The following is a general recommendation and rationale for those wishing to use Social Media for their sports group or organisation. The article is broken into three sections:
- What is social media?
- Why Facebook should be homeground.
- How to build your crowd with Facebook
What is social media?
What do people mean when they say: Social Media? It’s one of those things that everyone nods their heads about but most people are a little confused over. And there’s a good reason for that. Let’s ask Google…
166 Million results (in .12 sec)
166 Million Results! There’s your problem. ‘Social Media’ is a very broad term with a massive number of definitions. But primarily, what people refer to when they say social media is the big social media players: The social media networks.
Youtube, Flickr, Linked in, Facebook and Twitter: these are all social media networks. They allow instant multiple connections to take place between individuals and enterprises. The two most recognised networks are Facebook and Twitter.
TWITTER: SPECIFIC SUBJECTS OF INTEREST
So what does Twitter do? Twitter facilitates conversations, often around specific subjects of interest – like sports teams and players. Sports players are tweeting to fans before, during and after matches. No reason why you can’t get that down at the local level. Examples of other subjects of interest discussed on Twitter: – Masterchef or cooking, TV shows, Wikileaks…Anything. Twitter can be very useful for starting and continuing conversations.
Now in the spirit of interactivity, let’s get a ‘Hands up’ who has heard of Facebook? Everyone. That’s why today we’ll focus on Facebook as it’s the biggest social network by a country mile.
FACEBOOK: BROAD SOCIABILITY
Global number of people on Facebook: 750 MILLION
Australia number of people on Facebook: 10.4 MILLION
Facebook facilitates broad sociability, broad social connections. It’s actually an excellent tool for INCLUSION. It’s a highly targeted way to connect with people wherever you are, whom-ever you are. Both Twitter and Facebook allow ALL people to communicate in real time, regardless of traditional barriers such as, language, sex, age, religion, social status and of course physical barriers like country borders and disability. Twitter is very influential, but Facebook has more reach than Twitter. It allows interaction and connection with others based on real world social networks, personality and personal interests…like Sport.
B. Why Facebook should be homeground.
So aside from the large numbers, why would your sports group want to be on Facebook? That’s simple. It comes down to one word:
PASSION!
People get involved in clubs and sports because they really do love it – more than anything except perhaps religion – and in Melbourne – that’s a very grey line! People love to interact, to work as a team; to compete and support their team members, to help out the community and to socialise. Facebook really is a perfect fit for the sector and you’ll find passionate people for every conceivable sport here.
WHY FACEBOOK? PEOPLE WANT TO CONNECT WITH YOU RIGHT NOW!
You should make Facebook your home-ground because people who love your sport are there and they WANT to connect with you. But how do you tap into that vast well of passion?
3. How to build your crowd with Facebook
Imagine Facebook as 7500 packed MCGs*. Your own corporate box here is what’s called a Facebook Page. But unlike a corporate box, it’s open access for all people who are interested in exactly what you do and say and becoming part of it. That suits the idea of inclusion. So you can build your crowd and build your brand using a Facebook Page.
But that’s just the start of the game. The biggest mistake all brands, organisations or businesses make is setting up a presence with a Facebook page and then doing nothing with it or not knowing what to do. So if you start a Facebook page you need to have a strategy. You need to know why you are there and what you want to do.
YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE: A PLACE FOR INFO AND INTERACTION
latest results
formation of new player groups
replacement players at short notice
call out for volunteers
promotions, sales & snap sales
videos and photos
talk with the crowd about upcoming events, community issues
use the crowd to generate ideas on anything
A Facebook page is made for relaying info and for ongoing dialogue with the crowd – so use it that way. Events, promos, conversation, ideas and more - it can all happen here. Aside from your own administrators, you can also find volunteers from the crowd to help with your Facebook page. We call them Brand Advocates and they are your official unofficial helpers.
Building on the ‘volunteering’ appeal in the sports sector which is driven by the core passion, all clubs should be in a position to find that dedicated person or people to become the other voice of the organisation. Your goal should be to find your Brand Advocates either before you begin your Fan page or as one of your first objectives once on Facebook. They can be a constant voice of the brand; keep live stats on a game and update the page accordingly, talk about upcoming events, community issues, call out for ideas on anything, even put up advertisements. Brand advocates are unpaid so remember to reward them in other ways to keep them incentivised.
FACEBOOK PAGE VALUE SUMMARY:
Find brand advocates and volunteers
Provide business or product info
Interact & monitor in real time
Strengthen the community
Formulate & execute ideas
Deal with negatives
Build relationships, trust and authority
Connect with other sports groups
Create Lobby groups
So let’s summarise the value of Facebook to you. You can connect with volunteers, get more people through the door, grow your brand, become recognized as a valuable part of the community, offer people hope, self-esteem, fitness and reward. Facebook can help you with all that. And if you’re frustrated at the system, this is the way to begin forming a new system, maybe even a powerful lobby of connected sports groups, driven by the people.
Facebook is just the start and it's important to promote your digital presence with a real world marketing effort. Further, there are many other networks you could use and leverage as support to build your brand and promote the social good.
*the MCG is short for the Melbourne Cricket Ground and it's a huge stadium in Melbourne Australia that packs in about 100 000 people at its most excited moments, usually AFL Grand Finals!
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