WWE executive and one of the most recognisable faces in the business, Stephanie McMahon was recently interviewed by Business Insider in France, where she was in attendance for the Cannes Lions advertising festival. During a far ranging chat, she spoke on a lot of topics including Brock Lesnar's upcoming UFC fight and how social media is taken seriously by the WWE.
When asked whether she listens to fans on social media websites like Twitter and Facebook, she replied, " I think it's one of the secret sauces to our success if you will is that our fans are a part of our show. They engage, they chant, they cheer, they boo. There's a problem when they don't react. So, in essence, every live event is like a focus group. So we are getting that real-time feedback from them, in the arena. Another reason why I think social media was so successful for WWE is because of that fan engagement, because they are a part of what we do, therefore, even when they are not live in the arena, they have influence through social media. I think that it's so important. A lot of brands just push messages out on social media, but that's not what social is about. Social is about engaging, it's about a conversation, it's about listening and then responding, it's an ongoing conversation with our fan base."
She added, "..so they can dictate the flow if something's not working, you can make an adjustment on the fly. They dictate what's being said. They can often chant or you can get a feeling they are not engaged with the content, so you have to find a way to transition around that." When asked about Lesnar's upcoming fight in the UFC and whether UFC is a competitor, she said, "Brock is a unique proposition, but just to get to the broader question: UFC is not a competitor to the WWE because we are entertainment and UFC is competitive sport. It's very different. " Additionally, she also said how the WWE enjoys an edge over UFC, "UFC, they can make a big star but the second that person loses, they lose credibility, and how do you continue to make that star rise? So I think we have the best of both worlds and the opportunity to tell the stories in the way we want to tell them."
