When the account opened there was no audience to test against and no benchmark to copy. The temptation in that position is to post more. What actually worked was posting as someone who watches the football, not someone who administers it.
Voice before calendar
A calendar tells you when to post. A voice tells you what is worth posting at all. We wrote down what the account would never do — no corporate congratulation posts, no fixture graphics without a reason — before we wrote down what it would.
An account with a voice can survive a slow week. An account with only a calendar cannot survive a fast one.
What we measured
- Saves and shares, not likes — they predict whether the format survives.
- Comment language: were people replying in Farsi, in their own words?
- Time from final whistle to first post.
The follower count followed. It always does, and it is always the last number to move.
