campaign but the ‘Up Team’ intends to interact with contributors to a higher level than previously:

All the footage will be accessible on a constantly updated website and, once watermarked, can be fully integrated, embedded and shared across websites. Footage of the game itself will not be available due to licensing regulations.

In 2012 the Eye of the Fan Facebook app received 150000 visits; Eye of the Fan posts on the Turkish Airlines received 15000 likes in 3 days. Overall, the 2012 event received 3.7m impressions. It is hoped that the 2013 Eye of the Fan campaign will exceed these numbers by quite some distance.

Regardless of your interest in European basketball, this is a fascinating campaign and should be looked at. Eye of the Fan can be seen from 10-12^th May when the Turkish Airlines Final Four will be broadcasting from the London O2 Arena. The ‘Final Four’ is the culmination of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague – the ‘Champions League’ of European Basketball. The top sixteen teams are currently fighting out to be involved in the ‘Final Four’. Before the Final Four tips-off, you can follow @eyeofthefan on Twitter and see what it has to offer.

It will be interesting to see where Eye of the Fan goes from here. There is a great potential in the idea. At the moment, Turkish Airlines have indicated that they are keen to focus on further communications through basketball and would welcome any opportunity to increase engagement and buzz alongside improving the content output.

There must be opportunities to translate this forward thinking approach over to other sports and hopefully brands will take a close look at the ideas behind this campaign.