Social media important to football but remain untapped for many clubs

By Mahlomola Martin Lefupana

Social media has been one of the most transformative, game changing tool and a leading buzzword of the last decade. Unsurprisingly, Kaizer chiefs are leading social media platforms with a combined following of 5 million people on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Pirates comes second with over 3 million on the four platforms, while Sundowns has just over 1 million. The rest of the 13 Premier Soccer League (PSL) have less than half a million each, with Supersport United with over 4 hundred thousand at fourth, while Stellenbosch fc is at the bottom with just over 50 thousand followers across the social media platforms.  

The figures for Chiefs and Pirates are impressive enough to put the Soweto clubs in the top 100 of Global Football Digital Benchmark, with Chiefs at 62 and Pirates at 78. However, despite this impressive figure by Chiefs and Pirates, research has identified that there is need for clubs to invest in social media communication and marketing as the world is increasing becoming digital.

Although all PSL clubs have social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter & Instagram), most of these clubs are not updating regularly, have poor content or simple don’t have people that understand what these platforms are there for. Not only is the poor content, lack of regular content, lack of creativity and innovation a missed opportunity for marketing and communication, but it’s also a missed opportunity for clubs to attract brands.

While football is still consumed through traditional media of television and radio, social media is proving a powerful paradigm shift. The traditional media is still a powerful asset for football, but social media provides fans with a snapshot of the action, with key events such as highlights of goals, videos of skills and memes. Clubs needs to unlock the full potential of ever changing digital era, led by social media platforms.

As the popularity of social media grow and the world becoming digitized, they present the opportunity for football clubs to create their own broadcast of training sessions, press conference, outreach etc. and importantly attracting new audience. While we are seeing international clubs monetizing their social media presence for financial gains, social media in South African football remains largely untapped. Using social media to full potential will allow clubs to engage with the audience, understand their needs and increase their brands exposure and awareness.

For PSL clubs to leverage on social media marketing and communication, there is much to be done. Considering that we are in fourth industrialization and social media forms greater part, it is imperative that football clubs incorporate social media as part of their football clubs existing marketing and communication strategy.

With the PSL title race in full swing, relegation battle getting interesting and the Nedbank Cup reaching its pinnacle, clubs social media platform should be on the overdrive with exciting and engaging content.

For purposes of improvement we recommend the following for professional clubs: Develop digital strategy which include social media; Use Twitter as focal point for fan engagement; Instagram and YouTube are the future of video and based content; Benchmark with international organisation and Investment in data driven technology for decision making.