http://bradleyassociates.info/category/social-media/
Premier League champions Manchester United are the most talked-about English football club in the world of social media.
New research by The Drum and Steak Digital discovered Sir Alex Ferguson’s Reds are mentioned more than any other team on social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, forums, forum replies, blogs and comments.
The study looked at nearly half a million remarks and Manchester United took 43.7 per cent of the share of mentions.
Liverpool were a distant second with just over 18 per cent, followed by Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City.
While Manchester United do not have an official Twitter presence, their 18 million Facebook fans are clearly highly engaged with the club via this channel.
But United are well represented on Twitter thanks to players such as Rio Ferdinand, who boasts over 1.3 million followers.
It seems Premier League players have a long way to go on the social media front to catch up with the frontrunners. Real Madrid midfielder Kaka boasts 5.5 million Twitter followers, while Ferdinand’s former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo has 3.8 million.
The researchers suggest players’ social media presence should be incorporated into online marketing strategies, so the focus is not only on the club as a brand forging bonds with its fan base.
They said: “Social media going forward will represent a good way for players to leverage more value from commercial deals and also create a genuine personal brand.”
However, this may be a longer process at Manchester United. Sir Alex recently admitted the club were looking at the social media usage of their players as it can be problematic for them.
“[Players] are responsible for their actions,” he said. “We as a club are looking at it because there can be issues attached to it. And we don’t want that.”
