Social media marketing in sport

Not sure if this is the same thing but it is differently online and net driven .. from 442. Kossie Joins The Net Lunacy Aidan Ormond Jun 30 2009 23:49 EXCLUSIVE: Ross Aloi$i and John Kosmina will star in a new Internet TV show about football called “Two Up Front” set to launch this Monday. The first show kicks off this Monday 6pm local time (half an hour later in eastern states). The show is accessible through www.australialivetv.com and/or www.twoupfrontlivetv.com http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/106625,kossie-joins-the-net-lunacy.aspx

Hi Mahony, Yes that website is a good one for the World Cup bid and if FFA are looking to extend their CRM system they will have a great competitive advantage over other sporting codes that choose to be stagnant in developing closer relationships with their customers. I came across a really good example of how a social media site works in the Utah Jazz.. check it out at : www.jazzbots.com

The Footbal Federation of Australia website for the World Cup bid is a very interesting development in this space. Go to http://www.australia2018-2022.com.au/ to have a look. It is clearly about building a grass-roots 'community of interest' for the bid, but I understand an integrated Customer Raltionship Management System is being implimented by the FFA and it will be integrated with the State Federations. When you add these developments to the allready massive "socceroos" and "My Football" databaseses - the FFA will have a massive marketing tool without peer in this country. When it comes to the next generation of football CRM - watch the FFA in the next couple of years for a massive, and highly innovative net-presence.

Some very interesting posts on here ground breaking stuff / new age / whatever but is going to become increasingly a major avenue for sports promotion..

Hi Digital Novice, Do you know who within the NRL initiated the State of Origin promotions that worked so well to get support to the game ? I'd like to talk to them about using social media on another level that can ultimately bring more fans to the games.

oh yeah and good point re Telstra! Arent they a success story online? NOT

Michael C - thats the issue with the AFL site. Too much information when really people are going to AFL.com for three thing 90% of the time. Results Schedule Ladder and then news...all the other stuff is just noise.

http://www.essendonfc.com.au/main.asp

Not all AFL clubs jumped on the Telstra bandwagon, Essendon has had its own website, radio and TV station for years and perhaps is a better example of social marketing which should be done at club level anyway rather than organisation level. Redb

It seems odd that there are so few case studies of sports success with social and digital media being presented in London. I have many such case studies at the professional and collegiate sports level. Just on the cheap for example we created a very successful and unique viral campaign for the University of Utah Athletic Department last season that included a viral music video, a song and a ring tone that were all available on the university web site, and handed out on DVDs to students and alumni. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRFoM2qSFFk or Google "Univerity of Utah Back in Red." The song we created “Back in Red” became integrated into the TV and radio spots, and the logo and tagline we created for the season “Back in Red” was integrated everywhere: • Print ads • Bus boards • Billboards • TV • Tickets • Posters • Game schedules • Calendars • Web site • Event flyers This was the most integrated, consistent and successful campaign they had ever run. Sell-out crowds to many events, and record numbers at others. The key to success is: • A great creative theme that hits home with the core target audience (emotional impact) • A creative concept that can be integrated into every media channel • Complete management of campaign integration for flawless continuity • Online and offline components • Viral elements • Having clear objectives and measurement metrics upfront It takes some strategic planning and management to make it happen, but measurable success is very real. I think the problem that many social media marketers get themselves into is that they mistake search engine rankings (popularity) on a keyword search for success. This is naïve. All marketing efforts must ultimately have a measurable goal in mind, or the budget is eliminated. When it comes to sports executives and owners, success is really only measured by a return on investment (increased sales for tickets, food, jerseys, sponsorships, etc., or realized savings in the form of reduced advertising costs, food waste, etc.). I have worked with many professional sports teams and their owners and executives, and believe me, it’s a business. Tweeting just to be retweeted is not the objective. The objective is to use Twitter and other channels for example to connect with fans and customers to: • Build a database of customers and prospects • Conduct a marketing survey • Liquidate unsold inventory • Build inbound links (link popularity) to the team website in order to increase traffic, online sales, and online ad revenue from direct and affiliate sales • Increase value added or paid exposure for their sponsors Even if the management will not come out and say this is the goal, it’s the goal. Here is just one example of using SMS texting and Twitter that I came up with for the Utah Jazz NBA team: At the end of the 3rd quarter, we would send a text and Twitter blast to the fans announcing that all remaining hot dogs, popcorn, etc. was half price. Why not, we would throw it away anyway. Social media may be fun to play with, and it may be fun to stroke our egos with followers, but at the end of the day somebody better sell something, because as the old saying in business goes “nothing happens in business until a sale is made.” And in this economy, sales and revenue are more important than ever. DuaneSprague@gmail.com

The NRL recently experienced the power of social media and online marketing through promotion of the Blatchy's Blues and Queensland supporters area for State of Origin 2 at ANZ Stadium. Both groups of seats sold out 3 times (we increased the number of seats twice) and the final sellout was about 3 weeks before game day (capacity was limited by the number of wigs we could order from China). 90% of the marketing and promotion was done by e-mail (to existing and new databases) and through facebook. The target demographic (18-30 year old male and females) for these supporter groups certainly lent itself to those channels with university students buying a high proportion of those tickets. while selling those areas out was great, by not having enough capacity available meant the difference between a sellout of the entire venue and just short so that was disappointing. Our overall takeout from the marketing exercise were that we were suprised how effective it was. Admittedly the offer was a good one ($60 for ticket, wig and t-shirt, compared to $50 for a ticket in the same category) but the execution of our online marketing was only ok (e-mails weren't particularly good, no supporting websites). In hindsight the key was probably to give as much ownership as possible to a couple of supporters who drove their respective facebook pages and got the word of mouth going. They generated a real sense of excitement about those particular supporter groups. We just made sure we extra security to those particular areas to ensure there was no trouble and adverse publicity.

Wow, this post is like linkedin but on theroar.... All jokes aside, all good points above and I cant stress enough that clubs of all sizes need to get into it.

Justin, mattamkll problem with the AFL industry was this whole going down the Telstra path - - Telstra are website butchers. They (the AFL) gave up on internet ingenuity by going for a 'bidder' such as Telstra. However, unlike most other sports codes - the AFL has a heap of info on there, such as annual reports and drug testing reports and the like that you can't find elsewhere. And another problem - the AFL website is BOTH the website of the AFL (the competition), and the AFL (the organisation). However - good to see, that with Setanta UK gone, that the AFL website is allowing UK users free access to match coverage via the website. btw - many, many of the Aust Footy clubs overseas these days start out with an expanding facebook group. These 'social' sites become the great asset of clubs that effectively have nothing. The internet and the power of it has been a major reason that niche sports such as Aust Footy has had on a relative (I stress - relative!!!) scale a huge growth rate over the last 8-10 years.

Glad to see there is interest out there on this topic and seems like there is a consistent level of understanding about the uses and benefits of social media in the sporting spectrum. It's now just a matter of those key decision makers out there in the land of sport to grasp the concept and plan out how social media can work for them. I know a few organisations have started the ball rolling on this, for which Football Federation Australia have recently employed someone full time to run their social media platform as part of creating public interest in backing their bid to host the 2018 - 2022 World Cup. For those who have not seen their site here in the link : http://www.australia2018-2022.com.au/ Duane, Very interested to read your comments on this subject and how it has benefited a club like the Utah Jazz. I think we need someone like you here in here in Oz as part of increasing the awareness to our sport clubs.

Justin, where do I start with AFL.com.au ...? (hope you dont work there) ok, its a farking mess. Its horrid on the eye and, to the first time or irregular user is actually challenging to navigate. I cant tell you how many times others in the industry comment on how poor it is. Yes, to guys like you an I twitter seems like a joke, but we don't have a following. Internet speeds shouldn't have any play on twitter.

Nice post Gareth. I have been lively and breathing web and social media for the last 15 years! When it comes to the sports market with a focus on the Australia, well, we are still a little behind in our general adoption of the use of online and mobile vs the Northern Hemisphere. Some of you would know me as the co-founder of 3eep and have a growing number of local sports communities leveraging our sports social media platform (SportsPassion) for a while now. It has been a great experience to date full of learnings and insights about the local sports market. I'm continuously meeting with sports administrators and high level execs in the market and I need to remind them that we have entered the next phase of the web. 'What next phase they say?' Well, 'we are in the next phase of the web's evolution as a communications tool where the first phase was basically all about transferring offline communications capabilities to a relatively more effective tool for administrators to broadcast relevant information. We are in the next phase (social media) which empowers relevant participants to contribute!' This is the fundamental shift we are experiencing globally with media models. For a lot of 'them', the natural emotive next step is to see social media as a loss of control or privacy when it should be seen as a platform to engage your communities! I constantly reflect on the evolving sports business model and I must say that it does dissapoint me to not see enough innovation in this space as we could have in this local market. As I write this comment, I'm actually packing my bags and off to London for a Sports Summit which is focused on debating and celebrating global sports social entrepreneurial best practices. After reading the programme, there are no local case studies being presented. Dissapointing but my aim is to connect with our Northern hemisphere colleagues and reflect upon challenges in this space and aim to go back in coming years to present our successes! Best Nick Gonios Executive Director - SportsPassion Board member - Women Sport NSW & AIMIA NSW Founder - Sports Symposia

Football clubs such as Melbourne Victory and Liverpool FC are already using social media. So the answer to your question in the last paragraph glloyd 75 is you won't have to wait for one particular Australiam club to realise the potential of social media, they already know.

Interesting topic gloyd75. Coming from a football background the new e-media is I believe something that has enabled football, the A-League, to succeed where the NSL never could. For once the fans can connect thru forums, blogs, sites like these podcasts etc etc in a way they never could in australia in the past. And when sections of the media "block" a football coverage or just give more coverage to more popular codes it's no longer so critical. In an attempt to brainwash my local junior football club, some 1200 junior players, (we must be pushing 5,000 members when you add in the divocee rate!), I've put together a newsletter that brings the kids, mums and dads of the club, some say football's greatest advantage, and wraps the Socceroos A-League etc gently around it. Football clearly only has to bring the big game to some of the little players to entrench it further in Australia. Using www.issuu.com which is free, those interested can take a look. http://issuu.com/nearpost/docs/majura_june_newsletter?viewMode=magazine Football may still lack consistent quality coverage in mainstream papers and commercial tv but there are many many ways football can get info out these days and the code is doing it increasing numbers. txt of members, voicemail seems used by a number of League and A-League clubs already to remind fans of games, memberships etc I'm sure AFL do this to although have no idea. And many use podcasts regularly. Some have Facebook and twitter but seem to be infrequent or untargeted in their use after initial bursts. I guess we just have to follow EPL and American clubs and see what works, we don't need to reinvent the wheel in this area particularly clubs in some codes still have limited resources most noticeably in League, Union and A-League clubs. Seems like theroar.com reflects the mainstream media's sports coverage in some way. Union and football fans appear to be the most ardent and prolific posters, possibly becasue their voices aren't reflected as often by mainstream media.

You are absolutely correct. Having served as Vice President of Advertising and Digital Media for the Utah Jazz, an NBA team in the U.S., and worked with collegiate teams and the NBA Development league on digital and viral marketing, I can assure you that there is nothing more powerful, versatile, instantaneous and beneficial for a strong ROI as an integrated social media (web 2.0) communication strategy. We have used social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, combined with widgets, SMS text and email campaigns to: • Sell last minute unsold tickets • Boost a sponsors promotion and web traffic • Conduct surveys • Promote contests • Promote new online interviews and stories • Create better search engine placement for the web site • Blast out breaking news press releases • Promote a concert or event at the arena • Notify fans of last minute events, game changes, opportunities, specials, discounts, etc • Promote team apparel and food item specials • Create special “insider” content • Notify fans of station dial positions and start times for broadcasts • Disseminate viral content and widgets • Provide additional value to sponsors • Provide an additional revenue stream from sponsorships • Stay connected to the fan base all year The list goes on, but there is virtually no end to the uses and power of digital channels for sports marketers. And don’t forget the database. Unless you are building a powerful database where you can segment and augment your data, as well as run queries and RFM analysis, and execute personalized, timely and relevant campaigns across multiple platforms, you are missing half of the power of digital marketing and social media. And finally, integrating your online marketing strategy and messaging with your offline and PR channels will complete the loop and provide maximum branding, impact and ROI. DuaneSprague@gmail.com

Very interesting topic. Matta - would like to here more about the AFLs website and why its is used as what not to do so often. Can you provide some more detail please, be interested to hear what the experts say. I read an article about twitter (which I think is hyped up rubbish and its usefulness is next to zero) in The Age saying that 90% of traffic is by 10% of its registered users. If and when we ever get decent internet speed in this country then the market will really open up but we are that far behind it may be some time before we can use it effectively.