How Personalisation Can Help You Win at Digital Sports Marketing

 

 Advancements in technology during the last decade have transformed how the sports industry engages with fans. We look at how things have changed and how personalization can help you win the race.

Keeping fans engaged is the key to success for any digital sports marketing agency, but it requires plenty of work to ensure long-term success is achieved.

Personalization has become a buzzword in marketing circles in recent years and is a hugely important element of marketing in sports.

In simple terms, personalizing the user experience on digital channels keeps fans engaged with brands and builds loyalty.

With that in mind, read on as we take a closer look at personalization and assess some of the key elements that contribute to successful marketing in sports.

Laying the foundations for personalization

Tailoring content on websites and apps to suit a user’s individual needs is the key to ensuring that marketing activities deliver tangible results.

By using the analytical tools on various digital platforms, sports organizations can gain in-depth insights into which content builds the biggest engagement with fans.

This allows them not only to tailor their future content more accurately but also provides a platform for advertisements to be personalized more effectively.

While personalization is the primary driver behind engagement, it requires plenty of time, effort, and resources to deliver the right content.

Keeping fans engaged

We have established that personalization can boost engagement, although understanding how that manifests itself on a daily basis is no easy task.

Fans expect to see the latest news and updates from sports organizations, but it is the supporting content that provides the personal touch to them.

Building communities through social media pages, podcasts and the provision of exclusive content is among the ways sports organizations can personalize their output.

Personalization can also be delivered by the players on teams – those that are prepared to offer a window into themselves are the ones who help organizations build fan engagement.

Maintaining trust with fans

Regardless of which sport is being marketed, it is essential for organizations to maintain a level of trust with fans if they want to keep them engaged.

A good example of an organization failing to understand what makes its fans tick is the Elite Ice Hockey League club Glasgow Clan.

The club has built up a loyal fanbase over the past decade but has increasingly taken that support for granted in recent times.

Club bosses have been accused of focusing on ‘selling’ rather than engaging, creating a dangerous level of animosity amongst many Clan fans.

The club’s social media channels are largely dominated by posts about tickets and merchandise while supporting content designed to keep fans engaged is virtually non-existent.

Having failed to listen to fan concerns, the issues were magnified when the club recently announced the signing of a player with a questionable background.

The pile-on from fans via the Clan’s digital media channels was far more brutal than may have been the case had previous engagement levels been where they should have been.

The secret to successful digital marketing according to Total Sports, a sports marketing agency, is building and maintaining trust – a factor that Clan had already lost sight of prior to the signing controversy.

While questions would still have been asked about the player’s suitability, the fall-out may have been less severe had the club not already neglected the importance of fan engagement.

The club’s subsequent failure to rectify the matter by taking decisive action against the individuals involved in the signing inflamed the situation even further.

By keeping fans onside through personalization and engagement, sports organizations give themselves a better chance of maintaining a positive vibe, even through tough periods.

Michael Cage