16 January, 2011

Lessons for Mainstream Brands from Two Sports Celebrities

I am not going to use superlatives to describe two individuals who I greatly admire, as no amount of it will be enough to express their greatness. It will also definitely not make sense to compare the exploits of Roger Federer and Sachin Tendulkar on the field of play either as they both are masters at sports which are as comparable as chalk and cheese. This article just aims to point out a couple of simple points on their social media presences, which are useful for businesses.

Both Federer and Tendulkar  have an enormous fan following (Sachin, probably to a lesser excellent due to the not-so-global reach of cricket) across the globe. They both handle the celebrity status with the utmost humility and they're both wonderful human beings who set excellent examples for those who look up to them. Being a fan of both Sachin and Federer, I follow them on Facebook and therefore I check for updates from these pages. Tendulkar has a Twitter account too, which I follow. When it comes down to how they fare on Facebook, I think Federer has an edge over the little master. I'm not saying that this will cause Tendulkar any distress, as he and also Federer for that matter, have better ways of getting people to talk about them. Federer has 5.7 million 'Likes' compared to Tendulkar's 1.9 million, but these statistics hardly mean anything and cannot give a more inaccurate reading of the number of admirers they have. 

So what is it that I think is important here? Firstly, the content on Federer's page keeps the devoted fan up close with their icon. Regular photos, updates on what he's been up to when off the court along with pictures from tournaments he plays in keep fans tuned in all the time. All of the updates mentioned are up close and personal which is what is lacking on Tendulkar's Facebook page. Whether or not Federer actually posts all the updates himself is not the question here. In all probability he doesn't, but a Federer fan gets a lot of personal content from the page. The most important factor though is the exclusivity of the content. Most of the photos shared on Federer's page will be hard to find anywhere else and this makes fans feel a lot closer to a celebrity and enhances the interest level of the fan. For example, I happened to see this picture as soon as it was uploaded, a few weeks ago. You can see the amount of engagement it generated in just one minute.

Tendulkar's page on the other hand falls short a little. It is well designed with Tendulkar Opus (who also manage the page) being the focal point. Therefore it seems more marketing driven rather than engagement driven. The page is still probably doing its job which I presume is to promote Tendulkar Opus, but it might not sustain the interest of fans on the page for too long. In the last few weeks, updates, even though having a great amount of engagement, make it look like a live Team India scorecard. Tendulkar's Twitter account though, is a lot more personal and it does not look like the little maestro has outsourced tweeting to someone else. 

There are lessons to be learnt from here, though not for either Federer or Tendulkar. They will certainly survive without social media, by letting their skills on the field of play do the talking. The lessons are for any business venturing into social media which is that there needs to be good relevant content that is exclusive/original on social media pages. If not, any initial interest is sure to fade out with time. The other important point is that a social media page should not be setup just to promote one particular product or event. While this kind of tactic might generate interest, the end of the promotion is usually the end of new content on the page which will only negate the efforts that were made to get a following in the first place. The existing following will therefore effectively become new customer acquisitions during the next social media effort rather than remaining as existing/potential customers and possibly advocates of the brand. 

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