Melbourne's Communication and Online

[Moonshadow 16,099]

27 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Agreed the clubs supporter page is as ragged as a pair 15 year old jocks!!

Time for a boost!

Please, enough about your wardrobe picket, I'm still finishing dinner!

[Biffen 12,298]

Burgo is electric

Robbo is a live wire .

What more fun filled footy facts for fans ,features and filler could you want.

Tough Crowd.

Dave Misson is also a real card.

[Earl Hood 5,787]

11 hours ago, Clint Bizkit said:

Is it just me or has Melbourne's website, social media and all round communication been in the bin lately?

A classic example is the player's page on the website which still has some images up from 2015, while new players have just been clipped out of other images.

We seem to be getting less and less injury information whereby we rely on news reports to find out what is happening instead of the the club just coming and and saying.

Yes, the season hasn't stared yet but I just feel like the club has gone backwards in this regard and it's extremely frustrating.

Oh that may explain things. I noticed Jordan Louis is wearing an MFC tee shirt in the team listing. I assumed he has been playing the JLT games in a T shirt and he was still waiting for his Guernsey to come from China. But then I saw some highlights and he had a jumper on, did he wear Chris Dawes old one? 

[Adzman 2,085]

Who is this Stu character?  I feel left out that I haven't been banned also....

It's not so much the bios and photos that worries me, it is the clubs inability to really connect with it's fanbase via social media. I thought they were onto something with the rewards system a few seasons ago, but it went as quickly as it came.

I don't have the answers, but greater communication about events and the injury list would help, as would access to players post game now and then for the kids.

[titan_uranus 22,210]

Agree with the OP.

A lot about the club has improved in the PJ era, but our website has not.

[rjay 23,846]

58 minutes ago, old dee said:

Well when we had a VFL side in 2012 we had a good web site.

Now we have a much better side and a worse web site.

Seems a fair trade off to me.

 

Me too...

It seemed better when Jordie's sister was around the club.

...but for now I really get much more from this site and anything decent the club puts out someone posts.

Rarely go to the club website although I did enjoy Brett Allison's VFL player reports before they reigned him in. Definitely not the bland stuff we see these days.

[Demon Jack 6,272]

Definitely agree that website and overall content is a little undercooked.

Another example is the official MFC YouTube Channel which hasn't been updated in nearly a year. Seems like common sense to post player interviews and match highlights there as well as the website.

[praha 10,267]

5 hours ago, Demon Jack said:

Definitely agree that website and overall content is a little undercooked.

Another example is the official MFC YouTube Channel which hasn't been updated in nearly a year. Seems like common sense to post player interviews and match highlights there as well as the website.

This is actually the most frustrating because YouTube *could* act as another form of revenue.

Check out North's YouTube, which also features a stack of classic match highlights: https://www.youtube.com/user/NMFCOfficial/videos

Compare it to ours: https://www.youtube.com/user/DeeTVofficial

I do wonder if it's due to being tied up in broadcasting deals and whatnot with Telstra. Bigpond manages and hosts the design and functionality of the sites ... although I don't see how this could hurt the content.

I don't mind Burgs but he's not a particularly energetic fellow. 

[Cards13 9,117]

11 hours ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

FMD!! Why would you want to be on Stu's supporter page?

Wtf? He has a supporters page?!

[stevethemanjordan 6,952]

Burgo.

 

*cringe*

[ArtificialWisdom 3,844]

2 hours ago, praha said:

This is actually the most frustrating because YouTube *could* act as another form of revenue.

Check out North's YouTube, which also features a stack of classic match highlights: https://www.youtube.com/user/NMFCOfficial/videos

Compare it to ours: https://www.youtube.com/user/DeeTVofficial

I do wonder if it's due to being tied up in broadcasting deals and whatnot with Telstra. Bigpond manages and hosts the design and functionality of the sites ... although I don't see how this could hurt the content.

I don't mind Burgs but he's not a particularly energetic fellow. 

With youtube's easy embedding it blows my mind that they cant use it to host all their media. It has been one of, if not, the best video hosting services for years. Certainly is the best that is free. That aside, they will know the view count on the website and on youtube. Given for a short while a couple of years ago they were posting on youtube realitivly regularly I suspect they were not getting nearly as many views on the youtube videos compared to the telstra run site.

[P-man 13,154]

It surprises me with all the effort going into the rebrand last year that more work wasn't put into the website and social media.

The website has been poor for a while now. Granted, most who post on here are diehards, so we would care more about getting regular updates than the average fan. However it's no excuse to have player profiles dating back to 2015. That points to a general lack of attention to detail which isn't good enough.

As for Burgo, seems a nice fella but you need more than that for his role. It's a noticeable difference when Robbo steps in. More energetic, engaging and draws more personality and information out of the players.

There's certainly room for improvement.

[BLWNBA 308]

Online engagement is sorely lacking; we're constantly are playing 'catch up' (if you could call it that), with other clubs. 

Although clubs are somewhat limited and governed through the AFL's National Social Media Engagement Policy (which includes State and Territory leagues), some clubs, such as Adelaide, have an increasingly active online presence. However, it is also important to note that based on 2014 season information, the MFC had the second lowest amount of 'online' followers, across social media applications. We came in close to last, with only GWS below us. I'm not sure how accurate this still was, and the specificity of the report could potentially be dated. 

Looking at causation, it is important to note, that it's no surprise that we lack online engagement when our supporters, as a whole, seem to lack engagement with the club in an online capacity. What's problematic with this is that it's cyclical akin to the chicken or the egg debate. 

Other clubs who have a fantastic online presence are Hawthorn and Collingwood and it's not surprising that these two clubs, along with Adelaide and the Bombers, have the most active online supporter base (once again, I base this on the information available to me and is based on 2014 numbers). Clearly, it would appear that the MFC has a different prioritisation of strategic objectives, when compared to other clubs. But, given the rise of online e-fame and social media marketing techniques, we are clearly lacking. 

One last thing that I would note, which is entirely subjective (but I trust the judgement of those who have told me this, together with my own anecdotal evidence), is that many of the people hired to work in the social media administration team within the MFC, are just not adequately equipped or knowledgeable to successfully develop and grow an online supporter base. Having worked closely with several people who have been at opposing clubs, there general notion is that we are not recognising the benefits of having properly equipped Media and Communication graduates work in these roles, unlike Hawthorn who are seen to be somewhat of a trailblazer in this area. 

It's a complex area and I've probably digressed from the initial post, but it is increasingly frustrating and our results and presence, in my opinion, are totally inline with the investment and prioritisation that the MFC has placed into social media. 

Edited March 14, 2017 by BLWNBA

[Daily Dose of Demons 155]

6 hours ago, praha said:

This is actually the most frustrating because YouTube *could* act as another form of revenue.

Check out North's YouTube, which also features a stack of classic match highlights: https://www.youtube.com/user/NMFCOfficial/videos

Compare it to ours: https://www.youtube.com/user/DeeTVofficial

I do wonder if it's due to being tied up in broadcasting deals and whatnot with Telstra. Bigpond manages and hosts the design and functionality of the sites ... although I don't see how this could hurt the content.

I don't mind Burgs but he's not a particularly energetic fellow. 

There is no money in YouTube for AFL teams. North Melbourne make between $282-4400 a year (see this for stats https://socialblade.com/youtube/user/nmfcofficial). The cost of paying someone to run the channel would greatly exceed the revenue. Even Collingwood makes less than North Melbourne but have the most subscribers out of any AFL team (https://socialblade.com/youtube/user/collingwoodctv). 

I would much rather scrap the wide spread of media outlets and just concentrate the clubs efforts on to one particular source to help improve the quality. 

[Dr. Gonzo 22,390]

10 hours ago, BLWNBA said:

Online engagement is sorely lacking; we're constantly are playing 'catch up' (if you could call it that), with other clubs. 

Although clubs are somewhat limited and governed through the AFL's National Social Media Engagement Policy (which includes State and Territory leagues), some clubs, such as Adelaide, have an increasingly active online presence. However, it is also important to note that based on 2014 season information, the MFC had the second lowest amount of 'online' followers, across social media applications. We came in close to last, with only GWS below us. I'm not sure how accurate this still was, and the specificity of the report could potentially be dated. 

Looking at causation, it is important to note, that it's no surprise that we lack online engagement when our supporters, as a whole, seem to lack engagement with the club in an online capacity. What's problematic with this is that it's cyclical akin to the chicken or the egg debate. 

Other clubs who have a fantastic online presence are Hawthorn and Collingwood and it's not surprising that these two clubs, along with Adelaide and the Bombers, have the most active online supporter base (once again, I base this on the information available to me and is based on 2014 numbers). Clearly, it would appear that the MFC has a different prioritisation of strategic objectives, when compared to other clubs. But, given the rise of online e-fame and social media marketing techniques, we are clearly lacking. 

One last thing that I would note, which is entirely subjective (but I trust the judgement of those who have told me this, together with my own anecdotal evidence), is that many of the people hired to work in the social media administration team within the MFC, are just not adequately equipped or knowledgeable to successfully develop and grow an online supporter base. Having worked closely with several people who have been at opposing clubs, there general notion is that we are not recognising the benefits of having properly equipped Media and Communication graduates work in these roles, unlike Hawthorn who are seen to be somewhat of a trailblazer in this area. 

It's a complex area and I've probably digressed from the initial post, but it is increasingly frustrating and our results and presence, in my opinion, are totally inline with the investment and prioritisation that the MFC has placed into social media. 

That's a shame considering we really need to be reaching out to the younger generations of supporters. Our membership base is skewed towards the elderly which may be why they think it's not worth investing in but it's the lost opportunities for tapping into the youth markets that could hurt.

[Yossarian 1,808]

The link to more videos on the club's mobile website has been broken for over a year and I've emailed them twice this year to get them to sort it out. 

The first reply I received was a thank you, it's been forwarded to the media department. The second response was that they're very busy and will get to it when they can.

Seriously, it's one link. How hard?

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

We can add to the list the finals email last week and the social media posts about the upcoming draft, like that's what we all want to know about now.

[Leoncelli_36 2,264]

1 hour ago, Clint Bizkit said:

We can add to the list the finals email last week and the social media posts about the upcoming draft, like that's what we all want to know about now.

Agreed Biz. The one on Facebook last night about the draft order really upset fans. It was the wrong time to post about the draft. It was like being trolled by your own club reading that. Someone in the Social Media Department is clearly take the p155. Probably someone working for th club that doesn't actually support our club. Like the head girl at the Demonshop who openly and passionately supports the Richmond Football Club.

The MFC has very few MFC people connected to it in Admin and in the back offices. Probably explains the disconnect with fans.

[John Crow Batty 8,217]

4 minutes ago, Leoncelli_36 said:

Agreed Biz. The one on Facebook last night about the draft order really upset fans. It was the wrong time to post about the draft. It was like being trolled by your own club reading that. Someone in the Social Media Department is clearly take the p155. Probably someone working for th club that doesn't actually support our club. Like the head girl at the Demonshop who openly and passionately supports the Richmond Football Club.

The MFC has very few MFC people connected to it in Admin and in the back offices. Probably explains the disconnect with fans.

If true this woman openly flaunts her support for Richmond at the shop  she should shut up and show respect to our supporters or be sacked.

[CityDee 738]

After this weekends disaster I was expecting an official statement from the club , there have been quotes from Jones Burgo and Bartlett but after some onfield letdowns and a devastating finals miss someone needs to steer the ship . 

[layzie 28,473]

1 hour ago, Leoncelli_36 said:

Agreed Biz. The one on Facebook last night about the draft order really upset fans. It was the wrong time to post about the draft. It was like being trolled by your own club reading that. Someone in the Social Media Department is clearly take the p155. Probably someone working for th club that doesn't actually support our club. Like the head girl at the Demonshop who openly and passionately supports the Richmond Football Club.

The MFC has very few MFC people connected to it in Admin and in the back offices. Probably explains the disconnect with fans.

First I've heard of that! I've never had an issue with a CEO of our club having supported another club but there is this expectation that they relinquish those allegiances and throw all emotion into their current club. Could sort of understand if it were just casual staff but the head girl? Just would have expected a bit different I guess.

[Wiseblood 24,636]

8 minutes ago, CityDee said:

After this weekends disaster I was expecting an official statement from the club , there have been quotes from Jones Burgo and Bartlett but after some onfield letdowns and a devastating finals miss someone needs to steer the ship . 

Jordan Lewis also spoke openly about it last night on 360, and he did it quite well.

What else do we want?  Goodwin regurgitating the same thing?  I think it's very clear that they know they've let themselves, the club and the entire supporter base down.  Now they need to respond on the track and on the field.  We don't need more words after this, only actions.

[praha 10,267]

Consider that a lot of the people in marketing and social have been at the club since the Neeld years, even before, when we went on a hiring spree to expand the brand. Problem is that social teams have really tough jobs these days, and in the early days of Facebook and social media, a lot of people were applying for and getting "social media" jobs not realising that they are effectively taking on a customer-facing PR role, which is much tougher than B2B PR and management because you have no control over how the message is amplified. The entire social industry is grossly underskilled and Melbourne FC always seems to be battling negative feedback. Posts can go viral very easily. The draft post was a massive oversight, even if it was done in good faith with the intent to be informative. A lot of brands have these PR graduates or "influencers" with no corporate experience in these roles, and it's effectively like putting an Instgram model in charge of your entire brand.

[Gorgoroth 12,305]

I got a letter today in the mail about finals tickets...

 

[DeeWiz 284]

I can just picture one of the MFC backroom staff frantically going to the mailbox on Sunday evening trying to dig out all of the finals brochures mailed out to members...only to find it's too late and all the members will get a nice surprise in their mailbox...