How to engage Sports Fans through better Content Marketing in today’s world?

We come across several franchise league events all over the world and India is no different where cricket is the most popular sport has its own product whom we popularly term as “IPL” and following the success of IPL other leagues like ISL, PKL and PBL are also generating viewership among Indian sports fans.

Fans play a very important role in the growth of any franchise and every franchise would need a loyal fan base who are eager to support their favorite team when the time is tough and the best example is Royal Challengers Bangalore they keep on supporting their franchise irrespective of their result as they are among few franchises who failed to win the single title of IPL till date.

Some love this franchise due to ABD and Kohli and now AB has decided to retire from franchise cricket so all the love is towards Virat Kohli but it doesn’t matter what is important that fans are eager to support the franchise.

There are various methods to connect fans and in today’s world digital medium is the best and the mode in which we can engage fans is via content, videos, memes, and Questions and Answers sessions.

Let’s ponder a few methods through which we can double the fan base of any franchise in next 2 years in detail using content marketing strategy:

1. Start thinking like a fan until and unless you are not critical of your work and don’t think like a fan perspective you will not be able to create that content that will sustain with people for a long period of time so any content or story you are designing it is important to create a strong image in your mind that how you want the franchise fans to react when they see your story and the next step is simple you need to generate ideas around that story or content and how the same content can be transported to different social media platforms and convey a different message.

 

2. Hearing a fan’s voice is very important as they invest their time equally as compared to any player who is playing in the middle and in this digital world hearing fan’s voice is not a daunting task at all constantly update some kind of questions on Twitter so that fans can actively reply on it and this process can be adjusted at a pre-game time, post-game time and an actual game time, The second thing which we can implement to engage fans in this digital world is asking them to record a video telling their experience about why they like the certain franchise and what message they have to give to current players of the franchise on a particular email id and try to showcase those videos on certain days of the week on our official video platform.

 

3. Harboring personal touch among fans and their favorite player is an effective way to grow engagement and that personal touch can grow by sharing emotional stories or inspiring stories of that player along with the videos like a sneak-peek into players life or a day at home with a player and his family are the ones which will connect fans with their favorite stars. Events on a monthly basis can be organized where a fan gets an opportunity to interact and meet their favorite star, take selfies and get signed autographs from them and the best example can be the Australian cricket team who invites fans to visit their dressing room and interact with their stars and by doing this it will enhance the bond even further.

 

4. Creating Awesome Video Content: Creating amazing video content is a must for any franchise if they want to grow their fan base which can be done by creating funny videos around a player or live to stream any match or dressing room conversation which is funny and that is something WWE used to do while we are watching the game on TV once a particular match is over the next thing you see dressing room fights or laughter among two which was engaging and you will cherish that if you are an ardent WWE fan and while creating a content we need to make sure that Fans are not consumers they are part of your family and if we simulate personal touch with them in form of digital content or videos.