How the FA covered the Cup Final in a new social media tone of voice

It was arguably the least-exciting FA Cup final in recent years, but that didn’t dampen the joy of the victorious Chelsea upon the final whistle, or indeed the despair of the vanquished Manchester United either.

The semi-finals of the competition were perhaps most memorable for events off the pitch, too, as the FA Cup’s official Twitter account tweeted about Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane and seemingly upsetting the player and plenty of fans in the process.

The charge wasn’t so much that the tweet itself – a light jibe at the England goal-machine’s anonymous performance in such a big game – but the fact that it was coming from the official account of the tournament in question. Yet that one tweet in isolation doesn’t begin to tell the story of how the FA has changed its social media image over the last year.

The prim and proper image of English football’s governing body has undergone something of a shift, but those criticising probably haven’t noticed the change. Hopefully by looking back on the year most will recognise the difference.

From using polls in Instagram stories to deliver an engaging and unique ‘matchday experience’ even to those nowhere near attending the game to spicing up the content on the Twitter feed, the FA’s tone has become a much more engaging one.

Their coverage of the Cup final itself showed it, but even last week’s England World Cup squad announcement proved the tone of voice is now geared towards actively courting a younger demographic on social media. It was, interestingly, largely well-received. Even from the same people criticising the Harry Kane tweet.

Maybe it’s a generational thing. Instagram is a huge part of this transformation and perhaps that’s a platform with a younger demographic.

On the official feed, you can now relive each of the stages from round three on. During the tournament, the FA sent a member of their team to the games with the view to using polls in the Stories function to allow fans to direct their own content. This has been done throughout the tournament, and indeed for the Cup final on Saturday. The coverage has been great and those who can’t make it to the match were able to direct the social media manager’s day – right from the mode of transport to take him to the game to even his half-time snack.

That is, of course, on top of the rest of the Instagram and Twitter content produced by the FA.

Next stop: The @emiratesfacup Final

A post shared by The Emirates FA Cup (@emiratesfacup) on

On Cup final day, this included a live-stream of the trophy presentation to Chelsea at the end of the game. The rest was a case of quality over quantity, with a focus on the big moments and the whole game covered in a thread to keep everything together.

Rather than the traditional ‘live-tweeting’ of the action – that is, describing every chance – the biggest moments of the game were covered. High-quality images were married with a wide-angle view of the game so as to ensure the coverage was done in broader strokes. The official account’s coverage wasn’t a place to follow the game as such but rather a secondary place to add colour to proceedings. Indeed, many of the tweets focused on the fans – the kind of thing you may not be paying that much attention to while you’re simultaneously watching the game on BBC or BT Sport.

The tweet formula with one emoji at the end is reminiscent of the famous pithy Opta sign-off to sum everything up at the end of every tweet. Nice.

Over the World Cup, the FA will have to cover England’s games, too, so expect a similar approach. But overall the last year or so has seen a marked shift in the way the FA have used their social media channels – whether it be the FA Cup or the national team.

About author

Chris McMullan
Chris McMullan 831 posts

Chris is a sports journalist and editor of Digital Sport - follow him on Twitter @CJMcMullan_

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