This year, 2020, has been the hardest year I’ve had. At twenty-seven years of life, I have never felt so tightly tasted various trials. I fully understand that almost everyone is going through difficult times in 2020. But what I always stick with is, let’s see the good things that come up.
In this beloved 2020, I also found many things that to be grateful for. Many opportunities, that is related to my field, came to me. Meeting people who share the same frequency, actively writing blogs, filling in podcasts, filling public lecture events, to meeting a footballer who has good digital literacy.
Guess who I’ve met?
He is Marc Klok. The most digitally literate footballer in Indonesia. Also a Persija Jakarta player who recently changed his passport from a Dutch to an Indonesian citizen.
I first met Marc via LinkedIn. Something that I rarely encounter for Indonesian football players. Yes, we connect to each other through this platform.
Meeting at a coffee shop in Jakarta. I was immediately impressed when I heard what he was doing in life other than football.
The first thing I asked when I met him was, “How can you regularly upload posts on social media? Do you have a special team for branding?” I asked.
“I manage all my social media myself. Starting from ideas, writing captions to upload them into the content.”
“But I have friends who used to help me like a photographer and video person. They are more of the executor because I can’t do it alone for this one thing,” He answered.
I am amazed by this one footballer. For me, he is a modern footballer who is very difficult for us to find, especially in Indonesia.
Regarding his literacy towards other life outside the football field, his taste in fashion and music, his entrepreneurial spirit, to being involved in campaigns to be a solution to social problems in this country, he did it all as a footballer.
And I always say, it’s nice to talk about my passionate areas with people who are very close to the industry that I like.
I haven’t seen any footballer who can match Bambang Pamungkas’ success off the pitch. Bambang Pamungkas, I even heard from a fellow journalist that he should communicate via email if there is something he wants.
Mas Bepe, how we call him, was quite reasonable because he was afraid his words would be twisted, and if he used e-mail, he said he had proof.
But what became my interest at that time was to explore how this footballer had excellent literacy about digital communication.
If you have some free time, take a look at what Marc has posted on his social media. First, he is consistent with his efforts to maintain a presence in front of his fans. Second, he shows that he has an excellent taste as a footballer as well as a content creator. Third, it can categorize the upload; his actions in the field, his family life, his lifestyle, his business, his taste in fashion and music, even his social spirit.
What Marc does is manifest as an elite footballer who had the awareness to build a strong personal brand.
It is very easy to judge the figure of Marc as different from other footballers in Indonesia, both foreign players, and local players. I’ve read that personal branding is about standing out from the crowd and making the person unique. Therefore the characteristics, values , and attributes should tell something special about the person.
I then concluded that there are two divisions of ways of communicating with the public as a footballer. First, build a strong personal brand as an elite soccer player. Second, spread the self-image by publishing it through many channels, including social media.