February 15 – Internazionale, who recently opened their state-of-the-art ‘Media House’ to drive the club’s content proposition, have taken another new step entrusting their official Instagram account to their mercurial Brazilian midfielder Rafinha for a day.
The impact was immediate with more than 300,000 enjoying stories that have been shared in just 24 hours. Putting that figure into perspective, KPMG Football Benchmark data shows Inter’s total social media coverage at 12 million followers.
The Inter initiative is geared towards building a closer relationship with fans around the world and not just in Italy. The club sees their players and player-generated content as a key driver of social media uptake.
Rafinha, using the app’s stories function, took viewers through his daily routine and what he gets up to after training.
A club spokesperson, explaining the initiative said: “Clubs are competing in a market where the most relevant content is what grabs people’s attention and time. Our mission is to develop a personalised experience, creating content for specific targets. This is the stance football clubs need to adopt as they target growth.”
Inter’s Facebook efforts are also starting to yield tangible results with the club’s official page having now passed eight million likes.
Italy’s big clubs have, in comparison to major European teams, have been slow off the mark to harness the power of social media in particular, in the battle to grow fans and loyalty. Real Madrid with 212 million social media connections and Barcelona with 211 million easily lead the European field in the area.
Elsewhere relative newcomers to Europe’s ‘big’ club grouping Paris St Germain have 52 million connections and Manchester City 49 million.
Juventus lead the way for Italy with 47 million but it is then a big gap to AC Milan with 36 million and Roma and Inter on 12 million. Napoli are next highest with 6 million.
Inter have undoubtedly seen the light and taken steps to invest in the opportunity. Like Rafinha on Instagram, they clearly get the picture.
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