Working in the social and content space in sports is a different beast from other industries. You can’t predict the final product. The volume of content and information flow is high and constant. And the passion for the product is unmatched.
Despite our industry’s uniqueness, marketing in our space often feels the same. There’s a lot of rinsing and repeating year over year— many of the same on-the-field or on-the-ice moments, game highlights, etc.
It’s not easy, I get it. But the teams that can get away from the rinse and the repeat are the teams that will win and build a brand fans have an affinity for for years to come. So, what separates the best social and content teams from the rest? While this list could be even more exhaustive, here are the top things that stand out to me:
1. Understand moments are a platform for the brand.
Significant moments in sports — season start, player signings, milestones, important wins, etc. — are more than big moments. They’re a platform for your brand. At a time when fan emotions are high and their attention undivided, this is a team’s chance to reinforce who they are and shine a light on why fans root for them.
Too often, though, content created in these moments is so generic it could be interchangeable across teams. How many player signing announcement graphics or videos have you seen that all feel the same? If the creative pieces are so generic they could work across any team, then the moment has not been done justice.
Owning big moments as a platform for our brand is something we have worked hard to do at Stewart-Haas Racing. And while I often avoid talking about any of our team’s work, what we did when we announced Josh Berry to the No. 4 car is an easy way for me to showcase what it means to use big moments to reinforce your DNA. Here is our announcement video:
For those less familiar with NASCAR, Berry is replacing Kevin Harvick. Harvick is a future hall-of-fame racer who elevated the expectations for SHR and will go down as one of the greatest drivers in our sport. With the announcement, we needed a strong passing of the torch moment that would emotionally connect with fans, solidify Berry as the right racer for the moment and reinforce WHY he is the guy for the No. 4 ride and fits our mold at SHR.
Everything we did, we created with those goals in mind. Having Harvick be our voice for the announcement wasn’t just a nice to have; it was a strategic play to give validity to the passing of the torch. The language in the script was written to reinforce our expectations of the No. 4 and our racers at SHR. The theme of #4WARD was to showcase our excitement for this next chapter and give fans an anchor to rally around.
Additionally, we were strategic about our ancillary content leveraging assets that would help reinforce Josh being the right guy for the ride and the fact that he’ll fit in with our “bunch of racers” mold at SHR. Everything from copy to image selection plays a part.
There are so many moments in sports that you can’t control. When teams have these big moments, they must capitalize on them to reinforce their DNA and maximize fan attention. It’s one thing to execute against big moments — it’s another thing to maximize them. And the best social teams in sports leverage the heck out of them.
2. Don’t rely solely on game and practice coverage.
One of the biggest challenges I see for content teams in sports is the reliance on games and practice for content. You might wonder what the issue is. After all, games and practices are the key components of our product.
The issue is that relying solely on games and practices for content creates a sea of sameness. How many times can we see the same touchdown play from 20 different accounts?
Getting buy-in well outside of games and practice was an area the industry was shifting toward, and for some reason, most teams never got there. Now I scroll, and it feels like there’s less “newness” and lots of “sameness” in the sports and content space. In reality, game and practice coverage is rarely ownable as so many people have access to highlights.
If teams can get buy-in for content out of games and practice, they’ll win big. It puts less reliance on performance and more emphasis on personalities. Yep, it’s challenging. That’s why it’s a big win.
I’m not devaluing the challenges that come with getting this buy-in. I understand it’s a tall task. But, leaders in the sports marketing space have to push their teams to find creative solutions to make this happen. And the leaders need to advocate for its importance to those who push back.
But what’s the pitch to advocate for it?
The pitch is that getting buy-in beyond the games allows our team to control our narrative. It helps our team humanize our players — and people connect with people. It builds a long-term play with our fans so that they can build a connection with the team regardless of the on-the-field product. And it helps us build a stronger brand presence, which makes us more valuable to current and future partners.
Teams that figure it out will separate themselves.
3. Take care of the business.
We sometimes see griping and moaning in the #smsports space about wanting more credibility, appreciation, and understanding of what the work brings. But the reality is social and content teams need to care about and execute against the business needs to get credit where credit is due. It’s our job to show the value we bring.
Here’s the truth: Sponsored content isn’t a burden. It’s a blessing. And the best social teams in sports understand this — and work hard against it.
Years ago, it took a lot of work to advocate for resources on the social and content side because we were still learning the value it brought to the business overall. Today, the business case for social and content is easy — thanks to a rise in sponsor interest and paid media for ticket sales — as long as you’re committed to executing against it.
The best social sports teams focus on serving their partners and ensuring their sponsored content is authentic, interesting and engaging. Gone are the days of slapping a logo on something or pushing content that doesn’t belong on a team’s channels. It’s all about integration and providing value.
Instead of looking at sponsored content and ticket initiatives as a burden, consider them an opportunity. An opportunity to get more resources, test new things, and showcase the team’s value to the business.
4. Tap into the emotion of sports.
Emotion is one of the most powerful tools we have as marketers, in and out of sports. Whether it’s thrill, awe, empathy or humor, content that evokes emotions connects with the fan in a way that compels them to pay attention. It’s the most critical component in creating valuable content.
And lucky for us, sports are full of emotion.
The best social teams in sports know how to harness, curate and spot the emotion of sports to create strong content. They have an eye for human moments beyond the scores and understand innately the type of content that resonates with the fanbase. They tug at the heartstrings because, let’s be honest, people gravitate towards sports because of how they make us feel.
Here are a few examples of strong emotional content I’ve seen recently in sports + a link to a post on X with more examples from the sports community:
Jonah Berger said it best. When people care, they share. So, unlock the power of emotion and sports to connect with people and capture their attention. If you want people to stop, care and share, evoke a feeling.
5. Execute like a human but within their brand box.
Passion runs high in sports, and fans seek an authentic connection to feel closer to their team. And the best way to connect with fans while ensuring you are driving towards business goals is to think like a brand but execute like a human. Let me explain what I mean by this.
Let’s talk about “think like a brand”. When building their strategy and plans, strong social media teams wear their brand hat first. They think through what it will take to reach their goals, all while playing in the box that’s been defined. They also understand that a brand’s voice, tone, and personality should feel consistent across channels regardless of admin.
But, while everything teams do should ladder back to the brand and business, we must also remember why people like sports. We can serve our brand and business and still have fun.
This is where “execute like a human” comes in. The best social media teams in sports unbutton a button on social. They don’t reach for a stiff presence that is overthought, overprocessed, too polished, too overdone, built-for-awards, and not built for the audience. Instead of being corporate when they execute, they execute like a human and understand the nuances of social, which require a more casual tone, approachable manner and attention to fans
The reality is people don’t want to be sold to, preached to, or talked at. They want to connect, and the best way for sports teams to do that is through a personable tone, engaging in conversations, sharing behind-the-scenes glimpses, showing empathy, and being honest.
So, if you want to foster a sense of community, trust, and loyalty among fans, make sure your team thinks like a brand but executes like a human.
6. They don’t overthink the creative process.
The best social teams in sports don’t overthink the creative process. Now, I realize this probably sounds contradictory to someone who believes in over-investing in “brand” and ensuring teams are incredibly intentional, but hear me out.
Too often in the creative process, we obsess about the things that don’t matter and aren’t intentional about the things that do. I’ve been part of a variety of organizations and organizational structures. The biggest mistake I see is how organizations set up creativity and content to “happen” in organizations.
A lot of organizations want to treat creative as a precious commodity. They want to separate the strategy from the creative and vice versa. It’s like some sacred entity that only a few can contribute to. It’s a thing where risks are avoided and overanalyzed so much it’s water-downed. When creativity becomes so precious that no one outside of creative can contribute to an idea or create, organizations don’t maximize it.
Orgs need to stop overthinking and overprocessing creative and content. Instead of making it difficult to execute, marketing in sports orgs should be built to:
– Allow people to flex different muscles
– Build natural collaboration
– Create an environment of yes
– Move quickly
– Fail & learn
– Freedom
Creative and content is too important in social today to let ego get in the way. Organizations need to be intentional about building an environment that maximizes creativity and let’s team execute freely.
Bonus: They have an evergreen content strategy.
One of the critical pieces to moving beyond the scores and on-field action is to define an evergreen content strategy, and the strongest teams take the time to develop and execute one. An evergreen content helps provide year-round relevance by focusing on timeless content that is relevant regardless of where you are in the season or how the team is performing. Don’t let the highs and lows of a season define your social presence. Invest in an evergreen content strategy!
As mentioned, this list isn’t exhaustive of everything that separates the strongest social media teams in sports from the rest. To get an outside perspective on what the strongest social media teams do, I sourced some answers on X, and I’ll leave you with them. You’ll see some overlap from the ones above and some new ones as well:
