Social Activities
LESSONS LEARNED FROM RONALDO’S SOCIAL
MEDIA ACTIVITIES
Many
people/athletes think that social media doesn’t mean much for them. I will try
to highlight six things which show why it is the most important thing for
athletes in today’s sports world!
1. SOCIAL MEDIA CAN BE USED FOR SMART
PR
Many players
don’t have Facebook accounts, and it’s a problem for them. For example, I have
seen a situation with one Croatian football player without an official Facebook
page, but he has many fake ‘official’ (and unofficial) pages. Why is that a
problem? When false page admins write something, player’s fans see that as his
opinion or statement. That can bring a lot of PR problems for players.
What do you
think would happen if Ronaldo didn’t have such a large presence in social
media? There would be a lot of fake pages, and people would post something on
the fake pages and then, maybe, the media would take something from there and
put it on the front pages… That would be bad for Ronaldo or any other athlete.
Ronaldo
showed how social media can be used for situations like the one in the example
below. Ronaldo has more fans on social media than CNN and New York Times
together!
EXAMPLE: The
Sun published an interview with Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo on Thursday,
titled ‘Ronaldo: Every goal is dedicated to my dad’. They put more personal
quotes: ‘My dad would want me to play, he always did everything in life for me
to play football. When I win something, I always think about him. I know he’s
around. He’s always looking at me and out for me. He sends me messages in my
dreams because what I am today is thanks to him and to my mother.’
The
interview takes a look into Cristiano’s personal life. But Ronaldo used Twitter
and Facebook that evening to state that he did not have an interview with The
Sun and that it was all “pure fiction”.
2. SOCIAL MEDIA CAN BE USED FOR
FINANCIAL GAIN
Like I said
in the introduction, Ronaldo has a significant revenue from social media. His
post on Facebook is worth , on average, $143,750 for the brand he is endorsing,
twice of what Messi’s, the four-time player of the year, posts are worth.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s social media team try to make a balance between his own and commercial
posts.nike cr7 cover EXAMPLE: Nike didn’t miss out on a chance to put a swoosh
on the cover photo and to promote football boots on his profile photo. What do
you think, how much does it cost? Below you can find more examples from his
Facebook fan page.
3. ACTIVATED AUDIENCE THAT LISTENS TO
EVERY WORD
Probably 90%
of the people that liked this page love Ronaldo, and they listen to every word
he says. If he says that they must buy Nike, or do something for him, they
would probably do it. Ok, not 90% of them, but only 1% of 105,838,695 fans is
enough to put a smile on his sponsors faces.
“It’ better
interaction on the same post posted on Ronaldo’s Social media than on the
Social media from the brand that posted on his pages.”
– - Luis Correia, Polaris Sport
As it’s
important for Ronaldo, it’s also important for other athletes. They must know that
people who follow them also like them and their opinion is crucial to them. Ant
that’s why it’s important to be active on social media.
4. BETTER TRANSFER CHANCES
Ok, Ronaldo
doesn’t need transfers or anything else for now… but if he decides to leave Madrid,
every club would like to have him, and one of the many reasons is his social
media presence & marketing potential. With so many fans on Facebook,
Twitter or Instagram, he can achieve (and communicate) a lot of different
topics.
At a SPORTO
Conference in November, Adidas marketing boss Thomas van Schaik said that
strategic and well-organised social media presence opens doors for better
transfer chances and sponsorships.
If clubs or
sponsors choose between two players who are on the same level, and one of them
has more people on social media, they will choose the other one. Even if the
player without social media plays better, the player with organised and
professional social media has an advantage!
5. AFTER HIS PRO CAREER – HIS OPINION
WILL MATTER
Cristiano
Ronaldo will end his playing career one day. But his opinion will always be noticed, and he
will be an opinion maker for football all around the world.
“We decided
to give exclusives only on Social Media!”
– - Luis Correia, Polaris Sport
More than
100 million fans on Facebook is a big advantage for him. Fan numbers even put’s
him in front of FIFA or UEFA.
6. HE CAN USE IT FOR PROMOTION OR
MERCHANDISE
After their
careers players have followers that love them. They will be interested in
buying something from him or “about” him, i.e. a biography book or a piece of
clothing. That will give a player additional income even after ending his
playing career.
Cristiano
already has his line CR7, and he sells his product trough social media
channels.
Summary
Cristiano
Ronaldo showed other players how important it is to have organised social media
presence. His example shows how important it is to have a professional team
behind the player. Such situations help players concentrate on training and
matches. Also, players can have their privacy taken care of and ability to have
private communication (with family & friends) through their private
accounts.
Lionel Messi
Lionel
Messi’s Instagram activity has the world convinced he’s signing with Chelsea
The
Internet, man. We’re all experts and super sleuths, aren’t we? Me? I’m just a
satirical comedian, so keep that in mind.
Chelsea and Barcelona
(and adidas!!!) are locked in negotiations over a £250-million transfer for
world superstar Lionel Messi. We know this to be absolute fact because “Proof”
of this blockbuster deal can be found within Messi’s recent Instagram activity,
as the Argentine followed @chelseafc on Instagram, a duplicitous act spotted by
many of his 8.7 million followers on the social media network.
Look at
little Leo, plotting his record-breaking move and dropping not-so-subtle hints
right in front of our faces. The audacity.
Source:
That is, in
alphabetical order, three of the 97 Instagram accounts that Messi follows. It
is also the beginning of a very long, intercontinental, Instagram-fueled
transfer saga surrounding arguably the world’s best player.
We can also
deduce that Messi is going to Juventus to join up with one of his favorite
Instagram follows (unconfirmed fact), Carlos Tevez (I don’t care that they’re
Argentina teammates, this follow is about more than that), Newell’s Old Boys
(again, I don’t care he has historical ties to the club’s youth academy, he’s
going there), West Ham United because he hasn’t un-followed Alex Song yet, and
Napoli because he follows Gonzalo Higuain (a former Madridista, can you believe
that?) and because Diego Maradona once played there.
You heard it
here first: Lionel Messi, the world’s first five-club-at-one-time man.
Further
fueling speculation of Messi’s impending move away from the Camp Nou, he missed
Monday’s training session with an “upset stomach.” Right. I played that card when
I didn’t want to go to school, too.
Conspiracy
theorists have even gone so far as to say, “adidas will help Chelsea pay
Messi’s transfer fee,” simply because the London club’s gear is supplied by the
sportswear outfitter, and Messi is an adidas-sponsored athlete.
Never
change, Internet. Never, ever change.
