In the first of a series of SportsPro columns by Liverpool FC executives, which delve into the inner workings of one of English soccer’s most historic clubs, Paul Rogers, the club's head of international digital development, reveals how he’s helping to build Liverpool’s global brand online.

In the first of a series of SportsPro columns by Liverpool FC executives, which delve into the inner workings of one of English soccer’s most historic clubs, Paul Rogers, the club's head of international digital development, reveals how he’s helping to build Liverpool’s global brand online.

Liverpool দলটারেকখনওপছন্দকরতামনা, ম্যানইউ'রসাপোর্টকরিদেখেএক

প্রকারঘৃণাইকরতাম।কিন্তুআজকেএইদলটাওমনেরমধ্যেএকটুজায়গাকরেনিলো!

The message was in Bengali and posted on the Liverpool FC Facebook page by a Manchester United fan. Translated into English, it said: "I never liked Liverpool FC. Actually, I used to hate this club because I love MUFC. But today LFC have taken a place into my heart! Massive respect to this club!”



The date was March 26 2013, Independence Day in Bangladesh. Earlier that morning, Liverpool FC's Bangladeshi Twitter correspondent had posted a message in Bengali from the club to our fans on the @LFCBangladesh Twitter account wishing them a happy independence day.



Rabi, the country’s second largest mobile operator, even shared a post on Facebook, announcing: “A great gesture from the world-famous English football club Liverpool FC, wishing all Bangladeshi Liverpool fans on our Independence Day”.

That original tweet - and the incredibly positive reaction to it from both LFC and non-LFC fans - quite neatly illustrated Liverpool FC's recently launched international digital strategy. Think global, act local – entertain, expand and, most importantly, engage.

@LFCBangladesh is just one of 12 new official LFC international Twitter accounts the club has launched since November 2012. Each new launch – Thailand was the first, Malaysia the most recent – forms the first part of a three-stage global digital strategy which aims to see Liverpool communicate and engage in local language with more fans, in more countries, than any other club in the world.

On Twitter, that is already happening. With 13 official Twitter accounts, LFC now tweets in more languages than any other club in the world and has seven more Twitter accounts than Barcelona and eight more than any other club in England. Every day, fans around the world can read tweets from the club in English, Arabic, Spanish, French, Indonesia, Malaysian, Thai, Portuguese and Turkish.

"Think global, act local – entertain, expand and, most importantly, engage."

Liverpool FC has always considered itself a truly global club with an immensely passionate worldwide following but until recently, the club’s ability to reach many of those fans on a daily basis was limited by the fact that our content – with the exception of our social media activity on China’s Sina Weibo platform – was being delivered in English. Great if you speak English, not so great if you don’t – and as we’ve found out, millions of our supporters fall into the latter category.



In autumn 2012, the club decided to address the issue. Liverpoolfc.com, the club’s official website, is the most visited Premier League club website but despite the high levels of fans accessing the site from all over the world, supporters from countries where LFC are hugely popular but English is not widely spoken were noticeably absent in large numbers.

According to most metrics available, Liverpool have more fans from Indonesia than anywhere else in the world yet supporters from Indonesia didn’t even make the Top 10 list of countries who visit the official site. Thailand, another country with millions of Liverpool fans, also fell outside the top 10.



Where language wasn’t a barrier, sometimes relevancy was. A fan who speaks English in Pakistan, India, Singapore and Australia has different needs and a different way of supporting LFC than a fan in Liverpool or Dublin. Even time difference can play a factor in how engaged fans are with the club they love.



What we’re doing is trying to address that problem and make supporting Liverpool easier for our fans, no matter where in the world they live or what language they speak. For LFC, launching local language Twitter accounts has been great but it’s just the first step of a three-stage plan. The hard work has only just begun.

Paul Rogers (right) is the head of international digital development at Liverpool FC.

The next instalment of our six-part Inside Liverpool FC series, which will be provided by Billy Hogan, the club's chief commercial officer, will be published in two weeks' time.



