It’s not a stretch to say that every aspect of our business is tied in to the digital media department. Used equally as media outlets, promotional tools and technological business solutions, our club website and social media platforms provide the backbone of our organization. Our digital media staff – Mark McClure, Oscar Merida, Brandon Kalber and Lee Burrows – has been hard at work this off-season extending our efforts in a number of areas.
As a part of the mlssoccer.com network, dcunited.com benefits from League efforts to extend content development, mobile applications (iPhone/iPad app and Droid app) and fantasy gaming in 2011. I’ll leave it to the League to share more detailed information as the season approaches, but count on more club and League information, greater ability to stream games, highlights and specialty content, and new and improved gaming initiatives in the season before us.
Locally, dcunited.com (and our mobile site - m.dcunited.com) will continue to be a trendsetter in covering the Black-and-Red as well as all things soccer in the region. In addition to the quality coverage provided by Travis Clark and the editorial crew on the League network, a team of in-house contributors will provide more behind-the-scenes access to your club and syndication partnerships with Comcast SportsNet and Potomac Soccer Wire will bring more insight into everything from the first team to the Academy system to local youth soccer. Never before has so much local soccer material been available at one location.
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Amongst the quality content provided on our platforms, promotional opportunities are many for everything from ticketing offers, to special events to merchandise options. Proper ad placement, navigation tactics and back-end technological considerations are all a part of driving business. Our digital team constantly monitors traffic and the tendencies of visitors to properly place information and revenue-generating items. Proper access to customer service tools is also given high priority on static and mobile applications.
Traffic generation is key to our digital efforts and United’s presence on Facebook and Twitter are at the heart of all efforts. In addition to providing quality content on each, our digital media team has put substantial resources this off-season towards initiatives designed to grow fans and followers of each. These programs will continue throughout the 2011 campaign and look for an increased presence on foursquare in the near future.
The thankless area of the digital media department is all of the back-end technology development and consultation needed to support other departments. Whether it is the creation of promotional sales forms or camp registration applications, group sales solutions or development of on-line customer service opportunities or in-house business forms, the team attacks each challenge with equal vigor. All are needed to keep us moving forward in today’s business environment.
Access to and promotion of our product is at the core of the fan development process and the digital media department is a part of everything we do. Look for continued efforts in this area throughout 2011.
That said, there’s no greater sales tool than getting someone to attend a game at RFK Stadium. Outside of that, our partners at Comcast SportsNet and La Nueva 87.7 FM work hard to capture the excitement and passion of a live D.C. United match in a two-hour broadcast window. Tomorrow, we’ll look ahead to broadcasting plans and initiatives for the season ahead.
As Kevin Payne, Dave Kasper, Ben Olsen and our technical staff have been working hard to put a top-quality product on the field for D.C. United this season and to continuing the rapid development of our youth Academy system, the rest of the front office has put in the long hours necessary to be sure all other elements of our business are tended to in advance of the 2011 MLS campaign ahead.
Opening Night on Saturday, March 19 can’t come soon enough for players, staff and supporters alike. Over the ten days leading up to the Columbus game, I’ll walk through the business flow of our offices, sharing insight and updates on strategic development of ideas for the core areas of our focus. Under the leadership of Executive Vice President Stephen Zack, day-to-day business activities work in concert to create a seamless flow of information, activation and promotion, leading to sales. A dedicated customer service staff and high-energy support crew follow-up to maximize these opportunities.
Doug Hicks is D.C. United’s Senior Vice President, Marketing Communications. Follow him on twitter at @DCUDoug.
