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The Facebook & Twitter Premier League & French Ligue 1

13 July 2010 No Comment

Click here to access to the Facebook and Twitter French Ligue 1.

UPDATE – Manchester United launched its official Facebook Page on 12 July 2010.

The UK Sports Network – With the Social Media & Sport Summit only a couple of days away and with all the football clubs attending, I thought now was the perfect time to revisit Ash’s article from back in January (when UKSN first came into being… our 2nd ever article I think!).

Ash did some great research into which clubs from the English Premier League were currently active on the two main social media platforms with some interesting results.

The results from our two studies do vary, widly in some cases, which is for a couple of reasons. One will be that a club has made a big push into social media in the last few months and its numbers have shot up. Another will be that I have concentrated on what I can see are ‘official’ channels and not pages set up by fans, so others will change to zero in some cases from before.

If you know of any official sites I have missed then do leave a comment with a link and I’ll have a look and update.

Pos Team Facebook Twitter Total Jan 2010 Total Difference
1 Liverpool 1,713,071 87,414 1,800,485 1,165,598 634,887
2 Arsenal 1,002,170 155,990 1,158,160 22,814 1,135,346
3 Chelsea 1,070,007 52,920 1,122,927 22,044 1,100,883
4 Man City 114,344 25,446 139,790 82,548 57,242
5 Everton 58,760 3,828 62,588 32,126 30,462
6 West Ham United 54,898 0 54,898 0 54,898
7 Aston Villa 15,969 4,084 20,053 2,242 17,811
8 Stoke City 14,903 2,536 17,439 1,650 15,789
9 Wolves 10,522 2,734 13,256 0 13,256
10 Sunderland 7,809 4,523 12,332 2,668 9,664
11 Fulham 3,746 4,575 8,321 2,523 5,798
12 Blackpool 6,616 0 6,616 n/a n/a
13 Blackburn 0 1,987 1,987 4,122 -2,135
14 Wigan Athletic 0 1,195 1,195 750 445
15 Man Utd 0 0 0 28,220 -28,220
16 Birmingham City 0 0 0 674 -674
17 Bolton Wanderers 0 0 0 0 0
18 Tottenham Hotspur 0 0 0 0 0
19 West Brom 0 0 0 n/a n/a
20 Newcastle Utd 0 0 0 n/a n/a

One thing to note before I start getting into any detail. This is a quick bit of reserach that makes interesting reading but only looks at the numbers. It does not account for the amount of engagement, fan sentiment or how it fits into objectives of the clubs that would make this research more meaningful. Its a bit of fun and nothing more than that

Back to the table….the differences between the clubs is still pretty staggering I think you’ll agree. At the top (still) we have Liverpool whose presence keeps growing massively. A glorious tradition and name that is known around the world is certainly going to help in this development as having a ‘global brand’ is going to put them ahead of most other teams. If a fan knows they are active and doing it well then the chances of them increasing their reach is only going to grow.

We will be lucky enough to hear about their social media and mobile strategy on Thursday as they speak for the first time publically at the Social Media & Sport Summit. If you cannot make it to the event I’ll be posting the slides and some footage on the site in the next couple of weeks.

A suprising one to note will be Manchester United. So far they have resisted the lure of social media and concentrated their efforts on driving traffic to the website and see facebook/twitter as platforms that are moving it away (which is an untruth). They are the holy grail of all social media focused agencies and when they do enter the arena, which I’m sure they will, then it will be massive!

I know through talking to clubs and leagues that there is interest in the sector as online advertising rates slump on the traditional website model, which many are still signed up for. And this is shown with Tottenham, Chelsea, Coventry, Ipswich, Football League and FA signing up to learn more this week.

Does this mean that the big teams are doing it better than everyone else? Possibly but then again they will have the budgets to match. They also have the brand and tradition that means they are global brands these days and can reach all parts of the globe.

But….and this is a big but….smaller clubs should take note of what is happening in other sports. In Formula 1 for example the new teams have embraced social media like few others have done. Why? Well, they know they are playing catch up on all fronts and are starting from scratch in terms of a fan base. They have come to the decision that in using the online platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flikr and blogs that they can develop a base more quickly and with deeper engagement than traditional methods. Take a look at Lotus Racing and Virgin Racing as two very good examples of what can be done from a small beginning.
Does this mean they will be as big as McLaren, Ferrari, Williams, Red Bull and the like this time next year? well… no is the short answer. Social Media is much like the work being done on the car between each race. It all helps and defines the image of the team but it takes time (a lot of time), effort and planning to build it up. Neither Lotus or Viurgin are under any illusions that they will millions of followers overnight just because they are in Formula 1 and use social media.

If your club is still not doing anything why do you think this is? and if your club is a Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea or Arsenal what do you think they do well and what could they do better still?

This article first appeared on theuksportsnetwork.com

EXCLUSIVE BONUS from Football Marketing – the Facebook and Twitter French Ligue 1

Except for the 3 most popular clubs, the Ligue 1 presence (discussion with fans) on the online social platforms is almost nonexistent. French clubs have a long way to go before getting anywhere close to the Premier League presence.

Rank Team Facebook fans Twitter followers Total presence
1 Marseille 380,010 5,885 385,895
2 Paris SG 261,631 48 261,679
3 Lyon 135,955 1,193 137,148
4 Toulouse 24,441 5,093 29,534
5 Lens 15,809 74 15,883
6 Bordeaux 11,388 185 11,573
7 Saint Etienne 11,331 0 11,331
8 Nancy 9,678 0 9,678
9 Sochaux 6,999 13 7,012
10 Valenciennes 5,040 0 5,040
11 Montpellier 4,159 123 4,282
12 Lorient 1,342 0 1,342
13 Monaco 253 0 253
14 Nice 211 0 211
15 Auxerre 144 0 144
16 Arles-Avignon 0 0 0
17 Brest 0 0 0
18 Caen 0 0 0
19 Lille 0 0 0
20 Rennes 0 0 0

As for the Premier League, if you know of any official french sites we have missed then do leave a comment with a link and we’ll have a look and update.

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