Marketing Social Media Strategy for Leicester City Football Club - Case Study Example

Executive Summary

In 2016, LCFC won the English Premier League for the first time after being placed at 5000/1 odds to win the league ahead of the big clubs. However, as a small club without any prior anticipation to win the EPL, LCFC fell short within its ability to communicate nationally and globally of its success compared to other major teams in the EPL. Drawing upon related literature, this report aims to conduct a critical assessment of how LCFC can create a social media strategy to engage with its existing and newly found global supporter base. As such, the report is divided into eight sequential part. Section 1 provides an overview of Leicester City Football Club and presents its market orientation to engage with fans. Section 2 examines evidence from a range of sources to identify the socio-cultural, economic and geographical factors that can influence the successful implementation of an effective and efficient social media strategy. In essence, Section 1 and 2 comprise a SWOT analysis. Section 3, on the other hand, focuses on the case study of how Real Madrid and star athletes are embracing social media to engage with their fans. Section 4 proposes the objective of the club to embrace a social media strategy. Further, Section 5 gauges the viability of segmented target groups such as the young and old demographic and how they can be integrated in the club’s social media strategy. Section 6, presents the club’s market positioning strategy; and Section 7 provides interrelated recommendations for embracing a social media marketing strategy that can bring fans closer to their club. Section 8 concludes the report with a brief summary.

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Key recommendations

01: Positioning: Generate creative content that can attract a diversified fan base and provide the club with a differentiation strategy on social media

02: Reach: Draw attention and build awareness

03 Act: Inspire fans to visit the club’s social media platforms

04: Convert: Ensuring that the social media strategy embraced by the club can bring commercial benefits

05: Engage: Build fan relationship over time and achieve retention goals

• Overview

Founded in 1884 as Leicester Fosse, the club later change its name to Leicester City Football Club when the football league resumed in 1919 after the World War One (Appendix A).In 2016, LCFC won their first Premium League after 132 years since its inception (Foster, 2016). In the English top tier league, LCFC has often been considered as an outsider compared to the so called “top four teams” in the league that include Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City. At the start of the 2015/16 EPL, LCFC was placed at 5000/1 odds to win the EPL ahead of the top four teams (Carr, 2016). However, the club achieved a milestone by winning the English Premier League a head of the prestigious teams in the league. As a result, the club’s success story in the 2015/16 season has earned it global recognition. Given the small nature of the club compared to the prestigious clubs in the EPL, LCFC did not anticipate such success and thus fell short in terms of communicating its success nationally and globally. As such, this report focuses on creating a social media strategy that can ensure the club engage with the existing and newly found supporter base.

1.2 Leicester City Football Club followers on social media

Over a year ago, LCFC followers on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter were less than half a million. However, after winning the 2015/16 EPL, the club now boasts of over 5million followers. With the increased attention on the club both nationally and globally, LCFC needs to create a social media strategy that can ensure it improves its engagement with the existing and newly found fans. Further, such a strategy should ensure that the momentum of support continues globally regardless of the club’s future achievements. In essence, the challenge for the club at the moment relates to how it can improve its IT infrastructure to capture relevant information about the newly found fans and turn them into loyal supporters (Dewell, 2016).

Table 2: Leicester City Football Club followers August 2015

Table 1: Leicester City Football Club followers April 2016

Source: Beall, 2016

1.1Business orientation

In line with the increased use of social media platforms by football fans both nationally and globally, LCFC’s marketing department recognises the importance of using social media to engage with the fans. However, the club has not received much success with the use of social media to engage with the fans. Presently, the success of the club in 2015/16 EPL season has attracted the interest of about 5million followers (Dewell, 2016).The challenge for LCFC marketing department involves understanding the changing needs of fans nationally and globally in order to come up with a social media strategy that resonates with fans. Table 1 summarises the club’s current position.

Table 1: Internal Factor Analysis Summary (IFAS)

Internal Factors

Strengths

Weaknesses

S1: LCFC has embraced social media as a strategy to reach a larger demographic of football fans.

W1: There is minimal activity in the club’s social media platforms at the moment.

S2: The club’s social media following has skyrocketed in 2016.

W2: The club’s IT infrastructure still needs improvement to capture the data of the new global fans.

S3: The 2015/16 success has placed the club at the same level with the big clubs in EPL and Europe respectively.

W3: The club still needs an effective and efficient system that can ensure it compete at the same level with the big clubs on social media.

S4: The club can leverage its star players to enhance engagement with the existing and newly found supporter base.

W4: It is not certain the star players will commit their future to the club.

S5: The club can boast of the diverse nature of Leicester City, which can be used to market LCFC as a culturally diverse club to the newly found global supporter base.

W5: There is little effort on the club’s part to improve the attendance of BME fans during match days, and this is sending a negative impression about the diversity of the club’s fans.

Source: Wheelen & Hunger, 2006

2.0 The marketing environment

The success of Leicester City Football Club’s objectives will be influenced by the socio- cultural, economic and geographical factors, which affect the club’s ability to engage with the existing and newly found global supporter base.

2.1 Socio cultural factors

The club is situated in Leicester City that is considered one of the most diversified cities in England. As such, there is a likelihood that the local LCFC fans come from different cultural backgrounds. However, this is not the case considering the almost exclusively White fans at the King Power Stadium and this may impact negatively on the club’s intention to engage with a culturally diverse fan base. According to the 2011 census, there are approximately 329,000 people residing in Leicester City. Almost half of the population in Leicester City are White British while the rest are from the BME background (Doughty, 2013).

Fig 1: The demographics of Leicester City

Source: Doughty, 2013

On the other hand, football is the dominant sport in Leicester City; however, other common sports in Leicester City include rugby, cricket and hockey. Most of the White British are football fans, but a significant percentage also follow rugby and cricket respectively. Africans and Caribbean in Leicester are also football fans, but a significant number of them tend to support football teams outside Leicester City such as Arsenal because the club’s link to recruitment of Black players since the early 80s. Racism has been a problem that cannot be overlooked in football even though it has been eradicated. As such, LCFC needs to engage more with fans from African and Caribbean communities to win their support (Leicester Mercury, 2016).

The South Asians are largely cricket fans and tend to follow Pakistani and Indian cricket, while others are hockey fans. Similarly, while the old demographic are the ardent fans of cricket and hockey, the young demographic tend to watch English Premier League, for instance, on TV (Rodrigues, 2016). As a result, targeting a larger audience on social media require LCFC to focus on meeting the interests and need of both young and old demographic. LCFC’s success in the EPL has provided the club with an opportunity to showcase its diverse nature to the existing and newly found global fans. As such, the long-term success of the club’s social media strategy will depend on emphasising a tailored engagement with a diversified global supporter base (Schwarz, Hunter & Lafleur, 2013). On the other hand of the spectrum, a trend that has been exhibited by the global fans on social media is that they tend to follow one of their own. For instance, the stellar performance by Riyad Mahrez in the 2015/16 EPL increased the number of fans from Algeria who followed Leicester City Football Club on social media. However, the threat is that in case Mahrez is to move to another club, LCFC may as well lose its social media following in Algeria. In this respect, it is important for the club to leverage its star players as part of creating a social media strategy to engage with the existing and newly found global supporter base (Eguavoen, 2016).

2.2 Economic and geographical factors

Football today is largely commercialised, and this has resulted in clubs focusing mainly on maximising profits. As a result, the attendance ticket prices for football matches, for example, in England has surged thus making it difficult for the average fan to afford. On the same note, geographical distance also makes it almost impossible for fans to attend live matches on a frequent basis. In this regard, social media provides a suitable alternative for fans to engage with their teams (Dimitriadis, 2014).

Table 2: External Factor Analysis Summary (EFAS)

External Factors

Opportunities

Threats

O1: The number of fans following the club on social media has increased from half a million to five million in 2016 thus making the social media strategy more worthwhile.

T1: The club faces stiff competition for social media followers especially from the big clubs.

O2: The success of the club in 2015/16 EPL season can be used as a leverage to attract a diverse fan base.

T2: The inability to address the insignificant number of BME fans during home matches at the King Power Stadium can impact negatively on the club’s goal to attract a diverse fan base.

O3: The club can now use the allure of UEFA Champions League and a windfall of £ 150 million to convince star players to commit their future to the club while signing other stars that can help the club to remain consistent in the league and ensure the newly found fans remain loyal beyond the current success.

T3: The big clubs are in a position to offer LCFC star players’ lucrative contracts that can convince them to make a move thus leaving LCFC in a situation where they can no longer compete for silverware.

Source: Wheelen & Hunger, 2006

3.0 Case study: The use of social media by Real Madrid and star athletes to engage with their fans

Real Madrid Football Club based in Spain, on the other hand, has embraced new media to engage with over 100million global supporters. Today, the club has implemented a comprehensive technology solution that relies on the Microsoft Cloud platform. As a result, the club is in a position to get closer to its global fans and offer them a desirable overall experience. At the club, passion is the hallmark and the fans are fiercely loyal. Further, the club recognised the need to connect with its global supporters and learn from them. Consequently, by engaging with the fans in a more personal manner, the club has placed itself strategically to improve profits, market initiatives and its leading position in the global sports industry. Since the core business of Real Madrid is football, the club has collaborated with Microsoft to manage its technology infrastructure. As a result, the technology solution developed for the club by Microsoft provides, for instance, Fan Engagement Platform (Olavsrud, 2015).

Athletes are also embracing social media platforms to interact directly with their fans without their messages being filtered, for instance, by their marketing agents. On this note, the common social media tool used by athletes is Twitter due to its microblogging advantages. For instance, Twitter has played a role in connecting fans with their sport heroes because of lack of interference by any third party mediation in the interaction between athletes and their fans. With the advent of Web 2.0, athletes are in a better position to give their fans a glimpse of what happens behind the scenes (Phua, 2010). Almost on a daily basis, fans across the globe have the opportunity to look at the lives of sport heroes or peruse what they are “tweeting” about. Example of athletes who have embraced Twitter include NBA starts Shaquille O’Neal and Paul Pierce; Tennis star Andy Roddick; and cyclist Lance Armstrong. When sports fans get a real look at the lives of their sport heroes, it allows them to appreciate their talents and dedicate themselves to sports and following their star athletes consistently on the social media (Phua, 2010).

4.0 Objective of embracing a social media strategy for LCFC

Compared to the big clubs in the EPL, LCFC is considered as a small club, and this is evident in the number of followers that club has attracted in the past. However, being an underdog and outperforming the big clubs in the league has attracted the interest of fans across the globe. In order for the club to get closer to these fans, relying on an effective and efficient social media strategy will be appropriate to retain their loyalty beyond the current success (Shank, 2009).

5.0 Segmentation and targeting

In the modern sports world, social media has a significant influence on the lifestyle of sports fans. In the UK, approximately, 35% of football fans on social media platforms such as Twitter now follow their favourite team or athletes, and as such, are able to bond with their team or sport heroes. This trend is more evident among fans aged between 16 to 29 years old. In essence, a significant percentage of this age group now use social media platforms to follow their team or athletes than in the past. On the other hand, through the social media, a football club such as LCFC can talk directly with fans, and especially the younger audiences who in the past have been less involved with their team due to high-ticket prices or inability to access, for instance, pay-TV (McLaren, 2014).

Conversely, older fans are considered to be much less connected, and especially those aged between 50-64 years old. A previous study showed that their level of brand engagement on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter is low (McLaren, 2014). However, this does not mean that social media is meant for younger audiences, but brands have failed from time to time to target older audiences with their content creativity. As such, when embracing social media strategy, LCFC should create content that target both young and older audiences (Jobber & Fahy, 2012). Further, it is also important for the LCFC to recognise the importance of using social media especially on match day. For instance, most fans visit social media platforms on the day their team is playing. As such, during the match days, the club has an opportunity to interact more with the existing and newly found global fans. In essence, when LCFC is creating content to share with their existing and newly found fans, such content should resonate with the interests and needs of both young and old demographic. Further, a consideration for cultural diversity is also important because the targeted fans do not exhibit similar interests or needs. For instance, dealing with challenges such as language barrier require LCFC to open multiple accounts that provide content in different languages. As such, the club will be in a position to interact easily with fans from different cultural backgrounds (Smith, 2008).

6.0 Positioning

The fans are the foundation of football clubs because they play an important role in providing support to players on the field, and from the commercial aspect, they also play a vital role in brand promotion. As a result, clubs with a significant number of fans are in a position to attract lucrative sponsorship and sign world-class players that can ensure they remain consistent in the top tier leagues.

01 Generate creative content that can attract a diversified fan base and provide the

club with a differentiation strategy on social media

LCFC market positioning can be identified as one that focuses on creating a unique social media strategy that can ensure the club attracts a diversified fan base on social media compared to competitors (Beech & Chadwick, 2007).

7.0 Social media marketing mix

Next season represents a critical moment for Leicester City Football Club and ensuring that the team realise success in terms of retaining its supporter base on a long-term basis will require embracing an effective and efficient social media marketing strategy (Schwarz et al., 2013). For purposes of clarity, this report integrates social media into marketing mix by relying on the RACE approach, which is similar to Social CRM framework as illustrated in figure 2.

Fig 2: Integrating social media into marketing mix

Source: Bosomworth, 2010

02: Reach: Draw attention and build awareness

Creating a social media strategy requires LCFC to understand the interests and needs of their fans. Further, it is also important for the club to monitor how their fans interact on social media. After understanding the interests and needs of fans, the club can go ahead to create original content that resonates with the fans and can improve their overall experiences when interacting with the club on social media. On the same note, it is important for the social media strategy adopted by the club to understand what adds value to their social media followers. The club may consider, for instance, using videos to improve the overall experience of their fans on social media. The club can also consider networking with intermediaries to find out what else interest their fans on social media (Bosomworth, 2010).

03 Act: Inspire fans to visit the club’s social media platforms

The social media strategy embraced by the club should look at how to get fans to engage with the team on social media initially. For instance, using captivating content can improve traffic on the club’s social media platforms. Further, the message that the club intend to pass through social media should be relevant in terms of addressing the fan’s inquiries or concerns. On another note, it is important for the club to initiate conversation and interaction on the club’s social media platforms. An emphasis on quality content, for instance, can increase the frequency of visits on the club’s social media platforms by fans. It is also important to ask for feedback from fans as a way to enhance engagement between the club and fans respectively. As the confidence of the club in social media matures, launching multiple accounts can improve interaction with a larger and diversified audience across the globe (Bosomworth, 2010).

04: Convert: Ensuring that the social media strategy embraced by the club can bring

commercial benefits

While creating a social media strategy to engage with the existing and newly found global supporter base, the focus for LCFC should also be on how to turn the increase in social media followers to a commercial gain. From a commercial aspect, the club needs adequate funding to compete at the same level with the big clubs and a larger fan base provides the club with the leverage to attract sponsors with an eye on fans (Beech & Chadwick, 2007).

05: Engage: Build fan relationship over time and achieve retention goals

The club should reciprocate by rewarding their loyal social media followers. Such an incentive can play a role in attracting and retain fans. For instance, the club can offer free match tickets for their active fans on social media to attend live matches. The club should also endeavour in fostering trust with their existing and newly found supporter base (Richelieu, 2004).

8.0 Summary

This report demonstrates that Leicester Football Club can use a social media strategy to engage with the existing and newly found global supporter base. The purpose of the social media marketing mix in Section 7 is to create a social media strategy that can ensure the club not only engage with fans but also establish a long-term relationship with them regardless of the team’s performance on the field and also derive commercial benefits. However, in the process of embracing a social media strategy, LCFC should continue to monitor changing needs of their social media fans to improve their overall experience and ensure they establish a long-term relationship with the club.