The Engine Room 004 | The Anatomy of a Great Social Transfer Announcement

And so it ends, officially the wildest transfer window in British football history.

An incredible ￡1.9bn was spent by Premier League clubs, the most in any single transfer window.?If you’re in the sports creator game, it’s been a great window. That's a lot of graphic design, video editing, and animation! But spare a thought for the Nottingham Forest admin, we can only hope he's taking a well-deserved sabbatical until the madness resumes in the New Year.?

In this week’s episode of the Engine Room, we’ll dive a bit deeper into the world of the transfer announcement, why clubs invest so much time into them, why fans love them so much and how to get it right.

Why it matters to clubs

Think about it like Coca-Cola launching a new product. Whenever a football club signs a player, they are fundamentally changing the product they’re trying to sell to new and existing fans. If they land the news in an exciting way, they retain fans and potentially bring in new ones who want to sample the new footballing recipe!

Whenever a football club signs a player, they are fundamentally changing the nature of the product they’re trying to sell to new and existing fans.

It’s also important to the players themselves. An outward display of hype is a vote of confidence in the player who’s been purchased. Whilst we can see egg left on faces with this approach - think pianos and a certain Chilean forward - we respect and understand those willing to go big and brave when they sign a big player.

Why it matters to fans

The off-season is a time of dread for most football fans, trying to fill their Saturdays and Sundays and get their daily fill of football news with no games to speak of. Transfers provide a much-needed talking point and release for football fans whether they’re following the window as a neutral observer or they’ve got a tribal interest. This is how the likes of Fabrizio Romano have built a Twitter following of 11.6m followers which is bigger than almost any pundit or journalist who talks about the actual game!?

Transfers provide a much needed talking point and release for football fans whether they’re following the window as a neutral observer or they’ve got a tribal interest.

We also have to remember for the majority of fans, the season ends up in disappointment, and transfers provide fresh optimism and excitement ahead of the season. And even for clubs like Manchester City, transfers provide new entertaining narratives, like introducing a big name character in a blockbuster sequel.?

How to get it right

This very much depends on the club and player in question. We’ve seen a switch from the top Premier League teams, largely utilising slick photography and graphics, rather than elaborate stunts. One thing these clubs have also done very well versus previous windows is to provide some consistency. It means all players get equal treatment when they arrive and the announcements are instantly recognisable to neutral fans when they see them. United have done this with bold use of type, City have done this with their clever use of custom illustrations.?

However, it gets much more interesting for lower league clubs where transfer announcements need to both excite the fans and cut through the noise of higher profile signings on social. These clubs are often signing players from relative obscurity and don’t have the media coverage.

There's a need for lower league clubs to both excite the fans and cut through the noise of higher profile signings on social. Creativity becomes key.

This is where creativity really matters, which leads me to the undisputed winners of the social media transfer window, Burnley FC…

They actually landed on a successful formula in January, tenuously inserting new signings into famous TV/Movie cultural references. It grabs attention, it celebrates the down-to-earth nature of the club and it's incredibly simple, meaning that their social team can move at the pace of a transfer deal.?

Too often marketing and social media departments get bored with an idea way before their target audience does.

But what I admire the most about the Burnley approach is the relentless consistency. Too often marketing and social media departments get bored with an idea way before their target audience does. Until they run out of movies or TV shows to reference I’d highly recommend Burnley go back to this approach the first time they sign a player in January.

They’ve reached a point where any attempts to imitate would be jeered by Burnley fans and neutrals alike. And they've made themselves so famous with this approach that they need very little branding for the videos to become instantly recognisable to football fans as Burnley FC. Bravo!

In summary

So to recap on how to nail a great transfer window on social:

1. Adjust your approach based on the profile of the player.
2. Stick to an idea that is true to the personality of your club.?
3. Stick to a creative formula with relentless consistency.