Wednesday was D-Day in Brighton as Digital Sport and SportEgo.ie presented #FECBrighton, a conference bringing together some of the most engaging speakers on the subject of fan engagement for a day of chat, insights and thoughts about the future.
In such an important area of the digital side of the sporting world, it’s important to get all of the ideas you can in order to best engage your fans. Here are five things we learned from the conference.
Fan engagement is an area sports clubs are still trying to get right
There are plenty of digital media areas that professional sports teams around the world do right, that’s for sure. From new kit launches to in-game infographics and Social Media promotions, clubs are finding more and more ways to engage with their fans. But for every three good news stories there is a bad one. Many clubs (especially the smaller ones) don’t use their digital channels to engage with their fanbase properly. It’s not a black mark, by any means, but it’s certainly something more clubs need to be aware of.
Clubs need to do more to protect their fans’ data
.@snackmedia CEO @Topspur_Niall talks about the current issues with Apps #FECBrighton pic.twitter.com/q9LKXbHfTZ
— Digital Sport (@DigitalSportUK) July 5, 2017
At the moment, many sports clubs are using the way they communicate with fans (including on Social Media) in quite a ‘laissez faire’ way. But with the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into effect next May, clubs need to ensure they have procedures in place for handling their fans’ data – especially if they want to continue to build the trust which has grown from day one between them and their supporters.
Professional sports clubs in America are setting the benchmark on fan engagement
Whether it’s the glitzy lights of the NFL, NBA or MLB – or even the lower stages of the sporting pyramid, such as Minor League Baseball – American Clubs seemingly have a never-ending pool of ideas when it comes to creating engaging content to keep their fans engaged 365 days a year. For the record, digital marketing and social media strategist Jeramie McPeek believes that when it comes to social media & fan engagement in the States, no-one does it like the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings.
.@Jeramie gives props to the @Vikings – "They have the best Social Media right now in the @NFL"! Quite the compliment #FECBrighton pic.twitter.com/iFLRgj28TQ
— Digital Sport (@DigitalSportUK) July 5, 2017
We are only just scratching the surface of eSports
There may be more and more coverage of eSports in mainstream media, but the scale of untapped potential in the sport could fill the AMEX Stadium ten times over.
Sure, professional eSports teams are now a regular thing within the industry, but who is the governing body that looks after them? Should there even be an overarching governing body for eSports rather than one for each game (as Mike Craddock, CEO of Kairos Media, said, “You wouldn’t have one Governing Body for ALL sport, would you?”). Who is looking after the welfare of the athletes? Should eSports be left to develop on their own, rather than major sports clubs trying to ‘latch on’ to professional gamers and sign them up as an official squad member? And what about the grassroots level of the industry? Jonny Madill from Sheridans Sports believes that “Grassroots e-gaming/eSports is a HUGELY overlooked area”.
Lots of questions, not all of which could be answered in a truly enthralling session in Brighton.
Jon Burkhart is still BALLSY…even without his balls!
It's been a whirlwind session from @jonburkhart but what a way to end #FECBrighton ! Thanks to him & all those who joined us during the day pic.twitter.com/xkNUVk0cGl
— Digital Sport (@DigitalSportUK) July 5, 2017
The award-winning speaker may not have had his trademark Nerf Guns and balls to interact with FECBrighton, but he is still the master of delivering an enthralling talk on digital content. Ironically, he had nothing to worry about with those in attendance as his guide to ‘How to Get Fans to Incessantly Crave Your Content’ had us all hooked and engaged from the moment he stood up in front of us. From his ‘three ‘C’s of BALLSY Content’ to his (currently unfinished) ‘A-Z of Constant Curiosity’ he is still the ‘go-to guru’ on fan engagement.
