The big news in the close of the English Premiership transfer window was the transfer of Euro 2008 star Andrei Arshavin to Arsenal. The progress of the transfer created high drama, as well as an interesting case study in social marketing.
Of course, if you’re creating a small business marketing strategy, you’re probably not in a position to sign a superstar Russian footballer to your company just to generate publicity. But there are tonnes of ways you can leverage the same results – in terms of online buzz about your brand – with a smart online marketing strategy.
In the absence of solid information, massive fan interest and expectation gave rise to gratuitous hype, chatter, and rumour. On Tuesday, for example, popular football blog Arseblog posted about the impact of the Arshavin saga on their traffic.
Visitor numbers to the site more than doubled during the transfer drama. So did the numbers of comments posted, as fans engaged in the conversation. The blog summed up the frenzy of attention by saying it like all 3 months of traffic wrapped up in one 12 hour period. So what’s all this got to do with business??
Well - it’s a perfect real-world illustration of what digital marketing expert David Meerman Scott calls a World Wide Rave. By pulling in major talent like Arshavin, Arsenal created a massive amount of online buzz – enhanced of course by the dramatic on again off again nature of the transfer Before they knew it, bloggers were writing about the transfer, fans were reading and commenting, and the club was all over the net. There’s no question that Arsenal brand has received a real boost from the affair.
Perhaps this is a sign that that Arsenal are beginning to understand the business marketing advice on the leverage that digitial superstar players bring to a club – something that other super clubs like Manchester United and any team managed by José Mourinho have fully appreciated for some time.
If you’re curious, you can earn all about it by watching David Meerman Scott’s shows, and shows by over 70 leading business marketing experts, for free at yourBusinessChannel.com
