By Mark Baber
September 27 – Manchester City Football Club has expanded its global social media presence by launching ten new international Twitter accounts whilst, 27 miles away, Liverpool has outlined further plans to expand its global digital offering.
In addition to its existing English and Arabic Twitter accounts, which are followed by more than 1.5 million fans, Manchester City will now be offering Twitter content in Traditional Chinese, French, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai.
The launch follows the roll-out of City’s ten international websites in the same languages which has, according to the club, seen City “extend its reach up to 80% of the world’s internet connected population.” According to the club’s press release, the “international Twitter accounts will ensure that City supporters from more than 160 countries will now be able to access Manchester City Twitter content in their own language.”
Diego Gigliani, Director of Marketing, Media and Fan Development for Manchester City Football Club, said: “As the club continues to attract fans from across the world and our global community grows, it’s important to find new ways to connect and engage with them in order to build deeper relationships. Translating our website into 13 languages was one step on this journey – creating another ten Twitter accounts is another.”
Lewis Wilshire, former Head of Sport and now Media Partnerships Director for Twitter (UK), added: “Following your favourite club on Twitter is a great way to get closer to the action. It is fantastic to see Manchester City innovating by launching Twitter accounts in ten new international languages. It will allow fans from all over the globe to join in conversations about their club and share in the roar of the crowd.
“Over the last few years Manchester City has used Twitter in several interesting and original ways. They were the first team to put their hashtag #Together on their team bus when they won the Premier League trophy in the 2011/12 season, while Vincent Kompany’s #FollowTheCaptain initiative allowed fans to Tweet inspirational messages to the captain, which were then displayed in the team’s dressing room ahead of the derby.”
Meanwhile, speaking at The Nolan Partners Sport Industry Breakfast Club in London, Liverpool FC Managing Director, Ian Ayre, reinforced the club’s long term strategic plan to grow its digital platforms and announced the launch of a dedicated Liverpool FC website in Chinese, revealing that the reds already have more followers on social media platforms from China than any other country in the world.
The Chinese masses can keep up with Liverpool team news, including the thoughts of captain Gerrard, through Weixin (WeChat) and Sina Weibo as well as the Tencent Weibo platform on which Liverpool already has over 765,000 followers.
The forthcoming launch of an official Chinese Liverpool FC website follows on from the creation of local language websites in Indonesia and Thailand in May and June respectively. Liverpool FC now has a total of 34 official social media accounts including 17 official international Twitter profiles – 12 of which are local language accounts and five which are country specific. In addition the club has an official Russian-language presence on VK.com and five international Facebook profiles localised for individual markets.
According to Ayre: “Liverpool FC is a Premier League pioneer for innovation, brand development and international fan engagement. Central to our international brand strategy is the Club’s revolutionised digital output, which is interactive, inclusive and localised to individual territories – delivering content which is tailored to specific markets and accessible in local languages.
“Extending the Liverpool FC brand beyond borders and connecting with our 200 million global fans also makes good commercial sense for the Club and will help us achieve a competitive advantage on and off the field. We can create added value for our corporate partners and maximise the international commercial opportunities that benefit everyone at the Club, including the players, coaching staff and the global community of fans across the world.”
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