QPR Fans Take A Seat On The Social Bench

QPR Fans Take A Seat On The Social Bench


Thu 31st Oct 2013 | Marketing & PR

QPR to become first football club to add its matchday hashtag on the dugouts at Loftus Road.

Starting with this weekend’s Sky Bet Championship home match against Derby County, fans visiting Loftus Road will now see the club’s matchday hashtag embedded onto the home dugout.

The move is designed to increase fan engagement between R’s supporters who use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Google+ on a matchday, and is the latest in a series of social media initiatives launched by the club over the past two years.

The R’s have used dedicated matchday hashtags since the start of last season and have found the move popular in engaging with the QPR fans pre, during and post-match.

Adam Hulme, QPR’s Multi-Media Officer, said: “We are always looking for new and innovate ways to engage with our fans through social media.

“We understand that communication with our fans is crucial and our social media channels allow us to experiment with new technologies to help engage with our fans.

“In becoming the first club to add our matchday hashtag to our home dugout we hope to show our growing fanbase how to interact with each other to hopefully add an extra dimension to their matchday experience.”

The R’s social media presence has grown significantly over the past two years with over 147,000 followers on Twitter, as well as almost 230,000 Facebook fans – 108% growth during the 2012/13 season.

Alex Trickett, Head of Sport at Twitter UK, said: “Twitter brings people closer to the things they care about and for many in the UK that means football.

“We are excited to see QPR thinking of new ways to use our platform to connect fans with the team and players.”

Last season, QPR were the first Premier League side to stream live pre-match press conferences through the social media channel Ustream.

Rangers also used their highly-popular Ustream channel to stream pre-season games in Austria, with fans able to watch a live football match within a tweet.

During the previous transfer window, the R’s have been praised for their innovative ways of announcing new signings though Twitter’s short video service, Vine, including the arrival of Loic Remy and Danny Simpson.

Rangers conducted a live Twitter Q&A with summer signing Simpson during their pre-season tour, but with a multi-platform twist – Simpson answered the questions using Vine.

Earlier this season, QPR used Vine to announce their first opponents of the 2013/14 Championship campaign – yet another innovative way of breaking news first.

In August, the R’s were named as the most socially savvy football team in the UK outside of the Premier League and scooped the ‘Innovation in Insight-Driven Multichannel Marketing’ award for the #ForeverRs campaign.

Last week, the club’s Twitter feed held a live Q&A with Harry Redknapp, which allowed QPR’s global fans direct contact with the R’s boss with over 22,000 uses of the #AskHarry hashtag.

It is hoped that, with our matchday hashtags now displayed on the home dugout at Loftus Road, the club will be more socially-engaged with its supporters than ever inside the stadium on a matchday.

Saturday’s matchday hashtag: #QPRvDER

 

Got as far as the second paragraph. It all sounds a bit camp.

 

have some rep for getting that far

 

I made it to the 3 rd para and then wanted to throw up

this is the one single thing that not only infuriates me about our club but also embarrases me....
If Man F-ing Utd dont need to do it, they why do we ???!!

I hate this side of our club with a passion. We're not leaders and innovators...we are followers and mugs !!

TF, Joey, Harry.shut the F up and just get on with your jobs..f-ing fuming !!

Sorry..rant over

No disrespect meant to you tweeters/twits out there....

 

Yes, I am sure Harry was heavily involved in this initiative

 

Way to over react.

Yes, it's not the most exciting (or relevant) news in the world, but Jesus H, get a grip.

There's nothing wrong with trying to be innovative, albeit this, for me, is totally uninspiring and I can't see the point in it. But it's highly doubtful it took a huge budget and much time investment to come up with.

Chill out!

 

Got to agree with you Bob, this is the future and the way the world is being formed get used to it!