Developing a Personal Brand in Sport using Social Networks
iStadia is a social network albeit a professional one focused on sport. The use of such networks is important for building business and/or developing a brand, personal or othewise. For individuals who want to attract sponsors this is a very useful way of doing it. However Manchester United has announced that its players do not belong to any online networks, and advised users to treat with “extreme scepticism” any profiles in the names of its players.
The BBC reports that a spokesman for the club said it had not stopped players from using the networks, but had advised its players, especially the younger ones, to be careful. The sceptic in me suggests that this might have more to do with potentialy diluting the effectiveness of the Manchester United brand than protecting its players.After all the complexity that arises if one player for example gets sponsored by brand X say Nike but the Club he plays for has some level of sponsorship (clothing) with say adidas.
At least three players at the club are believed to have had genuine Twitter accounts which have now been closed – Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs and Darren Fletcher. Does anyone know if they were advised to close them?
There are many more accounts across the popular networks claiming to be top football players. A player at English Premier League club Sunderland, Darren Bent, got into trouble last year after using Twitter to complain about transfer negotiations with his former club, Tottenham. Building up a personal fan base is important to sponsors and the use of twitter is now an important tool in doing this. Typically this is much more of an accepted practice in the USA eg. Shaquille O'Neal and Serena Williams, than it is over here (UK/Europe). Do you think it will it become more acceptable here?
Keith
Keith Irving
iStadia
The BBC reports that a spokesman for the club said it had not stopped players from using the networks, but had advised its players, especially the younger ones, to be careful. The sceptic in me suggests that this might have more to do with potentialy diluting the effectiveness of the Manchester United brand than protecting its players.After all the complexity that arises if one player for example gets sponsored by brand X say Nike but the Club he plays for has some level of sponsorship (clothing) with say adidas.
At least three players at the club are believed to have had genuine Twitter accounts which have now been closed – Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs and Darren Fletcher. Does anyone know if they were advised to close them?
There are many more accounts across the popular networks claiming to be top football players. A player at English Premier League club Sunderland, Darren Bent, got into trouble last year after using Twitter to complain about transfer negotiations with his former club, Tottenham. Building up a personal fan base is important to sponsors and the use of twitter is now an important tool in doing this. Typically this is much more of an accepted practice in the USA eg. Shaquille O'Neal and Serena Williams, than it is over here (UK/Europe). Do you think it will it become more acceptable here?
Keith
Keith Irving
iStadia
Tags:
business,
darren bent,
darren fletcher,
developing a sports brand,
english premier league,
epl,
istadia,
manchester united,
marketing,
personal branding,
ryan giggs,
serena williams,
shaquille o\'neal,
wayne rooney
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