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Chelsea Twitter success represents more than just a hashtag

By Ajitesh Rasgotra

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 12: General view outside the stadium prior to the Premier League match between Chelsea and Burnley at Stamford Bridge on August 12, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 12: General view outside the stadium prior to the Premier League match between Chelsea and Burnley at Stamford Bridge on August 12, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images) /
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It may be a slow news day, but Chelsea’s #CFC has been revealed as one of the most popular football hashtags. This underlines the club’s success over the last decade.

If you are a member of Twitter, you would know by now that the social media firm are celebrating a decade of hashtags. The tagging mechanism that allows people to follow specific topics and news stories has reached 10 years old and Twitter have revealed the top 10 football hashtags. Chelsea come in fourth place.

Manchester United, somewhat unsurprisingly, are number one with #MUFC.

"United also lead the football club hashtags, sitting ahead of second-placed #HalaMadrid (Real Madrid), #LFC (Liverpool) in third, #CFC (Chelsea) in fourth spot, with #Arsenal (Arsenal) and #FCBLive (Barcelona) rounding off the top 10. – via Sky Sports"

Many of you will be wondering why this is newsworthy. However, it does say a lot about Chelsea’s reach and increasing fanbase.

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While the Blues have always had a solid core foundation of support, there is no denying that the club’s following has grown exponentially over the last 15 years. Roman Abramovich’s arrival and the ensuing consistent success has transformed Chelsea into a major world player. Youngsters all over the world are now inspired to follow the West Londoners and so are people new to the game.

Beating the likes of Barcelona and Arsenal is no mean feat. The former are still one of the world’s biggest clubs and it is testament to Chelsea’s marketing department that #CFC is up there. Fans may be the ones doing the most tweeting, but it is the club who have to drive the hashtag and nurture the community.

In the modern game, building a following and (more importantly) monetising it is almost as important as producing on the pitch. Of course, they go hand in hand – a successful team leads to a larger fanbase.

However, the club must capitalise and convert those new fans into a revenue stream. This all goes towards funding the ever-increasing wages and transfer fees.

Social media is a focal point of any marketing strategy these days. Through viral advert campaigns or other innovative social methods, clubs like Chelsea can make their fanbase feel incredibly involved. This then translates to money in the megastore and in the stadium. This also lays the foundations for the lucrative pre- and post-season tours.

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This may all initially seem a little insignificant. However, when you realise what the success of something as innocent as #CFC implies, Chelsea must be congratulated.

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