Claire Kelly presents a beginner's guide to social media and sports marketing.
The Middle East is undoubtedly becoming one of the world's biggest and best sports hubs.
With an ever-increasing involvement and sponsorship of high-profile sports and events, including Formula One (Abu Dhabi F1), tennis (Dubai Duty Free and the ATP), horse racing (Emirates Melbourne Cup), golf (Dubai Golf Classic) and soccer (Aspire Stadium in Qatar), the ME sports world just keeps getting bigger.
And with the advent and increasing adoption of smart-phones and technology, the changes in the sports world continue in the online space with the explosion of social media and social media marketing.
Social media in sports
This year, for the first time in its history, the 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWC2011) operated a targeted social media campaign.
Utilising social media and social networks to boost awareness and encourage interaction of fans, the 2011 Rugby World cup media team reported that every day thousands of pieces of content were created, shared, liked and commented on. The official Rugby World Cup Facebook page attracted more than 25,000 fans in the last week of the competition, and more than 100,000 fans over the entire month.
The Rugby World Cup now has a large following on Twitter (1,453,916 people) providing an amazing opportunity for both sponsors and players.
Social media in the sports world is creating an opportunity that has never been seen before and it's time for ME sports companies and sponsors to take their game to the next level.
Founder of SportsGeek, a digital agency that provides solutions to connect sports fans and sponsors through technology, Sean Callanan understands the ever-changing digital landscape.
He works extensively with athletes, sports executives, business owners and leagues. His job is to help them develop a connection with their fan base to deliver results.
Working with clients from the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Australian Football League (AFL), the National Rugby League (NRL) and now Cricket Australia, Callanan is increasingly in demand for his specialist sports and social media knowledge. He says the biggest problem sports clubs and teams have is that they simply don't understand the potential of social media or where to start.
"Social media is simply a touchpoint - an opportunity to reach fans on a whole new level," he said.
"Clubs have to think differently as they can connect with fans on a daily basis. Social media is a unique opportunity to develop repoir and engage with fans longterm. It's all about connecting and building relationships."
He believes there are amazing opportunities for growth, and for sponsors, if clubs know how to develop and implement effective social media strategies.
Social media vs social networks
Social Media Today, one of the most trafficked social media information websites on the internet, defines social media as a way to share or transmit information to a broad audience, while social networking is all about engaging and interacting. Social networking focuses on building relationships and encouraging interaction between users through the use of social media. This includes connecting fans of sporting events, sports clubs and teams.
Some of the more popular social media platforms for social networking include Facebook (more than 800 million users), Youtube (more than 490 million users, Twitter (more than 100 million users) as well as internet forums, websites and blogs.
Social media has become a powerful force to be reckoned with, especially in the sports world. Powerful in that messages can be spread very quickly, internet search engines such as Google now rank tweets, posts and shares.
This means that there is an increasing opportunity for businesses and sports clubs to raise awareness about their sport or event, as well as improving their ranking online by implementing strategies that encourage the use of social media. It also presents new opportunities for sponsors to reach targeted audiences in the digital space.
Finding the right platform
The first step to getting involved in social media as a sports club or team is to figure out what exactly is the best network to use. It might be necessary to use a combination of networks, but if teams are only going to focus on one, it's crucial to use the one that fans use most. If fans use Twitter, register the team name and start developing event strategies around hashtags.
If more people talk about your sport or club on Facebook, register the team as a page and start looking at campaigns to attract more fans.
Callanan says sports companies or events teams need to know how best to use their chosen social media networks and understand what they want to get out of it.
Recently launching SportsDP, a sports fan engagement web product built for sports teams, he says integrating social media tools in the right platform is essential to maximise opportunities.
"You have to get fans to like the FB page or follow the Twitter feed, get them to comment and then drive them back to your website," he said. "You want them to become a long-term customer. Essentially you are in a relationship with them - but you're more of a friend than a sales representative. Key numbers are active fans, it's important to be engaging them, not just collecting them. "And different platforms allow for different levels of engagement."
Case study: Manly Sea Eagles
The Manly Sea Eagles (NRL) approached SportsGeek hoping to increase their FB fan base and encourage more fans to become members.
"The Manly Sea Eagles goal was a long-term strategy. The idea around their campaign was to encourage fans to like the players more, in turn to like the club more. They then would want to buy merchandise or decide to become a member," he says.
Callanan developed a social media strategy that incorporated FB, Twitter and blogging. This campaign promoted memberships throughout the year, as well as featuring players and sharing quality content.
FB pages and Twitter accounts were customised with the design of the Manly Sea Eagles and conversation topics started around the players.
The campaign proved extremely successful with the Manly Sea Eagles, almost doubling the members on their FB fan page from 26,000 in 2010, to more than 54,000 in 2011.
The Sea Eagles also saw an increase in almost 300 per cent in ticket sales, increasing their membership base from 3,000 members in 2010 to 11,000 in 2011.
Case study two: West Coast Eagles
Australian Football League team, The West Coast Eagles, recently incorporated Callanan's SportsDP platform into their website to help increase their fans and membership base, as well as improving coverage and awareness online.
This model encourages fans to like, share or tweet West Coast Eagles content. In return for liking content and sharing in the social media space, fans collect points and are effectively "rated" on how big a fan they are.
Not only does this tactic allow fans to get involved in the club and stay up to date on news, it also fosters a real sense of community and loyalty among fans and sponsors.
Sponsorship
As the use of social media increases, so does opportunities for sponsors. However, the sponsorship offering depends on the type of platform or model chosen and its success. For example, as fans and website traffic increase on the West Coast Eagles website through social media, more prominent advertising on the main site can be sold or utilised for sponsors.
There are also opportunities to brand online magazines that go out to fan databases as well as the chance to direct subscribers, or encourage them to connect with sponsor pages or sites.
Callanan, however, advises sponsors to understand that maximising the use of social media in campaigns is a longterm strategy.
"Just because a sports event or club has large numbers of followers doesn't mean that the sponsors will also become popular," he said. "Of course there can be a flow on effect, but you still have to give fans a reason to stay connected."
For example, if a car hire company is sponsoring a rugby team fans might like the page if the team asks them too. But unless the sponsor comes up with a way to keep their new fans interested they won't stay a fan for long. Callanan says sponsors need to be committed.
"We worked with one sponsor - Deppora - a tax depreciation company who obtained an excellent flow on to their social media accounts from a sports event they were sponsoring," he says. "Even though they aren't in the business of sport, they now provide tips to fans and followers - so when they do decide to look at property investing, fans will go to them first."
Tactics
Determine what the goal is and why a brand or club wants to get involved in social media. Is it to build a fan base? Is it to grow membership numbers or is it to better promote sponsors?
Identify the best platforms to support the campaign. Keep in mind that most people on FB just want to play. It's important to understand that most people are not necessarily there to buy, but they will be open to reading marketing messages.
Engage, engage, engage. It's important to keep social media and social networking "social". It's not just a broadcast platform. It's very important to have a balance with quality content and marketing messages.
Claire Kelly, Freelance writer, communications consultant, Australia© Gulf Marketing Review 2012
