Griffin Ward

Inter Milan recognizes the importance of prioritizing their digital media

Serie A club Inter Milan has joined the countless number of clubs who have recently reevaluated their digital media strategy.

With the efforts headed by Chief Communications Officer Robert Faulkner, Inter Milan has recently launched Inter Media House, an in-house “one-stop-shop for content”. Inter has also refreshed their website and rebranded their Inter Channel on TV to simply “Inter TV”.

All of these properties are integrated within each other; the highlights and goal videos readily available at Inter TV are easily able to be repurposed and used at Inter Media House. Faulkner outlines the process, “We could make Inter TV our center of production to start producing content for the Inter Media House that we could not only use on the TV channel but then on social media, as well as creating more interactive short-form video content with our players.”

Inter’s digital rebranding was sparked by the cognization that the club’s social media numbers were stagnant and needed ways of better reaching their international fanbase. They recognized that their digital media strategy had become complacent when they were a global soccer powerhouse, but once their team’s on-field success had regressed, they realized they had stayed still in social media while other clubs had continued growing.

Inter addressed the need to better reach their international fan base by launching official social media accounts in different languages spanning different continents to recognize and amplify their fans outside of Italy. Each account can also specifically give their full attention to their followers, growing and cultivating their fanbase with more flexibility and versatility than provided on their main global account.

Inter has begun to experiment with different styles of content, branching out from strictly soccer related content. Recently, the club has put out behind the scenes lifestyle features of their star players and have showcased their home city of Milan to the world, highlighting their status as the fashion capital of the world. They have also begun to incorporate their partners by providing branded content.

Since revamping their digital strategy, Inter has seen the club’s Facebook audience shoot from 6.5 million to 10.5 million. This accounts for a significant portion of the club’s global social following of 14 million, with 2 million coming from Instagram, 1.6 million on Twitter and 300,000 on YouTube.

Inter is not the only club who has made their digital strategy a priority. Faulkner visited Bayern Munich and Real Madrid to gain an understanding of how other major clubs who had their own media operations in-house operated. Many other clubs have retained dedicated marketing firms for their versatility, expertise, and ability to give their full attention to projects. If your club isn’t prioritizing their digital and social media in this age of global sport, they’ve fallen behind.

Categories: Digital Content, Serie A, Soccer Marketing, Social Media