Clubs all over the world are busy adopting social media as a way to communicate and interact with current as well as new fans. Where some clubs have built up own networks, most clubs today seek to utilize the leading platforms of the world such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube etc.

Up until this point, the focus by many clubs seems to be one of adding social media as a(nother) communication channel through which a club can inform fans of news and allow fans to comment. Success is often measured in volume (e.g. number of followers on Twitter) and scanning club pages on social media networks it seems that not only are social media strategies not optimized, they also don’t seem well integrated with the rest of the fan related activities of the club.

A number of clubs, however, are taking things further. They are seeking to get to know their fans on social media platforms better, provide fans with additional engagements opportunities as well as increase the possibilities of communicating with these fans. All of this is based on a focus on using social media as an integrated approach to fan relationships rather than a stand alone “project”.

The most common and simple ways to enhance the engagement with fans are by offering incentives to fans, launch competitions with unique prizes or give fans the possibility to participate in online gaming via social media or other sites. In return, fans are often asked to provide the club with some basic information about themselves (e.g. contact information).

To clubs, the additional information gathered about their fans is vital as it enables them to not only engage with fans and develop the relationship via social media but for example also via email. It also allows them to gain further insight into their fan base, e.g. is the fan a ticket buying fan or does the fan interact with the club in other ways than via social media? In an earlier blog post, I referred to an article about the Boston Celtics, which is a good example of the above mentioned strategy.

Below, a few concrete examples of clubs that have introduced concepts or ideas to further engage with their fans.

Detroit Pistons
Detroit uses the landing page directly to give away tickets. A fan can sign up for a chance to win and is also given the opportunity to sign up for the Detroit Pistons newsletter.

Charlotte Bobcats
On the landing page the fan is encouraged to like the club and offered the opportunity to win a pair of signed Jordan 13 retro shoes. In order to do so, one has to leave contact details with the club.

FC Barcelona
The world’s biggest club on Facebook offers many different ways to get closer connected to the club right from the start when one arrives at their Facebook page. Games, tickets and membership community are just some of the offerings to fans.

There are many ways to engage with fans – in particular via social media. Key to success is to create a win-win situation – only asking fans for information or only providing fans with information will not lead to success. Fans are at the moment very excited to engage with clubs via social media, but the challenge lies with the club; how thought through is the social media approach and how well connected is it with the overall fan relationship strategy? Lots of clubs are currently not only wasting their own time and resources but also missing out on the moment of “engagement opportunity” via social media with the fan. Others are seeking to take advantage of the full potential that social media offers and embracing it as an integrated part of the club’s strategy.

http://loyalsticity.com/2011/03/22/successful-clubs-take-social-media-beyond-social-media/

As reported on Kristian Gotsch’s blog Loyalsticity. FC Barcelona has over 2 million Facebook fans. The impact of social media on sports is happening faster than anyone has predicted…read more here:

Loyalsticity Blog

In the world of sports, a popular topic these days is how teams and players can connect with their fans using social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter.

Social media is the buzzword.

These technologies provide ways for athletes, coaches, teams and leagues to effectively reach their fan base — as long as they have the right approach. Just like anything else, the key with social media starts with having a goal. That sounds basic, but too many organizations view social media with a checklist mentality.

Teams think, “We have Twitter and Facebook, so now we’re good.” That makes no sense. Simply having a Twitter account means nothing. A team needs to use it in a way that connects the organization and the audience by promoting conversation.

Teams need to use all the tools available to them to put together the best product for the fans and social media provides key ways to do that.

Here are some of the fundamental goals of social media for any team or organization:

Encourage Interaction. The great thing about social media is that it promotes conversation and allows fans to be engaged with the athletes. This does not simply mean that athletes or organizations should use social media to “get our message out there.” That is too basic. And too passive. Just “getting the message out there” is not much different than reading about a game in a newspaper or watching the highlights on TV.

Instead, organizations need to use these outlets as a way to start the conversation. Get fans to interact. Respond to the questions, complaints and criticisms of the fan base and find ways to encourage people to celebrate the successes of the team. That gets people engaged in an online conversation. They feel like they’re part of something. That’s much more powerful than just spreading a message.

Enhanced brand awareness. In the sports world, the brand name associated with certain teams and players is so strong that it basically sells itself. The Chicago Cubs haven’t won a championship in more than a century, but the team still has an incredible fan base. Not every team can be that lucky. Most teams have to work diligently to continually develop their brand name and image to their fans, and social media is an ideal strategy for them.

In the social media age, consumers value the information provided to them by the people they know. A web user is more likely to click on a link from a friend’s Twitter or Facebook post, rather than just finding the link online. This is relevant to sports teams and organizations because if they effectively use the social media outlets, then their fans will share that information with their friends.

RELATED LINKS

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* Twitter Allows Athletes Opportunity For Quick Endorsements
* New York Jets Embracing Twitter
* The “SportsBiz” Guest Blog Winners
* Sports Biz with Darren Rovell

For example, a team may tweet information about a game day promotion. Fans see that information, and quickly share the information with their friends through social media. That is an automatic referral. The fan then becomes a spokesperson for the organization, enhancing the name of the brand. And the best part for the team is that this referral comes at no cost.

Reach fans where they are. Social media is growing and people are using the technology. Ignoring those outlets is a missed opportunity for teams to reach their audience in their realm of communication.

Sports teams and organization are not just in the entertainment business. They are in the relationship business. The idea of developing a fan base is really just about cultivating a relationship. Fans attach themselves to teams and have undeniable loyalty to those organizations. They value that relationship. Teams need to find ways to connect with their loyal fan base, and using social media is a perfect means to do so.

The strategies for how to achieve the goals can vary depending on the organization. Some potential ideas are to use a location-based approach through Twitter to bring fans into a venue, to highlight fan photos and videos through Facebook or YouTube, and to involve Twitter comments during on-air broadcasts of an event.

The key is to promote interaction. Social media allows for communication at an unprecedented level, and the key is for teams to understand the value in interacting with their fans. Teams will certainly continue to wrestle with social media in the next few years, looking for the secret to get the most out of it. But I think the key is all about promoting the conversation and giving fans the chance to take part in the discussion.

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More about today’s Guest Blogger: Garrett Downing is a senior journalism student at Ohio University. He can be reached at gdowning14@me.com
© 2010 CNBC, Inc. All Rights Reserved

    Thanks to the Web, teams now have direct access to their fan bases and can sell tickets, merchandise directly to fans regardless of where the fans live. In addition, team Websites offer efficient channels for sponsors to reach NFL fans at their point of highest passion - inside the favorite team environments. We expect to see more national brands activating their sponsorships on team Websites in 2009.Reaching Sports Fans Beyond the Stadium

Most forward thinking organizations today realize the value of a customer relationship management program to achieve increases in revenue, profitability and customer satisfaction, and today the Internet can provide that avenue to develop and strengthen their customer relationships. Most professional sports teams have not yet taken advantage of the capabilities of the Internet to manage their fan relationships, and my recently released book entitled “Electronic Fan Relationship Management” demonstrates how a professional sports team can successfully use the Internet to manage and develop their fan relationships.

By developing an electronic Fan Relationship Management (e-FRM) program, a professional sports team can develop long term relationships with its fans around the globe. My book establishes that a strong e-FRM program must include a team web site full of interactive features, an email and text messaging fan outreach program and in-game enhancements using the Internet, and if implemented properly fans are more likely to visit a team web site and more likely to attend future games. An aggressive e-FRM program will engage avid sports fans by introducing numerous interactive features on the team web site and will entertain the occasional fan who enjoys participating in games, contests and surveys on the team web site.

Professional sports teams have long assumed that the loyalty levels of their fans were very high and thus these fans were frequently taken for granted. By using information acquired from their fans, personalized electronic fan relationship management (e-FRM) services can be offered enhancing fan value and team profitability. To learn more, below is a link to “Electronic Fan Relationship Management”.

BUY THE BOOK HERE

   JupiterResearch, a leading authority on the impact of the Internet and emerging consumer technologies on business, has found that serious sports fans comprise 19 percent of overall online users and represent one of the most lucrative audiences online. With a tendency to spend more time online, watch more video online, and shop more online, sports sites must integrate the right mix of video and social experiences into their destinations.

Serious sports fans also value local media, with local TV, radio, and newspapers ranking among sports fans’ top six news sources. Local Web sites should not only focus on implementing social media and video features, but should also explore opportunities such as networks of local bloggers, spin-off sites, and local promotion. Here’s their research:

Serious Sports Fans

   There are two basic types of fans: avid fans and occasional fans. The avid fan buys season tickets, attends games, purchases apparel, and follows the team on television and on the Internet. The occasional fan, on the other hand, tends to have fewer loyalties and is attracted to events for their entertainment value.

Experts have found that emotional attachment is a strong predictor of customer satisfaction. The avid fan has the highest emotional attachment to a team and, therefore, the highest level of customer satisfaction. Many avid fans have an intense emotional attachment to their local team. These avid fans are just as likely to identify with their favorite team when they are winning as when they are losing. Occasional fans, however, were more likely to disassociate themselves from a losing team. The challenge of the sports franchise is to increase their fan’s level of emotional attachment so that the close relationships can be maintained in both good and bad times.

The Internet allows a company to determine what type of fan visits their site, which web pages they visit, and how long they stay at each page. Fan surveys can be implemented on a fast and inexpensive basis to learn the opinions of fans. It is ultimately important to understand why these online fans visit a team web site. It is vital to know which web site visitors are the best, most avid fans, which visitors are occasional fans, and which visitors are first-time visitors. By using these tools to understand fan behavior, likes, and dislikes, professional sports teams can develop long-term relationships with their fans; they can increase fan retention which will increase revenue and profits, and they can target new products according to the demands of their fans. e-FRM will also be able to target the occasional fan and develop a relationship that will help transition that occasional fan into a dedicated, loyal, and avid fan. Avid fans will purchase more tickets and merchandise and will bring the sports team higher profits.

BUY THE BOOK HERE

     The European Interactive Advertising Association recently released a study showing that sports fans are twice as likely to use the internet while watching TV than are ‘average’ internet users. Read more at the Online Fandom blog:

Biggest Online Fans are Sports Fans

Pat Coyle of the Indianapolis Colts reports that on the average in the NFL, 57% of “fav team” fans live inside the state where their team plays, and 43% live outside. That’s a huge number of fans that follow their favorite team but must depend on the Internet to receive up-to-date information on their teams.

This number will only grow in the future so forward thinking teams are looking for ways to connect with these fans and develop long term and profitable fan relationships.
Look Beyond the Stadium for Most Fans

The opportunities are endless for sports related social networking sites. In the BusinessWeek article below, business people are taking note of the money that can be made on the Internet tapping into this market.

“Sports-related social networks are among the fastest-growing of these new communities. SkiSpace, for example, has jumped to 10,000 members in the month since it launched. Sports social networking would seem to be a natural since fans are tribal by nature. And if the sports world has taken a while to capitalize on the obvious, that’s changing fast. In the past year pro leagues—including the NBA, NHL, Nascar, and PGA Tour—have opened up their sites, allowing fans to post comments on message boards and create interest groups. Now athletes and teams are taking social networking a step further, establishing communities outside league sites.”

It seems that Electronic Fan Relationships are becoming a reality!

Social Networks That Break a Sweat