There are a few moments in sports history that we can look to and think, “wow, I’m speechless”. The thing about social media is that being speechless is typically a bad thing, however, AS Roma’s English twitter account proved that being speechless and reacting to the moment could be an exceptionally useful strategy.
On the 10th of April, AS Roma (ITA) faced off against FC Barcelona (ESP) who are a very formidable opponent to say the least; to make matters worse, Roma were facing a 3 goal deficit. To set the scene, this match was the second leg of the Champions League’s quarterfinal. In soccer, a three goal deficit is not insurmountable, and from a social perspective, you’ve got to prepare for all scenarios, but when Kostas Manolas scored in the 82nd minute to send Roma to the Champions League semifinals, it seemingly broke AS Roma’s twitter accounts.
DAJEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeifefefbejfwjofnwjfnwjfbrufbwfubweufbewfuewbewbfwejfwjlfjfwfjlwfjbfjwfbwjfbwjofwjfnewjofnewjofnwjfnweAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! #RomaBarca 3⃣-0⃣#ASRoma #UCL
— AS Roma (@OfficialASRoma) April 10, 2018
Beating Barcelona is a feat regardless of the competition, but to win in such a dramatic fashion and on one of the world’s grandest stages sets the perfect scene for a social media master class. The tenth of April for AS Roma’s English twitter account will go down in a similar honor as the club’s victory. IQUII Sport, an Italian Digital Agency, notes that Roma had a social following growth of 2%, and an overall engagement rate on Twitter and Facebook of 2.5%. The two days following the match saw Roma’s English account gain 22,000 new followers on the official Roma Twitter account, and 9,000 new followers on their English Twitter account. Additionally, the club gained 120,000+ new likes on Facebook and a whopping 86,000 new Instagram followers. Remarkably, Roma’s social managed to get an engagement rate of 16.51% on Instagram.
Being able to translate an entire fan base’s emotions into a social media post is incredibly difficult and requires constant planning, but what happens when you forget to expect the unexpected, what happens when your club and your account have pulled off the impossible? You react. One reason that Roma’s social media platforms had done so well and gained the engagement that they did was because they were acting as, if only for a few minutes, soccer fans — unapologetic support. This match was a look into how account’s can translate success from social moments with intelligent reaction.
Categories: Social Media, UEFA Champions League