Social media is exploding in popularity and sports viewing & attendance is at an all time high. Doesn’t it make sense that a professional sports team should have a social media marketing plan?
Many sports marketing professionals underestimate the importance of social media marketing but the reality is that newspaper ads, radio & TV ads, and billboards just don’t pull in like they used to. With Facebook alone projected to eclipse the 1 billion user mark by the end of 2012, don’t you think that your sports team is required to have a social media presence? Here are some helpful tips for using social media marketing for your sports team.
Using Social Media Marketing for Your Sports Team | Facebook Tips
Facebook is the social media giant with close to 1 billion users. It’s an outstanding social networking site for obtaining fans and creating interaction. Here are some ‘outside the box’ tips you can use to create an online buzz for your sports team on Facebook:
- Contests– posting and tracking contests on Facebook is a great way to generate a buzz for your team. Rewarding people who post and engage the most will encourage more interaction. The average Facebook user has 130 friends, so the more people are posting on your Page, the more eyeballs will see your message. There are simple Facebook related apps that will allow you to easily track Facebook contests. Get creative with the grand prize. In addition to free tickets and merchandise, think of how you can give a unique experience to a fan that they can share with others. For example, one client of ours gave away press passes to contest winners and allowed them into the locker room after the game and access to the post game press conference. They took some outstanding video and pictures and shared a very unique experience that resulted in a tremendous buzz.
- Fan Photos– at each game, consider designating a person to go through the stands and take photos of fans. Give the fans a business card with your Facebook Fan Page website and simple instructions on how to ‘Like’ your page and tag yourself in photos. Turn your sporting events into a giant promotional events by posting albums of fans at each game and watch your number of ‘Likes’ grow.
- Pay Per Click– Facebook pay per click is simple and relatively inexpensive to use. The great thing about Facebook PPC is that you can target your demographic by specific city, zip code, age group, and marital status. Another benefit to using Facebook PPC is that you can run ‘Sponsored Stories’, which will allow you to advertise popular posts on your site. Friends of people who have ‘Liked’ the sponsored story will see the story and see that their friends ‘Liked’ it as well, and the magic of social proof will build more targeted visitors to your Page.
Using Social Media Marketing for Your Sports Team | Twitter Tips
Twitter is a very popular form of social media, especially with the increase in mobile phones. Here are some top tips and suggestions on how you can use Twitter to build a buzz around your sports team:
- Post Tweets on your Scoreboard– people love to be recognized, and your teams’ fans are no different. Therefore, during games, recognize your top Twitter followers by posting their Tweets on the scoreboard. Fans will love to try to get their Tweets notices and you’ll see a flood of Tweets promoting your sports team coming in.
- Scores and updates– keep your fan base abreast of breaking news regarding your sports team. For each game, provide updates of scores. If any player transactions have occurred, send out a Tweet as well. The more people get interesting team information from you, the more people will stay engaged and be interested in you.
- Use Twitter to vote– this winter, the NBA used Twitter to determine the winner of the Slam Dunk Contest. You can have fans at the game decide the winner of certain contests, such as the Player of the Game, as well.
Using Social Media Marketing for Your Sports Team | Pinterest and YouTube
While pictures and videos are worth a thousand words, utilizing social networking sites like Pinterest (for photos) and YouTube (for video marketing) can be worth a thousand fans. Here are some tips to creating great content for these popular social media sites:
- Just as in Facebook, where posting photos is a great way to generate buzz, you can create your own board and pin pictures on Pinterest as well. In addition to fan photos, you can also create boards with photos of players and coaches, merchandise, and links to videos on other sites, like YouTube.
- Use the photos and create a video montage set to music.
- Post interviews with coaches and players to YouTube
- Video and post all in game gimmicks that involve fans
- Post highlights
In conclusion, with so many people utilizing social media today, using social media marketing for your sports teams makes a great deal of sense. By following some of these simple tips, you will see your engagements improve and your number of followers increase, which will utlimzately lead to increased ticket and merchandise sales.
About Black Box Social Media: Black Box Social Media is a marketing company that specializes in using web 2.0 techniques to assist companies with marketing their brand and increasing their revenues. Services include video editing services, pay per click management, social media design creations, SEO, contest management, consulting, and more. For more information, please visit https://84bf80bedc.nxcli.net.