Digital Media Cafe Blog Week 12 – David Granger
March 5, 2014
Which is the biggest Manchester Club (in China)?
The UK Sports Network takes a look this week at how European football clubs have fared on Chinese social media networks.
The third annual Red Card report by Chinese digital agency Mailman examines the number of followers each club has as well as the spread of channels they are on, the engagement with fans and the interactions each club has received.
If you look at just the follower numbers then Manchester City takes the title with more than ten million fans across Sina and Tencent Weibo. The figures then fall to under half that number for the official accounts of Barcelona, Chelsea and Real Madrid.
When it comes to engagement Bayern Munich top the table with an average of 317 shares and comments per post. In contrast, Manchester City’s ten million followers don’t share nearly as well
The engagement or buzz about a club reveals that it’s Manchester United who top this one just ahead of Liverpool.
It’s interesting to see not only a move into the Chinese market for clubs, but also how different tactics have resulted in different results for the teams and their digital strategies.
Weather report
The recent downpour at the Nascar Daytona 500 was played out online as much as on the circuit.
It’s a great example of how sport using social media to break the news, but also fans and drivers are having their say as well.
The race was halted after just 38 laps because of weather that included heavy rain and a tornado watch. And after the warnings were lifted, another storm meant efforts to dry the track were in vain.
The crowd though – those who had decided to stay – were kept up to date not just by the media but by Nascar’s senior vice-president Steve O’Donnell’s Twitter account. Not something we’re likely to see for Bernie Ecclestone in F1 any time soon…
Winters Tales
If memories of Sochi are beginning to fade, then take a trip over to the BBC website, where the corporation has kindly rounded all the best bits of the games from dancing bears, to mad moustaches. Next up for the resort of course will be the arrival of F1 later this year…
In the Spotlight
British BMX sensation Shanaze Reade is a triple world champion whose background is in track and field sports.
But she took to riding BMX with some determination and much success becoming British national champion in 2005 and winning her first pro race the next year.
Since then she’s achieved three World, eight European and five British BMX championships. She’s a pretty unstoppable force.
And online she’s using social to not only highlight her achievements and promote BMX riding for women in her home country and abroad, but also add a dash of personality to proceedings. Celebrating her part-Jamaican, part-Irish heritage on her Twitter bio, she’s engaging, funny and it’s not simply another PR or marketing outlet, but a chance to converse with fans, keep them up to date and also ask their advice, about such important matters as how to watch British TV channels while in California. But, like a growing number of athletes, it’s Instagram which probably tells more of her story than any other channel. Great shots of rides, bikes, dogs and her downtime make it a real insight into the world of a top class athlete.
If you have an athlete, sport of association you thin we should take a look at, please let us know in the comments section.
