How sport organizations can benefit from social media
- Increasing the fan base for this industry and organization
- Ease in following games and related events
- New advertising strategies, sales and promotions techniques in a new market
- Communicate with the fans/supporters to gain more popularity
- Feedback from fans on questions, save money on focus groups
- Reach out to new audiences
References: http://nationalsportsandentertainment.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/benefits-of-social-media-in-sports
http://www.jasonfpeck.com/2009/04/23/10-reasons-why-sports-organizations-should-use-twitter
What it means to own your online community
By creating a branded community around your sports segment, you create a dialogue between your fans, players and other sports enthusiasts. They can create accounts on your site, invite friends, connect with each to increase loyalties to the sport and the game. Organizations use this community site to gain a better understanding of their audience and retain needed feedback. The bigger the community the larger the oppoturnity to get online sponsorship and sell advertising.
Benefiting from owning your online community
- Ownership of media libraries vs. Facebook where they own assets on the site
- Stakeholders communicate and collaborate directly to build deeper connections.. (fans and supporters can create focus groups, organized events, blog and rally, participate in interactive virtual online games, share photos, post videos such as real time score tracking, and organizations can communicate with them through these mediums to gain a better insight)
- Owning advertising space that becomes increasingly valuable as the community grows
- Selling products / services and promotional goods.. with a vibrant community this accelerates sales growth because your community members can recommend your products to each other.
- Ticketed events - multiple bookings online and in advance
- Charge members (optional)
- Increase sponsorship opportunities as more fans/supporters visit team and organization’s corporate websites through their community page
References:
http://nationalsportsandentertainment.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/benefits-of-social-media-in-sports
http://www.jasonfpeck.com/2009/04/23/10-reasons-why-sports-organizations-should-use-twitter
Use facebook & Twitter as channels.. own your community & data
Facebook and Twitter act primarily as marketing channels and not as publishing tools, where the ownership of your data, your photos, events, profile information of members and anything else you publish using their platform is theirs.
zeedna on the other hand gives you the ability to own and manage your own community and data, facilitating interaction with your community under your brand. Unlike user data posted on Facebook and Twitter, zeedna allows you through using analytics, to analyze this information on the backend, understand community behavior, keep up with the number of fans, and create more targeted messages for them. In addition to owning the content, you own and sell advertising space on your community page.
Build your community on zeedna and combine it with the strength of the existing networks on Facebook and Twitter to maximize your reach.
Case study
Golf T Times
Golf T Times.com was launched in September 2010 through zeedna, with the aim of changing the way golf t times was searched for, viewed and booked in real-time. Through this website, you get a chance to choose what course in the UAE you wish to play in, view available slots and book instantly on the calendar to guarantee your place even months in advance.
This zeedna ticketed event module allows golf fans to explore this option and enjoy the ease of booking from the comfort of their homes. Search the courses and add your bookings to the cart now!
