On May 27th at our weekly online Meetup entitled How to Develop a Digital Strategy Across all Platforms, we had the pleasure of having two experts from the sports digital world, Motasem Elbawab, Head of Digital at FIVB, and Nina Tsimpouli, Director of Content Marketing at Bundesliga. Both panelists touched on the topic of digital strategy within their respective organizations.
The fan journey is going to change drastically in every single aspect, from their journey in the stadium to content production and sports organizations have to be aware of this in order to adapt rapidly and stay relevant in the near future. Fans have become ambassadors of the brands and fans are not only those who are physically in the stadium. There are many fans around the world and the only way a sports organization can reach and engage with them is through digital platforms.
Setting up a strategy for each digital platform
There are different digital platforms that sports organizations can use. Being present on every digital platform does not make you more successful than somebody who is not.
¨You have to do your homework first before launching your own digital channel, you have to figure out the strategy and the content strategy first, and then go from there…¨
Each platform has to be used differently, with a strategy and content strategy for each of them. In order to do so, one has to understand how each platform works and how the audience interacts with it.
¨While setting up your social media strategy, you have to think about the how, what, and why for each platform and then what kind of content you are putting in each of them as there is a different purpose for each platform.¨ – Nina Tsimpouli
Working with your partners for content creation
Organizations like FIVB and Bundesliga have a big ecosystem, from fans to athletes, to sponsors, to broadcasters. Brands are increasingly seeking digital activations and that is only possible if the sports organization has a digital foundation in place. Through digital activations, one can reach a broader audience, interact and engage with them, and gather data from them. Working closely with your partners to create and publish content will create a competitive advantage for all the stakeholders and will lead to achieving common goals.
¨The ecosystem is so vast so it’s very important to work very closely with your media rights team and your sponsorship team to find the best way to optimize your channel and also promote your partners¨ – Motasem Elbawab
Nina shared with us a couple of examples, how the Bundesliga worked very closely with EA Sports to create esports content to reach the younger generation and how UEFA collaborated with the NBA during the Euro2016 Cup to get higher engagement.
How do you measure success?
Through digital marketing one can measure anything. To have a better understanding of what’s working and what is not working it all depends on your business goals. Once you have your business objectives and you have set a series of KPIs, you can take a look at your social media analytics and measure how well you are doing and what is working and what is not.
¨Each platform can provide you with certain information that you can actually direct your strategy towards and it’s a daily work that needs to be done as well…So it’s important that you constantly assign your measurements to your business strategy¨ – Motasem Elbawab
Data tells you more about your audience, who is watching your content, where and for how long. Nina shared with us that through data one can focus not only on new acquisitions but also get to know the current fan much better and offer them a more personalized experience.
¨We are not only focusing on new acquisitions, but also on fans that have been with us for a long time. By looking at data we understand what type of content they consume on our platforms, what they saw and what they would like to see next, and that’s something that we are constantly working with my team.¨
At FIVB, they started collecting fan data to understand who the fans are, where they come from, what they’re doing on its platforms, and how they’re consuming the content on each platform.
¨By setting up the right data architecture we were able to understand a lot of things, from what we’re doing right on our platforms in terms of content, but also what could be improved. So it’s extremely important to constantly look at your data and have a really specific data strategy moving forward¨ – Motasem Elbawab
From a sports organization perspective, by collecting data one can generate different sources of revenue and also offer different experiences for the sponsors. By gathering, and analyzing data, one can segment the content and segment the experiences in different ways. Gather data, analyze it, and adapt your strategy based on the results.
Embarking on your digital journey
For a sports organization to shift into the digital world it is not only a process but a mindset. The people who will be involved in the process need to be educated about digital. Mota and Nina shared with us some suggestions for sports organizations to embark on their digital journey. One has to start by looking at what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong, then writing a roadmap focused on the long term vision, looking at what assets the organization has, and making sure that the people working within your department know what the goals are and how to get there.
How is your organization approaching its digital transformation journey during this period? Where are you in your journey? Want to find out? Get in touch with us at digital@n3xtsports.com to find out more about some of our turnkey digital transformation projects, including a digital readiness assessment that can set you on your path.
If you were not able to make it to our online session, you can watch it here, also we would like to invite you to subscribe to our newsletter, and follow us on Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook to stay up to date with any N3XT Sports news.