The sports world is a busy place. Between new players, regulation changes and constant media attention teams must update their socials daily, just to keep up with everything that’s going on in the world of sports. Content however isn’t just about keeping sports fans updated, it should be used to create an experience, build and engage a community.
It’s time to play the long game
In the sports world, the goal is often short-term revenue. Thinking quarter to quarter and year to year when the goal should be thinking five or ten years down the road. Often sports teams fall into the trap of traditional revenue streams. Admittedly, front of shirt sponsorships are an easy way to make a large sum, as it is great exposure for the sponsor, with the wide variety of viewer demographic. This is an easy win for teams as it means that there is no stress when it comes to finding money and they can focus more on the game.
In the digital age however, there are so many more possibilities out there that many sports organisations are not utilising. Social media campaigns or influencer partnerships; creating engaging content around events; sponsoring podcasts or YouTube channels are some great places to start. A content marketing strategy would reap huge rewards for both sports marketing and for brands.
Benefits
Even though the cost may be high, the payoff can be huge in terms of brand equity, sales, and profitability down the line. Consistent, quality will get you noticed.
Increased Engagement from sports fans
- As a sports organisation, fan engagement is your life blood, so why would you not engage your audiences where they spend most of their time – social media. Posting consistently to your fans will keep them engaged as they can stay up to date with the latest news, events and even comment their own thoughts and opinions.
Platform Monetisation
- Once your fans are engaged with your post and you have built a large army of fans, your platforms can be monetised. This may take some time and research, but we have built an eBook and some helpful blogs to help you start monetising the content you are already creating.
Increased Ticket Sales
- As well as monetising existing content, keeping fans connected to your team will increase ticket sales and who doesn’t want to sell out stadiums? Content can be extremely persuasive and with an effective strategy, you can convince your fans to come to your game, purchase merchandise and other revenue opportunities.
Content generates content
- There are hundreds of different ways to create content but the most important one to remember for sports teams, is User Generated Content (UGC) fans will create content for you. If you can build an effective content strategy that incorporates fans, content will generate itself.
The time is now
If you are a sports team and not implementing content marketing, then you are missing a huge opportunity. Now more than ever before it’s possible to create high quality and engaging content that can have a big impact on your audience. Sports teams cannot wait around for fans, keeping fans loyal is so important and content marketing is the way forward. Learn our top tips for content marketing.
