Case Study on United FC

Task 1

The team I have selected is Atlanta United FC, who began play in this past season.

Task 2

Atlanta United FC is on a variety of social media platforms. They have a presence on

Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, as well as a YouTube channel. The team has a Google+ page and a LinkedIn account as well, but those accounts are not advertised through the team’s official website. The team is not on platforms such as Flickr and Pinterest, not seeing these avenues as an effective way to reach their target audience.

Atlanta United FC has 188,238 followers on Facebook, with 186,312 that “like” the page.

The team was announced by Major League Soccer as an on April 16, 2014, and the teams Facebook page was started on July 7th, 2015. Despite the page not being opened for over a year of the team’s existence, Atlanta United puts a great emphasis on posting on their

Facebook page. As of November 6th, they had posted eight times within the previous 24 hours.

That is really saying something considering that their season is over, and they have started a more dead period of the year. Even though there are no more games, their feed is filled with links to vote for “Goal of the Year”, “Save of the Year”, season recaps and pictures of their fans, links to their other platforms for the ability to win free AUFC gear, and many more activities.

Atlanta United FC was much quicker to establish a Twitter presence. Their Twitter account is credited with opening in March of 2014, a month before they were officially announced as a franchise and while the team was still in advanced discussions with MLS. The organization capitalized on that early start in their development, as they currently have 778k followers on the platform. That is a staggering number, considering the other expansion team beginning play this past season, Minnesota United FC, have 73,000 followers. In fact, Atlanta United FC have a sizeable number on any other MLS team. Seattle Sounders FC, the team with the second most, have only 492k. All of this is reflected in AUFC’s Twitter usage. They have over 7,000 tweets, and remain very active day to day. They use a great amount of photo and video, with over 4,300 tweets of that nature. They retweet posts from their players, from some of their notable followers, and other key Atlanta companies, celebrities etc. They do a very effective job of engaging Atlanta in this fashion, and it is part of what has made them so successful initially.

Atlanta is also active on Instagram, but less so than their other platforms. They still post daily on Instagram, but not as often as Twitter certainly. They have 132,000 followers and have posted over 1,900 times. As there is no ability for users to “retweet” content from their Instagram page like they can on Twitter, or “share” posts as they can on Facebook, it may not be totally surprising that Instagram followers for AUFC are lacking. However, there does seem to be less of an emphasis on sharing content through that avenue. Instagram though used daily, is used a couple of times per day, a fraction of the usage of the more popular platforms. They were more active several weeks ago while their season was still ongoing. They would post pictures on gamedays to engage fans, and posted a considerable number of pictures showing their capacity crowds and passionate fans at home games.

The team also has a Snapchat account linked with the team. The number of followers is not readily available to the public as they don’t have an official page that can be viewed, unlike other platforms. The number of “snaps” sent by the club is also privately held information by the club, but I can say that they have not posted any “stories” since I personally added their account on

November 5th. This may have something to do with how the team professes to use their account.

On Atlanta United’s website they have a link to add their account with the caption “For behind- the-scenes action, game coverage, contests, player takeovers, and more exclusive Atlanta United content, follow us on snapchat by using the snapcode below…”

(https://www.atlutd.com/snapchat) In the team’s dead months, there aren’t games or behind-the- scenes action to show off to fans, yet this account does not seem like as large of a priority for the organization as their first three accounts.

Atlanta United also has a presence on several other platforms, but do not use them regularly, and do not advertise their usage on their site. AUFC has an official, verified Google+ page, but have only 161 followers, and have not posted since 2014 as the platform has ebbed in popularity.

They also have a Youtube channel that currently has 11,653 followers. The team posts several times per week and often include things such as highlights, interviews and analysis of team performances. They also have a number of player profiles and video of local events that the team has a presence at. Finally, they have a LinkedIn account. That accont has 972 followers and 91 listed employees. They use this very infrequently, every few months or so, and is used to promote job openings within the organization.

Twitter LinkedIn Youtube

Twitter is by far the largest platform the team uses, but there is a tremendous amount of Google+ crossover among Twitter, Facebook and Instagram in Facebook terms of content. (fan

promotions, game and event announcements/recap, video highlights and player

engagement) Instagram

Snapchat

Atlanta United has quite the advantage within Major League Soccer as it is owned by

Arthur Blank, who also owns the . As Blank owns both teams, the teams share a stadium, the newly opened Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and accordingly share many of the same sponsors. As there are a number of major national corporations based in Atlanta who wish to be associated with the Falcons, these brands also do business with Atlanta United. This has added legitimacy to the brand new club. Some of the teams more notable sponsors include Delta

Airlines, Lyft, SunTrust Bank, Home Depot, and AT&T. Additional sponsors include NovaCopy

IT and Printer Services, and American Family Insurance. As for how these sponsors are represented in social media; Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, the title sponsor for the team’s

Training Ground, was given its own series of posts on the Facebook page as well as the website.

In the series, different aspects of the training facility are showed to loyal AUFC fans, in the

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground Insider Series. A little bit of a mouthful, but it is an example of a sponsorship activation through the team’s social media platforms. On the day of their playoff game (OCT 26), they had a post describing where to watch or listen to the game in a variety of languages. The post was sponsored by NAPA KNOW HOW, with a link to their page and their logo in the corner of the post. On their twitter account that same day, Atlanta

United offered their Man of the Match, sponsored by Heineken. Heineken’s logo was included underneath the text. On Instagram, each post that included the final score of the game that was posted at the conclusion of games, was sponsored by Novelis. Novelis is an aluminum products and recycling company based out of Atlanta, and their sponsorship of the team allowed them to have their name associated with the club in 20+ Instagram posts over the course of the season. It should be mentioned that American Family Insurance is the official jersey sponsor of Atlanta

United. They show up less obviously that some of these other examples, but every time an

Atlanta United player is featured in a post through any platform, their brand is depicted on their jerseys.

Task 3

Young Professionals and “hipsters” seeking non-traditional sports https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/aug/21/atlanta-united-mls-soccer- popularity-average-attendance

Race, ethnicity, absolute or Pop. % of total Pop. % of % change change foreign-born 2010 2010 2000 total 2000 2000-2010 2000-2010 status

Black 286,126 54.0% 249,829 57.4% 36,297 14.5%

White 211,365 38.4% 138,352 33.2% 22,763 16.5%

White non- 183,294 33.3% 135,322 31.3% 22,155 16.8% Hispanic

Asian and Pacific 28,071 5.1% 16,873 3.9% 11,198 65.8% Islander

Hispanic or 56,142 10.2% 32,643 7.5% 23,499 72.0% Latinoof any race

Foreign-born 33,621[19] 8.0%[20] 27,352 6.6% 6,269 22.9%

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Atlanta

Some of the demographics that Atlanta United are striving to reach, as well as the rest of Major League Soccer, are Hispanic-Americans and Millenials. Atlanta United FC seek to capitalize on reaching young professionals and “hipsters” that are specific to the city as is growing. These people are seeking more non-traditional

American sport experiences, something AUFC is aiming to market to them. Atlanta also seeks to capitalize on its diversity, notably with foreign citizens, many of which grew up in nations where Soccer or Football is the dominant cultural sport.

To reach out to Hispanic-Americans, Atlanta United has spent a great deal of effort promoting players from South and Central America. Miguel Almirón from

Paraguay, Josef Martínez of Venezuela, and Leandro González Pirez of

Argentina have been heavily featured in social media posts and YouTube videos put out by the team. Additionally, in announcements of where to view or listen to matches, the team is sure to include where telecasts in Spanish can be viewed. Millennials are targeted with the inclusion of many young people in posts and video of games. They aim to cultivate their games and their supporters sections as the place to be for young people.

The team grew interest among this group in the early stages by slowly unveiling portions of the teams identity such as the brand and uniforms, through posts on social media. The uniform unveil was conducted live at a concert venue in Atlanta and was followed by a concert put on by the team. These practices helped to grow interest in the club from the get go. The team has also been outspoken on issues that young people are passionate about. Many millennials are passionate about the LGBT community. In response AUFC had a presence at the Atlanta Pride event, posting pictures on Instagram, video on

YouTube and by passing out rainbow colored Atlanta United scarves to fans. Many “hipsters” are looking for non-traditional sports to engage in. The team reflects this by maintaining a clear separation from the Falcons, though they share a home stadium and ownership. United do not post content related to the Falcons, and in the early stages of the move to Mercedes-Benz stadium posted videos highlighting the modifications specific to soccer. The team puts in a concerted effort to distinguish itself from its NFL counterpart in Atlanta. The team espouses a passion for diversity by constantly including it in photos on their social media. Pictures of groups of fans of one nationality, race, or gender are rare. They aim to be welcoming people of all backgrounds in a diverse Atlanta in this manner.

Many of the marketing strategies in Atlanta United FC’s first season were based around generating attendance and establishing the team within the sports landscape within the community. As far as attendance, it was an astounding success. The team broke several MLS attendance records this season; average attendance over the course of the season, total season attendance, they set the single-game attendance record, as well as the MLS postseason attendance record. The fact that this was done with playing the first half of the season at Tech’s slightly rundown football stadium when expectations had been built for playing at the Falcons shiny new home, is remarkable. As for establishing a foothold in the crowded Atlanta sports community, that will largely depend on the reception of the team next season. They are ultimately competing for attention alongside the Braves, Falcons, Hawks, the University of Georgia Bulldogs and the

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. The fact that the team sold 30,000+ season tickets a year ago, many who will likely renew after this year’s success, bodes well for AUFC’s long- term success in the area. As for how marketing efforts are different based on the social media platform, in

many cases they aren’t. The team has fairly consistent and coherent branding and

messaging. As many younger people are on Snapchat, from what I could tell from Atlanta

United, this is reflected in what they post through the team account. As they’ve yet to

post anything since I followed the club, it’s hard for me to confirm this. As the team has

the greatest following on Twitter, I would say that there is more content posted there than

on other platforms, but many of the posts if not identical, are very similar to one another.

I will say that the YouTube channel has lengthier and more content intensive videos than

what the team posts on Snapchat, Twitter or Facebook. As there is more of a feed element

in these other platforms, posts are short and attention grabbing. As users have to go

specifically to the YouTube channel and their attention has already been captured, the

team can share different types of videos. Other differences among the platforms that I

pointed out previously are that Snapchat posts are more player-takeovers and short little

clips than anything else, Instagram posts are flashy pictures depicting their capacity

crowds and state-of-the-art stadium, and that the Twitter account often “retweets” local

Atlanta celebrities and companies that have high brand value in the community, as well

as sharing content from the players and coaches personal accounts.

Task 4 One social media tactic that I found was particularly creative and effective was Atlanta

United’s Draping the City in 5 Stripes Campaign. The marketing problem that this campaign has sought to address is establishing Atlanta United in the community, becoming an “it” thing in

Atlanta, which can be boiled down to brand awareness. In order to address this problem, AUFC since prior to this season has posted on Social Media as part of the 5 Stripes Campaign.

Essentially, if people around the Atlanta metropolitan area hang a team flag outside of their home, place of residence, store etc., you stand a chance of the team showing up. Marketing staff arrive at people’s homes with key, highly recognizable players in tow, as well as plenty of

Atlanta United gear and merchandise. They routinely put up videos of these meetings, with some really cool reactions of fans getting to meet their favorite players. This generates quite a bit of social media buzz, and it serves their goal of establishing the Atlanta United brand within the community. It rewards fans for their loyalty, making them much more likely to continue engaging with the team by purchasing tickets and attending games. It also serves the purpose of getting flags and banners of the team placed in locations all around Atlanta, boosting awareness of the team.

https://www.facebook.com/AtlantaUnitedFC/videos/1929614373723013/?hc_ref=ARQAWGtQ oHXon3zhCA7BhhzFk6PlQQ7DvEBJqTrVdwqduh7gc2V0-BitZhHRyBf-rBQ&pnref=story

Task 5 I think perhaps the largest problem facing the organization will be to sustain the success they had from a year ago, to tackle this issue I have the following three proposals.

1) Do a social media campaign on Twitter close to the season, asking for fans to produce a

video highlighting the previous season, as well as promoting the upcoming season. Give

away sideline access, a free jersey, and two season tickets to the fan with the most exciting video. This recaptures the emotions from the previous season, and reminds fans of what the

games were like. It will also generate buzz for the approaching season.

2) Promotion where if a fan likes the team on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter, and

shares the post on each of those platforms, they will be entered into a drawing for two free

season tickets.

3) I would suggest that the team use Snapchat much more often. To keep fans engaged in the

offseason, I suggest a campaign where they start with assistant coaches and move up through

the most marketable members of the team. Each day a different person will receive access to

the official snapchat account and depict a day in their life as a member of Atlanta United FC.

This would be accompanied by promotion on the other platforms to advertise who had

control of the account that day. This would increase engagement during the dead period as

well as boost the team’s Snapchat presence.

Of these ideas, I think the first idea would be most worth exploring as it has the most tangible goals. These videos will include goals, and exciting moments that will remind people of what the games were like a season ago, and build buzz for the upcoming year. This will be done the week prior to the first game. As for implementation, contestants will upload their videos to either

Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram with a certain hashtag. This will allow the team to view the videos. Videos will be accepted starting two weeks prior to the opener, and the deadline will be one week before season kickoff. Once all of the videos are in, the top five best videos will be selected. Even if one person’s video isn’t selected for the top 5, the team will still receive the benefit of the person sharing the video with their followers, generating buzz for the season.

To allow for fans to engage even if they did not produce a video of their own, fan voting will select the best video, fan voting will conclude several days before the game. The winner will then be announced. The contest will be communicated several weeks before the contest officially begins on each of the main platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat). Announcements will be made when the contest opens and closes. The top 5 videos will be unveiled separately over the course of one day on each of the platforms (likely save Snapchat). Each video will receive its own specific post to allow for fans to share, retweet, or otherwise engage with the video. They will also have links to where to purchase tickets for the game, as well as the season.

The next day the voting will begin in a poll on Facebook and Twitter, with the votes being combined between the two. Once voting closes, a post will be made with the winner. It’ll feature members of the team with that person in their new Atlanta United FC jersey.

In order to evaluate the campaign, certain metrics will be considered. The number of followers on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter can be reviewed, as well as how many shares of videos there are throughout the entire contest (not just the top 5 or winner). Also, the number of hits the link to tickets receives on the best videos can be tabulated, with conversion and bounce rates (users leaving without purchasing tickets) considered as well. Finally, the campaign can be evaluated based on ticket sales. The number of single-game and season tickets prior to the campaign as well as after will be a good measure of how much buzz was generated by the contest.