The Mukesh Ambani owned team won the IPL in 2013 and in this season, despite being ousted from the playoffs, provided one of the best games in T20 against Rajasthan Royals where we witnessed high intensity drama on the pitch. The Mumbai Paltan has been fairly active across various digital platforms. Here we take a look at their presence on these media individually:
Facebook:
On Facebook, the Mumbai Indians has more than seven million likes. Their fan base has increased by almost a million fans since the inception of seventh season of the IPL. The team has a fan following from almost all parts of the world with majority of fans coming from the Indian subcontinent and the gulf countries along with the USA and UK.
Most of the content shared on the Facebook page is in the form of photos followed by external links and statuses which mainly involve real time match updates. The use of #DilSeMI and #PaltanPlaysForMI is quite popular and makes it easier to keep a track of the tweets pertinent to the team.
The page allows fans to post their opinions which are visible to whoever visits the page. The fans make use of this feature often to make their feelings regarding the performances known. However, the page admins never respond to anything that is posted on the page. Every update on the Facebook page over the last seven days has received an average of 28,091 likes, 1,240 comments and 980 shares. Even in this, updates that have carried images have received the maximum interactions.
The team also holds competitions from time to time which help in keeping the fan engagement at a high level. A novel thing being conducted by the social media team is the concept of “MI Rewards”. The concept is simple; each time you engage with the page in any form, you get some points (runs). The engagement could be in the form of liking or commenting or sharing anything you like that has been posted on the page.
Finally, you can redeem these runs by trying your luck on a “field of fortune” or by buying merchandise off these runs (still under construction).
This ensures that the fan engagement remains at a high level. The team also keeps on coming up with innovative ideas to bridge the gap between themselves and the fans by organizing various contests and also by encouraging the fans to contribute content for the page.
Twitter:
On Twitter, Mumbai Indians have around 557K followers. The content being shared is almost similar to that being posted on Facebook but the updates are more frequent and concise. In all, 17,053 tweets have been sent thus far in addition to uploading 1,262 images/videos. Another interesting thing to notice is that the @mipaltan twitter account quite liberally retweets some of the tweets made by the fans and the team’s sponsors to gain more interaction. Also, the team knows how to celebrate in style! On the eve of Michael Hussey’s birthday, they asked fans to post selfies of themselves donning a Mumbai Indians jersey along with a #TheHussInBlue hash tag.
Two lucky winners were given team merchandise. Such on-the-spot events keep the followers intrigued and coming back for more. The hash tag #TheHussInBlue got mentioned 1,708 times within a matter of few hours.
As is evident from the picture, Mumbai Indians has been creating buzz in their desired age group with 52% of mentions coming from people between the 13-20 age group. They could perhaps work on getting mentions from the 31-40 age group. While talking of mentions, it is evident that the number of mentions received on match days increases when being compared to days when the team is not in action.
YouTube:
Mumbai Indians have managed to gather 11,851 subscribers and have received more than 1.2mn views on its videos. The videos are categorized into playlist and make it easier to look for a particular video. The videos are generally small in length and provide an up close and personal look into the lives of the players and the coaches on the run during the hectic schedule of the IPL.
Instagram:
Instagram is used to share behind the screen images that provide a personal touch to everything and everyone involved with the team. The Instagram account has 11,840 followers and has made 389 posts that receive around 500-1000 likes per post.
Google Plus:
Like many other teams in the IPL, Mumbai Indians does not have a strong following on Google+ and have managed to garner only 283 followers. This could be down to unpopularity of the platform itself amongst the Indian masses.
Mobile App:
Created by GoZoop, the Mumbai Indians android app has been downloaded an approximate 10,000-50,000 times and allows fans to get engaged in some real time news from the team camp. Other than that, the app provides general info like schedule, scores, social media updates, along with ticket information and links to purchase. A similar app has been made available for iPhone and Windows as well.
