ollyhud

On February 20, 2016 I travelled to Oldham Athletic for my first game as part of Gillingham Football Club, and what a day it was – 10 hours of travelling, torrential rain and a 2-1 loss against the side sitting bottom of the league.

One year, 25 defeats, 17 draws and 13 wins later, we currently sit one point above the relegation zone.

However, off the pitch it has been quite successful and an enjoyable one personally in my first full-time role in football.

As a two-strong media team, our aim was to give the club greater coverage than what it had previously and take it up to a Championship club level.

In summary, here are some of the highlights of the year:

• Increasing the club’s social media following by 61% (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram): 66,723 (Feb 2016) –107,122 (Feb 2017)
  • Twitter: 29,900 (Feb 2016) –49,000 (Feb 2017)
  • Facebook: 34,000 (Feb 2016) –52,500 (Feb 2017)
  • Instagram: 2,823 (Feb 2016) –5,622 (Feb 2017)

• Creating more video content for both YouTube and Gills Player, including Goalcam, Mascotcam, GOTM, interviews (short and full) and other behind-the-scenes videos.

• Introduction of Periscope, Snapchat and Facebook Live.

• Winning the EFL’s Family Excellence Award for the first time in the club’s history.

• Boasting a multi award-winning programme – all credit to Nick.

• Introducing home/away/third kit matchday graphics, including teamsheets, and quotes images.

• Bringing in our own photographers, Kent Pro Images, who offer instant/live images throughout the match and quality image galleries post-match.

With there being only two of us we are quite limited in time and resources, however we have more ideas in the pipeline, and hope to expand the club’s coverage further over the coming months.

Any feedback is welcome!