Sports New Media

Wayne Rooney’s presence on Facebook has grown dramatically in the last three months, with his personal fan base surpassing the eight million mark in April.

The England striker began to take advantage of the social media platform back in January, creating an ‘official’ page with the aim of giving supporters the real story. And, with the help and expertise of Sports New Media, Rooney has enjoyed staggering growth to become one of sport’s prominent figures on the website.

So, how has he done it? The philosophy is simple – increased personal interaction mixed with some professional touches from our team of experts.

Rooney has provided a variety of content for his fans on Facebook, including photos with supporters and his racehorse, video clips ahead of big matches and text responses to give his personal post-match analysis.

To go alongside his excellent performances on the pitch, Sports New Media have been able to provide the fans with live automatic updates from any game that the striker features in, as well as picture galleries from all the big matches with both his club and country at home and abroad. The company’s close relationship with facebook has also enabled Rooney to ‘migrate’ unofficial pages, bringing more fans the real story from the striker’s mouth.

Contrary to popular belief, the key is not to constantly bombard followers with content, but to deliver a high quality service that leads to high levels of engagement.

“We work very closely with Wayne and his management team to make sure fans get the real story, direct from the source,” notes Marwan King, associate director of client services for the company.

The growth that Rooney’s page has seen is really a credit to the effort he’s put into it personally. Fans have understandably responded well to his regular comments and updates, and we expect that to continue.”

Focusing specifically on the insights from Rooney’s Facebook page, Sports New Media are also able to find huge potential in countries around the world, and help provide a service to fans that could capitalise on the player’s huge fan base in continents like Asia.

With a large following on Facebook in places like Indonesia and Mexico already, Rooney’s posts can be replicated, translated and managed to specifically target such audiences with a view to growing his already vast fan numbers.

“We are able to offer some unique services, such as translation and time specific posting, through Syocial – an in-house product built by Sports New Media,” client services executive Ben Elshaw added.

This has enabled us to really interact with Wayne’s fans across the world, and as one of sport’s biggest names, it’s crucial that we offer this kind of service to anyone from London to Lagos.”

The future looks very bright for Rooney on Facebook, and with the help and expertise of Sports New Media, his success on the field can be replicated with growth for years to come.

Sports New Media is delighted to announce that it’s been accepted as one of Facebook’s Preferred Marketing Developers (PMD).

The PMD program has been designed by the social media giant to reward developers who ‘have demonstrated value-added capabilities in one or more of the following qualification areas: Pages, Ads, Apps and Insights.’

And, in the areas of Page Management Tools and Apps, Sports New Media have joined a select list of companies who are regarded as the very best in the business.

One of only 14 UK companies on the list, Sports New Media is also the only sport specialist in the world to currently hold a place on the program alongside the likes of industry giants like Adobe, AKQA and Buddy Media.

With just 234 total developers on the list, and only 39 specialists in the Page Management and Apps sections combined, the news is a major coup for a relatively new company yet to reach its fifth anniversary.

“This is another great piece of news for Sports New Media, and testimony to the hard work and dedication put in by dedicated team” said company CEO Nick Thain.

Facebook’s PMD program only takes the very best from the thousands who develop on the website, and we’re proud to join such a select list of companies. As the only sports specific developer on the list, it proves that we continue to move in the right direction at a rapid rate, and there is plenty more to come from Sports New Media.”

Founder Jae Chalfin was understandably also delighted with the news, and confident that Sports New Media can continue to meet the ongoing high standard of excellence required by facebook to maintain a position on the PMD program.

“Earning a place on this Facebook program is just the beginning for us, and we must now maintain and exceed are own levels of excellence to continue providing a fantastic service to our clients in the sports industry,” he noted.

We firmly believe that we are one of the best when it comes to Facebook Page management, crucially providing a moderation service that protects our clients to the standard that they expect and require.”

On the ‘Apps’ front, exciting times lie ahead with the predicted growth of the GiveMeFootball social reader, which has seen the company’s ever-growing football website become fully integrated on Facebook.

“There are also exciting times ahead with our GiveMeFootball social reader, which utilises various features that Facebook recognise make a great application,” concluded Thain.

Sports New Media is proud to announce that they are winners of the Real Business Future 50 Award.

The Future 50 award recognises the 50 most innovative, creative and ground-breaking British businesses under four years old and across a range of sectors.

Red Bull sponsored this year’s awards.  The global energy drink and Real Business magazine together set out to find the next best things for the future of business.

The awards application began earlier this year in June and the specialist B2B magazine and Red Bull spoke to many business experts – from VCs, to trade mags, PRs and the Department for Business before embarking the difficult task of handing over the shortlist to the panel of judges.

The Red Bull Future 50 shortlist was reviewed by five top judges: Mark Pearson of Myvouchercodes.co.uk; Jos White, Co-Founder and Investor of MessageLabs; Al Gosling, CEO of The Extreme Sports Company; Madeline Milne of eMusic; and Nigel Trood, MD of Red Bull UK.

Jae Chalfin, Founder of Sports New Media said: “It’s great to win another award to add to our collection.  We are continuing to work hard in driving our business forward and this award shows the high level of commitment and effort of our team at Sports New Media.  It is a very exciting time at the company with a number of large clients in the pipeline, including top athletes.”

Sports New Media has a fanbase of over 64 million fans from around the globe, growing at a rate of three a second – faster than LinkedIn!  The digital agency creates, manages and moderates Facebook Pages and Applications for leading sports brands and top athletes.

JD Sports is launching a social media campaign to find customers to be the face of the retailer for its next advertising campaign.

The sports-clothing brand will use real people to promote next season’s clothing range, which will form part of a nationwide press and outdoor campaign.

The JD Sports Facebook Page and App will enable consumers to enter as models, as well as vote for their favourites.

The 20 applicants that receive the most votes will be casted in front of a panel of judges, with eight winners taking part in the final campaign.

The ‘Be The Face Of JD’ campaign is being promoted on Facebook, in JD Sports stores across the UK and via a viral video featuring previous JD Sports models.

The popular sports retailer is currently seeking compensation for damages caused to the brand during the recent London riots, resulting in the company losing £700,000 of stock.

Facebook announced the new Timeline feature at last week’s F8 conference.

This was the major announcement among several developments outlined by the world’s largest social networking site.

Facebook’s Timeline will change the way the social network is used, providing users and their friends a more complete story of who they are and what they do.  It will be officially launched this week – 30 September.

When Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, demonstrated the Facebook Timeline at F8, the concept initially appeared abstract.  Users can have a sneak preview of the Timeline by following the steps outlined here: http://goo.gl/UUGpx

The Timeline will completely change your Facebook experience – it displays photos, comments, posts, Likes and events in a long-scrolling tableau that maps out your ’social life’.

At first it might appear creepy as users can go back in time, scrolling through their life stories like a scrapbook – counting friends that have been made, personal victories, life choices, events attended and more.

Users greatly benefit with the Timeline as everything is automatically grouped and you can go back and add events from the past – adding a new meaning to the social experience online.

It might take some time for users to get familiar with, but we should think of it as a combination of a timeline and scrapbook – a new platform for the digital world.

The question arises as to how the millions of brands, athletes and organisations that utilise Facebook Pages will now script their identity on Zuckerberg’s network.

The headlines in the digital and social media world this week:

What has Happened this Week
Create Your Facebook Timeline
Facebook announced the launch of Facebook Timeline at this week’s F8 conference, which promises to provide users a more complete story of who they are and what they do.  It is due to go live on 30 September.  Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook said: “Timeline is the story of your life.  All your stories and all your apps are a new way to express who you are.”  The timeline will change the user’s experience on the social networking site.  If you wish to get a peek at the new feature, you can by following the instructions here: http://goo.gl/xk0Lx

F8 Conference Highlights
Facebook announced that it will be debuting a range of apps as the site moves towards becoming an entertainment platform. Spotify, Vevo and The Guardian are among 33 of the European launch partners.  The social networking giant held its fourth annual F8 conference in San Francisco.  The new breed of apps include video, films, television, music and book apps, as well as its new timeline feature.

Alcohol Brands Agree Social Media Guidelines
Major alcohol brands including Diageo, Bacardi and Pernod Ricard, have agreed a pre-empt legislation to ensure responsible advertising on social media sites.  These new guidelines includes restricting Facebook users under 18 from liking and accessing alcohol brand Pages, as well as a commitment to remove inappropriate user-generated content on the social networking site within 48 hours.  Lobbying groups in the UK have accused drink brands of targeting young consumers via digital and social media.

Twitter Launches First UK Ad
Sky has become the first brand to feature a UK-targeted advert on Twitter this week, announcing the new Glee series.  The micro-blogging site is due to roll-out more targeted ads in the upcoming weeks with a string of partners awaiting – Eurostar, BT, Electronic Arts and Paramount Pictures UK. Tony Wang, Twitter UK General Manager, said: “This has been a particularly good year for Twitter in the UK. We have seen rapidly growing usage, with a 95% increase in active users since the first of the year.”

What we have Learned

2012 – Year of Mobile for Media?
A report by Ofcom found that more than a quarter of all adults (27%) in the UK own a smartphone.  28% use their mobiles to access the internet.  Kinetic reported that 50% of consumers download promotions on their mobiles, while 75% expect to have a smartphone or tablet whey they leave their homes.  These findings are not surprising considering the hectic lifestyle of the modern consumer that accesses content on the move.

Half of UK Facebook Users Log in Daily
Half of the UK’s 30 million Facebook users log in each day, according to Robert D’Onofrio, the social network’s Head of Insight Management.  Facebook’s UK audience is currently split at 50:50, with the 18-24 age group the most active user base.  The 35-44 age bracket are also very provocative, with 50% using the network daily.  Users aged 45+ generate over 400 million stories each month.

Cool Stuff

BBC Radio 1 Develop Online Identity
The BBC’s largest radio station, Radio 1, is developing its online identity in a bid to develop the listener’s experience of live radio online.  The broadcaster will be relaunching Radio 1’s and 1Xtra’s home pages next week, with the sites focusing on a live digital radio hub.  The new hub will enable listeners to follow a live timeline of the shows and artists in real-time, as well as incorporating Twitter feeds among a string of features.  The Radio 1 website currently has 2 million weekly unique users, according to the BBC.

iPhone 5 to Launch 4 October
Tim Cook will be announcing the launch of the much anticipated iPhone 5 on October 4, according to sources.  This will be Cook’s first major appearance as the new CEO of Apple and there are huge expectations on his shoulders.  It is unknown whether Steve Jobs will be attending the event.

Where to Find More

Monitor Mobile Internet Usage
Unlimited mobile usage plans look set to disappear with the future looking increasingly expensive as mobile service providers switch to capped data plans in a bid to increase revenue.  Mobile users are consuming their smartphones more than ever through apps, movies and streaming music.  This has lead to more data consumption and if consumers are not wary, they could end up with horrendous mobile phone bills.  Here is a guide to help you track your mobile data usage from Wired: http://bit.ly/o59R92

The World’s Fastest Internet
Guess which country has the world’s fastest internet service?  Recent research from Pando Networks, a content delivery service, found that South Korea is top in download speed, averaging 17.62 Mbps.  Romania was polled second, with a trio of Eastern European countries reaching the top five.  The slowest internet is in Congo, with an average of just 13KBps, a speed that goes back to the 90’s dial-up connection days.  To find out your country’s poll, check out the infographic here: http://goo.gl/oT0zr

Most Popular Games
As reported a few weeks ago in a recent study, social gaming is on the rise.  Gaming has now expanded from the Xbox, Wii and PS3 to smartphones, with professionals, parents and retirees playing Angry Birds and other mobile games.  One More Level have put together this infographic: http://goo.gl/DckmJ

Nike is one of the most active brands in the digital and social media world, having driven its social strategy over the past five years.

The global sports brand first experimented with digital platforms in 1996 when launching Nike.com for the Atlanta Olympics – this was the start of Nike’s digital journey.

In 2004, the iconic sports brand made its debut in the social space, launching the ‘Art of Speed’, a series of short films from up-and-coming filmmakers.

By 2008, Nike began engaging with football communities online, primarily through Facebook.  Today, their football community projects reach around 23 million consumers.

When connecting with consumers, Nike focuses on local social networks – connecting with consumers in local markets across the globe.  The brand goes global, but opts to think local.

Nike’s Global Digital Brand and Innovation Director, Jesse Stollak said: “Globally, we work with the most relevant social network in that country.  We pick the networks that have the most resonance with our target audience by country, by category.”

Here are some examples of Nike’s innovative digital campaigns:

Ronaldinho’s Cross Bar Challenge

Embracing Geolocation

Inspiring Young Athletes

Facebook is going to announce something huge at this week’s F8 conference, according to sources in the digital industry.

The largest social networking site will be holding its fourth edition of its annual developer conference, F8, on 22 September in San Francisco.

Facebook is proposing to launch new features, aimed at making personal content better.  Rumours are rife that Zuckerberg’s network will be introducing new buttons – ‘Read’, ‘Listened’, ‘Watched’ and ‘Want’ – an extension of the ubiquitous ‘Like’ concept that has changed the social media world and online marketing.

Facebook users will have the option to click ‘Read’, ‘Watched’, ‘Want’ and ‘Listen’ in their News Feed.

If the reports are true, it is unclear as to what will happen to the ‘Like’ button and how these new buttons will affect what users ‘Like’.

Facebook could do so much with the data from these buttons.  For brands, there would be huge advertising opportunities, with the ability of creating targeted and personalised experiences for users.

With this new feature, there is the potential for brands, athletes and organisations to auto-populate users’ News Feeds based on intent and actions.

Will more be revealed at the Facebook conference…

The one-day conference involves the social networking site launching its biggest products and initiatives.  Facebook launched the ‘Like’ button and Open Graph platform at last year’s event.

The millennium bought the birth of search, leading to the development of an open web based platform that witnessed many organisations, brands and publishers driving traffic to their sites.

Publishers began integrating search to their sites by the year 2000.  Branded search engines started offering their services to publishers as they realised they could get more searches, more data and more market share.

By 2004, Google became the king of search, having competed against Yahoo, Ask and AOL, providing faster, simple and better results.  Search monetisation became a successful means to earn high revenue on the web through assisting brands, organisations and publishers to drive traffic to their respective sites.

2011 – we are now in the middle of an internet revolution with social the biggest platform on the internet.   The social game has only just begun, with Facebook taking the lead with a ubiquitous presence online.  Google+ and Twitter will continue to compete with the largest social networking site.

Similar to search in 2000 with the focus on driving traffic, now it is social that is driving traffic for brands, organisations and athletes.  Today, social sharing buttons are everywhere online, with Facebook’s Plugins the most dominant.

The social service that offers brands, organisations and athletes the most revenue and traffic, will get the most distribution in return.  In turn, the service will generate more traffic, users and revenue.

The onus is on marketers to consider their campaign goals to ensure they maximise their brand’s presence online through a combination of both search and social online strategies, ensuring they remain ahead of their competitors and acknowledging digital advancements.

The headlines in the digital and social media world this week:

What has Happened this Week

Digital World Marks 10th Anniversary of 9/11

Websites around the world organised social and digital projects to commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11.  It was an event that touched every person’s life, leading to much discussion, emotion and remembrance for millions worldwide.  Media sites took it as an opportunity to inform, engage and listen, as well as providing support and inspiration to many of those affected.

London 2012 Increase Marketing Spend

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) have quadrupled their marketing spend to £8 million in the past year due to the demand of Olympic tickets and the volunteering scheme. The London 2012 organisers have completed significant marketing activity, including promoting its volunteering scheme, social media drive and press ads promoting ticket sales.

Facebook Introduce Subscriptions

Zuckerberg’s network has launched Subscriptions – a new feature that allows users to share updates, similar to Twitter and Google+.  This new service creates another layer to Facebook’s relationship hierarchy.  When users select the ‘Subscribe’ button on a person’s profile, this enables the user to follow updates.  An added bonus is that users can decide how much content appears in their News Feed (like ‘All Updates’ or ‘Only Important’).  The social networking site also allows users to toggle subscriptions off to ensure privacy.  Stay tuned for Sports New Media’s article on this, as the company highlights the continued need for Facebook Pages for brands and athletes.

Facebook Navigation Bar Fixed

Users of the biggest social networking site will have noticed that the top navigation bar is now locked, making it visible all the time.  This change enables Facebook users to easily access the site’s most important features: notifications, messages, friend requests and search on the left-hand side, as well as the home, profile and account settings on the right side.  Experts in the digital and technology industry think this might be the first of several major changes for Facebook, with more to be unveiled at the F8 conference.

What we have Learned

Facebook Event – F8 Conference

The digital and social media world is a week away from the annual Facebook Conference – F8.  The social networking site uses the event to present and discuss their vision for the upcoming year and beyond.  It is a major event for developers and there could be a few surprises.  As widely reported in the digital and technology press, it is expected that Facebook will announce a new music service – Facebook Music –  which will focus on streaming music and sharing playlists and songs in New Feeds.  Facebook is partnering with major players in the streaming music space – Spotify, MOG and Rdio among others.  Other areas believed to be discussed are: Music for Credits, the launch of the elusive iPad app, Photos app and much more.

Amazon Most Popular Retailer for Gamers

The world’s largest online retailer is the most popular online store to purchase games, according to a recent study by Tribal Fusion.  Nearly three in four gamers buy from Amazon, amounting to 73% of the responses received from 937 people, aged between 13 and 35.  The survey also reported that 82% of gamers that use a Nintendo Wii, buy from Amazon at least once a week.  The high street store, Game, was the most popular (71%) shopping destination for gamers.  Earlier this year, a report by New Media Age suggested that casual gaming is on the rise.

Twitter Usage Doubles in Business

Twitter is being used as a key marketing tool by Europe’s top business leaders, increasing from 31% to 61%, according to research by CNBC.  The findings are part of CNBC’s survey that focused on how European business chiefs use technology at work and during their free time.  Business leaders reported they feared being unable to keep updated with the latest technological innovations.  15% of business respondents reported owning an iPad and 61% believed that social media was changing the way they conducted business.

Cool Stuff

iPhone 5 in Demand

The technology world and early-adopters are looking forward to Apple’s launch of the much anticipated iPhone 5, which is expected to be unveiled in the next month.  A recent survey of 2,200 potential smartphone buyers claim that they are likely to purchase the iPhone 5 than the iPhone 4.  31% of consumers that are currently shopping for a new phone state that it is ‘very likely’ (13%) they will end up with an iPhone 5 in their hands.  Its predecessor is nearly 15 months old, the equivalent to a lifetime in smartphone years.

Angry Birds Addiction

Angry Birds, the puzzle video game, has become the most popular game on multiple platforms.  For many people, it has become an addiction and there is yet no known cure.  Here is an interesting infographic highlighting the psychology, sociology and addiction of the game’s phenomenon: http://on.mash.to/napRgG

Where to Find More

Facebook Contests

Once upon a time, if a marketer wanted to create a competition, they would have to feature print advertisements in the press and hope that people would provide their entry and mail it back.  Then came the birth of the internet – this made things easier and faster for marketers, as consumers began taking part in competitions online, happy to provide their details and enter with one click.  Social media has added a new layer, enabling brands and consumers to connect, as well as motivating consumers to participate in competitions.  Facebook allows brands to communicate directly to consumers.  Here are four examples of effective competition campaigns on Facebook: http://on.mash.to/pCs1ka

Twitter Available in New Languages

The tweeting site has spread its wings and launched its service in five new languages – simplified and traditional Chinese, Hindi, Tagalog and Malay.  This brings the total number of languages on Twitter to 17.  The site has also announced that it will soon be adding six new languages to the translation centre, including Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Polish and Hungarian. Visit the translation centre for more information: http://translate.twttr.com/welcome

Facebook Co-Founder Discusses the Social Network

Dustin Moskovitsz, Co-Founder of Facebook and more recently, owner of Asana (an enterprise collaboration software company), spoke to TechCrunch this week about the beginnings of Facebook and his thoughts on Google+.  Moskovitsz discusses the long hours and the buzz about creating the world’s largest social networking site: “We worked 14 to 16 hour days that year.  We would see Facebook on every single laptop in class.  We knew there was a bigger story there.”  Click the link to watch the full interview: http://tcrn.ch/q8HrGZ