The Engagement Between Social Media and Sports
Due to what is happening in the world, many in-person activities have been suspended. Some activities, such as going to the store, museums, and going to school have all been able to be moved online. Although it is not the same, people have still been able to get the experiences of seeing art or learning a lesson via their computers. However, one essential part of American lifestyle has been compromised: sports. Being in an arena for a sports game is just not able to happen. Although people understand the severity of the situation, they still miss seeing their favorite sports teams play live. Not having sports in general has caused a disruption in the amount of ads usually spent on sports games. Due to the increased use of social media for entertainment, popular platforms such as Twitter and Youtube have been used to stream these games so that fans are still connected.
While the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB are up and running, a great percentage of their ads are not running. AdWeek says, “…only $100 million has been spent on sports advertising as of August 2020. But by this time last year, advertisers had already spent $1 billion.” Although their ad spending is way down, page views have been extremely high. It seems as though people have been turning toward the internet to get their sports updates instead of watching television. According to AdWeek, sports fans are the types of people advertisers should be targeting. Sports fans seem to also look at finance, technology, and automobiles, specifically luxury cars. Using this information, those that advertise in those 3 sections should pay more attention to sports fans. Since sports are not dishing out ads for their events, they are an open target for advertising markets.
Although fans are not able to be there in the stands, they have found a new way to connect with their favorite sports. Twitter has become the place to go for sports updates, sports conversations and even sports clips. Maybe it is because of the pandemic, but AdAge says that, “70 percent of the general population say they would engage with sports that they never would have followed before COVID-19. This number jumps to 83 percent of people on Twitter, giving brands even more of a reason to connect to the sports conversation where it’s happening.” The number of fans have jumped an incredible amount possibly due to the convenience of just having to open an app on their phone or because of all this spare time they have due to the pandemic. Because there are more fans joining the fanbase, and different fans for that matter, brands have some pressure to learn how to connect everyone together. People have found a new sports home on Twitter. Almost 75% of surveyed Twitter users admit that being on Twitter has been able to be that social connection that they have been missing watching sports online. Using Twitter during games keeps fans connected as well as informed.
With Twitter heading the campaign for connection online for sports fans, brands have to understand that they need a new game plan for connecting their new fanbase and old fanbase. Using social media for entertainment is an opportunity for brands to show their support of sports fans during this crazy time and join the fans in their new technological movement of the sports community. Branding and advertising is not always the easiest thing. Bright Age Digital Creative Agency can not only assist your company in marketing your brand, but can pave the way for your brand to be an essential part of the online entertainment and sports community.
