Real Madrid strike first in El Clasico social battle

Real Madrid have made a big social move ahead of this weekend’s El Clasico, launching their official Snapchat as well as details about a special live story for fans to join in with on the day.

In what has been called a “significant” partnership, the club have become the first Spanish team to announce a Live Story.

The story will be accessible all over the world, and fans inside the stadium will be able to submit their own snaps – complete with special filters and official logos – to be used. Real Madrid will select their favourites, which will then be viewable for 24 hours after the game.

The club have also joined Snapchat permanently – just search for Real Madrid. They’re promising users the “opportunity to experience the Real Madrid universe like never before, with the chance to enjoy everything from training sessions at pitch level to every last corner of the arena on match day”.

Rafael de los Santos, Global Head of Digital for Real Madrid, told Forbes:

We keep an eye on every single social media network and have seen how Snapchat has been growing and growing in past few months … especially with millennials.

We are very keen on taking advantage of every single channel out there to communicate with our fans and capture the next generation of fans.

We have 450 million fans around the world. Our goal is to reach every single one of them regardless of whether they are here in Spain, Malibu or Alaska. This is a content driven deal. Monetization down the road may be an opportunity, but it isn’t driving us right now.”

De los Santos also told Forbes that in the 12 hours since launching the club’s official Snapchat channel they’ve had an average of 200,000 views per story posted.

Fans wanting to follow the match on Twitter can also make use of five special emojis that are triggered using specific hashtags.