FC Barcelona has opened a new Turkish language Twitter account (@fcbarcelona_tr) as part of its plan to keep in closer touch with its huge fan base in Turkey.
The Twitter account is the first stage of a medium term plan, which will end with the launch of a Turkish language version of the official website. At the end of the 2015/16 season, Turkish will be added to the nine languages in which the website is already published (Catalan, Spanish, English, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Indonesian, Arabic and Japanese).
Arda Turan’s presence in the FCB squad has consolidated the interest in the team in the country and the player will be one of the main focuses of the news on the Turkish Twitter, in addition to other daily updates on events concerning Luis Enrique’s team. The announcement of the signing of the player generated more engagement than any other tweet in 2015 on the club’s accounts (42,000 RT and 36,000 likes). Arda himself has helped to promote this new communication channel by recording a video inviting fans to get the latest info on Barça in their own language.
As well as presence on Twitter, where Barça is the sports club with the largest number of followers (more than 34 million), the project will be further intensified by the publication of Turkish content on Facebook, which will be exclusively geo-located for fans in Turkey or that use the social network in Turkish. Turkey is the country that produces the 7th highest number of likes on the FC Barcelona page, while Istanbul is the 12thmost common home city of Barça’s Facebook followers.
Turkey is a strategic market for the Club. According to a study by Repucom, a company that specialises in market research, Barça is the country’s most followed foreign football club with almost 11.5 potential fans, a number that has continuously increased in recent years. There have also been major commercial ties with the country through agreements with Turk Telecom, Beko and Lassa Tyres. The first deal was signed in 2011, when Turk Telecom (now Avea) became the Club’s telecommunications partner in Turkey. FCB Escola projects have also been developed, with the first football school in the country opening this year in Istanbul.
In 2014, the Turkish household appliance company Beko became a global premium partner of the Club and its logo is appearing on the first team shirt sleeve for three seasons.
And this season, FCB and Lassa Tyres signed a global sponsorship deal whereby this leading tyre company has become the main sponsor of the professional sports teams, and also an official football partner of the Club for the next four years.
