Inter Milan have become the latest European football club to hit a big milestone on social media.

The Italian giants this week hit the 7 million follower mark on Facebook, reflecting the fact that despite being part of the vital everyday for football clubs, social media growth just isn’t actually stopping.

In a press release, Inter Media House credit the content produced by the media team with significant growth in recent weeks, and it’s hard to dispute that analysis: not long ago, the team embarked on an ambitious project to create an original piece of mixed-media content in each of the 110 days before the club celebrates its 110th anniversary in March. Such frequent rich content celebrating the history and culture of a grand old institution of European football is surely a draw.

But then there’s also the team’s revival on the pitch, too. Inter are currently top of Serie A, and leading the way in what is set to be a fascinating title race later in the season with five of the league’s biggest names still in contention. And the fact that Inter’s worldwide appeal has now increased in the last few seasons after some clever investment from their Chinese owners, all the strands seem to be coming together for the club in all the different facets this season, at last.

What’s interesting about Inter’s announcement, though, isn’t just that the club have attained a big milestone on the back of growth, seemingly in every area, but they claim that more than 80% of their new followers come from outside Italy.

That shouldn’t be such a surprising number, really. After all, clubs are looking further and further afield in search of partnerships, commercial deals and, above all, fans. Social media, meanwhile, is key to that strategy, as the ability to broadcast your club to the world, breaking down physical barriers, is so vast.

Inter say that this growth shows that the club is becoming a ‘modern entertainment company that puts fan experience at the heart of everything’. With video – including behind the scenes content, interviews and even live streaming of youth team games – at the heart of their Facebook strategy, and rich historical content including stories, images and old video footage on the website, Inter aren’t just bringing all the strands together off and on the pitch , they’re doing it with the content they create, too.