Lancashire FA

I was appointed as Marketing and Communications Officer at the Lancashire Football Association in October 2016.LancashireFALogonobackground

My role involves:

  • Managing the Association’s social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. All platforms have benefited from continual growth and development since I took up the role. I put together a content plan and introduced a style guide, ensuring posts were consistent, organised and more regular. During 2016/17 I attended 26 county cup semi-final and final matches between February and May, simultaneously delivering appropriate coverage via all four platforms. Due to this, our Snapchat Story viewers rose from a handful of people to a regular audience of around 300, while in March 2017, our Twitter account made over 1million Impressions.
  • Managing http://www.lancashirefa.com, primarily writing articles and updating adverts. I enjoy finding innovative ways to deliver news; for example, for each county cup match I attended, instead of writing a match report I put together a Storify of tweets from our official Twitter as well as fans who attended to build a picture of the main action. All County FA websites share the same platform on SiteCore, and all went through a major revamp between 2017 and 2018, to bring them in line with the FA’s new website. I was solely responsible for creating content and designing over 150 pages on Lancashire FA’s new website during a process spanning several months.
  • Sending press releases to local media, updating them on major FA-related news as well as local grassroots football stories.
  • Answering queries over social media and ensure each one is passed onto the relevant department at the Association.
  • Recording weekly analytics from social media and website traffic.
  • Creating/editing graphics using Adobe Photoshop and liaising with our freelance graphic designer for imagery used across social media to advertise courses and promote the services of the Association.
  • Creating newsletters using Adobe InDesign.
  • Developing a marketing plan to be implemented for the 2017/18 season, incorporating key messages and events from all departments.
  • I set up a partnership with the Sports Journalism department at the University of Central Lancashire. Through this partnership, their students have opportunities to gain experience in match reporting, social media, filming and commentary by providing coverage of our county cup matches as well as games held at the Association’s ground. We also arranged for three county cup draws to be broadcast live on our Facebook page from the university’s TV studio, which involved the students presenting to camera and working behind the scenes on the broadcast.
  • Attending events on behalf of the Association, networking with sponsors and stakeholders and generating content ie conducting interviews and creating social media posts.