Sports and social media go hand in hand. During a sporting event, we see spikes in Twitter activity, increased Facebook chatter, and a change in Instagram hashtags being used, just to name a few. Newer social media tools are all about creating an emotional connection, especially through visuals, and these must be addressed in your overall marketing strategy. Get your sports brand in the conversation by employing the following tactics:

Tweet Everything

Everything is “fair game” in sports, just be sure to use common sense. Tweet often and include specific and related (shortened) links to your brand’s content in your tweets. Don’t make your engagement on this platform (or any platform for that matter) appear automated. You can pre-schedule tweets and still preserve the human quality in the message. Be creative and remember that you only have 140 characters for each message.

Instagram for the Slam & Pin for the Win (2 for 1)

Instagram – 8 (Photo credit: BrentOzar)

Photos are the thing right now and I don’t see that changing anytime soon, which is great because sporty things are best when captured on visual mediums. Sports move quickly, and Instagram is great for keeping up with your brand’s movements. Take photos of your brand’s assets in everyday candid situations or coordinate professional shots of your players and coaches. Instagram is versatile and is a great way for images from your sports brand to go viral.

Pinterest is excellent for organizing your visual content. Create boards for specific product lines and events. Remember to drive traffic back to your site (especially product or player pages) by making sure your images are linked to specific URLs.

YouTube to Show Moments in Time

Video appeals to the most senses and is the best medium for connecting with the emotions of your fans. Post highlights from games. Take your fans behind the scenes of a commercial shoot. Be sure to thoroughly tag your videos for improved search quality. YouTube.com is the second largest search engine in the world, so don’t sleep on this strategy.

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Facebook for Building Community

Show the human side of your sports brand on Facebook. Don’t focus on selling. This is where you nurture relationships with your fans. Post photos of your team doing work in your community. Have your fans submit video testimonials and post them on your fan page. For personal interaction, keep your eye on your page’s inbox in case somebody sends you a message about a concern or opportunity.

Google+ for Capturing and Distributing Rich Content

Google Hangout On Youtube (Photo credit: ByronNewMedia)

Create a show for your sports brand with Hangouts On Air. This is an innovative way to have live interaction with your community while producing content for your YouTube channel.

Take the time to segment your community into circles. Team members should go in one circle. Fans should go in another circle. If your sports brand is global, organize your circles geographically. Keep the content you push to specific circles focused on the specific interest of its members. Offer exclusive content to specific circles and remind your fans that they are part of an exclusive club.

We’ve given you several social media tools for your sports brand’s digital marketing playbook. If you need help, give us a shout.

Now get going!