With the rise of social media in our everyday lives there’s been a huge shift in the way we consume content and a huge shift in the kind of content we want to see.
Last Summer Forbes magazine reported that a YouTuber going by the name ‘PewDiePie’ is earning $4m per year uploading highlights of playing video games and talking over them.
Congratulations to @pewdiepie for winning the Shorty Award for #Gamer! http://t.co/QAd4XruFEc #ShortyAwards pic.twitter.com/LMPHny5Rqo
— Shorty Awards (@shortyawards) April 21, 2015
If you’ve ever seen one of these videos you might quickly realise they aren’t your cup of tea but obviously people are consuming his brand of tea by the gallon. There’s a real shift in the balance of content creation. It’s no longer made for fans; fans make it. How does this kind of trend transfer to other industries such as sport? Well it’s all perfectly transferable because it all comes down to personality. Factual information about sports, and football specifically, are now absorbed by the nation almost instantaneously. Sometimes I ask myself what comes first, the goal or the tweet telling you about the goal? What fans are looking for now are authentic opinions, action behind the scenes and second screen supplementing information. We don’t need to know what is happening on the pitch because everyone can see that for himself or herself. In our work creating content for the CelticLIVE app we try to provide all of that at once in a live environment, covering the highs and lows of Celtic Football Club every matchday. We also want to tell stories not found in independent news sources but dear to the heart of football fans and Celtic fans in particular, like our recent video interviews with volunteers about fan led food donations to local food banks.
Last night on the CelticLIVE app. Get involved! iOS: http://t.co/U5UMViFw51 Android: http://t.co/P55Y6VOyhx pic.twitter.com/XE9H4mRUZH
— CelticLIVE (@Celtic_LIVE) April 23, 2015
It’s about giving football fans a platform to let themselves be heard and take part in evolving stories around a football club or in other areas like well-loved every day brands and companies.
Sponsored content of this type sees more engagement than generic advertising or product placement. If advertisers work with and trust the content creators then campaigns can be delivered that are to the benefit of all, from the brand gaining exposure to the viewers or fans gaining a new experience around their favourite hobby.
The revolution will not be televised, as a famous song once said. It’ll be on social media.
By John McGinley
