If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you’ll know I’m prone to the occasional rant. And one of my more frequent musings is the conservatism of Australian businesses towards social media. But rather than cracking that old chestnut open again, today I’m going to tell a happy tale of social media excellence. Because we can’t always be grumpy can we? It’s a story of an Australian organisation applying social media to their industry in a killer manner. And would you believe it… it’s a footy club! Yes. A footy club. While the industry is often portrayed as neanderthal like, the Essendon Football Club is putting most Aussie businesses to shame in their application of social technologies. No wonder I love them so much…
It’s clear that the Essendon Football Club has a strong committment to the web as a marketing channel. Indeed, they are the only club in the AFL to maintain a stand alone site beyond the AFL’s official hub, thereby sacrificing financial compensation from the AFL. But by maintaining complete control over their web presence, they have been able to innovate at a higher level than any other club. And as it turns out, they’re innovating at a superior level to most Australian businesses. Let’s take a look at how they’re applying social technologies to their industry:
The Essendon Football club’s use of Twitter is impressive. While other businesses fumble for practical uses, Essendon obviously recognise the strengths of Twitter and tailor their usage accordingly. And with almost 3,000 followers, the punters seem to agree. Three particular uses of Twitter have impressed me:
- Breaking News: Rather than utilising Twitter as a broadcast channel to distribute news, Essendon FC uses the immediate nature of Twitter to break it. Indeed, the club’s Twitter feed was used to break one of the biggest stories of the year – the shock recruitment of their new CEO from rival club Hawthorn. Mainstream media later reported the news, citing the Twitter feed as the news source. The club also used Twitter to break the news that star player Jobe Watson would make his comeback from injury.
- Live event coverage: Twitter and sports are a match made in heaven, particularly when a game isn’t covered on free-to-air television. Live Tweeting provides an alternative form of coverage for fans who are unable to attend/watch the game. The Essendon Twitter account is used on gameday to give blow by blow descriptions of how the game is unfolding.
- Player profiles: The club also seems to be strongly involved in establishing a player presence on Twitter, which is a brilliant move. AFL players are idolised across the country, and Twitter allows fans to ‘connect’ with their heroes, opening a small window of insight into their everyday life. Sports hero gazing holds just as much appeal as celebrity gazing, as illustrated by the popular accounts held by Lance Armstrong & Shaquille O’Neal. Jobe Watson and Angus Monfries are the two Essendon players currently on Twitter, with the club actively promoting a rivalry between the two over who can attract the most followers.
Live player chat
Aside from Twitter, Essendon also utilises a custom built live chat service on its’ own web site dedicated to live match coverage. The most recent match coverage can be viewed here with around 300 entries from supporters. The master stroke of the internal live chat service is that each week a different player participates in the chat session with fans during the match, providing their thoughts and commentary on the game.
It’s worth noting that the players participating are not fringe players or outcasts. In most cases the players are regular first team players who are injured or suspended including Andrew Welsh, Adam McPhee and Angus Monfries. I believe captain Matthew Lloyd has also hosted a session. Much like Twitter, the initiative is clearly aimed at bringing fans closer to their heroes. And while the player’s participation and interaction with fans is very much limited, it is the perception that fans can connect with players that creates value. Given players match day committments (even injured players), it’s unlikely a higher level of engagement during the game can be realistically achieved.
Blogs and open commenting
A club blog has been established as part of Essendon’s web infrastructure, although as an internally built tool, it lacks the functionality of WordPress blog. Most contributions come from the coaching staff and players themselves, albeit at a rate of about 1-3 posts a month. The posts provide some level of insight into the inner-sanctum of the club, discussing issues such as finals prospects, the challenge of interstate travel and dealing with long-term injuries.
While the blog component of the site is perhaps underutilised, it is the blog-like commenting function on all news items that adds a real level of audience engagement to the site. It is not uncommon for match reports to attract 100+ comments from passionate fans (including myself). The open and unfiltered fan commentary has built a vibrant community that reflects the true pulse of the punters. Fans aggregate each week to rejoice in victories over arch rivals, and to bemoan dismal losses against lowly ranked opponents. Admirably, the club is brave enough to allow the most ardent of trolls to post incessant drivel week after week in the knowledge that others will jump in to defend the club/players/coach.
As a result of the unbiased commentary, the Essendon FC match report is now one of my first stops after a game. I come back to the site regularly with the specific intent of reading fan commentary. I’m keenly interested in seeing how others have perceived the team’s performance, as well as contributing my own thoughts. By simply allowing open fan discussion, they have made me a far more engaged and loyal user of their web site.
Video
Bomber TV is Essendon’s subscription based online video service, to which Bomber fans can subscribe for a cost of $10 per year. All the standard content is there that you’d expect from a footy club including game highlights and press conferences. However, the club produces a raft of unique video based content to ensure fans get value for their money (all $10 of it). The wide range of video content includes:
- Panel Shows: Two panel shows are produced each week with the involvement of Essendon’s assistant coaches. One show analyses the performance of the team in their most recent match, and the other previews the game for the upcoming weekend.
- Interviews: Player interviews are a staple of Bomber TV with club legends and current players giving insights into their careers and lives.
- Behind the scenes footage: Fans are given a taste of the inner workings of the club with footage from club functions, training sessions, interstate trips, sponsors events & more.
User comments are also open for video content, although far less utilised than the comments function for the general news.
Social network
The fifth bow to Essendon’s social media armory is a niche social network for Bombers supporters called ‘The Hangar’. It operates in the manner of a very simplified version of Facebook. Fans can create their own profile page and connect with other Bomber fans. In theory the concept is solid. Football fans have a common interest and offline social clubs thrive. Indeed, I’d appreciate being able to meet more Essendon fans as sometimes my regular group of friends can’t make it to the game. However, the execution of the social network is poor (but I’ll give them a break… they can’t get everything right).
The greatest problem for The Hangar is that it is extremely difficult to actually connect with other fans. The only way to search for people is by surname (which is a very cumbersome listing process rather than a keyword search). But what if I don’t know who I’m searching for? Isn’t the point of social networks to connect with new people? So how do I know who to connect with? I’d much rather run a search based on interests or geography (perhaps we could hitch a ride to the game together). It seems other people encounter the same problem, because I have only ever received 2 friendship requests from fellow fans. Even when I do connect with others, there is little scope for real interaction. We can leave comments on each other’s walls, but that’s about it. No email or alternative form of communication exist.
Despite its limitations, The Hangar has seems to have thousands of members (as demonstrated when searching by surname). So the concept has some potential. However, until it is more functional, it is unlikely to be utilised to its full potential.
Mobile
While not strictly a social initiative, Essendon’s mobile site is further evidence that the club is committed to innovating in emerging channels. The mobile site allows me to access key pieces of club information including game results and reviews, club news, the ladder, a fixture & more. The mobile interface is greatly simplified to allow convenient browsing from my iPhone.
Australian businesses – watch & learn!
There’s no question that sporting clubs have a head start over most businesses when it comes to applying social tools & technologies. The sheer passion of the average sports fan means that they are for more likely to be drawn to social technologies the club creates. Most businesses simply can’t replicate that level of passion or interest.
However, it is still up to the club to devise smart tactics for each channel to engage fans. And it is here that Essendon excels. While many businesses approach social tools with a traditional marketing mindset, Essendon has identified the strengths of each channel (social network adise) and delivered an experience that creates true value for fans.
Now… there’s no question that my judgment in the matter may be biased based on my affinity with Essendon Football Club, but I can’t think of an Australian organisation doing a better job of implementing social technologies. If you can, feel free to drop their name in the comments…
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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
sounds like they are doing a very good job.
not sure about the hangar as well, whats the point of building another social network. would have been better to look at building one for all AFL fans or some kind of forum where all fans can chat about the game.
too bad i saw the bombers at the worst – they got mauled by the tigers!
Hi James,
Thanks for giving the site a really great ‘review’. As one of the developers for Blue Pebble Design, the company who have the contract to develop the Essendon Football Club’s website, we’re really proud of our work. But we’re always interested to hear how the fans are seeing what the club and we are trying to achieve.
Your experience in ‘The Hangar’ seems has given us some great insight into how our fans are experiencing it. The club is keen to improve how it works and I’m sure your feedback will help us in this. We’ll make sure you’re one of the first to know as we roll out future improvements.
Cheers – Danny
@Matt – Don’t remind me of that game. Funnily enough, the link in the article about the fans ‘bemoaning dismal losses’ was after the Richmond game. Let’s say the fans weren’t particularly happy about it (as you could tell sitting next to a psycho…). But, at least we can both applaud them on their web efforts.
@Danny – Congrats on the great work. I seriously think the site is one of the best in Australia. The Hangar does need a lot of work, but I wonder if that time could be better spent developing a sub community within Facebook. It’s such a hard job to try to get people to convert their social networking from an existing hub (ie. Facebook).
You won’t own the traffic, but that’s not what the goal should be anyway. It should be about building the best fan community possible. And Facebook is where you can achieve that. Check out what the Cleveland Cavs do on Facebook for an example of a sports club doing it well (100,000+ fans).
Happy to give my input into the site any time. Feel free to drop me a line via the contact form to discuss further.
Late last year I encouraged Hawthorn to get on Twitter but received a polite “thanks but no thanks” as well as something along the lines of “we have a great interactive studio etc etc”.
Now other clubs have passed the Hawks (yes @Hawka is still being held by me for handing over free to the Hawks) as well as there have been no more weekly podcasts which were unreal last year.
I wonder if this slipping of attention to detail behind the scenes has contributed to our poor form this year?
Thank God it isn’t Collingwood doing well in this space!
@ Oyst I liked the fact that Essendon RT’d the post and a developer has been here to discuss it, both within hours of it being published. They definitely have their finger on the pulse.
As for the Hawks, another sign of complacency after last year’s flag…?
Have noticed the Blues doing some good stuff as well. Noticed they announced Michael Jamison’s season ending injury over Twitter last night. Radio was later reporting it based on the Tweet.
And as for Collingwood, check out Harry O’Brien’s Twitter – http://twitter.com/harry_o. He’s doing the best job of any player there. Far more regular than most other players and also more personal. He even gives tickets away.
Interesting case study, James. I’ve zero interest in AFL, but your examination of their online presence was great. Thanks!
Hey,
Great article, but I don’t think that Essendon is the only one doing a great job. How about some of this stuff the government is doing: http://willegan.com/2009/08/03/a-political-perspective/
By the way, I think Telstra have ruined the AFL website. That’s why Essendon can do the things it does, because it owns it’s own content and can publish it any where. As far as I am aware, Telstra owns the content for all other clubs.
Cheers & Go North!
Will
Other clubs have also jumped onto Twitter, with varied levels of followers.
Essendon 2861
Collingwood 2321
Adelaide Crows 2274
Carlton 1367
Hawthorn 736
Good stuff James. Thanks for the case study.
Thanks James, great article .
The West Coast Eagles do a pretty good job with facebook with more than 24,000 fans http://www.facebook.com/pages/West-Coast-Eagles/38862387223
Cheers
Megan
Hi James,
I really enjoyed the article it’s great to see a footy club leading the social media landscape in OZ. Hopefully it’ll be a wake-up call for Australian businesses, SMM is here to stay so embrace it! Thanks to Portz for posting other clubs Twitter stats and also Megan, I’m really surprised to see how many fans West Coast has. My club Carlton could be doing more!
Different code I know but I’m a fan of Melbourne Victory on Facebook and they’re doing a great job of keeping everyone updated http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/gomvfc?ref=nf they’re about to crack 7000 fans. They’ve obviously decided to focus on Facebook and not Twitter.
I had a question do you think OZ brands are underestimating the power of Twitter? I look at Sportsgirl who have a great web2.0 site with forums, blogs but no Twitter presence or Facebook activity! Are we not at a critical mass in this country yet to make Twitter worthwhile? Personally I think OZ companies are foolish not to incorporate Twitter into their communications strategy especially if they’re doing Facebook. Ultimately, I suppose it comes down to resources.
@ portz, Jimmy & Megan – Thanks for chipping in with info about what other clubs are doing. West Coast’s Facebook presence in particular is impressive.
@Jimmy – I think Aussie companies have a long way to go in their adoption of social media in general. I won’t isolate it just to Twitter. Twitter is just one channel. Sportsgirl is a good example. I suspect their core objective as an online retailer is to increase the frequency of visitation to their site. Girls love to talk about fashion, so implementing forums & blogs is a good way to achieve that goal. As I mentioned in the post, I visit the Essendon site more frequently because of the user generated content.
At the end of the day, a business needs to define what it wants to achieve with social media. Once the objectives are set they can define the channels and technologies that are appropriate, which may or may not include Twitter.
Hi James,
Nice article. Now is an important time for the Australian industry to demonstrate how local brands are embracing social media and and how it integrates and supports an organisations overall marketing strategy.
Examples such as these and others assist to quantify the potential and value of social media, which should hopefully inspire other marketers in Australia to consider the opportunity this channel presents.
Cheers
Teresa
late reply but but i totaly agree with Essendon being a step ahead (hurts me to say that) at that time, lucky most big clubs have done a good job in 2012 showing they are not just sitting on their hands.
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