Cricket Australia to use Facebook pages to enhance Big Bash crowds

The power of social media could be key to attracting more people to Big Bash games this summer according to Cricket Australia. Here’s why.

Facebook pages and community ambassadors will be used during this year’s Big Bash season in an attempt to engage World Cup supporters to the competition.

Cricket Australia (CA) has hired several staff from the ICC World Cup team to carry the momentum into this season’s BBL.

It comes as the ICC T20 World Cup and CA received a $4.4 million grant from the federal government to support multicultural programs in the cricketing landscape.

Pakistan's Shaheen Shah Afridi. Photo: AFP.

The funding led to the World Cup drawing tens of thousands of fans through their welcoming and interpersonal approach.

A total of 10 Facebook groups called SQUADS were made for each of the participating countries and their expat supporters.

The pages, which will be carried over and used for the BBL, provided a platform for the supporters to have conversations, connect with others and share their thoughts and ideas.

The pages attracted thousands of fans and also allowed the ICC T20 World Cup team to get a deeper understanding of what fans wanted at matches.

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup chief executive Michelle Enright. Photo: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

ICC T20 World Cup chief executive Michelle Enright said her fan engagement team “walked the beat” of the different cultures involved in the event.

“Our purpose for this event was bringing generations and cultures together,” Enright said.

“We really wanted to bring people of all ages, backgrounds and cultures together for a celebration of cricket.

“That’s what I’m pleased to say we did.

“We had a fan engagement team who walked the beat.

“They went to South African butcher shops, they went to Indian spice shops, they went to community festivals.

“In every city, each community connected with their people and really spread the word that these cricket superstars were coming to town so let’s all get out and get behind them.”

Enright said the revelations from the World Cup fan engagements were being passed onto CA.

“We’re working really closely to hand over the facebook groups and all our learnings so that they can really take what we have achieved with the multicultural Australian community and take that forward into their engagement with those communities,” she said.

Following the success of the fan engagement, highlighted by the sold out India-Pakistan match, CA has moved quickly to hire the staff who implemented the strategy to bring the momentum across to the Australian summer.

The ICC T20 World Cup’s fan engagement manager Michael Hennessy and general manager of marketing and digital Teresa Basile were hired by Cricket Australia alongside others in the team.

CA chief executive Nick Hockley complimented their work on the event and outlined how Australian cricket would engage fans in future.

“I think the thing that we have learnt (from the World Cup) is how we basically make the cricket loving public of Australia feel really welcomed regardless of your background or where you‘re from or who you support,” Hockley said.

“And that doesn’t happen by accident.

“We actually went out and involved people from different communities as community champions.

“We met with the high commissioners, the councillor generals over a prolonged and sustained period for four-five years.

“Those relationships, that’s the future of Australian cricket, we want to make sure that we keep those relationships strong and that we build upon them.”

Sri Lanka's Chamika Karunaratne. Photo: AFP.

Enright detailed how the World Cup planned and worked with communities to make the matches attractive.

“We sold out that opening match in Geelong, Sri Lanka versus Namibia, and that was because we had worked really closely with that Sri Lankan community,” she said.

“Visit Victoria put on extra trains, we had a forum with them and we asked them what they would like to see at the match and how we would help them get there.

“We asked them what music they would like and we played their music in the stadium, we asked them what food they like and we made sure we had that.

“What sort of roving entertainment they want.

“And as part of that we set up a Facebook group for 10 of the squads which hasn’t been done before.

“That was set up in the early days when Covid was still around.

“It was a place of connection for the fans as well.

“It really allowed the cultures to come and share the cricket with multicultural Australia but also feel a sense of connection with their own community as well.”

The Big Bash season will begin on Tuesday, December 13 between the Sydney Thunder and Melbourne Stars.