Covid-19 changed the landscape of sports in many ways and forced sports clubs to reconsider how they engage with their fans. This meant clubs needed to become much better at the digital side of their marketing something that we predict will become even more vital in the future. Today’s fans are completely different from fans of old and expect diverse and added value content.
Here are some ways you can ensure you are delivering what your fans want…
Keeping fans and athletes connected
Studies have proved that fans desire to know all about their favourite athletes from getting exclusive behind the scenes access to hearing the untold stories from the players themselves. With this ongoing engagement being crucial for fan loyalty, it is vital that clubs ensure content is tailored to their audience and powered by those athletes that represent the club. Most of the time, the athletes also want this for themselves and understand the importance of building a personal brand.
Athletes are under more pressure than ever to debate contentious issues relating to their performance, that of their teammates, and the competition in mainstream media, where clicks and views are the ultimate currency. Therefore, when pushing out content to fans, clubs need to be careful to not fall into the trap of competing with the news outlets pushing the clickbait agenda; instead pushing out well thought out honest content that will help loyalty and trust with the club overtime.
On and Off Season Content
Live game action is the most crucial thing that teams can provide supporters during the season. However, clubs often need to be inventive with the media and material they provide for supporters during the off-season. Although the organic content tap is shut off during the off-season, this reset can give teams the chance to stand out by creating unique off-season experiences that generate extra income, e.g., kit launches and transfer news.
Many supporters’ most fundamental desire is to follow their club during the off-season. The most popular sort of material is general club news, which is followed by news about player/coach squad changes and injury updates. Even while there is a greater desire for fundamental information, this doesn’t actually “move the metre” in terms of consumer expenditure. The content that is more detailed and individualised is what is actually most directly linked to higher engagement.
Picking the correct channel
Finding the best channel to execute fan interaction activities may be the toughest difficulty for teams in such a fragmented and competitive media system. Fans use a wide variety of outlets today, including social media, television, print, podcasts, and radio. Teams need to understand where supporters read, watch, listen, and interact with their favourite team in order to manage the contemporary media environment.
Depending on the type of content they’re looking for, fans switch between channels, frequently turning to social media, television, and sports news websites for quick updates. When looking for in-depth commentary, sports fans continue to favour websites and television over social media, with sports radio and traditional print journalism coming in higher.
When it comes to social media this can also be segmented into age category and platform. Generation Z are most likely to engage through their TikTok feed, whereas older generations are much more likely to see content via Facebook. Therefore, content needs to be tailored to those platforms and different ages will want different things.
All of this provides additional revenue opportunities, and by tapping into the mindset of your fanbase, opportunities to learn about them and earn we prevail. If you would like any helpconnecting with your fans please don’t hesitate to contact us – hello@niftycomms.com
