Manchester: We'll create our own Facebook, mate!

It is no secret that social media and businesses have found a magic formula to reach out to clients. With tools that allow you to track down the profile of a potential customer and the ability to recognize the appropriate target market it is clear that marketing & social interaction is now a "gold mine."

But imagine if you have a product so popular, so demanded, that allows you to skip through writing checks for social networks without sacrificing this vital tool?

Well… If you are the Manchester United Football Club  and possess a fan base of 350 million you can have the luxury of  creating your own social network site  and forget about paying others.

MANCHESTER TO LAUNCH ITS OWN SOCIAL NETWORK

The numbers are exorbitant. Thinking that a product can reach 500 million fans worldwide is an incredible branding power. Imagine hundreds of thousands of people interacting in real time, just like you and I do on twitter and Facebook everyday but identified by a common preference! 

But several questions arise from this new perspective on social interaction...

One is, how are the planning on doing this?

Well, if you have ever seen the work of Sapient Nitro you can imagine the adventure that this site is going to be.  This ADDY award, Revolution award, Gold Cyber Lion award winner marketing firm can certainly bring the excitement needed, not to mention that they are no strangers to the marketing of internationally recognized sports.

Check out the mobile application that the company created for the Chip Ganassi Racing team

CHIP GANASSI RACING APPLICATION

Could they beat Facebook?

With dominating portals like Facebook and twitter someone may think that digital interaction with yet another platform may seem unattractive. Nonetheless, companies like Ducati have been able to filter in between the lines of social interface. They have created a web site that catches the user attention by sharing the love for the product (motorcycles in this case) and building an electronic community of Ducati lovers. Think of it as the modern age of Harley-Davidson biker convention but without the inconvenience of being stereotyped with a particular segment of the population.

DUCATI AMERICA 

Finally, Is Manchester United popular enough to pull this off?

We have already seen the numbers. The research conducted by the “Red Devils” marketing department claims to have 20 million fans only in their Facebook page.

They not only are one of the iconic teams in England but also, they managed to win the championship of the Premier League last year.

Their popularity in Asia, particularly in Korea is astonishing, mainly due to the fact that they have Ji-Sung Park in their roster.

Manchester United has been able to understand that the internationalization of the team is crucial in order to improve the popularity of the team overseas.

Proof of this is the contract offered to the Mexican striker, Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez.

The Red Devils have locked the 23-year-old star for the next five seasons. Hernandez and the 21 goals scored with the team are prove that he is a great asset for the team inside and outside the field. Jerseys, publicity, television contracts, team advertising amongst other perks have gone across the Atlantic and into the Mexican economy which is now married to Manchester United.

Just like the "Hernandez-Mexico" engagement the team has acquired players from other countries such as Ecuador (Antonio Valencia), Brazil (Fabio Fabio), Bulgaria (Dimitar Bervatov), Senegal (Patrice Evra), Yugolslavia (Nemanja Vidic), etc.

All of these factors make this proposal a very interesting twist in this ever-changing digital age. Manchester United as a product has been able to cross borders and even continents.

 With the new site the company will be able to deliver all kinds of products ranging from team merchandise, soccer videos, player interaction, ticket sales, multimedia content and many other products that are yet to be discovered. 

The British Red Devils have found what could be the next generation of social media where the love for one product may very well score more pounds than goals.