Throughout November we’re going to be taking a look at some of the sport clubs that have paved the way across various facets of digital marketing. We’re all about unlocking new revenue streams here at Nifty, so we’re always geekily excited when we see sport organisations breaking the mould in the digital sphere.
TikTok has grown exponentially in the past few years. At the end of September 2021, the social media app topped one billion users per month worldwide, a dramatic increase of 45% from July 2020 when it had 639,000 monthly users. In July of this year, it also became the first app since Facebook to reach 3 billion global downloads.
We previously wrote about the advertising potential of TikTok and given how the app has taken the world by storm, it was inevitable that growing numbers of industries and businesses would be looking to turn it into an additional revenue source. At the start of the Premier League season, Leeds United became the world’s first football club to sell official merchandise and replica shirts on the platform.
By entering into an e-commerce partnership with TikTok, Leeds’ official account was able to utilise a ‘shopping’ tab on their profile. This has allowed them to sell their new Adidas third kit natively in the app, with the launch of the kit coinciding with the announcement of them becoming a TikTok shopping partner. They are also able to tag the products directly in their videos, exposing them to 675,000 followers and their millions of video viewers.
TikTok has been able to offer this functionality thanks to an integration with Shopify (another platform we love here at Nifty). While it’s early days in terms of sport clubs using this feature, TikTok’s growth shows no signs of slowing down, so you can expect to see others follow the example of Leeds United, even if out of fear of being left behind if nothing else.
This is an example of digital innovation in sport that’s in its relative infancy, but keep an eye on our blog throughout the month as we look back at how different sporting organisations have revolutionised how they interact with their audiences through the power of digital.
