Five Social Media Strategies Every Sports Management Professional Should Know About
- Go to Live Events
- Build Up Expectations
- Stay on Target
- Stay Active
- Weave a Narrative
When it comes to pursuing a sports management career, there are a few strategies for building an audience that can help any professional increase his or her chances of success. In order to sustain the momentum of any social media campaign, it’s necessary to understand the dynamics of online engagement in the sports media world. Sports fans belong to a culture with a tradition that goes back many generations. They expect to be surprised and delighted with new ideas that are rooted in the traditions of their beloved sports.
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1. Go to Live Events
The most important rule for building an online following is to offer your audience captivating visual content, such as images and videos captured at live events. As a sports management professional, you should have access to all the sporting events you may need to fill your social media profiles with engaging images and videos. There isn’t really any secret to taking pictures of sporting events that look appealing to audiences. Pictures and videos of players in action, as well as fans in the stadium, are ideal examples of engaging content. Highlight reels and clips of extraordinary moves can inspire your followers to like and share your content with excitement and enthusiasm.
2. Build Up Expectations
Several days before an important sports event, you can build audience excitement by creating anticipation or drama surrounding the teams or athletes. This strategy works best when you can deliver on the build-up with a dramatic conclusion, such as a hotly contested match between bitter rivals or the return of a star after recovering from an injury. There isn’t a lot of risk involved in this strategy because your followers will be motivated to feel excited about their teams. The payoff for the anticipation will be provided by the players, so your only job will be to remind your followers about it.
3. Stay on Target
Set manageable goals for yourself so that you can easily keep track of them and follow through with your plans. If you want to increase your social media following a little each month, use an analytics service such as Followerwonk, ViralWoot or Google Analytics. According to Buffer, these services can help you understand the strengths and weaknesses of your social media campaign so that you can make improvements where necessary. By staying focused on your target and publishing content regularly, you will steadily increase your following and raise your online status.
4. Stay Active
Staying active online is one of the most important strategies for maintaining a robust social media presence. Your followers will be much more engaged with your content if you use your social media profiles for personal and professional activity. By mixing your personal and professional interests online, you can express your personality throughout the year, including the off-season. It’s always important to remember not to publish comments that could reflect badly on your employer or coworkers.
5. Weave a Narrative
A sports season provides the perfect opportunity to create a narrative about the team you promote. Fans value team narratives because they put events into context and serve to build up anticipation for important games. It’s best to keep your narrative simple. Try creating one about an underdog team or a championship contender seeking the top prize.
Social media is one of the most important tools for any ambitious sports management professional. By frequently publishing high-quality content, you can keep your audience engaged throughout the year.
