Yes, it's a rare privilege getting to work at the football club that your entire family has barracked for since day dot; one that happens to also be the oldest, most successful and, arguably, most exciting club in South Australia.
The portadelaidefc.com.au team loves its work and we've worked hard to evolve and develop our suite of digital assets - this website, our Official Social Media and PTV - over the last two years.
Let me share with you some cool things about portadelaidefc.com.au:
- We're number one for YouTube views among the 18 other clubs.- We're a consistent top eight club for article views.
- We were fourth for Facebook fan growth in the last year - behind Hawthorn and Fremantle (last year's grand finalists) and Geelong (who've played in just about every grand final for the last seven years).
- We've had our highest figures in the history of the site across all areas: more readers, more new readers and great feedback on social media and in person.
Loathe as I am to trumpet our achievements, it really is a big deal for our footy club, particularly when you consider our share of the national supporter market. But this is just the beginning.
Our commitment to delivering a credible, reliable, consistent and innovative news experience for Port Adelaide supporters ramped up at the end of 2013 and we've slowly unveiled little improvements to the way we work. Let's call it an organic launch - why do everything at once when you can make improvements now? After all, a footballer doesn't go from wide-eyed 18-year-old to seasoned superstar overnight!
You'll have noticed a few things have rolled out since the New Year.
Firstly, we made the font size of our articles bigger. We want the news to be easy to read and we know from a user experience point-of-view, we need to cater for every passionate supporter or curious by-stander out there.We've cleaned up the look and feel of portadelaidefc.com.au - when you're on most pages you'll see that striking 'V' guernsey that we wear across this country on the national stage, but of course when you go to our SANFL channel, you'll see that beautiful prison bar jumper looming large in the background.
Today we've also launched our striking new portadelaidefc.com.au brand - we think it's a cracker and our senior graphic designer Nat Urukalo deserves credit for that great piece of work.
Along with our graphic designer Kim Smith, the pair work hard to make sure everything looks and feels just the way Port Adelaide should and their contribution to portadelaidefc.com.au can't go unacknowledged.
But we also welcome Julian Hatch as our new video content coordinator. Jules started at the end of 2013 and has already churned out some great content. Stuff like the viral Power of Hypnosis video, our behind-the-scenes glimpse at the boys' Friday night ritual dinner, our exciting launch and promotions videos for the superscreen and some very exciting work that will be rolled out this year like the EnergyAustralia PowerPlay, the Aussie Ripper Roast and Andrew Moore's new cooking show - watch this space!
We want portadelaidefc.com.au to be your focal point for Port Adelaide news, analysis and feature work.
That's why we've got some great new columnists.
As well as Keith Thomas who will regularly update you throughout the year with From The CEO, we also welcome skipper Travis Boak to the family with his Captain's Blog (yes, there's a loose Star Trek reference in the title), Jacob Surjan with his Academy Report and football analyst Chris Sheedy who will take you On The Inside of our game plan.We'll also have your old favourites like our Monday Injury Update, Tuesday's Form Guide (rebranded from the SANFL Report), Match Previews for both the Power and Magpies, AFL, SANFL and Academy Team Selection on Thursday at 6:00pm and a great range of cool historical and feature pieces throughout the week.
I've saved the best until last.
At the end of last season we decided it was time to embrace our readers even more; to make our supporters who engage us on our social media and around the club feel as engaged by portadelaidefc.com.au.So we've launched The Outer.
It's your club and we want to hear your stories. The Outer is the place to do that.
We want to read your stories and opinions on the club, we want to share your pictures and videos from games, training and events.
Whether you're standing on The Outer watching the first Showdown at the redeveloped Adelaide Oval (become a member at weareportadelaide.com.au), standing with your camera watching training on The Outer of Alberton Oval or videoing the crowd swarming into at Live at the Drive after our Round 2 return to the Oval - we're keen to see what you've got!
Click here to head over to The Outer and check out our guidelines to get a feel for what we're after. We've already got one supporter - Macca - offering his player reviews after every game, and we're looking forward to seeing what other diverse content is out there.
We've got a special prize on the line for the best article we get this year, so make sure you check it out!
Our commitment to you
Our digital media manager Andrew Fuss and I want to provide the best digital media experience we can.That doesn't just mean on portadelaidefc.com.au, but also on our Official Social Media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Google+.
You can still expect the same great gameday coverage as we tweet, share and report on the breaking stories pre-game, the match itself, and the wash up after the final siren.
You can expect exciting and entertaining videos like Renault #TeamTorque, PTV Cribs and 2004 Premiership Reminiscipackages.
You can expect great looking graphics and content that makes you feel Port Adelaide.
That's what you can expect.
We Are portadelaidefc.com.au. We Are Port Adelaide
See you at the footy!
Matthew Agius
portadelaidefc.com.au
