Social media can be a powerful thing. Renae Blevins, a Chicago Red Stars fan from suburban Illinois, was discovered through a YouTube video juggling a soccer ball. The club contacted her and asked if she’d like to juggle against Brazilian Red Star Cristiane.

“It was amazing,” said Chicago Red Stars Marketing and New Media Manager Elly Deutch. “Cristiane has world-class skills and this 9-year-old, who’s been training everyday and juggling, working on cool, new moves, was beating her.”

Meet favorite players? Check. Gain instant fame? Check.

Blevins, also a USA and Brazil fan, was recognized at a Red Stars and LA Sol game in front of thousands of spectators, where she got to meet some of her favorite American and Brazilian players. The club uploaded the video of the juggling contest online and got more views than any other video they had done all season. Traffic numbers went through the roof as fans spread the video like wildfire.

“When social media is there for us to utilize, for things like that, that’s a really great way for us to connect with fans,” Deutch continued.

WPS, social media proponent

Such is just one of the impacts Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) is making through the use of social media. The U.S.-based league, widely considered as the best in the world in only its second season, was called the “iLeague” by the New York Times and was no. 5 in USA Today’s top professional leagues in Twitter followers.

“The WPS made the decision to take social media seriously at a time when the rest of the sports world hadn’t yet jumped on the bandwagon,” said WPS fan and On the Ball creator Julie Logan. “And they stuck with it, which is key, evolving their online presence and pursuing new methods of using social media, creating new trends.”

WPS was a champion of social media way before its inaugural match kicked off. It started using Twitter before the popularity rose in the online scene. In September 2008, when the league started putting teams together by allocating the U.S. Women’s National Team players, the announcements were made through the then-unknown micro-blogging platform.

“We announced the allocations through Twitter. And I think it showed that, way back before most of the population even knew what Twitter was, that we were using that medium. And I think that made an impact,” said WPS Director of Communications Rob Penner.

And the trend continued in the 2009 and 2010 drafts, when WPS saw their highest-trafficked days. Fans and sportswriters found themselves glued to Twitter to get immediate updates.

Giving up-to-the-minute news about what goes on in the league and the teams offer that insider experience to fans. Executives and staffers of WPS and its teams post on Twitter and their blogs not just about the latest WPS news, but about their work lives as well.

And with limited TV coverage of the games, the league offers other options for its fans. For play-by-play updates, one can use WPS’ MatchTracker or follow any of the competing teams’ Twitter accounts. To read game recaps and features, WPS has a Delicious.com bookmark account where fans can sift through news articles and blog posts.

Not a fan of reading? Select games offer webcasts and audiocasts. iPhone users can even watch a live stream of a televised game if they are unable to watch it on Fox Soccer Channel.

The best of the best

Having some of the best players in the world, including four-time FIFA World Player of the Year Marta, WPS considers the players its most important asset.

World-class athletes who have represented their countries at the Olympics and the World Cup. Role models who give back to the community through charities and clinics, and stay after every game to sign autographs for their young fans. These are the same women who blog about their progress from an injury, their perfect pair of jeans, and their online petition to get a teammate to hop on the Twitter bandwagon. The same women who compete in a “Garbage Challenge,” try to make a team pyramid at the beach, and attempt to get a Kelly Clarkson autograph, all on video for the world to see. The same women who use Twitter to react about a tough loss or a great win, post pictures of their kids, share a story about saving a goose, and ask for nominations to be the next Bachelorette.

Efforts like these enable fans to know the personalities of the players more. Social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, blogs, and WPS Fan Corner allow players to interact with their fans.

Call it digital grassroots marketing. And this player-fan relationship is crucial for the young league’s survival.

“With the WPS being such a new league, I think it’s vital for players to have a strong relationship with the fans,” said Boston Breakers midfielder, Tiffany Weimer. “Without our fans, we don’t have a league at all. Not to mention we have some very impressive fans who share the same passion as us. Many of them are former players themselves, so it’s easy to relate to them on a more personal level.”

Word of mouth in the digital age

Social media is perfect for a league using a bottom-up approach. It is free, creative, and very popular with the young demographic. While women’s pro soccer leagues outside the U.S. have yet to embrace it as much as the WPS has, it is an inexpensive yet invaluable marketing tool for a sport that is trying to gain popularity while keeping its current fan base happy at the same time.

“So far their activity has helped create a community online for WPS fans, players, and staff. As the league grows, so will this community. And the community already has begun to grow and take on a life of its own, which, to me, is an essential sign of a healthy fan base,” Logan continued.

As WPS continues to steadily grow its fan base through a grassroots approach, it can take pride in knowing that, through social media, they may have uncovered the next soccer superstar. Blevins, who can juggle more than 6,000 times with her feet, now owns an authentic Chicago Red Stars jersey with her name on the back.
The team may have just anointed its future player.

Via: Our Game Magazine

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