Djemba_Villan Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Interesting article on the OS here. Especially when complimented by our 1.5M+ Facebook followers, good news, always nice to see us compared to decent teams rather than West Brom and Norwich. Let's just hope they all become so inspired by our twitter account that they all go out and buy Villa shirts and tickets. Villa are the 12th most popular European club in China - and that's official. The club's Sina Weibo account - the Chinese equivalent of Twitter - has charged to a whopping 100,000 followers. That figure dwarfs those for clubs like Valencia, Atletico Madrid, Napoli, Roma and Wolfsburg. But the most fascinating and encouraging statistic is the rate of growth for our site. Villa are now at 100,000 in just two months while Valencia are at 40,000, Atletico Madrid at 18,000 and Roma at 11,000 after close to two years. That shows the progress made by Rongtian He, our new social media executive. He - a huge Villa fan of 12 years from Guangdong in China - joined the club in November 2013 and has worked hard to produce appealing content for our Chinese supporters. In front of Villa are Ajax at 260,000, Real Madrid at 315,000 and Paris St Germain at 750,000, although all three have been in the market for a much longer period. Man City lead the way with a remarkable 8.5m followers after two years. Man Utd have 1.9m after six months while Liverpool are third with 1.6m in two-and-a-half years. Villa post 11 items per day, a good level of engagement, with content ranging from news stories, pictures, promotions, video footage with subtitles and competitions. Villa also have a Youku channel - the second biggest video sharing website in the world behind YouTube - which also continues to go from strength to strength with 12,000 subscribers. Head of Marketing Russell Jones said: "We are delighted with the growth of the Villa Sina Weibo site. "The rapidly-expanding platform helps us expand our fan base in Asia and at the same time provide content in Chinese language for existing fans. "We are very pleased with the content we are producing and judging by the popularity of our site, it appears our fans are too." Social Media Executive Rongtian He said: "We are very happy with these new figures. "To be the 12th most popular European club in China is a great achievement and in such a short period of time. "We will continue to work very hard to produce engaging, interesting content for our fans." Official Aston Villa Sina Weibo channel - http://e.weibo.com/AVFCOfficial Official Aston Villa YouKu channel - http://i.youku.com/AVFCOfficial 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 We should buy a Chinese player, just so we can appeal even more to that market. Seems mad but if we can pick up a player for 200-500k, it would be worth it imho, especially if he has talent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GENTLEMAN Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Chinese investment into the club is most likely now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 **** hell how did Man City get so many more followers than everybody else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam_ Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Doubt they will be buying tickets lol, bit of a distance. Shirts & Merchandise though happy days! Remember reading about the mentioned Chinese PR guy not long ago on the website and how he became a fan. Maybe some Chinese billionaire will buy out Lerner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Chinese investment into the club is most likely now. With the rumour about Southampton the other day too, interesting thought G. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam_ Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 We should buy a Chinese player, just so we can appeal even more to that market. Seems mad but if we can pick up a player for 200-500k, it would be worth it imho, especially if he has talent. A Villa version of Ji-Sung Park haha. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post villa4europe Posted January 21, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted January 21, 2014 my one man marketing campaign worked then 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GENTLEMAN Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 (edited) Chinese investment into the club is most likely now. With the rumour about Southampton the other day too, interesting thought G. I would not be surprised to see a mega rich Chinese person buy a premiership club in the near future. It looks like we have a good reputation in China and we have an owner looking to sell, who knows? Edited January 21, 2014 by GENTLEMAN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post coda Posted January 21, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted January 21, 2014 And it’s Aston VillaAston Villa FCWe’re the 12th most recognised teamChina has ever seen 26 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 going off on a tangent, as others have suggested on various threads, if red bull do come in for us, the exposure we already benefit from in a market such as china, they wouldnt need to change the name and kit in order to get their point across Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Chinese investment into the club is most likely now. With the rumour about Southampton the other day too, interesting thought G. Probably nothing at all whatsoever but I read elsewhere that apparently there was a Chinese delegation at the Villa v Arsenal match all wearing VIlla scarfs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 We should buy a Chinese player, just so we can appeal even more to that market. Seems mad but if we can pick up a player for 200-500k, it would be worth it imho, especially if he has talent. A Villa version of Ji-Sung Park haha. A Chinese version would be a starter! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 So, who's the next Sun Jihai? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted January 21, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted January 21, 2014 my one man marketing campaign worked then There appears to be a giant bottle opener in the city. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dAVe80 Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Chinese investment into the club is most likely now. With the rumour about Southampton the other day too, interesting thought G. I would not be surprised to see a mega rich Chinese person buy a premiership club in the near future. It looks like we have a good reputation in China and we have an owner looking to sell, who knows? Be careful what you wish for... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GENTLEMAN Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Chinese investment into the club is most likely now. With the rumour about Southampton the other day too, interesting thought G. Probably nothing at all whatsoever but I read elsewhere that apparently there was a Chinese delegation at the Villa v Arsenal match all wearing VIlla scarfs. The delegation were Japanese apparently. However, the group that apparently had interest in Southampton have now denied it - 'No individual from Wanda Group has ever been in contact with Southampton Football Club, nor has any individual or third part organisation been appointed on behalf of Wanda Group to engage in contact with Southampton regarding any matters related to the acquisition of Southampton Football club.' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GENTLEMAN Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Chinese investment into the club is most likely now. With the rumour about Southampton the other day too, interesting thought G. I would not be surprised to see a mega rich Chinese person buy a premiership club in the near future. It looks like we have a good reputation in China and we have an owner looking to sell, who knows? Be careful what you wish for... True. I would not say no to the richest man in China though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 I would not say no to the richest man in China though. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 We should buy a Chinese player, just so we can appeal even more to that market. Seems mad but if we can pick up a player for 200-500k, it would be worth it imho, especially if he has talent. I don't think we should ever buy a player "to appeal to a market", and if we were going to, the country least likely to buy genuine replica shirts probably isn't one to aim for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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