All PSL teams have adopted social media as a means of communicating with their fans and a way to enhance fan engagement.
Building a fan community
Social media is a great addition to games, road shows and other events, which teams use to attract and retain fans. It also represents a platform for the fans to communicate directly with their favourite team and receive first hand, trusted information.
Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates are traditionally known as the teams with the highest fan bases in South African soccer, unsurprisingly they also lead in terms of social media support, making up 77% of Facebook likes and Twitter followers among PSL teams. The high social media following of the two teams can also be attributed to the efforts they have made to create their social media communities. Kaizer Chiefs have by far the highest number of tweets amongst PSL teams, at 36 700, which is 17 500 tweets more than the next team. Consequently, Kaizer Chiefs commands a 76% share of all PSL teams Twitter followers.
One of the best practices used to build large social media fan communities is to communicate with followers at a personal and emotive level. Kaizer Chiefs uses the peace sign emoji, which is synonymous with the team and their slogan ‘love and peace’, when writing messages to fans. Mamelodi Sundowns also have a great example of communicating with their fans using language, which forms part of the team’s parlance, with their Twitter handle being @Masandawana, the team’s nickname. This type of language creates a sense of belonging amongst fans and the need to be part of the community. Additionally such symbols are useful for brand recognition.
Avon Middleton from Clipping Point Media is a digital marketing specialist who is adamant that engagement with fans has a direct correlation with fan attraction AND fan retention. “Following a brand is one thing, but if I as a fan, receive no value from that relationship, I can very easily unfollow that brand. But brands who engage with me, respond to me on time, listen to what I have to say and involve me in their conversations, then I am likely not only to be a loyal fan, but to share that experience too.”
Content management
For fan communities to grow, followers need fresh and engaging content, therefore the frequency and consistency in communication with fans on social media platforms is important. Middleton suggests that “content really is king. Winning on social media and ultimately in the real world, depends largely on producing engaging, shareable, likeable and memorable content. It’s what brands like Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns are doing well.”
Regular feeds of engaging, informative content, sent on a daily basis result in higher fan following, as seen from the Kaizer Chiefs example. Their content is varied and rich in nature, it includes team-generated content such as videos of team practice sessions, player interviews, infographics, etc. The team also does a good job of engaging and responding to fan queries at an individual level.
At the other end of the spectrum, some PSL teams have not sent any information on their social media platforms since the end of the season. These clubs miss the opportunity to use social media as a means of facilitating a 365-day conversation with their fans.
Lastly, quality information is key: teams who send real time updates on games being played, team/player and information that isn’t already available in other public sources, receive the highest number of followers. Fans see the value in following such social media accounts because of the access to exclusive and reliable content.
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