Original content is now a must when announcing a signing on social
With the possibility of reaching millions of impressions and interactions, are new signing announcements the new challenge for clubs on social media?
This week has been marked by the agreement between Manchester United and Arsenal for the straight swap of Alexis Sanchez and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. On social media, this deal generated incredible interest thanks to this announcement from the Red Devils:
???? Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats. Introducing #Alexis7…#GGMU #MUFC @Alexis_Sanchez pic.twitter.com/t9RIIx4mE4
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 22, 2018
A unique video to announce Alexis Sanchez’s arrival featuring humour and the club’s DNA which reached high figures: +7 million views on Twitter and +11 million views on Facebook.
This post from Manchester United illustrates a new era of social content to announce a signing where originality is king. For clubs, a new player announcement becomes like a performance to create a buzz and quality content.
We saw already in the last months different cases to Manchester United’s where clubs used key factors for success on social media to make their announcement a hit:
- Parody: like Motherwell FC on Alexis’s video
- Social users behavior: like Liverpool FC’s reaction on #SalahAnnounced
- Follow party: like FC Barcelona with Coutinho
- Players’ culture: like PSG with Neymar Jr
- Players’ career: like Orlando Pride with Alex Morgan
- Teasing: like Arsenal FC with Alexandre Lacazette
- Social interactions: like Aston Villa FC waiting for retweets
- Players themselves: Zlatan Ibrahimovic (of course)
- …
???? | Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats. Introducing #Pete6… #SIWY #MFC
Are we doing this right, @ManUtd? ???? ???? pic.twitter.com/4d14hXW7bN
— Motherwell FC (@MotherwellFC) January 23, 2018
???? pic.twitter.com/07r2UAKRdX
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) June 22, 2017
???? @Phil_Coutinho is ????????!#BeBarça pic.twitter.com/TPehzhSdJ6
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 6, 2018
???? pic.twitter.com/JCKc659jsG
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_inside) August 3, 2017
Coming to a pitch near you…
Tickets: https://t.co/Huze4oysO9 pic.twitter.com/cEYd1dGZqL
— Orlando Pride (@ORLPride) June 29, 2017
You’ll never guess who… ???? pic.twitter.com/4Owx2Bg17i
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) July 5, 2017
Retweet for a signing.
— Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) January 25, 2018
I UNITED it @ManUtd pic.twitter.com/2rgvuvoT0m
— Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) August 24, 2017
Clearly, a signing announcement is now the opportunity for clubs to reach an unusual audience and engagement being the most original. Fans are waiting for more than a visual with player’s name. They need to see breaking news and entertainment in the same post.
I’m looking forward to seeing how the next deals will be announced by clubs in the coming months based on social media usage and new technologies: VR/AR with a special app, messaging apps, more videos with a storyline… For example in Ligue 1, FC Nantes experimented with a riddle on Messenger via a chatbot.
A lot of possibilities are offered to clubs these days, so let’s see what will happen this summer!
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