The online presence of Manchester United FC (MUFC)
An analysis for UCIL25002: The Digital Society.
Throughout this post, I’ll discuss the components of an effective online presence and how different elements of online communication can be used to engage an audience, driving the key goal of any business or individual. To do so, I’ll focus on Manchester United FC (MUFC) and the efforts the club has made to establish a powerful online presence globally, amongst its millions of fans.
So, what makes an online presence effective? This effectiveness results from the fundamental business or individual goals which are reflected in its online identity. This identity provides a wide audience span and facilitates both short and long term aims that are recognized, often providing greater information and cost effectiveness. I consider effective online accounts to:
· frequently post information addressing the audience
· allow the audience to interact with posts and,
· encourage positive activities
MUFC operates fundamentally as a business with the purpose of generating revenues based upon shirt sales, ticket sales, premium stadium experiences and a range of other avenues. This income is ultimately, however, founded upon its fan support which is heavily influenced by the club’s online presence.
During the 2012/2013 footballing season, the MUFC webpage attracted over 67m views, a figure which since then has undoubtedly increased, with the purpose of this site being to: provide news, handle ticketing enquiries and to offer an online merchandise store. The website is easy for audiences to navigate to, using search engine optimisation to improve accessibility. In my opinion, its key purposes are to deliver an array of information to this audience, whilst facilitating revenue inflows via social media and ticketing service networking.
Launched in 2013, the MUFC twitter account now boasts 10.1m followers, with a daily average of ten tweets. This account is regularly updated, ensuring maximum fan engagement with club news through retweets, replies and favourite tweets, also sharing to non-followers. MUFC recently exploited Twitter outreach in their campaign, #Pogback, supporting the purchase of football’s most expensive player, Paul Pogba, at £89m. The campaign made significant use of Twitter during the transfer, producing videos and photos marked #Pogback, achieving global trends in retweeting, demonstrating the use of frequent account posting and strong user interactions. This successfully meant increased support and full expense recovery from associated merchandise sales, furthering business interests.
Following its Twitter success, MUFC expanded onto Instagram, allowing fans to share and interact with iconic club imagery and videos. Posting three times daily means followers are updated with scores, team news and are continuously reminded of the club’s dominance. Positive activities and change are encouraged throughout the MUFC Instagram, often posting photos of players visiting children’s hospitals — encouraging followers to donate, mirroring player actions.
To conclude, I believe MUFC achieves its core business profitability target through successful deployment of the club website and supporting social media accounts such as Twitter and Instagram. These three avenues provide increased fan support and arguably sales too, but most importantly, allows fans to engage with their team and one another, often to create positive outcomes for the wider community.
