Features

Strategies and tips for engaging Chinese sports fans in the social media environment.

Strategies and tips for engaging Chinese sports fans in the social media environment.

How to measure ROI for a social media strategy has become a perennial question for business.

Basketball is often thought of as China’s most popular sport, and the NBA, with more than 70m Chinese social media followers, as the best-loved sports brand. But football is growing, and comparisons with the NBA are somewhat unfair. The NBA’s brand is a unified, massive presence on Weibos, whereas European football leagues and clubs compete with each other more directly for audience share. Indeed, there are around 70m followers across the 35 active European football teams on Chinese social media.

According to Mailman, European football has become “an obsession” in China. Chinese fans with no inherent connections to European clubs are becoming ‘super fans’ willing to invest more time, money, and emotion following their chosen sides than their European counterparts.

China’s interest and investment in football is growing. Current president Xi Jinping has said he wants the country to host a Fifa World Cup in the near future.

 Tennis has seen a surge in popularity in China in recent years, especially after Li Na’s second Grand Slam victory at the Australian Open 2014. Thrilling matches between top players in tournaments in Beijing and Shanghai have also expanded the fan base. Novak Djokovic has been successful on the court – this year winning the Shanghai Rolex Masters and the China Open – and a fan favourite during these tournaments.

In 2011, Wimbledon began to rethink its approach to China and in particular how it engaged with Chinese fans. Historically, promotion was pretty much limited to what its Chinese broadcast partners did to promote their coverage.

Choosing to begin electric racing series Formula E in Beijing was no accident, despite China having little history in motorsport.

Accurate figures are hard to come by, but there’s no doubt that golf is on the rise in China. The core golfing population (those who regularly play the game) is estimated by research firm Forward Group to be around 500,000, with the broader golfing population (those who might be classed as fans of the sport) at more than 1m.

The NFL has been active in China for a decade, opening its first office in the market in 2008. Its early efforts were designed to back up the broadcast of live games on television.

English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur has an estimated fan base of around 45m in China, according to the club, with five Official Supporters Clubs in the country. It has over 2m followers on Weibo and has its own WeChat page and Youku channel.

The NBA started playing in China in 1979 when the Washington Bullets took on China’s national team at the invitation of then Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping. Few foresaw that one day China would play such a huge role in the NBA’s international growth.

Liverpool was the first European football club to enter Chinese social media in July 2011 with the launch of an official presence on Sina Weibo, coinciding with a club tour of the country. Liverpool was also first to launch on WeChat, in 2013.

It’s obvious that the platforms that dominate in China are markedly different to those that marketers are familiar with elsewhere – even in nearby Asian markets. However, it’s not just the platforms that are different; the ways that Chinese netizens use social channels is also notably different. As digital marketing agency We Are Social points out, “marketers need to carefully adapt their approaches for China’s cultural and societal idiosyncrasies as much as for its technological differences.”

Owen Evans travelled to Singapore to ask Seamus O’Brien and Andrew Georgiou, executive chairman and COO, respectively, of Lagardère Sports and Entertainment, about how they hope a corporate facelift will banish an ugly few years for the sports marketing giant.