Connecting with Glory: An Analysis of Arsenal Football Club’s Instagram and Twitter Communications.
Arsenal Football Club is one of the world’s most renowned teams, with a rich history and a plethora of accomplishments. These include: 13 First Division/Premier League titles, 14 FA Cups, and 1 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cups. The club is also the first team to complete a top-flight season undefeated, achieving this feat in the 2003/04 season.
To engage with fans and keep them updated on the latest news, Arsenal have adopted several digital communication strategies on platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. This blog will cover the many components of the club’s online communication, critically analyse how the club utilises these platforms, and look at how engagement has been impacted by the club’s performance.
Twitter:
With over 21 million followers, Arsenal’s official Twitter account (@Arsenal) is one of the most popular football clubs on the social media network. The team uses Twitter to update fans on news, matches, and behind-the-scenes information. Additionally, they interact with the community by providing updates in real time throughout games, competitions, polls, and discussions. For example, letting fans know there is 10 minutes left in their FA Cup clash against Manchester City, shown below:
Real-time updates are one of the main tenets of Arsenal’s Twitter approach. The club live-tweets play-by-play action during games to keep fans interested and informed even if they cannot see the game in person. In the digital age, this kind of real-time communication is essential because it enables the team to give supporters timely information that is pertinent to their interests. Arsenal’s use of language on their social media is effective. Arsenal’s nickname, the ‘Gunners’, a Collective noun used in the tweet above to address all those who have interests to the club, creates not only a feeling of unity but one of increased closeness to their club.
Multimedia material is another component of the club’s Twitter strategy. The club posts images and videos of its players, games, and events to engage supporters and bring the content to life, shown below.
Engagement on Twitter is significantly impacted by the club’s performance. Arsenal is unique in this sense as no matter the way their results skew, the engagement tends to be at a similar level.
Instagram:
Arsenal are one of the world’s most popular football clubs on Instagram; Their account (@Arsenal) has 25 million followers, making it one of the most popular football clubs on the app. Furthermore, like on Twitter, they engage with fans through surveys, Q&As and contests as well as sharing news, match updates and behind-the-scenes material. For example, announcing star-man, Gabriel Martinelli’s new contract:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CoNFrZHKLcY/
Arsenal’s Instagram approach uses eye-catching images, which is one of its assets. The team’s players, games and events are highlighted in the club’s high-quality pictures, and videos. This kind of material performs very well on the visually-focussed platform that is Instagram. Additionally, the squad frequently posts Instagram stories that provide followers a behind-the-scenes peek at the team and their activities. Engagement on Instagram doesn’t depend on the team’s performance.
In summation, Arsenal effectively engages and informs it’s audience through its social media communication methods on Twitter and Instagram. The club’s internet communication techniques heavily reply on user-generated information, multimedia content and real-time updates.
