Football clubs that are #Winning at social media!

Gone are the days when you had to check Teletext for match day reports, football news and score lines. With the rise of social media, football clubs are using platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even Google Plus to leverage content to their audience, as well as using their influence to promote global brands.

Check out our league of social media performers:

In first position…

Last year, Villa was tasked with announcing the signing of ex-Chelsea legend, John Terry, with content that would catch the attention of their large fan base. In true footy banter fashion, they conducted a fake Whatsapp conversation which managed to acquire over 21,000 retweets and 29,000 likes, resulting in Aston Villa going viral on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/AVFCOfficial/status/881840731551391744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.espn.co.uk%2Ffootball%2Fblog%2Fespn-fc-united%2F68%2Fpost%2F3162229%2Ffootball-clubs-finding-a-voice-their-fans-can-relate-to-in-social-media-gold-rush

2. Bristol City

Bristol City managed to reach the headlines with their famous victory over Manchester United in the Carabao Cup late last year, but they’re also turning heads with their peculiar, but genius social media methods. Whenever a goal is scored by The Robins, the player who scored it has their own ‘special’ GIF posted on the clubs’ platforms. This is great for exposure as it uses humour to capture the audience’s attention and attracts huge engagement.

3. Manchester City

Back in 2016, German midfielder Ilkay Gundogan put pen to paper for Manchester City in a way that was virtually unheard of – announcing himself as a new signing on Twitter before the club did. Breaking the norms of a traditional press release, a simple post from the player was retweeted over 20 thousand times with hundreds commenting on the thread. City’s Twitter account then replied to the tweet with a link attached to their website, ticking all the boxes: engagement, traffic, clever marketing.

@MCFC ANNOUNCE GUNDOGAN! ?

— Ilkay Gündogan (@IlkayGuendogan) June 2, 2016

Sounds like a plan @Guendogan8! Let’s do it: https://t.co/0rlKYLR4UF #WelcomeIlkay #mcfc https://t.co/PNUHaDMJ1U

— Manchester City (@ManCity) June 2, 2016

4. Manchester United

Manchester United lead the way with their social media strategies in terms of numbers and they utilize this with unique content throughout all their channels. With over 35m interactions on its social media accounts across 2017, United have used their huge commercial presence to promote films like Independence Day and X-Men: Apocalypse.

The Red Devils scored highly with these type of campaigns as they extend their reach beyond the football sphere and into an entirely new audience.

5. Exeter City

Exeter City included a touch of class in their latest Twitter campaign announcing their new summer recruit, Aaron Martin. The Devon club react to cries for a new player by announcing their first summer signing of the season while raising the profile of the Deaf Academy charity.

https://twitter.com/OfficialECFC/status/1011284695823388672

The supporters seemed to love it too!

This is brilliant from @OfficialECFC https://t.co/u4IkeZLC1P

— Liam MacCarthaigh (@realLiamMac) June 27, 2018

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