Glory Glory Man United…….. but without the glory in recent years, how are they still one of worlds largest clubs? Fan engagement. Join us as we delve into the various ways Man United have engaged us without us even knowing.
The media has been around for ages, longer than most of us, much like Man United, yet they are still one of the most up to date and popular clubs on social media, across the globe. According to Filo “The emergence of social media has profoundly impacted the delivery and consumption of sport”.
Man United have utilised the emergence of social media in order to expand their presence globally. Their social media presence is one of the largest in the league with, 73.5 million likes on Facebook, 27.5 million followers on Instagram and 19 million followers on twitter, yes that’s right 19! that’s one off the 20 league titles they have won. Man United have successfully obtained global exposure by operating several different twitter accounts for different regions of the globe, these include @ManUtd_ES for Spain, @ManUtd_ ID for India and @ManUtd_ JP for Japan. Man united have been successful at engaging a younger audience by increasing their online presence across these three platforms. This relates to the theory suggested by Filo as more and more young fans are consuming sport through social media so obviously Man United have realised this and targeted this market. The content that is produced by Manchester United across these 3 social media platforms is diverse yet relevant to what they are all about, football. They predominately use visual appeal to engage their fans, an example of which would be their 2017/18 kit launch and short image videos such as new signings. Visual appeal is more engaging than reading a long winded paragraph and keeps the fans on social media, resulting in more followers.
This is done both on Twitter and Instagram through the use of short video clips and clips of behind the scenes in training and in dressing room photos of the players. In one instance the Instagram story was run by a player for the day, which again engaged the fans as it was new, exciting and something that hadn’t been done before.This links to the theory suggested by Rettie, (2000) that “Marketing often involves rapid communication; for example, watching a television commercial, driving past a poster” This links to the theory suggested by Filo earlier about the delivery and consumption of sport. The use of visual appeal used by Man United can place added responsibility on the players to entertain their promotional duties off the pitch as well as playing on the pitch, which in turn is effecting the delivery of sport. Were you aware you were being specifically targeted or were you too engrossed in your screen?
The introduction of their app allows them to engage a younger audience who are constantly on their phones. Their app offers up to date scores on matches, latest post match interviews, injury updates, training updates and many more informative aspects. This is not all however, as a fan there are various interactivity opportunities available on the app. Rating the players, choosing your favourite player, voting in polls and giving your own say on latest results all offer us the opportunity to have our say on the club and creates a sense of belonging. The app also offers fans the opportunity to purchase merchandise from the shop, giving any avid fans the chance to become a part of the Manchester united community. The app also offers fans the chance to buy tickets to games and watch MUTV through a subscription sign up options such as £5.99 for a monthly pass, £29.99 for a 6 month pass and £34.99 for an annual pass. A subscription to MUFC TV offers fans the chance to engage with features such as the manager’s press conference uncut, over 50 live academy games, exclusive player access and interviews and live match commentary and highlights. Both of these aspects allow Manchester United to both engage their fans and increase their revenue stream. The “Players” section within the app offers up to date information on the current MUFC squad, allowing all the fans who love their statistics to impress their friends with up to date knowledge on the current stars within the team.
Manchester United have also recently utilised “Sina Weibo” which is a Chinese microblogging site. This has been done to try and engage more fans in the far east in order to expand the brand that is Manchester United. They have followed a similar plan of trying to engae their audience through visual appeal on Sina Weibo as well. The posts on their Sina Weibo page are similar to those on their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages and they have gathered a large following on this site in the time they have been active on it. This has been done through the use of their visual appeal.
So there it is, did you realise this was going on or were you oblivious to the methods being used by Man United to engage, you, the fan?
Reference List
Kevin Filo, D. L. a. A. K., 2015. Sport and Social Media Research: A Review. Sport Management Review, 18(2), pp. 166-181.
Matthew Nicholson, A. K. a. M. S., 2015. Managing the Nexus. In: Sport and the Media. s.l.:s.n.
Ruth Rettie, C. B., 2000. The verbal and visual components of package design. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 9(1), pp. 56-70.
Media, S., 2018. How Manchester United use Social Media to Grow their Brand. [Online]
Available at: https://serenemedia.co.uk/how-manchester-united-uses-social-media/
[Accessed 24 July 2019]. !G�0
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