More content on the right channels: Canada Soccer overhauls its Social and Digital Strategy

Canada Soccer announced today a wave of new commitments and changes to its social and digital content offerings. In addition to some key staffing additions made in late 2023, fans will begin to see a revamped social media channel strategy and a definitive tonal shift on all the Federation’s social accounts.

Included in the changes is the launch of Canada Soccer Originals — a new and exciting shift towards the production of long-form content built specifically for Canada Soccer’s YouTube channel. This is part of an ongoing commitment to tell more athlete and team stories that go beyond the pitch. While short, quickly consumable content will continue to be on offer to fans on all its social media platforms, the Federation is prioritizing longer content pieces highlighting unique stories from its membership, the wider soccer community in Canada and its National Teams.

“This is a new and purposeful pivot to the way we do content at Canada Soccer, with the aim of bringing fans into spaces and moments they can’t access anywhere else,” said Paulo Senra, Canada Soccer’s Chief Communications and Content Officer. “There will be a noticeable shift in the way we show up and engage socially, focusing more on entertainment, as opposed to just simply covering our teams.”

The first two long-form series titled “On Guard,” will follow the Women’s and Men’s National Team programs throughout 2024, a transformative year for both programs. The first episode will be aired today on Canada Soccer’s YouTube channel.

“Our national teams capture the hearts, minds and dreams of our nation, and to showcase them more often in behind the scenes and authentic ways will do amazing things for the next generation of our game,” said Bev Priestman, the Women’s National Team Head Coach.

The Men’s National Team series will begin this week as the qualification journey to the 2024 Copa América continues.

“The new emphasis on telling our team stories in a longer format will continue to turn our players into household names. This is exactly what we should be doing as an organization ahead of hosting a home World Cup,” ​said Mauro Biello, the Men’s National Team interim Head Coach.

Other notable changes that will be gradually rolled out include:

• The creation of new and separate CANWNT and CANMNT Instagram accounts;
• The launch of a new and separate CANMNT social media account to match the already-existing CANWNT account;
• Prioritizing Canada Soccer’s YouTube platform by publishing more digital content throughout the year;
• Folding Canada Soccer’s Public Relations account on Twitter/X into the Federation’s existing main channel, creating a proper space for corporate and organizational updates;
• Better resourcing of Canada Soccer’s French language social media accounts in the coming months to bring more authentic stories to francophones across Canada; and,
• A renewed commitment to tell more member association, youth, grassroots, and community level stories across all social platforms.

Fans can also expect a noticeable tonal shift on all of Canada Soccer’s social media accounts, a move that reflects months of planning and audience analysis of followers and fans of Canada’s National Team accounts. The changes to each channel’s brand voice is also meant to mirror and represent the distinct personalities of Canada’s National Teams and its players.

“I know that our staff have been working for months to get to today’s launch. What is clear to me is that these creative efforts will allow our social and digital spaces to become places where fans feel entertained and belong, and I’m excited to see these changes come online,” said Kevin Blue, Canada Soccer’s General Secretary and CEO.