Digital and Social Media Sports
A business-minded look at digital and social media in sports
The National Hockey League recently developed a mobile application in partnership with Neulion to make available for customization and use by its clubs. Many have signed on and here is a non-exhaustive look at a few and some thoughts.
Posted by Neil Horowitz
This past week, the 2013 Minor League Baseball Promotions Seminar was held in Louisville, Kentucky, where some creative ideas were shared from some of the acclaimed minds throughout the minor league baseball world. View some of the best tweets and ideas shared in the presentation below.
Some key takeaways:
Posted by Neil Horowitz
I recently put together a deck of some fantastic insights, stats, and observations from the world of marketing shared at Exact Target’s #ET13 conference (click here to view the post), and there is a lot to be learned from these findings for sports marketers, especially those working in digital and social media. This is part 1 of 2 in which I allude to some of the ideas and notions to be considered in light of these learnings.
62% of marketers have personalization on their short list for 2013.
The notion of “personalization” in marketing can come in many forms and can be informed in a variety of ways. It’s based primarily around using data collected from stated preferences, intentional actions, content consumption, and past purchases to provide a customized experience. Some ways this applies to digital and social media in sports include:
76% of a large retailer’s audience opened their emails on mobile at least once.
45% of emails are opened on mobile devices.
For emails: click-through rate averages 13% on mobile, but 25% on desktop.
This data confirms what many marketers have long suspected – that the use of mobile is on the rise and more and more individuals are continually checking messages, and opening emails, on their mobile devices. (Also notable is that Gmail’s tabs do not exist on its mobile email service at this time]. Having content that has responsive design built in or is optimized [at least functional!] for use on a mobile device is a virtual necessity these days.
Many also assume just having their emails themselves optimized for mobile is enough without providing content linked to a mobile-ready website. It is also important to note the degree of social media [especially Facebook] usage via mobile.
The click-through rate statistic is interesting and suggests longer engagement (clicking) is done on desktop computers and/or users suspect the content is not mobile-friendly. Experimentation to check one’s audience is the best ‘fix’ here. It may be as simple as explicitly noting in the email that the link is mobile-friendly content. Just make sure it is!
Cross-channel isn’t about cannibalizing [other channels]. It’s about meeting customers on their terms.
This isn’t a telling statistic, but a compelling, provocative statement that certainly applies to sports marketers in the digital and social [and traditional] media space. Many sports teams operate in fragmented silos, which seems nutty when one notes that all departments – from those buying radio ads to those doing email newsletters to the ticket service reps and, of course, the social media team, are all trying to accomplish the same goals; namely make the organization money, through ticket sales, sponsorships, and merchandise sales. What does this mean, then?
Email does not cannibalize social media nor does social media cannibalize PPC ads – they can all work together! Some fans may engage across all channels, others may be sporadic, and many channels will succeed through synergy, leading to a sale while working in harmony; e.g. content is discovered on social media, leads to a website visit, leads to an e-newsletter sign-up or cookie being placed, leads to a PPC ad click or return to the site, leads to a sale.
Every channel is a player on the same team so take a cue from coach and win one for all!
You are 100x more likely to close a sale if you talk to a prospect within 5 minutes of inquiry first being submitted.
This finding is to be taken with a grain of salt, as lead to conversion time can vary greatly across industries, with some business-to-consumer transactions taking place within minutes of discovery and others, especially business-to-business sales, requiring weeks, if not months, of research before a sale is closed.
Many sports marketers, though, have taken this mindset to heart and there is a growing presence of ways for fans [and prospective ticket buyers] to get answers more quickly to their questions. Some teams have facilitated this better than others, but some examples that are out there and others to consider include:
Regardless of industry and infrastructure, this data point is not to be ignored. When prospects are looking, their willingness to pull the trigger is clearly higher and any way to quash objections before they become an issue will most certainly increase the chances of closing a sale.
On average, people receive 416 promotional emails per month.
This astounding statistic should get the attention of any digital marketer, regardless of industry. There is more competition for the inbox than ever (as widespread as social media has become, email is still the most direct route to the fan and prospective buyer). However, users and email providers themselves are starting to more intentionally filter out, ignore, or otherwise segregate these promotional emails (416 monthly promo emails means almost 14/day, not taking into account slower weekend days). What can a digital and social media marketer do with this information besides throw up their hands and hope their email isn’t thrown into the Gmail ‘Promotions’ tab? Follow the increasingly popularized trend of blurring the lines between what is promotional and what is useful, desired content. Are users checking their email so many times every day to look for the latest offers? From retailers, perhaps, but not necessarily from their favorite teams.
Serving fans useful content will create a stronger connection, get them more personally engaged and invested, and, when [team, not promotional] content is linked to via social media and email, users can be exposed to promotions, in-house ads, and offers when and where the desired content is being consumed. Give fans a reason to walk in the store, win them over, then work on the sale once they are comfortably inside. Unless you like your chances going up against the 415 other promotional emails infiltrating inboxes each month.
A lot of digital and social media sports marketers are stuck doing things the same ways the industry has been doing them for years, ignoring data as belonging to irrelevant industries or unlike fan/customer bases or not significant enough to be actionable. We’re becoming an increasingly data-driven society and sports is no exception, on and off the field. It’s time to stop pretending we know what fans want it, let their voice and their actions [and the data recording such actions] lead the way.
Look out for part two of this post with more stats and insights for digital and social media sports marketers.
Share your suggestions and takeaways in the comments to help everyone learn more, too!
Posted by Neil Horowitz
Several experts, businesses, and vendors came together at digital marketing solutions company Exact Target’s national conference, where there was a lot of great observations, stats, and insights shared via Twitter, including keynotes from such icons as Walter Isaacson, Jay Baer, and Condoleezza Rice.
CHECK OUT A TWITTER RECAP AND SEE MY FAVORITES NOTES AND INSIGHTS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST!
– 62% of marketers have personalization on their short list for 2013. (Forrester Research)
– 76% of a large retailer’s audience opened their emails on mobile at least once.
– For emails: click-through rate averages 13% on mobile, but 25% on desktop.
– When Warby Parker cannot answer a tweeted question in 140 characters, they record a YouTube video and tweet a link to it.
– Cross-channel isn’t about cannibalizing [other channels]. It’s about meeting customers on their terms.
-Top 10 elements to test in email optimization:
Images off rendering, Pre-header, Responsive design, Daypart, Images, Image placement, Ratings/Reviews, Browse Abandon, Email Sign-up popup, Video
– Buyers don’t care about your products & features – target messages to their pains and challenges. Sales can be a great resource to uncover those.
– You are 100x more likely to close a sale if you talk to a prospect within 5 minutes of inquiry first being submitted.
– CareerBuilder saw a 21-25% increase in click-through rates after implementing responsive design email templates.
– Understand what is in the box before thinking outside of it. Creativity without knowledge without knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
– There are 25 pre-installed apps on iPhone, 21 on iPad, 30 on Windows phones.
– Tablets and smart phones have longer video viewing time than desktop.
– Only half of gmail users are using an environment that has gmail tabs.
– 7 out of 10 mobile consumers will delete an email if it is not optimized for mobile.
– Proprietary audience development is now a core marketing responsibility.
– On average, people receive 416 promotional emails per month.
– Mobile coupons drive 10x the redemption rate of traditional coupons.
– The average open rate of SMS and MMS promotions/offers is 98%
– 2010: the average American consumer needed 5.3 sources to make a decision.
2011: 10.4 sources.
– 45% of emails are opened on mobile devices.
– Which is more buyer-focused: a buyers’ guide or vendor comparison guide? Think like a buyer!
– 75% of mobile users are more likely to take an action after seeing a location-specific message.
– High effort content converts the best, but low content effort is distributed the best.
– Only 1.7% of people want to read a whitepaper over 5 pages.
– Taco Bell sells more tacos when it’s 60 degrees or more, thus increasing media spend accordingly. Let data drive your decisions.
– The CMO should be the interface between the customer and the company.
– Personalized ads convert almost 80-100% higher than traditional.
– Every 12 minutes: 2 million tweets, 10 million Facebook posts, 5 million Bazaarvoice reviews read by online shoppers.
– The real value of email is the data it produces.
– Not all insights are actionable. Not all data is insightful.
– “Lead with a sense of optimism, don’t go in with an attitude that things are bad. You need to look forward, not back.” – Condoleezza Rice
Posted by Neil Horowitz
Check out some snippets of our podcast featuring Senior Writer and Social Media Director for SportTechie, Taylor Bloom.
Click here to listen to the full episode or check it out and subscribe in iTunes.
Listen to episode 3 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast, featuring Taylor Bloom of SportTechie, a widely recognized blog on the use of technology in sports.
45 minute duration. Show format contains separate parts. Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes
Posted by Neil Horowitz
Follow me on Twitter @njh287 Connect on LinkedIn
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Posted by Neil Horowitz
Overall observations:
ScoreCenter: This mobile app is great for those most interested in the game and the teams itself – the stats and the highlights and the objective happenings of the game, with some integration of social media and “outsider” perspective and news
SportStream: This app’s versatility [web and mobile] is notable as its unique ability to personalize and contextualize the game experience. While it has some bugs and does not provide nearly the stats and media that ScoreCenter does, it allows for more content from fans, media, etc. The future potential of integrating fan photos more is big, too.
Tagboard: This is currently a web app only, but a mobile app is supposed to be coming soon [though many teams and services integrate Tagboard into their mobile apps/experiences]. While this may have the aesthetics and extensive reach of social networks, it lacks the sophisticated technology to go beyond tracking a single hash tag, that the user must select, at this time.
WHICH IS THE BEST? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Posted by Neil Horowitz
Check out some snippets of our podcast featuring University of Miami Assistant Athletic Director for Communications Chris Yandle. Click here to listen to the full episode or check it out and subscribe in iTunes.
Listen to episode 2 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast, featuring Chris Yandle, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications with the University of Miami Athletics
1 hour, 3 minute duration. Show format contains separate parts. Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes
Podcast: Play in new window | Download