The owners of Manchester United, the Glazers, have appointed a new head of media in an attempt to boost the club’s online presence even further.

The newest addition at Old Trafford, David Sternberg, has been specifically tasked with developing the Premier League champions’ social media output.

Sternberg has an accomplished history in both sports and media, and has been the CEO of Universal Sports since April 2010. Before this, he held several roles during an 11-year period at Fox Sports, one of the U.S’s biggest broadcasting networks. In his new job in the UK, he will also oversee the running of United’s official website and MUTV, the club’s dedicated television channel.

The club has said that its current director of communications, Phil Townsend, will not be affected by the new appointment, with the Princeton graduate’s arrival only adding the expertise at the Glazers’ disposal.

It is expected that Sternberg will be splitting his time between the club’s commercial HQ in Mayfair and Old Trafford in Manchester.

By announcing the appointment, United’s owners have sent a clear indication of their plans to increase the club’s commercial presence using social media. While many of Europe’s leading clubs are already using Twitter to keep fans up to date, Manchester United currently only have a Facebook account, although it is one of the world’s most visited sport-related sites.

The behind-the-scenes moves being made by the Glazers are complementing the more public developments; the most notable of which has been Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement and David Moyes’ appointment as team manager.

Manchester United is undoubtedly one of the world’s biggest brands, and the emphasis it is putting on its attempts to capitalise on the potential of social media should show the power of content marketing to smaller businesses.

Graeme Parton

Graeme has experience creating content for online sources and for the radio, and at university he studied Multimedia Journalism.