We recently published a post praising Manchester City’s smart use of email, and we’ve followed this up by talking to the team behind the club’s digital marketing strategy.
The team tweets as @mcfcgeeks, and is responsible for design and development of mobile and web platforms, as well as its social media presence.
I interviewed Project Manager Jamie Nicholson and Social Media Executive Chris Nield…
Last week I reviewed Arsenal’s new website, and in general I thought the club had done a good job of creating a simplified and user-friendly browsing experience.
However I didn’t look at the ticketing system as part of the review, and it’s since been pointed out to me that several Premier League clubs offer a below par user experience for fans trying to buy tickets.
This sparked nostalgic memories of spending ages trying to buy tickets for Spurs games back in the days of dial-up internet.
I assumed the user experience would have improved by now, but has it?
Due to the global appeal of the Premier League and the fact that most fans buy tickets online you would have thought that e-commerce was a valuable revenue earner for top flight football teams.
However a quick look at the homepages of the nation’s top clubs suggests that they don’t see UX as a top priority.
It would be easy to say that with the amount of money in football they should probably spend some of it on user-testing, but I’ll rise above that and instead I’ll simply point out some of the more obvious flaws that clubs should be looking to address.
For more information on the digital strategies of Premier League clubs, check out our blog which ranks the teams’ search and social performances.
Manchester City may have risen to the upper echelons of the Premier League in the past few seasons, but the team’s success on the pitch hasn’t made an impact where it really matters, in Google’s rankings.
In fact a new study that analysed the search visibility of the 20 Premier League clubs found that Man City lie in sixth place, while unsurprisingly Man Utd top the table.
Searchmetrics used its SEO Visibility tool to measure how prominently and frequently each teams’ website appeared in Google UK search results.
Brands should try to create native experiences within Facebook rather than simply using it drive traffic elsewhere, according to Richard Ayers, digital innovation consultant at Manchester City.
Using Foreign Office embassies as a metaphor, he said that brands need to create experiences that are culturally and contextually relevant to the Facebook audience.
“Do we need someone who just stamps passports and sends people back to the UK, or do we need someone who organises cricket matches and concerts to engage with the local community?”
Ayers works on Manchester City’s social strategy and was responsible for creating an Arabic language social media presence for the club using native speakers.