I’ve just published a new piece on what fans really value – and it’s not just trophies. A study highlights 6 factors: history, community, handling criticism, professionalism, passion & loyalty.
Any club can deliver on these 👉 onlrl.co/tqvshn
Great example of how to showcase players’ personalities.
Barnsley have stayed away from the typical headshots for something a bit more dynamic.
It makes things feel more human and engaging. And it’s a nice little Easter egg for fans who visit the team pages.
Personality beats polish.
428 posts. 31.8 million likes. 280k comments.
The Premier League’s opening weekend wasn’t just on the pitch, it was on Instagram too. Liverpool might have led the way with 12.7m likes, but Bournemouth and Sunderland stole the
spotlight on engagement.
Read more 👇
onlrl.co/ceylw6
Did a dive into which clubs grew their Instagram followings the most last season.
The main stand-out is Oxford United. They grew by over 300%, with the main growth happening after the signing of Marselino Ferdinand in the summer window.
With the news that Italy’s Serie A now has an official Reddit account, I had a look at what that means and how sports teams have used the platform in the past (spoiler: not very well).
#SportsMarketing | #DigiSport
onlrl.co/qi4yut
This from @milkkarten.bsky.social’s Link In Bio (fantastic all around) is a really insightful look at what goes on for marketing teams behind the scenes.
It’s around the Super Bowl, so a bit atypical, but fascinating to see the process.
#SportsMarketing
open.substack.com/pub/milkkart...
As a little bonus, it also introduced me to their monthly magazine. This replaces the traditional programme and covers all of the home games for each specific month.
It's only £5, so is good value, and a lot less labour intensive for smaller marketing teams.
Finally, right at the bottom, you can view two additional upcoming fixtures in case you can't make this one. A good way to maximise attention.
This bit also has travel information and directions to the stadium, as well as a link to the match day services available for disabled supporters.
After the interviews there's a guide to what's happening in this specific match.
This includes things like box office opening times and what time people can get into the ground.
Clicking the link gives you a lot more info about this specific game, rather than generic details.
I really like this pre-match email from MK Dons. I think there's a template here that more clubs should follow to ensure their emails are useful.
Firstly, a link through to a written match preview and interviews about this game.
#SportsMarketing | #DigiSport
A lot of pros are turning to LinkedIn in anticipation of their post-football careers, as well as what’s covered here.
We’ve seen managers like Jesse Marsch start posting, and the likes of Jordan Henderson and Raphael Varane too.
Clubs could be better at it. There’s a lot of untapped potential.
Really like it when clubs use photography like this.
They show what the match day experience is really like from the perspective of fans. It's a great and unique angle to use in your build-up content.
Helps when they look great as well. Solid work from @newcastleunited.com.
#SportsMarketing
This is a great example of how teams can use content produced by supporters' groups and travelling fans.
In this case, West Ham spotted a fan was heading over from America for a game and met up with him to document his day.
This was pushed by the club's US account as well as the league's.
This week marks 11 years of The Online Rule.
Don’t think I had any idea when I set up the initial site back then that I’d still be posting and following sports marketing all this time later.
Thanks to everyone who’s engaged, followed, and subscribed.
More evidence that teams should be trying to tap into the pre-engaged worldwide communities on Reddit.
Some of this growth is down to search engine changes, but it’s always been a popular site.
If I ever get invited onto @footballcliches.bsky.social’s MHDs I’ll use all 3 of my irritations to explain why clubs referring to their social media manager as “admin” should be punishable by relegation.
Brentford’s Gen10 is a perfect example of how to ensure there’s a future generation who get to experience live football; they’re capping junior tickets for home and away fans at £10.
Actions speak a lot louder than words.
www.brentfordfc.com/en/news/arti...
You can get more insight into how Plymouth consider all angles of the fan experience by listening to this episode of @fanexperienceco.bsky.social’s podcast.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
In marketing we have the 7 Ps. One of these is the ‘product’. That’s your match day.
Too many focus on promotion, which is letting people know it’s happening. There needs to be more joined-up thinking between marketing teams and customer experience.
I’ve taken a look at what teams are doing to make match days memorable for fans.
Take a look at examples including game-specific info on websites, and social posts from SLOs.
A lot of clubs focus on bringing people in, not making them want to return.
theonlinerule.com/making-the-m...
If we’re talking about audience size as a reason for adopting platforms, I’ve never understood why sports teams aren’t all over Reddit.
It’s now more popular than Twitter in the UK.
#SportsMarketing
amp.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Must be Black Friday!
Continuing to update my list of official English team accounts. I’ve tried to verify these by either speaking to staff, through their domain, or from their posts on other sites.
Let me know if I’ve missed any.
Will do lists for Scotland and lower English leagues next.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
I hope so! Hoping we get more uptake from clubs.
Missed Everton joining, but look at this! If you want a case study in how to set up your Bluesky presence this ticks all the boxes.
They have a verified domain and they’ve extended this to subdomains for other languages and teams. And grouped them all together in a starter pack.
10/10, no notes.
Everton have introduced an interactive tool so fans can see what the view is like from different seats in their new stadium.
It’s really useful, but also something all clubs should have anyway.
via @paddyboyland.bsky.social
#SportsMarketing
evertonstadium.io-media.com/web/index.html
Another team that’s seemingly chosen matchday to become active.
Not 100% if this one is official or not (something something verification) but it certainly looks legit enough.
Good to see Brighton being pro-active with their replies (they’ve always been one of the better clubs for this).
They’ve got this profile linked from Instagram to prove it’s authentic. And the official Bluesky handle will be coming soon.
Brighton are one of the newest teams to launch their Bluesky account, and have decided to use a match day to do so.
