It looks like goal gifs are the new starting lineup gifs.

These days, football clubs are beginning to notice that social media is more than just a chance to stay in contact with their fans: it can also be a new revenue stream. And so over the last few years, clubs have been getting creative.

Things like lineup announcements and goal celebrations will always happen every week, and since they can be planned for and produced ahead of time, they can also be sponsored, giving clubs the chance to monetise their social media accounts, too. There’s even a chance for more than that, in fact. Especially if you’re not a Premier League team with a worldwide following: the chance to get your players, your brand and even your sponsors a little bit of extra exposure. And this season, Championship side Bristol City have been doing just that.

Getting time with the players to be able to plan out a gif that can be used when they score is not a simple business, and you need to know exactly what you want to do. But few clubs have been able to explore the personality of each player and bring out some element of that character in a gif that works quite this well.

GOAL: Hull City 2-2 #BristolCity, Reid 80. #HULvBRC pic.twitter.com/03C5p6nXC1

— Bristol City FC (@bcfctweets) November 25, 2017

Over 20k likes later, Bristol’s social media account became a viral hit at the weekend during their come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Hull City. A creative goal gif for midfielder Bobby Reid took most of the applause, but the winner, scored by Josh Brownhill in the final minute of normal time also garnered thousands of interactions on Twitter.

GOAL: Hull City 2-1 #BristolCity, Flint 68. #HULvBRC pic.twitter.com/eCWhgksiOs

— Bristol City FC (@bcfctweets) November 25, 2017

This isn’t new for the club either. All season their goal gifs have been bespoke, with a new one for each player, rather than a generic celebration in gif form thrown out in a tweet after every goal

GOAL: Hull City 2-3 #BristolCity, Brownhill 89. #HULvBRC pic.twitter.com/OdFllQ2BUT

— Bristol City FC (@bcfctweets) November 25, 2017

The result is a unique series of content which can then be sponsored, and a new sponsor for each goalscoring player is also a possibility, as evidenced by a sponsor’s logo on two of the above three tweets. Naturally, only those players tipped to score on a regular basis would feature in such a deal, you’d imagine.

Beyond the creativity and the fact that football fans on Twitter as a whole seemed to like the content, it shows the possibility for clubs and sponsors alike to gain exposure, and the power of the social media feed to grow revenue for football clubs of all levels. But the key is creating good content first.