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Players and Social Media: Who succeeds and why?

January 2018 Introduction

Current and future women’ football business managers, this study is made for you, to show you which are the players succeeding in social media and what best practices can be learned from them.

Over the last years, Europe has become a privi- leged witness of the disruptive growth in wo- men’s football. TV channels, fans, tournaments, leagues, brands and media are adopting a more and more constructive and committed role. Especially in the digital area, where women’s football can find a precious and valuable tool to keep in the spotlight.

Either in and outside the field, the enormous potential of growth suggests working on unique values as closeness, purpose or sport spirit, with the goal of ensuring this sport sustainability and fans’ excitement.

1 Players and Social Media Methodology

This study has been carried out from the infor- mation gathered from the analysed players’ social media channels, members of the national teams that participated in UEFA Women’s Euro 2017. The data has been collected in the period starting from 21st November to 27th December of 2017.

In the research, Facebook, and Insta- gram profiles from a total of 368 players, repre- senting 16 different countries, have been analy- sed. The data related to monthly post frequency and engagement has been exclusively extrac- ted from Instagram during October 2017. Regar- ding Facebook data, only fan pages have been considered, excluding players’ personal profiles.

2 Players and Social Media Content

1 Players rankings 2 Where they play 3 Countries rankings 4 More data 5 Comparative Analysis 6 Learnings 7 Conclusions 8 About me 9 Appendix

3 Players and Social Media - vs - SheBelieves Cup - Red Bull Arena - Harrison, 2017-03-04.jpg Arena Bull Cup - Red - SheBelieves Germany vs - France Sakina Karchaoui https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakina_Karchaoui#/media/File:Sakina_Karchaoui at Available Adler. Bruce by _-_France_vs_Germany_-_SheBelieves_Cup_-_Red_Bull_Arena_-_Harrison,_NJ_-_2017-03-04.jpg. License. International 4.0 Attribution Commons the Creative file is licensed under This

4 Players rankings

TONI DUGGAN 1 564k 2 526k EUGÉNIE LE SOMMER 3 497k 4 381k ALEXANDRA SCOTT 5 251k SAKINA KARCHAOUI 6 226k 7 223k GAËTANE THINEY 8 215k STEPHANIE HOUGHTON 9 210k 10 194k

5 Players and Social Media Where they play

FC FEMENÍ , LIEKE MARTENS, ALEXIA PUTELLAS FÉMININE EUGÉNIE LE SOMMER, JESSICA HOUARA LIVERPOOL LADIES SIOBHAN CHAMBERLAIN ARSENAL WOMEN ALEXANDRA SCOTT MONTPELLIER HSC FÉMININE SAKINA KARCHAOUI FC FÉMININE GAËTANE THINEY MANCHESTER CITY WOMEN STEPHANIE HOUGHTON

6 Players and Social Media Countries rankings

ENGLAND 1 2.6M FRANCE 2 2.1M 3 1.3M 4 939k GERMANY 5 698k 6 511k AUSTRIA 7 356k DENMARK 8 348k 9 290k ITALY 10 227k

7 Players and Social Media More data

FOLLOWERS PER POSITION AVERAGE FOLLOWERS PER AGE FORWARD 33-38 YEARS OLD 1 3.5M 1 49k 26-32 YEARS OLD 2 2.9M 2 30k DEFENDER 19-25 YEARS OLD 3 2.7M 3 18k GOALKEEPER 4 990k

ACCOUNTS PER PLATFORM FOLLOWERS PER PLATFORM INSTAGRAM INSTAGRAM 1 317 1 5.0M TWITTER FACEBOOK 2 209 2 2.8M FACEBOOK TWITTER 3 143 3 2.3M

8 Players and Social Media 9

20170721_WEURO_GER_ITA_7842.jpg by Ailura, CC BY-SA 3.0 AT Available athttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20170721 _WEURO_GER_ITA_7842.jpg. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 Austria license. Comparative analysis

STATISTIC TOP 10 REST OF PLAYERS PLAYERS

AVERAGE Facebook 141k Facebook 11k FOLLOWERS Twitter 68k Twitter 8k PER PLATFORM Instagram 134k Instagram 12k

Facebook (90%) Facebook (46%) USE OF Twitter (100%) Twitter (57%) PLATFORMS Instagram (100%) Instagram (86%)

AVERAGE ENGAGEMENT 12,627 2,090 ON INSTAGRAM

AVERAGE Photo (90%) Photo (94%) PHOTO AND VIDEO Video (10%) Video (6%) ON INSTAGRAM

AVERAGE MONTHLY 17 posts 7 posts POSTS ON INSTAGRAM

AVERAGE 29 years old 27 years old AGE

10 Players and Social Media Learnings

Rankings of best European players in social media are an accurate indicator of the most developed national markets in the continent. On the one hand, the personal branding strategy carried out by each player is crucial to determine her fan base size. Nevertheless, the amount of followers that clubs, leagues, tournaments, titles or sports results can bring represent a cons- tant-changing formula.

England and France are the evident leaders on this ranking, accomplishment that is also pre- sent in countries rankings and in the sports performance side. Germany is worth mentioning for its weak relevance in social media, despite being traditionally very strong on the field. On the players’ side, Lieke Martens, rewared as The Best, helped the Netherlands to climb into the top 3 podium of players and countries rankings.

A bigger high-quality and attractive posts fre- quency either on Facebook, Twitter and Insta- gram with more videos, keys from the top 10 players in comparison to the rest. Forwards, 33-38 years old players and, especially, the general use of Instagram platform are also worth pointing our for their good results in social media.

11 Players and Social Media Conclusions

1 Toni Duggan, The Best in social media 2 England and France are also leaders in digital 3 More frequency, more video and in more platforms

12 Players and Social Media About me

A click in my head lead me to the risky path. It was the answer to the following question: where can I have the most fun while having the big- gest impact? My intuition drove my decision towards women’s football, a fast-growing sport with a huge potential. From failing to pass a recruitment process for LaLiga in its final stage I became part of the UEFA marketing team at Women’s Euro 2017, happening in The Nether- lands. At the Euro, I met first-hand the closeness and self-improvement spirit of women’s football.

Currently, I lead the communications area of Naru Sports, a young but experienced company in women’s football field.

Besides creating content for my blog, I am a member of Fútbol Para la Igualdad congress team and I develop strategic and digital marke- ting consultancy projects for sports entities.

To date, I have written a total of 70 articles, have participated as speaker in 11 occasions and 1 as Marketing jury member.

xavi@xavibove. www.xavibove.es

13 Players and Social Media 20170716 WEURO NED NOR 3522.jpg by Ailura, CC BY-SA 3.0 AT 3.0 CC BY-SA Ailura, by 20170716 WEURO NED NOR 3522.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ailura/ at Available the Creative file is licensed under This gallery/Fussball_2017. Austria 3.0 Alike license. Commons Attribution Share

14 Appendix I: Countries

Germany Austria Belgium Denmark Spain France Netherlands England Iceland Italy Norway Russia Sweden

15 Players and Social Media Appendix II: Top 50 Rankings

1 Toni Duggan 26 2 Lieke Martens 27 Dzsenifer Marozsan 3 Eugénie Le Sommer 28 4 Siobhan Chamberlain 29 5 Alexandra Scott 30 6 Sakina Karchaoui 31 7 Jessica Houara 32 8 Gaëtane Thiney 33 9 Stephanie Houghton 34 10 Alexia Putellas 35 11 36 Olga García 12 37 13 Lena Goeßling 38 14 39 Francesca Kirby 15 40 16 41 17 42 18 43 19 44 20 Anna Miedema 45 21 46 22 47 Pernille Harder 23 Marie-Laure Delie 48 24 Sara Däbritz 49 25 Danielle Van de Donk 50

16 Players and Social Media Appendix III: Players

Ada Hegerberg Davinia Vanmechelen Ingrid Marie Spord Stine Pettersen Reinås Agla María Albertsdóttir Ingrid Schjelderup Lenie Onzia Nicky Van Den Abbeele Aissatou Tounkara Ingrid Wold Leonie Maier Alena Belyaeva Lia Wälti Nicoline Sorensen Alex Greenwood Lieke Martens Alexandra López Diede Lemey Tatiana Sheykina Alexandra Scott Isobel Christiansen Tatyana Shcherbak Alexia Putellas Jackie Groenen Dzsenifer Marozsan Linda Tucceri Theresa Nielsen Line Geltzer Johansen Oda Bogstad Tine Lea De Caigny Ekaterina Pantyukhina Jana Brunner Line Roddik Hansen Olga García Toni Duggan Amanda Da Costa Ekaterina Sochneva Jana Coryn Line Sigvardsen Jensen Amanda Sampedro Onema Vaila Barsley Amandine Henry Patricia Morais Jensen Elien Van Wynendaele Vanessa Bürki Ana-Maria Crnogorčević Elín Metta Jensen Jasmin Pfeiler Lisa Weiß Pernille Harder Anastasiya Pozdeeva Jennifer Hermoso Lisa-Marie Utland Jennifer Klein Rachel Mclauchlan Elise Bussaglia Jessica Houara 'Hom- meaux Lola Gallardo Jessica Samuelsson Lorca Van de Putte Rakel Hönnudóttir Anja Mittag Lotta Schelin Viktoriya Shkoda Anja Sønstevold Élodie Thomis Jill Scott Lucy Bronze Viola Calligaris Anna Belomyttseva Elvira Ziyastinova Luna Gevitz Virgina Kirchberger Anna Björk Kristjánsdóttir Jodie Taylor Magdalena Ericsson Virginia Torrecilla Anna Blässe Maja Kildemoes Sakina Karchaoui Wendie Renard Anna Cholovyaga Málfríður Erna Sigurðardóttir Yana Daniels Anna Kozhnikova Jordan Nobbs Yulia Grichenko Anna Miedema Josanne Potter Sandra Jessen Arna Ásgrímsdóttir Esther Gonzalez Josefin Johansson Manieke Sandra Paños Eugénie Le Sommer Sandra Sigurðardóttir Eve Perisset Julia Spetsmark Manuela Zinsberger Fanndís Friðriksdóttir Justien Simon Odeurs Margarita Chernomyrdina Sanne Troelsgaard Bárbara Latorre Fara Williams María León Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir Berglind Björg Þorvaldsdóttir Fátima Pinto Karen Bardsley Maria Lindblad Christensen Sara Däbritz Camille Abily Karen Carney María Paz -Khajeh Katharina Naschenweng Francesca Kirby Mariasun Sara Yuceil Kathrin Julia Hendrich Marie-Laure Delie Sarah Bouhaddi Frederikke Skjodt Thogersen Katja Schroffenegger Sarah Dyrehauge Hansen Carolin Grössinger Frida Maanum Katrín Ásbjörnsdóttir Fridolina Rolfö Marina Kiskonen Gaëlle Thalmann Kelly Zeeman Caroline Abbé Gaëtane Thiney Carissimi Shanice Van de Sanden Géraldine Reuteler Kosovare Asllani Marta Torrejón Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir Casey Stoney Kristine Leine Martina Rosucci Sif Atladóttir Guðbjörg Gunnarsdóttir Sigríður Lára Garðarsdóttir Gunnhildur Yrsa Jónsdóttir Laëtitia Philippe Maud Coutereels Cecilie Sandvej Sílvia Rebelo Celia Jiménez Hallbera Guðný Gísladóttir Méline Gérard Simone Boye Sorensen Laura Bassett Siobhan Chamberlain Meriame Terchoun Sippie Folkertsma Harpa Þorsteinsdóttir Laura De Neve Michaela Van Den Bulk Sofie Junge Pedersen Hasret Kayikci Laura Deloose Mie Leth Jans Sonný Lára Þráinsdóttir Claire Lavogez Laura Feiersinger Sophie Howard Cláudia Neto Heleen Jacques Mónica Mendes Hilda Carlén Nadezhda Karpova Dagný Brynjarsdóttir Hólmfríður Magnúsdóttir Laura Luis Nadezhda Smirnova Ifeoma Dieke Nadia Nadim Stephanie Houghton Danielle Van de Donk Lee Alexander Stina Lykke Petersen Ingibjörg Sigurðardóttir Nasiba Gasanova Stine Ballisager Pedersen Davina Philtjens Lena Goeßling Natalya Solodkaya Stine Larsen

17 Players and Social Media ¡Thank you!

I hope this study has been significantly valuable for you. Helping women’s football professionals’ to improve their marketing decisions is the goal I pursue through my content.

If you have any recommendation, feedback or suggest about content that could be useful for you, do not hesitate to contact me on [email protected]. I will be pleased to listen to it!

Lastly, here you have two extra resources that could be interesting for you:

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