Tuesday 25 June 2013

Wimbledon Making a Racket in the Social Media World

Fans flocked to SW19 yesterday for the first day of Wimbledon, and as usual, there were plenty of serves, shocks and strawberries - but at fatBuzz, we're more excited by the activities on line rather than on court!

Although the competition is only in its second day, we have been thoroughly impressed by Wimbeldon's commitment to social media this year.

From Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Google+ (yes, even Google+), Wimbledon has got a visible presence across multiple platforms - and so far - they're really making a racket in the social media world. 

For the purposes of this blog post, we're going to focus on Facebook, Twitter and the brand new iPad app, The Championships, Wimbledon 2013, but before we do so, we had to mention the dedicated Social Media page on the Wimbledon website.

On this page, you can view featured hashtags, video and radio clips and slideshows, as well as its latest Instagram, Facebook and Twitter feeds. There is also a blog and live blog, where you can keep up to date with the latest news and results, as well as see behind-the-scenes.

Facebook

At the time of writing this blog post, there are 1, 206, 018 likes on Facebook, and we're sure that figure will increase dramatically throughout the next two weeks - so what features and functionality have encouraged over 1 million people to 'Like' the Wimbledon page?

Aside from general pictures, videos and status updates, there are three separate custom iframe tabs; Our Tweets, where you can view the Wimbledon Twitter feed, Instagram #wimbledon, where you can view the latest Instagram feed, and Our Videos, where you can, of course, watch the latest videos.

There are also daily polls to engage the community, and we have noticed that a new event is being created every single day, where people are directed to the website to buy tickets. Clever.

One relatively new Facebook feature which Wimbledon is effectively using is the hashtag functionality. No prizes for guessing that the most used hashtag on the Wimbledon Facebook page is, of course, #Wimbledon.

Twitter

As of today, Wimbledon currently has 581, 840 Twitter followers, and although this is substantially less than the 1, 206, 018 likes on Facebook, there certainly seems to be a lot of engagement.

In addition to creating hashtags on a daily basis to engage their users in topical conversation (e.g. #Wimbledon, #tennis, and #SW19) one of the most interesting aspects of Wimbledon's Twitter output is Twitter's 'Magic Mirror'.

First used at The Oscars earlier this year, the mirror, which will be placed where only players can access it, will give tennis fans the chance to see behind-the-scenes photos at SW19. Once the photo has been taken, the images will automatically be posted on Wimbledon's official Twitter account, accompanied by the hashtags #TwitterMirror and #Wimbledon.

iPad App


Last, but certainly not least, is Wimbledon's brand-new iPad app, which is available from iTunes.

The app, The Championships, Wimbledon 2013, allows users to navigate around the grounds via a photographic map, zooming in on specific courts to get updates on the state of play.

The app also provides live scores, results and stats, draws and play schedules, profiles of players, live radio, and a live video show with interviews, highlights and features on the tournament.

Other features of the app include live time lapse images from the grounds, favourite player performance alerts, fan feedback, and much more.

With so many different ways of connecting and sharing your experience of Wimbledon, be it at home or at SWG3, we think they are most definitely social media ready - and we're already looking forward to seeing what tricks they have up their sleeves in the coming weeks.

Do you think the the use of social media will enhance your experience of Wimbledon? Is there anything else social media related that has impressed you this year at Wimbledon? Let us know over the next couple of weeks on Facebook and Twitter, or of course, you can also leave a comment on the blog.

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