In football and all competitive sport around the world, player recruitment and how a club brings in new talent is one of the key ingredients to a successful team.
Compared to the men's game, women's football can often prove more difficult to find talent, as there is a much larger majority of men playing the game.
"It can be quite difficult," explains Chester FC Women's manager Martin Fitzsimons.
“For every place in a male academy there’s probably 500 kids who want that place, so straight away there is a bigger talent pool to be picking from.
"Obviously, you’ve got every club in the area trying to do the same thing, so we try to get our talent pathways on point."
The methods that each women's club use to sign players, whether that be at the academy level or open-age, has therefore become even more important.
Unfortunately for teams such as Chester FC Women's, who operate in the sixth tier of women's football, club exposure can be a real issue.
Added to this, a lack of funds to advertise the team can deeply affect the level and consistency of talent which comes through the door at such a club.
This is where social media comes in to play.
Social media has become a necessity for all sport's teams in today's game, with some of the biggest team's such as Liverpool having over 14 million Twitter followers.
Whilst social media is likely not to play a part in the recruitment of new talent for the bigger team's, it is for smaller clubs.
Especially in the women's game, it's proven to be very useful.
The massive rise of platforms such as Facebook and Twitter in the past decade or so has seen enormous benefits for women's teams at the lower level too, as Fitzsimons explains.
"Putting the club in the public eye has really helped us.
"We’ve had numerous players message us through social media outlets and just emailing the club directly about wanting to get involved with what we’re doing here.
"This is massive because we haven’t really had to do too much in terms of advertising for players.
"They’ve seen what we’re doing here and they’re interested in getting involved in it, which is a big thing."
Having this kind of exposure through social media has completely transformed the way clubs can promote their brand, and therefore improve the quality of their squad.
One player Chester have signed through the use of social media is Welsh left winger Anna Jones, who has made an immediate impact on the club, scoring twice on her home debut.
Jones was not the first and certainly won't be the last player the Blues acquire from social media.
Martin Fitzsimons explains that there have been numerous other players that have been in contact throughout the season.
“We’ve managed to pick up Anna Jones.
"We’ve had a few other players come through the door and whether it hasn’t suited them or hasn’t suited us, it hasn’t quite come to anything in the end.
"The important thing for us at this stage is that players are interested and attracted in coming to Chester."
It's evident to see the benefits that social media has brought Chester, which has no doubt been mirrored by other team's around them.
To sit back and not be active on socials as a women's' football team, or any sport side for that matter, potentially results in losing players to rival teams.
The proof is now there for women's football teams and it can't be ignored.
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