(This is a guest post by Joseph Yi) While there are plenty of articles that discuss the advantages of running a promotion on Facebook, what few mention are the difficulties in actually getting a promotion that falls within Facebook’s promotions guidelines launched. In what can only be described as ambiguous and unclear, Facebook’s Promotions Guidelines…
Tag Archives | sports teams
5 Ways the National Football League Can Use Geolocation Apps
Geolocation apps are the latest craze in social media in the sports industry. Just last month, the National Hockey League launched its own official Foursquare branding page. Just this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the National Basketball Association is developing its own geolocation application for the iPhone and Android smartphones. “Turnstile,” the NBA’s application, will allow fans to check in at NBA arenas and while watching NBA games on television this season. It is expected to be released later this month.
While the NHL and NBA have embraced geolocation applications like Foursquare and Gowalla, the National Football League and its teams have yet to join the geolocation frenzy. Indeed, the Washington Redskins are the only NFL team with an official Foursquare page and badge.
Here are five tips that NFL teams can use as they embrace the mobile geolocation frenzy currently sweeping the sports industry.
Creating Great Content with Social Media
This is part of a short blog series where we take a look at how social media can be utilized to grow a sports team’s fan base, regardless of whether the team already has a large following or is starting from the grassroots level. You can see the other posts here.
In the first two posts of this series I covered the importance of listening in social media and turning your sports team into a social experience. In last week’s post I briefly touched on the importance of content. Today’s post we’re going to take a deeper look into this subject.
You Have Great Content
Everyone has the ability to produce great content, whether you’re an amateur soccer team or an NBA franchise. Producing great content is not about glitz and glamour. If you’re making videos it’s not the quality of the camera that makes the difference; with blogs it’s not the widgets and plug-ins that make it successful. It’s the content.
Think about what content people will want to see: fans, players, coaches, sponsors – what appeals to them? What will make them continue to pay an interest in you? And importantly when you’re looking to expand your fan base and reach new fans, what will they share? That is your great content.
Utilize Social Media to Grow Your Fan Base
When we talk about social media in sports the majority of case studies and best practices come from high profile and established sports teams and we tend to focus on how these teams engage with their fan base through social media. But what if your team doesn’t already have tens of thousands of fans-how can you utilize social media to grow your fan base?
The above question is something I get asked a fair bit and to be honest there’s no set answer – the answer depends upon you, your team and your target fan base.
Whilst I can’t give a set in stone plan that will guarantee your team’s fan base will grow, I can certainly give you some tips that will help.
Starting today, I’ll be publishing a short series of weekly articles about how I feel teams and sports organizations can utilize social media to grow their fan bases.
Know your audience
Listening is a key factor in successful use of social media. Before you jump into social media you need to make sure you know your audience – if you don’t you will end up wasting a lot of time.
Limits of a Team’s Brand
When sports teams first began using social media, they gained followers and fans primarily because of their brand. Fans wanted to be part of their favorite team’s community and sports teams were more than happy to have them. Still, many sports teams eventually faced the realization that their brand could only bring them so far. Teams that relied on their brand identity to generate interest soon discovered that after most ‘hardcore’ fans had discovered their teams Facebook or Twitter page, the numbers dropped off. To attract the casual fan, teams had to prove to them that they could bring value.
For teams, providing value to fans means winning games. Winning games fills seats and keeps fans happy. When it comes to creating value on social media platforms though, winning doesn’t necessarily translate into happy fans or engagement. Winning will get fans interested in a team, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it will get them to follow or like their fan page.
The Power of Social Media in Grass Roots Sports
The opportunities social media provides to pro sports teams and athletes are well documented, but I feel social media also provides massive opportunities for amateur and semi-pro teams.
A lot of the conversation around sports and social media focuses on the idea that teams already have a massive following they can just tap into This isn’t often the case for grass roots teams though, many teams need to build their followings up from scratch and social media is a great way to do this. However, in order for social media to be successful it must be approached in the right way.
Twitter Sports Marketing Guide
Introducing Sports Networker’s exclusive Twitter sports marketing guide, where we have analyzed the top twitter users in sports and created tried and true tips on how teams are marketing their team to interact and build a relationship with their fans to create some of the highest follower lists on Twitter
Top 10 Most Followed Sports Teams on Twitter
It’s no surprise that sports teams all over the world are realizing the power of 140 characters or less. Twitter allows organizations to keep their fan base updated on events, stories, and up to the minute scoring, which has resulted in a growth of the number of followers for certain teams. Teams in major sports markets…
Does Sports Need Social Media?
Yes or no? Does it depend on what sector of the sports industry we are talking about? Should we even care? Whether it’s a sports teams using a Facebook fan page, professional athletes on Twitter, sports agencies trying to promote their brand from blogging, sports management programs looking to recruit new students, or other sports…