How social media is changing Non-League clubs forever – From Dorking Wanderers to Daisy Hill

By Etienne Jones

With a growing need in today’s football market to use social media as much as possible, clubs in the Non-League ladder have started to utilise different methods to expand their outreach as much as possible.

Using social media in different ways can help a club increase their audience, particularly in the age brackets below 30, whilst expanding its reach to markets it would not have previously reached.

It also helps build stronger communication, build relations amongst the local community, and potentially expand marketing opportunities.

The NLP will explore how clubs across the pyramid have used new strategies to expand their social media presence, and how successful these efforts have been.

For exclusive stories and all the detailed Non-League news you need, subscribe to The Non-League Paper website, digital edition, or newspaper from as little as 14p a day.

Hardly a Bunch of Amateurs

Dorking Wanderers have had a meteoric rise throughout the pyramid, finding themselves locked in battle with Worthing at the top of the National League South for a place in next season’s Vanarama National League.

Wanderers’ battle to compete in Step 2 has been able to be viewed in its entirety through a creative documentary series that has been running since November 2020.

Bunch of Amateurs, spearheaded by Rich Phippen, have been filming a YouTube series called Dorking Uncovered for six seasons, publishing weekly episodes about each game.

The series aims to show an in-depth look at the Wanderers’ campaign, with manager Marc White permitting filming and production.

As the content has expanded to TikTok, the Bunch of Amateurs account has grown to just under 500,000 followers, with some clips of White reaching four million views.

The first episode, revolving around an Essex Senior Cup tie in late November at Horley Town, amassed 220,000 views on YouTube.

To date, Bunch of Amateurs has amassed 210,000 subscribers on its channel, whilst Dorking Wanderers has 55,000 followers on X.

For comparison, title challengers Worthing have just over 23,000.

With YouTube views consistently coming in at under 100,000 every episode, and the Bunch of Amateurs team helping create content around their own club, BoA FC, the project shows just how far a club can reach internationally.

Little Alex Horne’s big project

Chesham United have been the latest team to take the plunge into YouTube documentaries, but have chosen to take an alternative stance when looking into the club and what football is all about.

Led by well-known Taskmaster ‘little man’ Alex Horne, who was appointed director of the club he avidly supports in 2022, All In: Chesham United takes a deep dive into the operations, the human figures and the mental aspect of running a football club.

Started in December 2025, each episode lasts around 20 minutes and combines talking head interviews with matchday footage and covers both the men’s and women’s sides of the Generals.

The most popular episode, which has gained 60,000 views, follows women’s captain Tasha Smith through a vital FA Cup fixture, before switching to the men’s team skipper Steve Brown and reflecting the influence of his leadership.

With the documentary falling in the same season that Chesham is making a push for a play-off spot in the Vanarama National League South, it also provides a direct comparison between this and the Bunch of Amateurs production.

All In: Chesham United has amassed 9,000 subscribers on YouTube in the four months it has been online, suggesting that a humanising, laid-back, in-depth production can provide success if a club is looking to extend its community.

Especially when a supporter can resonate with the presenter.

From Twitch to the turnstiles

Moving up north, Daisy Hill were a side in financial trouble at the start of 2025.

Having attendances of just over 50 spectators, the North West Counties North side were struggling to fund day-by-day activities.

However, on online streaming platform Twitch, Aaron Hunt booted up Football Manager 2024 with a modded database and took control of his local club.

Hunt has amassed 415,000 followers on TikTok and 118,000 Instagram followers, with a significant portion of his fanbase following along with the stream, to which Daisy Hill media volunteer Alex George took notice.

“I was at work, and it was actually down to my girlfriend,” George said. “She saw that he was streaming Daisy Hill on Football Manager.

“At the time, we were averaging around 70-80, so I thought if we could get him down for one game minimum, that game can set us up for the rest of the season.

“I dropped him a message on Twitter with the club account. I was watching the stream as he responded, and he agreed to that.”

Cashing in

Even though Hunt didn’t make his first agreed game, he was headhunted by manager Lee Hill to potentially be a chairman, as his influence would help attract new sponsorship.

Hunt was voted in unanimously and set to work securing deals and planning work to improve the club’s stature and financial security.

With the new chairman’s first game against Atherton Laburnum Rovers, over 900 people showed up to Westhoughton to watch the game, whilst influencer AngryGinge streamed his visit to his following of one million followers, which ended in a 1-0 defeat.

In the aftermath of the game, over £5,000 was raised to repair the pitch, whilst AngryGinge became the title sponsor of the ground to rename it the “Ginge Power Stadium.”

The money made from the fixture helped secure funding for the remainder of the season, and the summer period too.

Hunt leaves his mark

George said: “People know it as Hunt’s club. We have people who came from Scotland for a game, and they knew who Daisy Hill were, and that’s something that will never be lost.

“When people hear Daisy Hill now, they’ll still know who we are, and I think it builds a long-lasting thing. It’s left an impact on the club.”

Whilst Hunt recently confirmed he is no longer with the club, the year-long improvement that the Bolton-based side has undergone has set Daisy Hill up for survival in the next couple of years, with Nicky Hunt guiding the Cutters to 10th in the table, 18 points adrift of relegation.

With the digital age changing, clubs now must remain on their toes to find new ways to boost revenue streams, reach new audiences, and put themselves in a better position for the future.

Is it time for your club to follow in the footsteps of those ahead of the game?

READ MORE: Premier League star Jarrod Bowen steps in to help Hereford tackle pitch drainage issues