28 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

That is embarrassing 

GWS would have 10 times more engagement than we do as well

 

The Dogs being higher than us is 100% down to Bailey Smith. If he is traded watch their numbers plummet. 

Does that mean we're actually lucky to be where we are on that chart because of Trac?

1 hour ago, Jaded No More said:

There are a number of issues/reasons our club has a poor social media following

1- Our social media team is non existent. I doubt very much that we have someone dedicated to increasing followers and engagement on social media within our media department. To some, this may seem a frivolous waste of money, but for those of us who work in this space, it is anything but.

2- Our membership and supporter base is skewed older. Unfortunately given our lack of success until 2021, we do not have a lot of followers who fall into the social media age. Take Demonland for example, I reckon most posters here were not exposed to social media in their teens, as it just did not exist to the level it does now

3- We are terrible at promoting our brand. We have plenty of marketable and 'cult hero' players on our list. Gawn, Trac, Kozzie, Rivers, Roo, Kolt are ALL players you could really market. Hell you could get 20,000 teenagers to follow our social media if Rivers and Roo did some sort of semi regular 'thirst trap' posting (tasteful of course!).
Instead we show a lot of 'family club' content, which is lovely for the Facebook users, but has zero cut thru on Instagram and TikTok. 

I really hope the board realises how important it is to invest in our social media and communication. We have been so poor in this area, and it's really damaging to our brand and more importantly, it's a massive missed opportunity financially.
Go out and pay an influencer to do some posts, hire a marketing grad to work the social media platforms. Run competitions. The opportunities are endless.

Vote 1 Jaded.

14 minutes ago, layzie said:

Does that mean we're actually lucky to be where we are on that chart because of Trac?

Possibly, but Trac's audience is very different to Smith's audience. 

I don't see Trac's personal accounts attracting followers to our account.

Whereas Smith's followers are like 80% young girls, which will follow the Dogs by association hoping they'll post Smith content. 

1 hour ago, Jaded No More said:

There are a number of issues/reasons our club has a poor social media following

1- Our social media team is non existent. I doubt very much that we have someone dedicated to increasing followers and engagement on social media within our media department. To some, this may seem a frivolous waste of money, but for those of us who work in this space, it is anything but.

2- Our membership and supporter base is skewed older. Unfortunately given our lack of success until 2021, we do not have a lot of followers who fall into the social media age. Take Demonland for example, I reckon most posters here were not exposed to social media in their teens, as it just did not exist to the level it does now

 

I think the social media aspect did improve a little last year but still leaps and bounds to go. 

Point 2 is a big point IMO. Hopefully fans/attendees/social media following will exponentially increase but it will be a slow burn. Just need to get the right strategy in place and market some of those younger cult players as you've noted.

hell, *I* follow the GWS account. they post actual good content that is engaging and dare i say it, funny.

One of the easiest way to gain followers, is to run competitions where the condition of entry is to follow our club's account, like the post and either comment or share it.

It's really so simple, and will cost the club peanuts. You can run a competition to go into the rooms post game, to win merch, to win a membership etc. You can also run competitions with our sponsors, which we do sometimes but rarely do we use social media to drive the competition. 

There are even apps that will auto generate the winner for you.

Run regular competitions and watch the engagement increase. 

Can also do 'lives' from training, and behind the scenes stuff.

3 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

One of the easiest way to gain followers, is to run competitions where the condition of entry is to follow our club's account, like the post and either comment or share it.

It's really so simple, and will cost the club peanuts. You can run a competition to go into the rooms post game, to win merch, to win a membership etc. You can also run competitions with our sponsors, which we do sometimes but rarely do we use social media to drive the competition. 

There are even apps that will auto generate the winner for you.

Run regular competitions and watch the engagement increase. 

Can also do 'lives' from training, and behind the scenes stuff.

Join the mfc Comms dept...!

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

@Lucifers Hero

Current amount of followers on Instagram

• Collingwood Magpies: 399,000 followers
• Richmond Tigers: 316,000 followers
• Carlton Blues: 301,000 followers
• Hawthorn Hawks: 283,000 followers
• Geelong Cats: 248,000 followers
• Essendon Bombers: 267,000 followers
• West Coast Eagles: 263,000 followers
• Sydney Swans: 237,000 followers
• Western Bulldogs: 200,000 followers
• Adelaide Crows: 190,000 followers
• Brisbane Lions: 185,000 followers
• Fremantle Dockers: 182,000 followers
• Port Adelaide: 168,000 followers
• Melbourne Demons: 161,000 followers
• St Kilda Saints: 154,000 followers
• GWS Giants: 147,000 followers
• North Melbourne Kangaroos: 139,000 followers
• Gold Coast Suns: 113,000 followers

 

Oh dear......

3 minutes ago, roy11 said:

I think the social media aspect did improve a little last year but still leaps and bounds to go. 

Point 2 is a big point IMO. Hopefully fans/attendees/social media following will exponentially increase but it will be a slow burn. Just need to get the right strategy in place and market some of those younger cult players as you've noted.

It had a few good weeks then dropped off. They aren't keeping up with social media trends. Whoever is running the account needs to use the business platforms of the social media sites to look at what is trending. We are paying for a business account, but obviously not utilizing all the readily available data to drive the content.

We are not a 'sexy' brand, but we absolutely can be if we market the right players and the right things. Hawks have really turned their social media account around and focus on their young players and the high vibes around the club right now.
I understand vibes around our club have been low this year, but 3 very successful years should have given us plenty of positive content to build our brand in a positive way. Especially when Covid saw the biggest rise in social media engagement ever.

 

1 minute ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Join the mfc Comms dept...!

I don't even specialise in social media, I am a product person first and foremost, but anyone who works in product in 2024 knows how to drive said product and brand via social media. 

Just now, Jaded No More said:

I don't even specialise in social media, I am a product person first and foremost, but anyone who works in product in 2024 knows how to drive said product and brand via social media. 

You seem more qualified than those at mfc!

It comes down to a clear branding strategy by the club. The club has the persona of Range Rover driving, tweed jacket wearing, skiing holidays, etc and while it may only apply to a small majority, if you ask opposition supporters, that’s what they reference. Although people could see this as a negative, it can be used as a positive by having some fun with it through on our social media channels.

I think the club is too safe with its communication and needs to make some ripples by dancing on the edge of tongue-in-cheek messaging and not shying away from the way we’re perceived. They need to become edgy.

Just now, Lucifers Hero said:

You seem more qualified than those at mfc!

Haha thanks, I manage a far less fun brand than the MFC, but like the MFC it's a bit of a heritage brand with an old consumer base so the challenges are not too dissimilar. 
Most of our marketing is still physical, which is quite rare these days. But even our physical marketing at the club is rubbish. I understand we are at the mercy of the AFL as a whole, but gees we could do so much better in terms of game day experience for example. I reckon Robbo is one of the best on ground announcer in the league, but we don't do enough to utilize how charismatic and passionate he is. 

If they paid me enough, I would absolutely run that department 😁

On 07/09/2024 at 12:04, Adam The God said:

We need to bury the hatchet and move on now, otherwise 2025 will amount to nothing.

It's good Trac is there.

He is Building his brand back up, took an almighty hit during the whole saga.

Win our trust back during pre season and in 2025 Christian.

5 minutes ago, Heart Beats True said:

It comes down to a clear branding strategy by the club. The club has the persona of Range Rover driving, tweed jacket wearing, skiing holidays, etc and while it may only apply to a small majority, if you ask opposition supporters, that’s what they reference. Although people could see this as a negative, it can be used as a positive by having some fun with it through on our social media channels.

I think the club is too safe with its communication and needs to make some ripples by dancing on the edge of tongue-in-cheek messaging and not shying away from the way we’re perceived. They need to become edgy.

That is an excellent point. It's how GWS gained such a following, by making fun of themselves.

Get the players to put a cheese board together for all I care. That would be funny and you could use some product placement branding to make some money.

And we don't use the girls enough. Even stupid things like a get ready with me for a game, would get a lot of engagement. Those things are always popping up on the algorithm. 

Not sure if anyone on social media has come across Jess Waterhouse from Adelaide, but they have a massive following and people are now following the Crows in the AFLW because of it.

Edited September 9, 2024Sep 9 by Jaded No More

18 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

One of the easiest way to gain followers, is to run competitions where the condition of entry is to follow our club's account, like the post and either comment or share it.

It's really so simple, and will cost the club peanuts. You can run a competition to go into the rooms post game, to win merch, to win a membership etc. You can also run competitions with our sponsors, which we do sometimes but rarely do we use social media to drive the competition. 

There are even apps that will auto generate the winner for you.

Run regular competitions and watch the engagement increase. 

Can also do 'lives' from training, and behind the scenes stuff.

Giveaways and calls to action, you just need someone who knows half a thing about what they're doing with the socials. 

We tend to lean on the email marketing quite heavily still, which is fine but that's not where the majority of the target market is.  

1 hour ago, Jaded No More said:

You laugh, but Bailey Smith has 329k followers. Bont has 133k.
Who is a better and more well known player?

Case closed.

Maybe we can sell versions of Kolt's fabulous sun glasses !!!

Not only is he young and a bit flamboyant he is also a feisty character which endears him to foot fans and non-fans.

Is that cool or is that cool.  Even has attitude!

I'd wear those sunnies (inside the ground only 🙃)

1 minute ago, layzie said:

Giveaways and calls to action, you just need someone who knows half a thing about what they're doing with the socials. 

We tend to lean on the email marketing quite heavily still, which is fine but that's not where the majority of the target market is.  

Email marketing is useless for non-product related comms IMO.

Even when we run offers and discounts at my work, the open rate for emails is super low. Most people just delete or unsubscribe. 
The App notifications is about the best thing that they've done in 20 years, and I reckon that's AFL not MFC as the app is the same for pretty much all clubs.

 

Just now, Lucifers Hero said:

Maybe we can sell versions of Kolt's fabulous sun glasses !!!

Not only is he young and a bit flamboyant he is also a feisty character which endears him to foot fans and non-fans.

Is that cool or is that cool.  Even has attitude!

I'd wear those sunnies (inside the ground only 🙃)

100%! 
The Hawks with the wizard hats is such a dumb but effective idea. 

Kolt has "Kult" figure written all over him. He doesn't even need to be a remarkable player either (which he might well be anyway). 

If he's charismatic enough, and I reckon he is, then he should do a heap of stuff on our socials. 
Remember Gawny doing interviews on our site years ago? He built himself a media profile doing that, while playing for Casey! 

6 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

Email marketing is useless for non-product related comms IMO.

Even when we run offers and discounts at my work, the open rate for emails is super low. Most people just delete or unsubscribe. 
The App notifications is about the best thing that they've done in 20 years, and I reckon that's AFL not MFC as the app is the same for pretty much all clubs.

 

100%! 
The Hawks with the wizard hats is such a dumb but effective idea. 

Kolt has "Kult" figure written all over him. He doesn't even need to be a remarkable player either (which he might well be anyway). 

If he's charismatic enough, and I reckon he is, then he should do a heap of stuff on our socials. 
Remember Gawny doing interviews on our site years ago? He built himself a media profile doing that, while playing for Casey! 

I reckon he has the most personality of our youngsters.  Reckon he would love it.  Seems well grounded so it is unlikely to got to his head.

A small step to go from Kolt into a media Cult.  Someone should suggest it to our comms and if they doubt show them the wizard hats, Jones cap and Blues Bros stuff ... all a bit silly but fun(ny) ...

Edited September 9, 2024Sep 9 by Lucifers Hero

1 hour ago, Roost it far said:

Somehow we still appear to remain old, stale and amateurish. Surely we can do better?

Totally agree. The Instagram Followers data is quite damning. As a member of the baby boomer generation, I have not paid much attention to what the club shares on social media. We must come across as the old, stuffy establishment, steeped in tradition but lacking in the ability to welcome the new generation. The present and future must not centre around our demographic.

Edited September 9, 2024Sep 9 by djr

16 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

I don't even specialise in social media, I am a product person first and foremost, but anyone who works in product in 2024 knows how to drive said product and brand via social media. 

Same here and if you're not utilising it you're not in the game. Things are time sensitive, attention spans are short.

Email marketing campaigns for promotions and competitions are great but if you happen to enter one and then have to wait days or weeks for the result, the engagement is lost.

What we need is Social Media campaigns with "First person to answer this wins X" Or "Enter this competition, results drawn at 6pm TONIGHT". 

These people are going to be spending their free time on these platforms regardless, make sure they spend it on your channel. 

Current amount of followers on Facebook

• Collingwood Magpies: 414,000 followers
• Essendon Bombers: 357,000 followers
• Hawthorn Hawks: 343,000 followers
• West Coast Eagles: 339,000 followers
• Carlton Blues: 319,000 followers
• Richmond Tigers: 315,000 followers
• Adelaide Crows: 291,000 followers
• Sydney Swans: 280,000 followers
• Geelong Cats: 252,000 followers
• Fremantle Dockers: 234,000 followers
• Western Bulldogs: 218,000 followers
• St Kilda Saints: 212,000 followers
• Port Adelaide: 211,000 followers
• Melbourne Demons: 197,000 followers
• North Melbourne Kangaroos: 160,000 followers
• GWS Giants: 136,000 followers
• Gold Coast Suns: 116,000 followers

@Demonland Andy for president!

1 minute ago, layzie said:

Same here and if you're not utilising it you're not in the game. Things are time sensitive, attention spans are short.

Email marketing campaigns for promotions and competitions are great but if you happen to enter one and then have to wait days or weeks for the result, the engagement is lost.

What we need is Social Media campaigns with "First person to answer this wins X" Or "Enter this competition, results drawn at 6pm TONIGHT". 

These people are going to be spending their free time on these platforms regardless, make sure they spend it on your channel. 

100%

This is where doing "lives" is really really effective, because it keeps you engaged for longer than the normal 7 seconds most people spend on a post. 

Especially for say interstate games where the players are together. Run a live during their dinner, and ask them what they're eating. That sounds boring as hell, but when you have an emotional attachment to players, you would lap up that content.

If teenage girls are given the opportunity to watch Trent Rivers get ready for a game, they would be all over it.
Also player take overs on socials would be a great way to gain younger followers. 

If you can get our younger players to do some silly TikTok dance trends, that would get good engagement numbers too, especially if you're using a song that is showing up on everyone's algorithm.

Anyways, if the MFC marketing team is reading this thread, feel free to steal our ideas. We don't even want credit, just get better so I can get the teen living rent free in my house to start following the Dees. Thanks.

2 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

 

Bear looks rather forlorn ... 🙅‍♀️  Maybe our bs 2024 season got to him too. 

Do you have some happy pics.   Tell him 2025 will be better😊

Our socials are boring.. simple as that.

We haven’t done anything in the last few years to gain any young kids to follow our socials. 
 

sounds silly but this is why we need another small forward like Watson to bond and team with Kozzy and hope they both star together. It’ll be appealing to watch and you’d follow to see highlights. 

I know young kids aren’t really going to follow to watch Trac cook. They want the over the top goal celebrations, they want the silly wizards hats and they’d want the Koltyn Glasses.