Why you can’t afford to underestimate fan engagement
In this week’s article, guest author Tobias Josefsson (Customer Success and Product Owner at Sportality) returns for the second installment of his blog series on digital strategy and the value of fan engagement. If you haven’t already read part one, why not head over here before you read on, to get caught up.
Two weeks ago, in my first article for the Sportality Blog, we discussed the importance of putting a strategy behind everything you do as a sports league or club.
Keeping in mind that strategy can be a big, heavy word, we mulled over the value of starting small. Doing something simple, and growing out your ambitions from there.
But just as important as having a strategy is having a recipient in mind for each and every activity.
Because in sport, there’s one stakeholder you just can’t afford to forget about.
Of course I’m talking about the fans!
The importance of engaging and communicating with your fans cannot be understated. After all, it is the strong relationships with your fans, the people who love your sport & live for the tournament, that can be considered the real gateway to long-term success and growth for your league.
And more often that not, what fans crave is genuine, human connections. To the players behind the helmet. The athletes under the jerseys. Who really is that guy or girl? What makes them tick? What motivates their gameplay tactics? And who else is involved behind the scenes in the patchwork ecosystem that makes sure they are playing at the top of their game every match day.
“After all, it is the strong relationships with your fans... that can be considered the real gateway to long-term success and growth for your league”
So how do you capture the attention of your fans, and then more importantly keep them engaged?
Like most things, it all starts with good, solid, structured communication. Your website should be the number one source for all content about your team and players. The one stop shop where local and national media outlets can go for the information they need to write about your club and its performance. Easily accessible, in one place.
Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to make sure your fans can always find the most relevant and up-to-date information about your competition on your site.
And then it’s just to pull on their emotional heartstrings. Create a sense of attachment.
Build their commitment to your club or competition. Their loyalty to the game and to the sport.
It’s about building connections between your players and your fans. And using match communications to really drive it home. Play on a sense of rivalry between your club and its competitors, and then bring your fans into the gameplay debate on social media.
And once you’ve got yourself set up and started, you can grow out your communications reach from there.
Why not collect customer data, which you can then in turn use to further tailor and personalise each and every engagement? Turbo-charging every communications touchpoint to hit the needs, interests and passions of your fans. The possibilities are endless!
Who knows, maybe I’ll be back here soon to cover that very topic in a follow-up article. Watch this space!