Recently I posted an article entitled “11 reasons why sports clubs should take the lead in Social CRM” on this site. The post, which got some great attention, encouraged readers to comment on the list and potentially suggest necessary or potential additions.

One of the comments left led to further discussion with contributor Marcus Cheng (of the Miami HEAT) and together we concluded there was definitely one additional element which deserved to be added to the list. We decided to explore it a bit further and put together the following piece:

The 12th Reason why Sports Clubs Should Take the Lead in Social CRM: Availability of Content

Compared to other industries the world of sports produces a lot of content and at a very fast pace. Sports content can be divided into “on-field related” and “off-field related” content. The on-field related content is primarily centered on games and training sessions which both happen on a regular basis but also includes more irregular events such as open training sessions, exhibition games, etc.

The off-field related content includes content about the clubs in the community, players’ private lives, and transfer rumors, to name a few.

Putting the on-field as well as the off-field content together and getting coverage via different media (print, radio, TV, online), we end up with an unrivaled amount of content compared to other industries. How many companies receive dedicated coverage every day in the newspaper and have reporters assigned to cover their every move?

Social Media increases fan involvement and enjoyment while also reaching out to new fans

The increased usage of social media within sports is on the one hand driven by the fans and on the other hand driven by the clubs and athletes themselves.

As the main driver, sports fans enjoy speaking about and discussing matters related to their favorite team or a specific event. The continuous availability of new content and the desire of fans to express their opinions lead fans to post and discuss topics around their favorite club or other events on an ongoing basis. It is thus also no surprise that the biggest Tweet moments (tweets per second) to date have occurred around sporting events (one during a World Cup soccer game and the other during the NBA finals).

The second driver of the increased social media usage are the sports clubs and athletes themselves. From a social CRM perspective there are two main reasons for why sports club engage in social media. The first one is that social media enables fans to increase their involvement with a specific club. Some fans might for example just have been passive television viewers in the past but social media gives them a platform to interact with other fans and maybe even with the club itself. The bond between the club and the fan is thus strengthened and as a recent study shows within the NFL and MLB, around 50% of fans spend more time watching and following their respective leagues now than they did prior to their social media engagement.

The second benefit is that social media enables football clubs to reach out to fans they have never interacted with before. There are for example thousands of Liverpool FC fans that have never been to Anfield or on the clubs newsletter list who are now following the club on Twitter or on Facebook.

This ability to reach a global audience online is of key importance to any major club. Take the English Premier League clubs or the NBA teams for example. Through social media they are able to engage with people who are not located in their vicinity and as far away as India and China. Social media is thus not only another method of engaging and interacting with existing fans but also a means to attract new/potential fans – a base from which relationships can be developed. Just the other day an interview with the Boston Celtics was published on this matter, which underlines the reasoning behind clubs’ engagement in social media. From a broader perspective the new social media platforms also give clubs insights into their fan base, e.g. where are people located, how popular is our club in China – very valuable insight in relation to sponsor negotiations, value estimation of media rights and even merchandise sales.

This enormous opportunity for sports clubs is based on the unrivaled amount of high interest content available and produced around the club, its games and its players. As Liverpool Manager Roy Hodgson recently put it: “We bear strong expectations at this club and everyone is interested in us. We fill newspapers and airtime and, of course, everything that happens at the club is put under the microscope and that includes players’ performances.”

Availability of content is thus the well deserved 12th reason why sports clubs should take the lead in social CRM.

Source: Kristian Gotsch on loyalsticity.com

Read also “11 reasons why sports clubs should take the lead in Social CRM“.

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