Hi everyone, I posted a new episode to my podcast, Management and Leadership Training Podcasts. Please click the link below to view it. http://leadershiptraining.podomatic.com/entry/2010-07-07T01_05_54-07_00 See you there! - Petrus

Marketing : The Social Side of Football

Social media has evolved and grown at such breathtaking speed, it has taken the world by storm. Today, social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have hundred of million of subscribers from all parts of the globe and this number is increasing rapidly each day. At the beginning, social media was targeted towards teenagers, students and tech wizards who favor the ease of interaction these platforms offered. With a click of a few buttons, they are able to communicate and share ideas and also photos.

With social media, a lot of applications have been generated in the hope of generating a better experience for users and also to make it more engaging and entertaining. Today, the corporate world have embraced social media and they are leveraging on its ease of use and ability to communicate with anyone, anywhere at anytime. Almost all global brands, have built up quite a huge following and are constantly engaging their fans through social media. Even football clubs are not far behind and and actively using this platform to enhance their brand awareness and ultimately to build more fans all around the world.

Most major football clubs worldwide are taking social media seriously enough to invest in it to deliver what the fans and sponsors desire. Watch this leadership training video featuring Lander Unzueta of Barcelona FC talking about social media and how his club benefits from it.

The key is focusing on the passion of the fans,clubs who do not and are only investing a marginal amount of time and money into social media and are failing to take full advantage of its power to connect and bond with fans. Most major clubs are on top of social media and have tens of people working on social media projects.

The potential is staggering, it costs next to nothing to open an account on Facebook or Twitter (you just need someone to build followers). But given time you could have 700,000 followers (see graphic) that the club can promote sponsors, tickets and merchandise and also offer it to sponsors as an outlet for promotions.

Because of the high cost of sponsorship, particularly in the English Premiership. Sponsorships are more than ever about ROI rather than awareness, this makes engagement via social media even more vital. If Bayern Munich have 700,000 followers on Twitter, I-Mobile has a chance to promote a new phone to all of them in one message. Even if just a small percentage of followers buy the phone, it’s still pure profit.

One could argue that club websites should be the platform.

The clubs can also use social media as a new distribution avenue for merchandising at a very low cost. For example Liverpool FC promoted their new jersey launch via Facebook.

But clubs need to be careful not go overboard on sales, it's not always what the fans really want from their club. The fans care about a whole range of things, but mainly they want to feel part of the club, not just a money making option. They want to know what player is injured, who is signing for them and what the team had for dinner. Interaction via social media is an ideal method of doing this.

At Chelsea, the club mascot ‘Stamford the Lion’ is tweeting, providing a face for club messages, but some clubs can go one better and get the players to tweet. Of course, boundaries need to be set to avoid problems similar to last summer when unsettled Tottenham striker Darren Bent tweeted a transfer request “Do I wanna go Hull City NO. Do I wanna go stoke NO do I wanna go sunderland YES so stop f****** around levy.”

But social media is simply something teams can’t ignore. It costs little money but opens up so many new opportunities.” In the near future, not only football but all sorts of other sporting clubs will embrace social media to engage with their fans.

Lander Unzueta at Barcelona FC get's it right understanding the power of branding and reach using social media. Watch this informative leadership training video here.