Think content, not ads
For today’s fan, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok are go-to place for team news, the latest scores and club and player-related content. That makes them a brilliant place for brands to engage sports audiences at scale.
Given the density of content on these channels, however, the challenge for marketers is creating enough content fans want to see, engage with and possibly share. Every time a fan refreshes their feed is a chance to connect, and yet sport is ever-changing; what catches fan attention now will be old news in an hour.
Brands need to keep content relevant and targeted for it to land.
Stop the scroll
Engaging fans on social isn’t really about trying to sell your products. It’s about brand and product exposure and adding value to the fan experience in a memorable way.
We see the best results across our client base when brands run authentic content that relates to what’s happening on the field, with campaigns driven by live sports data.
Data points like live scores and game countdown clocks add context to your messaging and creative, leading to greater engagement and click-through rates by ensuring you fans have a reason to stop scrolling.
Across all social channels, data-driven content works best in video formats. Video is what fans are accustomed to seeing and engage with for longest.
When we worked with Domino’s Pizza, video ads increased viewing rates by 120% and website orders by 88%. For Oreo, they increased CTR by 165x.
Create meaningful moments
Touchdowns, buzzer beaters and line-up announcements are high-octane moments that spark fan emotion, giving brands a powerful opportunity to build memory structures. And if you’re not using live sports data to contextually trigger ad delivery as they occur, you’re missing out.
Such is the impact, Twitter reports that when fans follow Twitter and TV together, brand engagement rises by 31% and memorability grows by 35%. Impressive stuff.
The proof is in the sports-centric Facebook and Instagram campaign we ran for Heineken, an official sponsor of the UEFA European Championship soccer tournament: 2x higher brand association and a 1.8x return on ad spend (ROAS).
Automate creative production
To succeed on social, you need to treat every sports fixture as its own campaign. The smartest brands tailor their content to what’s happening in real-time. But without the right tech, it’s tricky to create assets at the required frequency. You’ll either run out of time or have to hire designers specifically for this task.
This makes it a no brainer to automate some of the creative production process – like many brands do using our software. For example, Heineken, Mondelez and PlayStation login to create data-driven content and adapt it at scale – covering every eventuality – without having to go back to their agencies or design teams with every change.
The end result? You can easily serve localized sports-centric ads to fans in one region, and a second set of ads to fans in another.
