I had the pleasure of attending the Social Media and Sport event in London this week. It was an opportunity for a panel discussion from the BBC around how they expect their London 2012 Olympic coverage to be shaped by social media and there were also a number of presentations from the RFU, Chelsea FC and Arsenal FC as to how social is working for them.
It is this London Derby of social media that I wish to focus on. Both teams all laid out their strategy for all to see and there was natural commonality in some areas but there were two distinct routes to the end goal (Disclaimer: This IS a pun, I have no shame)
The overall aim was to get the individual, the community, or the potential business partner to the .com destination site. All routes lead to the .com, if you will. Not an uncommon theme in many online marketing campaigns. Draw them in and nurture their interest, whip them into a frenzy of purchase behaviour and ensure a return visit or two along the way. A brand’s website must be all things to many men and or women.
The methods that the two teams used were underpinned by a series of aims that the social media functionality must deliver on. For example, the Chelsea objectives are to:
a) Drive traffic to the .com site
b) Generate revenue through social media
c) Capture data
d) Engagement
e) Increase international reach.
Nothing too earth-shattering, I’m sure you will agree. Curiously, there was an interesting revelation (again, not an uncommon utterance from social marketers) that despite the objective and KPI of point (b), there was “NO BUDGET FOR SOCIAL”.
The key differentiator in Chelsea’s approach was the delivery of content – with players themselves reluctant to use Twitter and the other social channels – through the syndication of content from fan sites and the blogs of devout Chelsea fans, a regular flow of relevant, one-sided and impassioned content was fed into one destination that is curated by the club.
The Arsenal approach was based around similar objectives, although no disclosure of budget forthcoming, it was a different story as to how they go about galvanising interest and generating content around all things ‘The Gunners.’
a) Keep .com relevant
b) International reach and engagement
c) Make fans part of the wider community
d) Start conversation
It is easy to see how widespread adoption of social across the business makes these tasks easier for Arsenal. Arsenal have nearly enough tweeting footballers to put out a Twitter XI and this immediately brings in a closer interaction with the fans and cuts out the ‘journalistic middleman’. Yes, there have been ‘issues’ but as the Arsenal digital team point out, “The importance of having players on twitter outweighs the dangers.” The players do it because they want to, not because it is expected. Already they are 1-0 up on their opponents and are delivering relevant engagement that doesn’t have the hallmarks of being disingenuous.
The Arsenal approach was an altogether more coherent strategy based around seeding content to their various platforms as soon as it is available and they neatly surmised this as “Being wherever you want to consume it”
For those of you that prefer your ball games with an irregularly shaped inflatable, the RFU were on hand to discuss their strategy too. This was another testament to the dedication and perseverance of a social marketer looking to make significant changes (for the greater good) in the face of a very traditional and “stuffy” establishment such as the governing body of Rugby Union.
The aims?
a) Increase the number of people interested in the game
b) Increase the numbers of those participating in the game
c) Improve the quality and experience for fans
The RFU now offer “a digital package to drive people to the site”. So, there we are again, end destination is .com and around this is an online experience that involves the user and delivers what they want on the platform of their choosing. It was reassuring to hear that the RFU marketing activities are consistently put through the same model of Purpose (What are the specific goals?), Tools (Which channels will be utilised) and Strategy (How to resource these goals through the chosen tools).
Three approaches that all view the website as the place to direct people to, whether you agree this is the right end point or not, you can see how there are various paths to take to get there.
