Sports Executives: 3 Recommendations to Better Grow Fan Engagement on Social Media

As sports continue to capture the attention of billions of fans worldwide, teams are shifting to social media outlets such as Twitter and Instagram to interact with their fans instantly in a more engaging way. As a sports marketing student at Northwestern University, I’ve found two articles that highlight the importance of making this type of connection.

Rick Maese of the Washington Post wrote an interesting article entitled "NBA Twitter: A sports bar that doesn’t close, where the stars pull up a seat next to you." In this article, he discusses how NBA fans immerse themselves in Twitter in order to stay up to date with the constant, essentially year-round, news cycle of professional basketball. According to Maese, this has essentially become a routine for many fans, and some even prefer to follow the games via their online Twitter communities rather than go to the game in person if they had the opportunity. This relate to the idea that team's usage of official social media accounts gives fans an outlet that they can follow and constantly engage with during live games. These official team accounts often times provide commentary, which can make online users feel as if they are watching alongside other fans of the team. For more insight, you can follow Rick on Twitter. 

Courtesy of Getty Images

Anthony DiMoro on Forbes takes a deep dive into how this trend of social media quickly invaded the sports world, along with some examples of teams who are able to generate a great deal of fan engagement while strengthening a team's overall brand in an article titled "The Growing Impact of Social Media on Today's Culture." One example Dimoro gives is how often times, a sports league or team creates one common hashtag around a topic so that fans can see all related tweets and news in one, centralizes location (e.g. #BecauseItsTheCup for the NHL playoffs). As a result of these tactics, he claims that fan engagement and discussion online is at new levels that no one could have imagined several years ago. If you want to find more of Dimoro's work, you can follow him on Twitter or visit his official website to see his latest sports media ventures.

Based on these articles, along with my own personal experience helping run multiple verified team accounts for Northwestern Athletics, here are three recommendations for sports executives to better grow fan engagement on social media:

• Entertain Your Followers – Fans want to feel like they’re watching the game with the team, it’s up to you to engage and relate to your audience.

• Storytelling = Engagement – Recognize what is happening in the game and the implications/message behind every single word you are sending out and how it fits into a bigger picture.

• Stay Ahead of the Surge – The industry is constantly evolving, be ready to adapt to any changes or innovations in order to ensure you are putting out the best possible final product.

As a sports executive, it is more and more important that you make meaningful connections with your fans and people interested in your team using social media, and I hope these three action items will help you do that more effectively.

My name is Zach Wingrove and I am a senior at Northwestern University studying Journalism and Integrated Marketing Communications. I have worked closely with Northwestern's Athletic Department during my four years, assisting in media relations for almost all of Northwestern's 19 varsity programs at some point. During the 2018 MLB season, I worked on the Media Relations team for the Chicago Cubs. In the future, I want to continue working media relations in either professional or collegiate athletics. You can follow me on Twitter and on LinkedIn.

CMO: 3 Ways the Big Game Can Increase your Revenues

As a CMO in sports marketing, the Super Bowl can be seen as giant money and time suck for your company. As a student in graduate school at Northwestern University in the Medill IMC program, I have found two articles showing a few ways that you can leverage this event to increase revenues and make it worth your while.

The entire city of Houston, businesses and people, are spending more money during this time. The first article I found is called Super Bowl Billions: The Big Business Behind the Game of theYear discussed the three main ways any company or person will spend their money during this time. The first way is the spending in and around the game in Houston. The Super Bowl is expected to bring in $350 million for the city itself as people buy hotels, other entertainment, and food and beverages. Second, is the at home viewers who spend money party prepping. In the article, they say beer sales alone can approach $600 million. The last example of spending, of course, is the companies who spend millions on advertising during and around the big game. A 5 second spot during the Super Bowl will cost a company 5 million. Not to mention the investment they put in to create the commercial.

The second article I found is called NRFSays Consumers will Spend $14.1 Billion on 2017 Super Bowl and was actually a press release put out by the National Retail Federation focusing on how much and on what consumers will spend their money. The top type of items people spend their money on is food and beverages. 80% of viewers said they would be purchasing food and beverages. Although the amount of money people are spending on these items is down from last year, it is estimated that they will still spend $75 each on average totaling about $14.1 billion. NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay points out that now that the holidays have passed the Super Bowl is the next big event for families and friends to get together. The article also discusses that the commercials are the second most cited reason that people watch the game. 78% of viewers said they usually watch the commercials for entertainment.

Based on my review of these two articles and relevant studies I have done at Northwestern University, I have developed 3 ways the companies could see increased revenues surrounding the Super Bowl.

• Increased Sales for Party Prep - The Super Bowl means party time so celebrate with them. 

• High Revenues in City – The biggest party is thrown in the host city and you want to be invited.

• Advertising has some Impact – For some brands, a commercial is worth it but others should skip the big spend and celebrate in other ways.

As you prepare for the Super Bowl next year, think about how these 3 action items can help you leverage this time to your advantage and see increase revenues.  

Elle Bausch is a student at Northwestern University in the Medill IMC graduate program. In May 2016, she graduated from the University of Missouri, Columbia journalism school. Throughout her studies, Elle interned for the PR department of the Mall of America as well as the PR department of the Minnesota Vikings. She will graduate Northwestern in December 2017. 

Sports Marketers: 3 Ways to Engage Your Fans with New Technology

As a Sports Marketer, one of the biggest concerns you face today is how to keep your fans engaged in an increasingly digital and technological world. As a graduate student at the Northwestern Medill IMC program who has an interest in sports marketing, I have found two articles which address the growing technology trends and how they affect the sports industry.

In the GeekWire article, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver predicts how we’ll watch basketball in 5 years, Taylor Soper explains the way sports are being watched and how that is changing. Nobody sits and just watches a game anymore; whether at home or in-person, people are always looking at their smartphones and other devices. The challenge and opportunity lie in providing opportunities for fans to be looking at content that is relevant to what’s happening in the game. One proposed solution is developing Augmented Reality (AR) applications that will enhance the game experience such as seeing additional information like stats or potential scenarios overlaid on the court or field through a smartphone.

http://www.affinityvr.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/livelike1.png

The VentureBeat article, How Marketers Tap Sports Fans in Connected Stadiums, by Chris Nguyen details the importance of connectivity in stadiums and how that impacts the fan experience. It’s crucial for stadiums to have great WiFi and large data capabilities because fans expect to have access to real-time content such as player and game stats and video highlights when they are at the game. Fans also want access to exclusive, contextually relevant, experiences such as instant replays from angles not shown on the jumbotron that allows them to feel even more connected to the game. Teams and brands need to focus on creating experiences for fans that enrich the game through the devices and technology they prefer to use.

Based on my review of these two articles and relevant studies I have done at Northwestern University, I have developed 3 action items to consider.

• Make Streaming Happen - The way that fans watch sports and engage with teams is changing; use live video to build a strong and intimate experience with your fans.

• Invest in Augmented Reality - With shrinking attention spans, embrace new technology and find ways to truly augment your fans' experience at the game.

• Share the Experience - Give your fans what they want by using Virtual Reality and 360 video to put themselves in the athletes' shoes, review a play from any angle, and more. 

The next time you are thinking about how to take advantage of new technology, remember these action items to enhance your fans’ experience.

Katie Amys is currently a graduate student at Northwestern University pursuing a Master's degree in Integrated Marketing Communications, specializing in Content Marketing and Brand Strategy. With over three years of experience in marketing and sales in a variety of industries, I hope to pursue a career in sports marketing upon graduating in August 2017. Please feel free to contact me on Twitter or LinkedIn. 

Brand Managers: Sponsored NBA shirts are a Challenge and a Reward

New branded shirts for the NBA are the first or many new way to reach a target market...but you have to know how best to use them. As an Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) student and sports fan, there are two issues in discussion: how will the fans react to this new trend, and how will brands benefit from the new 2.5x2.5 inch ad space?

According to Tony Manfred in his article titled "The NBA's Massive New TV Deal Clears The Way For Putting Ads On Jerseys" for Business Insider, the sponsored shirts are tied to the new $24 billion deal with ESPN. Both the Network and the league expect to see profits by displaying a highly viewable space on the players. With some issues that still remain un-resolved, such as if the sponsors would be national or local brands, the NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, referred to the ads on NBA jerseys as “inevitable”. Sponsored shirts is something that will happen in the near future, a groundbreaking innovation to the league that will have a major impact on teams, sponsors and fans.

Image source: http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2012-07-20/nba-jersey-ads-likely-in-2013

Kim Skildum-Reid offers a critique on her blog powersponsorship.com, arguing that “(teams) You’re hurting yourselves, limiting your value, and limiting the appeal of your sponsorship to companies who don’t get it – a rapidly diminishing pool.”  Furthermore, she elaborates on how shallow is it for a brand to only take a space on a shirt, hoping to see returns from it, as opposed to actually engage with highly passionate communities such as sports fans.

After reviewing these two articles and drawing on my sports marketing expertise developed in the Northwestern Medill IMC program, I have three action items you need to consider when developing your marketing strategies as a brand manager of the actors here involved:

• Set a goal that transcends the jersey - As a brand manager from the sponsor side, you must think about what you want to achieve by buying a space in a jersey. That Engagement Strategy might not be well rewarded if not followed by a thorough IMC plan.

• Match brands and team positionings - As a team brand manager, think what´s the price to have a sponsor on your shirt. You might want to be picky and choose one which stands for the same values as your team and deliver consistency to your devoted fans.

• Take care of your league - The marketing division of the NBA must take care of their league, establish homogenous criteria for sponsors and teams to not affect the league´s image as a whole.

In sum, the league is opening a door for sponsors to have a bigger presence in the NBA. For the first time in its history, the league will have branded shirts, and this new scenario compels all actors involved to think clearly and strategically of how to deal with it to have benefits for all.

Manuel Altomonte| @manualtoIMC
About the author: 

Candidate, Integrated Marketing Communications at Medill (Northwestern University, Chicago IL). I have work experience in corporate communications and marketing, development and management of communication platforms and digital marketing. I enjoy team-work to find creative solutions to challenges.