Opinion The Club and the way they communicate with us

[Willo_]

There seems to be a divide here regarding the way the club communicates with its supporters and members.

Rather than let it start to infiltrate every 2nd thread I thought perhaps it deserved it's own dedicated thread to discuss the pros/cons rights and wrongs.... or at least perceived rights and wrongs.

To start with I will state my position, I am a member and have been since it become an option financially for me... about 6 years ago, lets not turn this into a dick measuring competition but it simply can help paint a picture with some people over their expectations and what they want to see or think they are entitled to.

In the last month we have had 2 young players suffer injury which have been broken here, then by the addy and lastly covered by the club, as a footy/Cats adict I read every article about my beloved cats as soon as I spot it. Whilst I understand that its not life altering if they tell us a week or 2 after something happens, I also find it frustrating that information is hard to get out of the club first. A simple quick little release from the club would be sufficient in most cases, yet it hardly seems to come until after a story is out.

I think in general the club handles alot of it's social media ok, they post the links required. They interact with fans. They are also quite disappointing in as many areas as they do well. They often don't reply if the question is too hard... and when the trade period was completed they advised there would be one on one interviews with our new guys..... which never happened. Stanley had a video posted and people here enjoyed getting to hear from a new player of ours. The rest were simply the generic interviews that the players did when presented to the media, sure its not a major detail but its still a frustration... and sets a precedence for the way they handle interactions with us.

So this thread is part chance to vent, part chance to discuss what they can do better, part place to debate it all

And then hopefully keeps it from running other threads off topic (as its an issue which is generating a lot of discussion

Who knows.. maybe we can complile a list to get to the club

 

[Moggy]

Good idea to focus the discussion here, and hopefully keep other threads clean.

Personally, to address the "why" question, I do believe that it is very important for the club to engage with the fans, especially young fans, in a meaningful and authentic way. A way that is in line with how they engage with each other and consume information.

Folks growing up in the age of social media, lets say people under the age of 15 right now, will have very different expectations than those who grew up with the back page of the newspaper. They will likely be attracted to whichever subjects/sports/past-times that engage them in a way that satisfies their expectations.

In the end, the football itself is what draws people in, but with all the other things competing for people's time, the club would do well to, at least keep pace, if not get ahead of the new media phenomena.

 

[bulletproof]

I find it frustrating too, but I think the reason why they don't rush out media releases as soon as the injury happens is out of respect for the players. It is their private medical record.

I think in the case of Menzel there was definitely some protection of him, to the extent they basically lied about the situation.

The Mcarthy case may be similar, or maybe they were just unsure on prognosis. I see where people are coming from but I don't think it is a huge issue.

Maybe I am just more relaxed about these things in the pre-season.

 

[Boxhead_31]

It's not just injuries that our social media dept struggle with, how many times has there been a Tweet stating that Massive news is about to be announced and it turns out to be something that is very insignificant then when something like Ottens injury of 2011 happens we continually get told two weeks, two weeks

 

[catempire]

I find it frustrating too, but I think the reason why they don't rush out media releases as soon as the injury happens is out of respect for the players. It is their private medical record.

I think in the case of Menzel there was definitely some protection of him, to the extent they basically lied about the situation.

The Mcarthy case may be similar, or maybe they were just unsure on prognosis. I see where people are coming from but I don't think it is a huge issue.

Maybe I am just more relaxed about these things in the pre-season.

Sure, that might be an explanation, particularly in the Menzel case. But you have to question whether it is counterproductive. In this age of social media and the internet when you have footballers in a small-ish town walking around on crutches or with moonboots on does the club really expect that they have the ability to hold the information for as long as they like without it being reported through other channels?

My central thesis here is: control the message. Don't let news break by someone saying on BigFooty 'I know a nurse who works at Geelong Hospital and...'

Part of this is about being realistic about how news works these days.

 

[thejester]

It's not just injuries that our social media dept struggle with, how many times has there been a Tweet stating that Massive news is about to be announced and it turns out to be something that is very insignificant then when something like Ottens injury of 2011 happens we continually get told two weeks, two weeks

That had nothing to do with the marketing department, though. The injury just didn't respond to treatment.

 

[abet]

Sure, that might be an explanation, particularly in the Menzel case. But you have to question whether it is counterproductive. In this age of social media and the internet when you have footballers in a small-ish town walking around on crutches or with moonboots on does the club really expect that they have the ability to hold the information for as long as they like without it being reported through other channels?

My central thesis here is: control the message. Don't let news break by someone saying on BigFooty 'I know a nurse who works at Geelong Hospital and...'

Part of this is about being realistic about how news works these days.

That's the problem, social media has made it so much easier for injuries to be news on these forums before the club even knows what the injury involves.
How easy is it for a player to go for scans only for a nurse to message a friend with the news who in turn plasters it on here before its relayed to the club.

 

[catempire]

That's the problem, social media has made it so much easier for injuries to be news on these forums before the club even knows what the injury involves.
How easy is it for a player to go for scans only for a nurse to message a friend with the news who in turn plasters it on here before its relayed to the club.

Sure, it would be ridiculous for the club to be tweeting 'Steve Johnson has just entered the x-ray room, stay tuned...' but there is a middle ground and I don't think it's three weeks after the event when clearly medical diagnosis and treatment has occurred.

 

[you pick one]

I'm happy with the way the club treats us stick beaks in regards to run of the mill injuries, they are primarily a matter for the individual,the medicos and the club IMO,major injuries resulting in listed players missing games are well covered by the club and media I have no gripe there(I don't care who tells me first I've won the lotto).
General communications via the electronic media is pathetic and uninspiring,tweet the coach is a joke and should be discontinued if that's all there're prepared to offer up.
They desperately need some one with drive to step into the electronic public liaison breach and introduce some new,exciting and informative weekly content,I can think of one Cheer squad member who would make a great fist of it.

 

[SJ]

Would we like prior sub-discussions merged into here?

 

[catempire]

Would we like prior sub-discussions merged into here?

As a heavy contributor to said sub-discussion, it'd be fine by me.

 

[Willo_]

Would we like prior sub-discussions merged into here?

I thought it might happen... would make that McCarthy thread a hell of a lot smaller though!

 

[SJ]

I thought it might happen... would make that McCarthy thread a hell of a lot smaller though!

Yeah... but then we miss out on your nice opener as the first post!

 

[Willo_]

Yeah... but then we miss out on your nice opener as the first post!

Look surely you can pull some strings and juggle something so it stays there... I spent a good solid minute or 2 on that and don't want it to go to waste!

 

[you pick one]

Look surely you can pull some strings and juggle something so it stays there... I spent a good solid minute or 2 on that and don't want it to go to waste!

I started mine just after Jester posted that makes mine around an hour.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Sure, but we demand to play at our boutique home stadium and we must wear all that comes with that. Part of that is making it harder for us to sell memberships because there are less opportunities for members to derive direct benefit from it. Which is pretty much my point (and the club's): we need to be looking to other ways to attract members besides the seat at the ground.

Don't you think Carter is saying we need to get to 60,000 members for a reason?

I don't think anyone is for a second suggesting we move away from KP, correct? That would be the deal breaker for my membership that's for sure.

If Carter has said we need 60k members. I'd say good luck with that.

The only way I see that being feasibly possible is to shift to a club that predominantly plays home games in Melbourne.

Which for me tears at the fabric of the clubs existence.

As for the communication aspect, your 'thesis' as you put it, even if I indulge you by assuming your correct, and I've stated my views on this earlier. Is that (assuming you're right) going to result in a spike in memberships which helps achieve that 60k?. I'm very skeptical on that. It would have minimal impact at best.

As for the graph you highlighted earlier with Richmond/Hawthorn/collingwood that's a bit unfair on the club to compare them with those as they have something we don't have the ability to do, put more bums on seats. We have a big constraint in that regard.

Essentially I don't see how we can increase our membership base to that 60k or even 50k in the near future whilst being based in Geelong. We lack the primary means to achieve that, capacity.

And for many being able to go to games is the reason they become members.

 

[abet]

Does anyone know how the club goes about attracting new members, do they advertise, use call centers, emails, etc?

Essendon Footy Club just ran a members drive with each membership thy gave away a polo shirt, i know three friends who joined because of the polo which probably cost bugger all to get made in china.

 

[Willo_]

Does anyone know how the club goes about attracting new members, do they advertise, use call centers, emails, etc?

Essendon Footy Club just ran a members drive with each membership thy gave away a polo shirt, i know three friends who joined because of the polo which probably cost bugger all to get made in china.

Where is SJ

Didn't they say at the AGM in 2013 that they had no idea how to attract more members? (not in those exact words)

 

[Willo_]

I don't think anyone is for a second suggesting we move away from KP, correct? That would be the deal breaker for my membership that's for sure.

If Carter has said we need 60k members. I'd say good luck with that.

The only way I see that being feasibly possible is to shift to a club that predominantly plays home games in Melbourne.

Which for me tears at the fabric of the clubs existence.

As for the communication aspect, your 'thesis' as you put it, even if I indulge you by assuming your correct, and I've stated my views on this earlier. Is that (assuming you're right) going to result in a spike in memberships which helps achieve that 60k?. I'm very skeptical on that. It would have minimal impact at best.

As for the graph you highlighted earlier with Richmond/Hawthorn/collingwood that's a bit unfair on the club to compare them with those as they have something we don't have the ability to do, put more bums on seats. We have a big constraint in that regard.

Essentially I don't see how we can increase our membership base to that 60k or even 50k in the near future whilst being based in Geelong. We lack the primary means to achieve that, capacity.

And for many being able to go to games is the reason they become members.

In my opinion it's not about moving to Melbourne, it's about finding a way to convert the supporters into members... and Geelong has a SHITLOAD of support outside of Geelong, I'm from Ballarat originally and there are a ton of Cats fans there.
This is why non game members, 3 game memberships etc etc exist. We need to find a way to tap into our sizeable fan base and get more of them to sign up... The idea of being a member to go to games is of course very true, but we also need to sell the other side of it better... and this is where an absolute top shelf social media and promotions area can help

Also it wouldn't hurt the club to send players to shopping centres other than the Geelong ones or where they do their community camp to drum up some new members... A gun, a mid range player and a kid at Ballarat, Bendigo, Horsham etc would help surely

 

[Claude Balls]

Posted this in the Linc thread:

It's clearly one that polarises. Those who don't care are quite vociferous about it - they don't give a rat's toss bag, a flaming s**t etc. Good for you. Personally, while I appreciate the club wants to have all the information sorted and everything before the disseminate it, I find the time lag, combined with the fact it has been on ongoing thing, leaves me with a sense that they are not as professional as they could be about their relationship with fans. Ultimately we get the information in the the end, true. But it's not about that. It's about how well run the club is and this sort of thing leads me to believe it could be run just that bit better.

 

[you pick one]

Bloody short sighted building that stand on the Moorabool St side if they ever want to get to 60k+ members,eventually it will have to be demolished and Mooro realigned to facilitate extra seating for that dream to be realized.

 

[Boxhead_31]

Where is SJ

Didn't they say at the AGM in 2013 that they had no idea how to attract more members? (not in those exact words)

I know in June 2014 Cook was still unsure as to how to grow the membership base as he asked a group of us how to do so

 

[JUBJUB]

Bloody short sighted building that stand on the Moorabool St side if they ever want to get to 60k+ members,eventually it will have to be demolished and Mooro realigned to facilitate extra seating of that dream to be realized.

You taking the piss ?
There's nothing they can do there as the ground is so close to the road,so the current stand is perfect for it.

 

[you pick one]

I know in June 2014 Cook was still unsure as to how to grow the membership base as he asked a group of us how to do so

Ground capacity,bums on seats a competitive football side there are no short cuts.

 

[you pick one]

You taking the piss ?
There's nothing they can do there as the ground is so close to the road,so the current stand is perfect for it.

MOVE THE ROAD