Advertising campaign I've found in newspapers and on billboards I knew coming here the love of soccer (or should I say football now that I've officially crossed the pond) is unmeasurable. I wasn't prepared for all the billboards, commercials, local fans sporting their team's apparel, and all the other forms of advertising I've seen by just walking the streets.
The Difference
Immediately, that is the biggest difference between the United Kingdom and the United States. In the U.S. there are still fans wearing the apparel and in certain areas I've seen advertisements, but in the U.K. it's around every corner and in every newspaper. Avoiding it would be near impossible. The purpose of social media is to get people talking and generate buzz. This seems like a relatively simple task since people would still be talking about the sport even if there were no social media, or at least I get the feeling they would. They have an advantage though, football is their main sport; whereas, in the states soccer competes for America's attention with baseball, American football, basketball and hockey, just to name a few. The only competition football in the U.K. has, as far as I've seen, is rugby, which is very interesting to see since that's a sport you don't see advertised in the states too much.
Besides this difference though, as far as Twitter and Facebook, my research has shown that the clubs in the U.K. use social media relatively in the same way as clubs in the U.S. They cross promote other teams by linking to their pages; they give their fans updates on the players and the team; they provide their fans live coverage of the matches; and they even try to direct traffic back to their websites and blogs.
Hopes, wishes and dreams come true
My next step is to go around knocking on some football clubs' doors and hope they are willing to answer a few questions of mine about how beneficial social media is to them, if it is beneficial, and how they measure these benefits. I've learned a lot just from paying attention to the social media outlets, but now it's time to get information directly from the clubs. On top of talking directly to the clubs, I'm very excited to talk to We Are Social about their contract with Adidas and how football clubs' social media efforts impact their social media efforts.
I have talked to one individual so far though. Kate Fairclough, who works for Hill and Knowlton in their public relations department talked to me about Norwich City FC and their sponsor Aviva used social media to raise money for their charity Railway Children. It was really interesting to hear how football clubs go to outside sources to help them raise awareness about important causes. Stay tuned to find out more about our conversation and more conversations to come! I'm learning so much and loving every minute of it. It's amazing to hear how many companies work with football clubs' social media or are impacted by them.
The Difference
Immediately, that is the biggest difference between the United Kingdom and the United States. In the U.S. there are still fans wearing the apparel and in certain areas I've seen advertisements, but in the U.K. it's around every corner and in every newspaper. Avoiding it would be near impossible. The purpose of social media is to get people talking and generate buzz. This seems like a relatively simple task since people would still be talking about the sport even if there were no social media, or at least I get the feeling they would. They have an advantage though, football is their main sport; whereas, in the states soccer competes for America's attention with baseball, American football, basketball and hockey, just to name a few. The only competition football in the U.K. has, as far as I've seen, is rugby, which is very interesting to see since that's a sport you don't see advertised in the states too much.
Besides this difference though, as far as Twitter and Facebook, my research has shown that the clubs in the U.K. use social media relatively in the same way as clubs in the U.S. They cross promote other teams by linking to their pages; they give their fans updates on the players and the team; they provide their fans live coverage of the matches; and they even try to direct traffic back to their websites and blogs.
Hopes, wishes and dreams come true
My next step is to go around knocking on some football clubs' doors and hope they are willing to answer a few questions of mine about how beneficial social media is to them, if it is beneficial, and how they measure these benefits. I've learned a lot just from paying attention to the social media outlets, but now it's time to get information directly from the clubs. On top of talking directly to the clubs, I'm very excited to talk to We Are Social about their contract with Adidas and how football clubs' social media efforts impact their social media efforts.
I have talked to one individual so far though. Kate Fairclough, who works for Hill and Knowlton in their public relations department talked to me about Norwich City FC and their sponsor Aviva used social media to raise money for their charity Railway Children. It was really interesting to hear how football clubs go to outside sources to help them raise awareness about important causes. Stay tuned to find out more about our conversation and more conversations to come! I'm learning so much and loving every minute of it. It's amazing to hear how many companies work with football clubs' social media or are impacted by them.
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