Why Sports Teams have increased Their Communication on Social Media

When you scroll down on your Facebook account, you may see posts from your favourite sports team. How they found out that you were one of their fans could be through searches that you made online. But it doesn’t really matter because you surely won’t mind seeing more of your team’s success, every time you look at your Facebook or Instagram accounts. Why are sports teams so present, these days, on social media? Here are a few reasons that explain it.

To sell More Tickets and Teams Shirts

Sports teams make lots of money. However, they always need more, if they want to be able to hire the best players, as salaries keep rising for superstars. Their sources of revenues are diverse, but ticket sales and broadcasting rights are the most important ones. Then, you have the pro boutique selling shirts, cups and other promotional items with the logo of the team, which also brings in its fair share of revenues.

When they place their messages on social media, they pay for the original advertising cost, but they get is much more in return. That is because fans share their posts to their online friends, who then share it to theirs, etc. For a sports team, that is precisely what they need to make sure that their stadium is full and that all their fans wear a shirt with the team’s crest on it. In fact, this online communication is so important to them that they hire specialists like Samba Digital to handle it. After all, communication is an art best left to those who have perfected it.

To talk to Their Fans

Although social media are used to advertise as well, its first objective is to communicate. No other advertising tool offers that capacity. And so, sports team use social media to talk to their fans. It brings them the latest news on players (stats, records, arrival of a new born,…), the standings of the league that they play in, or their plan for next season. Instead of using a press release, social media have given them the possibility to communicate directly with their fans, which creates a more personal approach, bringing fans and teams even closer than before.

Small Teams have the Same Opportunities as Richer Ones

On social media, it doesn’t matter if your team plays in a smaller market, or if it has a shorter history than others. You can reach the same people and have some of your messages grow exponentially, thanks to fans sharing them with other people. Online, it doesn’t matter who you are (personal or professional): If you create great content, it will be shared. That is why so many small teams are investing their time heavily on creating good content for their social media accounts. It is certainly a playing field where they can compete with the strongest in their category and even win over them, every once in a while. Especially if they call upon the services of specialists in community management, like Samba Digital.

The Complete Source of Information

Social media can now be considered the center piece of communication for sports team. It can direct the fans to the information that they are looking for, by linking their account to the team’s website as well as the league. They can also provide the time, date and name of the TV station that will be broadcasting the next game, so fans know where to go to watch it. They can even link to other sports source, such as magazines, TV sports shows or even the news, whenever something is written or discussed about them. Naturally, the more the fans are getting informed, the greater the possibility that they’ll be into their team, even more.

Creates a Stronger Fanbase Community

This is one of the strongest results that social media gets for a team. On posts that are shared by the organisation, you will always find many comments below them. That is because fans love to exchange their own views with others. They talk about how the team is doing, if they should go for a trade and who should be involved. This is also where they vent, when they are not happy about a decision that the coach made or the general manager. When a big victory comes along, this is where they go to celebrate with other fans, simply by placing in a few words of their own in the comment section. Community management is a big part of the work done by sports agency for the teams that they work for.

Enables the Team to control the Message

Before, the news that came from a team, were only controlled by the media. These days, the organisation can place posts online, in order to control the way this information reaches its public. This can make a large difference between angry fans and understanding ones. In the end, this is still about money, because unhappy fans don’t buy tickets or team sweaters.