Enthusiastic

Last week I wrote about how angry I was with Sonic for their lack of promoting their social media and website. They have so many opportunities that they are missing and I kind of feel bad for them.

This week is the opposite. FC Dallas (the Dallas area Major League Soccer team) embraces social media and makes it work for them. Although it is a different industry, I think the same basic rules apply. I went my first FCD game of the season last week (we have season tickets) and even before we left our apartment I was pleased with their up to date promotions.

A few hours before we left for the game, I got an email with a pre-match itinerary and game-day statistics. It gave me a list of bars to visit in the area, discounts on merchandise and the “players to watch.” I would have been ecstatic if this was the extent of the “social media” for FCD.

While in the car on the way to the game, the official twitter of FC Dallas, started tweeting pictures of people tailgating and having that “game day experience.”

Once we got to the game, on the programs was their Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare information for everyone to see. They were also running a special on FourSquare, that day it was an extra 15% off a scarf.

While we were having a pre-game drink, the president of the soccer club came on the big screens and announced if you followed him on twitter @FCDQuinn and show your account to a bartender he would buy you a beer.

During the game, Twitter updates continued as well as Facebook polls. After the game a thank you for coming tweet came out as well.

Now, this may seem like a normal social media plan for some people reading my post, but if you were around FC Dallas a year or two ago, none of this was in place. There was virtually no Twitter or Facebook interaction and Foursquare? Forget it. This post is basically giving two thumbs up for whoever decided to turn their PR around.

Now, this is not to say I don’t think things could be improved on (they always can be.) Before the game, or after, what about tweeting the players handles so fans can follow their favorite? I follow Shea personally.

Also, what about for away games, have people upload pictures of them supporting FC Dallas for a pair of free tickets to the next home game. They could be at a bar, a party, at home etc.

Twitter is a fast paste medium. I know that the big screens are for the game, but if you could incorporate a twitter stream of some sort for people to tweet into, that might grab people’s attention. This idea may be a little harder to pull off than the others, but I think it would work well.

I understand that when you’re at a soccer game, you don’t necessarily pay attention to your phone for updates, pictures and peoples comments. I really thought that FC Dallas did a good job of keeping people engaged but not distracted. If only other companies (sonic) would implement social media plans.