What the PFA Chairman had to say on Social Media

Those of you who read my article on how football clubs can benefit from Social Media saw just how important it is for clubs and players to embrace social media.  As a communication tool, Social Media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook offer clubs of all sizes the opportunity to stretch increasingly tight marketing budgets whilst increasing the interaction with fans and more importantly securing the fans of the future.

There is no doubt that football isn’t alone in its slowness to embrace Social Media, however that is changing.  Certainly the players themselves are already seeing the potential of the tools and the additional rewards it can bring financially, personal brand-wise and that human connection.  They are, perhaps most importantly, alive to the potential of such an area. 

PFA Chairman and current Preston North End defender, Clarke Carlisle certainly took an interest in my article.  Speaking to me, Clarke was definite about just how important Social Media is for football in general.  In response to my article Clarke said...

“Interesting view on the social media from a fan's perspective, I can see how they feel under-appreciated by the approach of many clubs.

We are continuing to impress on players and clubs the importance of knowledge about social media, and responsible usage, but also, like the blog alluded to, the unbelievable potential of this technological age.

The most salient point though, by a country mile, is the relevance of it all to the player/fan of tomorrow. My daughter is 13 and is on her 3^rd smartphone already! This is the media of now, of today and of the future generations and we, as an entire industry, need to get to grips with that, quick sticks!”  Clarke Carlisle, Twitter Jan 2012

Social Media can be an essential tool for everyone involved in football.  Clubs such as Manchester City are already demonstrating just how effectively social media can enhance marketing operations at clubs.  Endless supplies of marketing budget I hear you cry!  Not at all, social media, used correctly can effectively double any clubs marketing budget/resource without costly outlays.

What is certainly lacking in football at the moment is that knowledgebase about Social Media.  As Clarke Carlisle alluded to responsible usage is the ‘worry’ at the moment, whereas what everyone involved in the game should be focusing on is the potential of Social Media. 

My previous article layed out some simple steps any Football Club should be following to begin to benefit from Social Media.  It will be a long process to get everyone on board.

Ps.  Thank you to Clarke Carlisle for his comments.

Social Media Lessons Every Football Club Should Know

2011 was without doubt the year that social media really placed itself at the heart of football.  Our national game has begun to be dominated by the Facebook and Twitter ramblings of footballers from all divisions, directors, owners and ex-pros.  Some like Joey Barton and Rio Ferdinand have taken to Twitter like white paint to grass, and in era when our footballing heroes are further away from your average fan than ever before, it has added a new dimension to the relationship between players and fans.

It hasn’t all been a positive experience, but the very fact that so many incidents of social media fau-pars have made headlines has merely served to accelerate the importance of this new media to the game.

Certainly football clubs could benefit hugely from social media, more so than they are doing at the moment.  Even the most active football club Twitter accounts / Facebook pages are 99% broadcasts AT their loyal supporters.  Businesses up and down the country would kill for the kind of loyalty, advocacy and support that football clubs get from their fans, yet feel it is ok to link their various social media platforms together and just churn broadcast after news item after sales message out.  Many of them mistake reaction to these, and comments against articles as them successfully building their social media networks.  It isn’t. 

Social Media is about having a conversation and entering into interactions.  It isn’t just about having a Facebook page or a Twitter account.  With the sheer amount of loyalty to them, football clubs could be gaining so much more from their social media and translating this into real bottom line gains.  Plus, it costs so little.

5 things a football club social media strategy should include:

Player / Staff knowledge

With several high-profile incidents happening on Twitter in particular last year, it isn’t unusual that clubs such as Wolverhampton Wanderers and the powerhouse of Barcelona have brought in legal advisers to speak to players on their use of Social Media.  As a marketer it makes me cringe that the first people clubs are turning to are the lawyers. 
A better idea would be to engage good Social Media advisers to work with the staff and create not just a Social Media Policy, but also to give the full picture to them.  The blanket banning of Social Media is just not going to work.  Better for the players and staff to understand the medium and also understand the impact of how they use it.  After all, there are great gains that can be made by players and staff if they get it right.  And yes I am talking financially.

Interaction with Fans

Social Media has opened up a wonderful (and very cheap) way for football clubs at all levels to speak to their fanbase like never before.  This is where clubs need to get away from thinking about Social Media in terms of just a Facebook or Twitter feed.
By appreciating that Social Media can and should be woven into the fabric of the marketing and operation of the club, it is obvious to see just how clubs can improve their decision making.  How do we improve our programme (to sell more)?  What flavour of pie should we introduce?  What do you think about this kit design?  What promotion would you like?  What type of hospitality package would you love?

Basic questions yes, but these are just a flavour.  In any other business customer feedback is key to making good business decisions that impact the bottom line.  Football clubs cannot afford to ignore this.

Involve fans more

Everyday a football fan somewhere is creating content about their club.  Each club has hundreds if not thousands of loyal brand ambassadors who would be willing to contribute to helping out their club.  Businesses already have blogger outreach programmes with loyal customers creating content on their favourite brand.  Football clubs should be making more of these opportunities.  Pitchside reporters, tweet chats with favourite players, blogs, unofficial match reports could all be leveraged by football clubs to maximise their brand exposure across the web and thereby improve their presence.  Why not challenge fans to make their own ‘day of the game’ reports and feature the best ones in the clubs YouTube channel.

Get Creative

Sure, as fans we need an official source for our club news, and we all want this in different ways.  So broadcasting official news across all Social Media is a good move.  But to stop there is, as explained above, only the first rung on the Social Media ladder.  The next step is to get creative and always be on the lookout for opportunities to evolve your Social Media output and include it in every aspect.  The Manchester City ‘Tunnel Cam’ is a fantastic example of this.  The significance of which may be lost on the powers that be at a football club.  The reason for this is they spend most of their working week at the club, they’ve probably been in the tunnel before a game.  However, 99% of fans only get one view of the ground on match day and that is from their seat.  Creating ‘behind the scenes’ footage, the chairmans blog, or training ground videos all have the chance of going viral.  Whatever you choose, always be on the lookout for ways of including Social Media in every aspect of the club.

Act Now

There is undoubtedly a mistrust in many football club boardrooms over Social Media, and this is understandable given the high-profile spats and often secretive nature of boardroom decisions.  However, football clubs should remember that the fans of tomorrow are the generation of youngsters who are currently being brought up with their hands on a smartphone.  Creating engaging Social Media now ensures that the club will continue to benefit for a long time to come.

And if any football club needs some help creating ideas then I'm certainly available and well up for the challenge.

From 3-3 to 3-3, 3 things for Paul Dickov to learn from

Like two perfectly formed book ends there was certain symmetry about Oldham’s 3-3 draw with Carlisle United at the weekend.  Not just in the final score, but with another 3-3 draw 46 league games ago.  Both finished 3-3, both saw late, late equalisers from the opposition and perhaps most tellingly both had seen Oldham race into 3-0 leads playing some of their best football of the season.

One thing Oldham manager, ex-Manchester City striker, Paul Dickov will be hoping is that the two results book-end a poor conventional season of results.  In the 46 games between the 3-3 draw with Exeter City at Boundary Park last November, and the 3-3 draw with Carlisle, Dickov oversaw a period of relatively poor results and football littered with defensive errors and goal-less attackers.  This contrasts hugely with what had gone before when Dickovs’ side started last season in such a fashion they were quickly nicknamed Galadickovs, including previously shot-shy midfielder, Dean Furman scoring the Football League goal of the season, also nominated one of the European goals of the season.

In between these two games, Oldham have gone from Galadickovs at the top of League One  earning over 1.7 points per game, scoring 1.4 goals per game to just avoiding relegation at the end of last season and starting this one as the model of mid-table mediocrity (win 2, lose 2, draw 2).  The overall record for the 46 games in between would have Oldham on 51 points from 46 games, possibly (just) enough to stay up in a conventional League One season (though 51 points hasn’t been enough in the past).

So what can we learn from Dickov’s tenure so far...here’s my own 3-3 draw, 3 positives v 3 improvements.

3 For

Scouting and Signing
Dickov and his scouts have proved they can pick a player.  He’s also shown he has a very useful list of contacts currently in some big clubs.  Some good loan signings last season Oumare Tounkare, Aidy White, Jason Lowe, Cedric Evina (turned to permanent) all unknowns who performed very well last season until the lack of quality replacements took there toll on the youngsters .  He’s continued to show the touch this season with the signings of Smith, Diamond, Simpson, Clarke and Kuqi.  All better known, but all have fitted in well to Dickovs system showing he’s certainly done his homework.  His signing failures have been few and far between. 

Football

Some of the football Oldham has played has been the best since Joe Royle’s legends graced Boundary Park.  High tempo, high pressure games built very much in the image of Dickov, but allied to some beautiful passing is the hallmark of Dickovs side at its best.  He admitted early in his tenure that he had been advised from some very experienced heads that 4-4-2 was the best way to get out of League One, and he has stuck fairly rigidly to this.  However, with players such as Chris Taylor, Fillipe Morais and even youngster David Mellor he has the ability to flex the formation during the game.  He’s also not averse to sending the big centre half up front when chasing a goal.

PR

Dickov has brought the polish of a man brought up in the goldfish bowl that the Premier League has become.  He exudes natural enthusiasm, is clear and concise in his interviews and, despite understandably relying on a few clichés and regular phrases, his honesty whilst still backing his players is clear.  So too his willingness to help promote the club, and get the players involved in promotion and PR, all crucial at League One level where a ‘big name’ like Dickov in a town like Oldham can make a real difference.  PR may sound like an insignificant point to raise, but with fans as sceptical as Oldham’s can be, it makes a refreshing change from what has gone before.

3 Against

Half Time / Full Time

Dickov’s playing style was, let’s say, combative.  Ok, scrub that, it was an all-out assault every time he took to the field.  Non-stop from the 1^st minute until the last, which makes one of his sides biggest failings all the more surprising. 

Since he took the reins, Oldham have developed the disturbing habit of regularly conceding goals in the 5 minutes either side of half time and in the last few crucial minutes of games.  Games the side have been in total control of have swung entirely on a goal just before/after half time.  Even more worrying is the sheer number of goals conceded in the second half of games, with around 60% of goals conceded throughout Dickov’s tenure happening in the second period.  For a side that on the surface seems extremely fit, this trend is difficult to explain.  It does point to a certain lack of concentration, but is it something more?  Just what happens in the Oldham dressing room at half time?

Experience

Dickov’s backroom staff should be complemented on the way they have helped create a team that plays the way it does at it’s best.  Former Leicester City and Bolton centre back Gerry Taggart as Dickov’s assistant brings the defensive experience to complement the striking experience of the manager, and they obviously get on extremely well.  However, what does strike many Oldham fans is the lack of management experience in the coaching team.  Certainly Dickov has admitted himself on more than one occasion that he has got substitutions and tactical changes wrong.

Perhaps some experience around the coaching team, maybe even a Joe Royle type figure would aid Dickovs development.  I’m not advocating a change to the coaching staff, merely the addition of some experience, even just in the form of an advisor which could enhance the team.  Almost in the same vain that the likes of Brian Horton, Lennie Lawrence and Gerry Francis have aided the managers they’ve worked with.  A strong man like Paul Dickov will do things his way, and quite rightly, but adding that experienced voice may just make that crucial difference at key times. 

Set Pieces

Set pieces play such a key part in any game both offensively and defensively that there isn’t a single manager worth his salt that doesn’t put the training hours into perfecting them.  Dickov is no exception.  However, Oldham have suffered almost the perfect ‘negative’ storm over the Dickovs tenure, regularly conceding from set pieces and never scoring from them themselves.

It isn’t an area that Dickov and his team aren’t aware of, and is regularly mentioned by Gerry Taggart in his musings, but still the problem persists.  Certainly this specific problem was a consideration in some of the pre-season signings this summer with height and experience brought in.  However, set pieces are all about concentration and ‘switching on’ quicker than the opposition (see the earlier section on Half Time/Full Time).  It is getting this right that can make a massive difference for Paul Dickov’s side.

3-3

I’ve been hugely impressed with the way Paul Dickov has gone about the job over the past season.  His command of the role and the way he has the side playing has been a joy to watch at times, particularly after many years of stagnation in League One.  As an Oldham fan I’m hoping Paul can stick around for a few more years yet and finally give this old club a reason to smile once again.