By Tom Parsons
March 28 – Hyde FC playing in the Skrill Conference Premier haven’t exactly had a season to remember on the pitch but their presence on Social Media has been entertaining to follow. One tongue-in-cheek tweet read: “Hearing reports that Floyd Mayweather has made a $38 million bet on Hyde tonight. Come on The Tigers! #WinItForFloyd”.
Currently sitting bottom of the Skrill Conference, Hyde have only managed to pick up one win all season: a 2-0 win away against Welling in January. This has subsequently sealed their fate and the club based just outside of Manchester will be relegated to the Skrill North next season.
However on Twitter, the club’s performance has been exceptional with the @HydefcLive account gaining many fans and admirers from the way they have reacted to the team’s terrible season.
By posting lighthearted Tweets about the clubs dismal performances on the pitch, the club’s official Twitter account has gained an extra 15,000 Twitter followers since the start of the year and are getting a huge amount of interactions when they Tweet.
The club’s popularity has grown so much, they now have more followers than all but 3 of the sides in League One and League Two.
Now, they are using their increase in following to let their fans vote on Social Media on which kit the club play in next season. The club has Tweeted pictures of five potential kits for the 2014/15 season and have asked their fans to vote on which one they want by retweeting the kit they like the most. The kit with the most votes will be the kit the club plays in next year.
Hyde FC will also give the kits away to one lucky follower who retweets the winning strips.
This isn’t the first time that social media has been used as a way of voting by football clubs. Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal regularly get their Twitter followers to vote for their official man of the match after their matches by choosing a selection of players and getting the fans to retweet their choice.
Newly formed New York City Football Club also pushed their campaign for fans to choose their club’s badge on social media.
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