AS Roma

AS Roma triple fan base with innovative and creative social media engagement

• Around six years ago, AS Roma began rebuilding their communication platforms to create more compelling and engaging content for their massive fan base

• The club have since launched over 20 new official social media accounts on different platforms in 14 different languages, which has helped them lift follower numbers from five million to an impressive 15 million

• Their Missing Children campaign and player-signing announcements on social media were viewed more than 10 million times and won praise across the world
  
  

“Don’t miss out on this exclusive opportunity to have your photo on AS Roma’s new team bus. It’s easy and for only EUR 19.27, you can be part of the Roma experience. Upload your photo and ride with us everywhere we go.”

This was a message on all AS Roma communication platforms in December 2014 when the Italian side unveiled a brand-new team bus prior to the club´s annual Christmas bash at Villa Miani. Along with the presentation, the Giallorossi promoted a campaign called #ridewithus which gave fans the opportunity to submit their favourite AS Roma-related photo of themselves to be included on the mosaic club crest on the inside of the bus. The campaign was part of an innovative PR strategy to take AS Roma down a less trodden path, break new ground with a cutting-edge touch and set it apart from other clubs in terms of creativity and innovation.

AS Roma may have finished the past season in a somewhat disappointing seventh position in Serie A, but in terms of fan-engagement activities, especially on social media, the Giallorossi have taken on a commanding position amongst the top teams in Europe for a long time. This is very much due to the fact that AS Roma have been able to internationalise their audiences by breaking down communication barriers between the club and fans, especially those who live outside Italy.

The club launched over 20 new official social media accounts in 2015 – on different platforms and in different languages – to exploit the enormous range of news being produced on AS Roma in newspapers, on radio and not least on their own TV channel. With the launch of the new Swahili account, AS Roma now communicate in 14 different languages on social media, with official accounts in Italian, English, Arabic, Indonesian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Bosnian, Turkish, Dutch, Farsi, Pidgin and Chinese.

In 2020, AS Roma was the only football club to be included on the Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of the world’s most innovative companies, which includes businesses from 39 countries. Roma’s inclusion on the 2020 list was prompted by the club’s innovative use of social media to help search for missing children. Roma partnered with charities all over the world displaying posters of over 100 missing children alongside videos confirming the arrivals of Chris Smalling, Pedro, Marash Kumbulla, Borja Mayoral and other players. The videos went viral as they were shared by club fans and were viewed more than 10 million times. In addition, seven children who featured in the Roma campaign were found unharmed.

In the last few years, AS Roma have been active across all major social media channels, including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, WeChat and Weibo, with witty and self-disparaging posts, which have helped them increase their tally of social media followers from five million to an impressive 15 million. One of their brightest moments was in 2017 when the club decided to combine the announcement of their eSports team with the signing of Lorenzo Pellegrini. The club posted a 26-second clip of a virtual player playing FIFA 17, and when he scored a wonderful goal, the camera revealed that the man controlling the console was in fact Pellegrini himself.

Humour has gone a long way towards engaging fans and increasing the number of social media followers, for example, when Swedish international goalkeeper Robin Olsen was announced with an Ikea-style manual guide under the headline “Delivery for #ASRoma”. The announcement received no fewer than 25,000 likes, had more than 5,000 retweets and even got a reply from the Swedish furniture company.

Aside from their new language channels, AS Roma have also gone to great lengths to strengthen their ties with their international fans, such as when, for the 2018 FIFA World Cup™, where Italy failed to qualify, they decided to support the Super Eagles from Nigeria on social media. The initiative was born out of gratitude to Nigerian radio presenter Mark Otabor following his passionate words about the Roma v. Barcelona UEFA Champions League match in the spring of 2018. The bond since blossomed through the club’s Pidgin-language social media account, along with a subsequent partnership with the Nigeria Football Federation.

Over the last couple of years, AS Roma have succeeded in making compelling and engaging content with a less formal tone, and if they are able to display the same innovation and creativity on the pitch, the club could certainly be in for some very successful seasons ahead.