On 08/09/2024 at 21:26, binman said:

I hope noone dismisses this as silly.

It's not. 

Every one of our sponsors would look at this table with concern in terms of a return on their investment.

It's a perfect visual summary of our woeful comms.

That GWS fella would command more $$ than any others social/comms person in the league but you can be sure the club recoup those extra $$ (and more) by bumping up sponsor proposals by a few bucks after pointing to stats like this.

The club is asleep at the wheel here.

  On 08/09/2024 at 21:56, John Demonic said:

We should've dubbed our draftee: Caleb the Windsurfer and brought inflatable windsails into the crowd and given our game style a catchy name like StrangleBall to match those young wizards and whipper snappers over at Waverley 

We could have done that.

But it wouldn't be 'authentic' 

But on a serious note, leaving aside the tetun on investment to sponsors, good comms to fans us a massive part of the value proposition fans amd members of a club.

And is also a critical element of bringing new fans on board.

It feels like the dees are stuck in the 60s - our strategy to build our support base is hoping dees supporters force their kids to support the dees.

The hawks certainly get a benefit from that old school phenomenon with their sustained sucess in the 80s. But they haven't been asleep at the wheel like us in terms of bringing new fans to the club

No coincidence the dog hawks final had 97k attend - massive, particularly given the dogs small supporter base.

  On 08/09/2024 at 22:04, The Jackson FIX said:

That GWS fella would command more $$ than any others social/comms person in the league but you can be sure the club recoup those extra $$ (and more) by bumping up sponsor proposals by a few bucks after pointing to stats like this.

The club is asleep at the wheel here.

What a funny coincidence- I just used exactly the same expression!

  On 08/09/2024 at 21:42, Lucifers Hero said:

 

It is a serious issue. 

I'm guessing going out in straight last Sept and our string of losses this year didn't help.  Similar to our membership numbers.  Nor would our membership demographics.

It would be interesting to know the overall figures and if the table is only the additional or is net +/-. 

Will be disappointed if the Comms department is not a serious part of the organisational review.  imv it is failing at many levels. 

 

As an side wondering how mfc's 'instagram performance' is related to the CP thread rather than the review thread...

 

@Demonland do we know the end date?  Is there more info available about the composition of the table.

 

The club has been "on the nose" long before that, both on and off the field. 

From my own point of view, I "unfollowed" our IG becuase the info was either outdated or irrelevant by the time I looked at it. I don't use IG as a source for football info. And I'm an old fuddy duddy, so don't care about fluff pieces.

 

 

 

  On 08/09/2024 at 21:56, John Demonic said:

We should've dubbed our draftee: Caleb the Windsurfer and brought inflatable windsails into the crowd and given our game style a catchy name like StrangleBall to match those young wizards and whipper snappers over at Waverley 

Other clubs are cashing in on their young cult heroes.

• GWS have commercialised Jones' helmet /the-kid-with-the-lids-rapid-rise-to-cult-hero-status  "They don't sell them just yet, but the GIANTS might have to start stocking the signature helmets in the shop at the VAILO Community Centre, given the seismic impact Darcy Jones has had..."
• The Wizard hats for Watson.
• The 'Blues Bros' accessories for the team.

What mfc puts out is maninly ho hum videos of latest player news in an interview format.  Boring, Boring, Boring.

As @binman said mfc comms is asleep at the wheel and is so far behind the times on how to make the most of technology and promote our heroes, especially the young ones to appeal to a younger demographic. 

Maybe we should promote the 'Mouse Pack' but under a different name as 'mouse' sounds weak...

 

Edited September 8, 2024Sep 8 by Lucifers Hero

  On 08/09/2024 at 20:44, Demonland said:

Would be interesting to see a spread of all the various social media platforms and actual memberships over the same time period. 

 

 I get that that's the main platform these days, I'm not sure that it's the be all and end all

  On 08/09/2024 at 22:15, mo64 said:

The club has been "on the nose" long before that, both on and off the field. 

From my own point of view, I "unfollowed" our IG becuase the info was either outdated or irrelevant by the time I looked at it. I don't use IG as a source for football info. And I'm an old fuddy duddy, so don't care about fluff pieces.

I use social media only to stay in touch with people in far flung places, mainly those overseas, as prefer more old fashioned means of interacting.

IG promotional tools etc are not meant for the likes of us and we aren't or shouldn't be mfc's target market.  We are never going to leave and as you say aren't really interested in fluff pieces.

Edited September 9, 2024Sep 9 by Lucifers Hero

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.

  On 08/09/2024 at 22:49, 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.

Thirst Trap 😅

  On 08/09/2024 at 21:26, binman said:

I hope noone dismisses this as silly.

It's not. 

Every one of our sponsors would look at this table with concern in terms of a return on their investment.

It's a perfect visual summary of our woeful comms.

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

  On 08/09/2024 at 22:51, DemonWA said:

Thirst Trap 😅

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

Case closed.

Edited September 8, 2024Sep 8 by Jaded No More

At the risk of taking this thread way off beam ... the Comms department has three main functions;

• Communicating with existing members
• Promoting to new members/demographics
• Manage our image and the narrative our spokespeople create/don't respond to.
• Find some friends in the media - yes a bit tongue in cheek but ...

It is ok on the first but terrible on the others.

Edited September 8, 2024Sep 8 by Lucifers Hero

  On 08/09/2024 at 22:18, DemonWA said:

Would be interesting to see a spread of all the various social media platforms and actual memberships over the same time period. 

 

 I get that that's the main platform these days, I'm not sure that it's the be all and end all

It's just one platform. 

Personally, I'm not on any social media, except demonland, never have been.

But any modern comms plan has to have mutiple avenues of engagement - insta, twitter, YouTube, tik tok source, discord etc etc.

I'll bet our reach on those platforms is equally poor.

One of the frustrating things about being a dees supporter as a kid in the 1970s, apart from the fact I knew no other dees fans at all, was this idea the dees were an establishment club full of old fuddy duddys with their blankets and Thermos.

We still battle with that image.

A 2009 style fans engagement strategy doesn't help on that front.

  On 08/09/2024 at 22:54, 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.

I was only laughing due to seeing that term used on Demonland haha

Hawks used to have a 'family club' image. 

Their social media team has now given them a 'cool' image.

GWS have no members, but their social media engagement is through the roof because they are funny, on trend, they know how to make fun of themselves, and they are consistent in what they post. 
 

A good marketing team can make anything appealing

  On 08/09/2024 at 21:11, Queanbeyan Demon said:

Cut down Rangy @Ethan Tremblay?

SQ5

  On 08/09/2024 at 22:56, Lucifers Hero said:

At the risk of taking this thread way off beam ... the Comms department has three main functions;

• Communicating with existing members
• Promoting to new members/demographics
• Manage our image and the narrative our spokespeople create.

It is ok on the first but terrible on the other two.

Agree.

Though I'm not convinced we're that great at number one either.

As just one example, I reckon I've looked at the mfc website no more than a dozen times the entire season.

I'm a total dees nuffie and there's nothing on my clubs website of interstate. That's poor

And the last time was to look at my membership info, which is frustratingly hard to access (partly because of the ticket master sruff now, which is not the clubs fault)

I'd add a sub element of number 3 - crisis management, ie comms during a crisis.

We have been poor in that space too for a long time - for example we never seem to get out in front of stories and as a result always seem to be reactive.

  On 08/09/2024 at 20:44, Demonland said:

Is there a similar table for total followers for each club? 

  On 08/09/2024 at 22:51, DemonWA said:

Thirst Trap 😅

Perhaps we need a demonland calender.

January - Andy flexing.

@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

 

  On 08/09/2024 at 23:09, 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

 

That's telling. Only slightly above and equally boring Saints account. GWS is a new club, and will overtake us. The Roos and Suns reflect current performance and general interest in those clubs.

We can and should be higher, but nobody at HQ seems to care. It's not just about 'image' - as we have to perform on the field, of course, but image really is part of the overall package. It's circular. Build the image, players buy into it, fans buy into it and turn up to more games, get more involved and feel more engaged with the club (I am a 20+ year member and honestly I never feel like the club gives a rats about me, and barely knows I am alive). There's a greater unity and energy that can help drive everyone. Build a future generation. Get kids wanting to play for us one day. 

I hope this offseason, as part of all the other things we need to do, the club thinks about this and recognises that there is a missed opportunity to engage with members and fans - and drive more to games. Build that future. 

  On 08/09/2024 at 23:09, Demonland said:

 

Current amount of followers on Instagram

 

• Melbourne Demons: 161,000 followers
• GWS Giants: 147,000 followers

 

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. 

Edited September 8, 2024Sep 8 by Jaded No More

  On 08/09/2024 at 20:53, mo64 said:

If that is the case then I'd want a cleanout of senior positions from top to bottom. Roffey has gone, and Pert and Richardson should be next.

All actions need a catalyst. If you are inferring that acting because of the actions of one person is incompetent, then I can’t agree; sometimes things are revealed that are larger than the individual actions of someone. I just can’t stand the ‘reputation washing’ that goes on in any narrative that is pushed.

Things are not black and white, the beauty is in the grey.

  On 08/09/2024 at 20:17, rpfc said:

Isn’t it just the fact that CP5’s actions to overtly look to leave is the catalyst to all this? I am sympathetic to his stance, I even understand to the point of comprehension, but can we just let the facts stand without making them arguable because they don’t fit the clean narrative we want for a certain person?

No that is not a fact. A possible scenario is Tracc confidentially raised the issue about standards and stated if he was not contracted he would leave.  Club leaks this to Tom Morris.  It gets reported, Tracc gets angry and the stand-off begins and it turned into a total firestorm, with Tracc trying to then find a way out.

Does that mean Tracc is the catalyst for raising the issue?  Or is the leak of confidential discussions the catalyst.  I would argue the latter.

The media wrote a lot of unsubstantiated stuff from "anonymous sources" and only towards the end identified the source for the Brand Petracca stuff.  Both Morris and Barrett publicly identified the Brand Petracca stuff was leaked from inside the club and not Tracc.  The club leaked other stuff trying to discredit Tracc. I have my suspicions as to why the media sought to clarify this.

Bring on the review.

 

 

Edited September 8, 2024Sep 8 by Watson11
Edit to add Barrett

  On 08/09/2024 at 23:29, rpfc said:

All actions need a catalyst. If you are inferring that acting because of the actions of one person is incompetent, then I can’t agree; sometimes things are revealed that are larger than the individual actions of someone. I just can’t stand the ‘reputation washing’ that goes on in any narrative that is pushed.

Things are not black and white, the beauty is in the grey.

That's exactly what I'm inferring. Either senior people at the club were ignorant of our deeper problems, or were trying to hide them under the carpet and hoped it went away. It's incompetence regardless. 

Trac is the wrong person being vilified imo.