Social media is now a part of our everyday lives. These platforms were originally used to keep in touch with family and friends. But are they now an integral part of any brand’s marketing strategy.
It is almost inevitable that a big sports story will break. Open up Twitter and TikTok to be bombarded by sports betting social media accounts, posting memes, new odds and other hot picks.
Dave Portnoy, Pat McAfee and Jake Paul are the most prominent for their efforts to bring sports betting brands into the hands of large social media audience.
It is not about how popular a post was, how many people liked it or how many views it got. Social media professionals in the area of sports betting focus on branding awareness and community building.
They also stated that social media should not be considered an additional channel, or an enhancement to your product’s marketing campaigns.
Sisca Concannon currently serves as the Chief Marketing Officer and Co-Founder of Affiliated Sports Fans. Before that she was Vice President Marketing for Penn Interactive where she managed the growth and launch of Barstool Sportsbook. Concannon warned marketers not to treat social media like an afterthought at the SBC Summit North America this year.
She explained that this is part of your relationship-marketing strategy. If you view it as just a means to post your ads and hope that someone signs up, you are missing the point. Your brand personality doesn’t exist.
Know yourself as a person and increase your relationship marketing. Sign up. But you are not only signing up to receive my risk-free wager, you’re also signing up for more value. How do you add value? Social media is strong when you can build loyalty and a connection with your followers. Ads are not the only thing that matters. This is about creating a content marketing strategy to engage and build a relationship with your customers.
The less glamorous side of customer service is a major component of building relationships. You must be able solve their problems via social media in order to reach the younger generation of sports lovers.
You’ll quickly realize that if your social customer service strategy is not in place, it’s unlikely you will be there in five years. Concannon stated that it is a crucial part of any social strategy to expand your customer service onto a social platform.
Social media is a great way to retain customers and build a community. This is not the only method. Community building is often more difficult than most people realize.
Troy Paul is the CEO and founder of Sports Gambling Guides . This affiliate group focuses on social media. He has built a large following with thousands of influential people. On the same panel, he said that it’s often impossible to walk the fine line of community and commerce.
His words were: “It is extremely important that when you are building social media channels, you focus on the needs of your audience. How do you want your niche to see the content? Focus on what type of content they are looking for and how can you help them.
It’s balancing because while you want your ads to reach people, and you want your customers to buy your products, it is important to not do it so much that you alienate your followers. It’s hard to get it back once you have done that.
Many operators struggle with defining their niche on social media for sports betting. The problem with the US sports betting market is not as different in America, according to everyone on the SBC Summit North America panel. The markets are varied and so the color schemes can vary. They all target the same market with almost the same offerings.
Noam Klivitzky , VP US Marketing at888 Holdings knows that he cannot compete in this way.
It is impossible to differentiate any brand by just repeating the same news over and over in social media. These are the exact same items customers can purchase in 10 places so there’s no reason why they wouldn’t on social media,” said he.
We’ve tried to give them an experience they won’t forget.
Klivitzky created a SI Sportsbook campaign where company social media channels offered popular Sports Illustrated covers. According to internal research, 60% of sports enthusiasts had seen an SI cover hanging on their walls. A brand-related item was given away to generate goodwill and a way for them to put their brand on the wall.
It is not the same as working with a well-known brand such SI. These brands and people are known for promoting their picks on social media, such as TikTok which has banned gambling content.
Although it is trendy, experts say that this strategy is not sustainable for long-term social relevance. David Woodley is the Chief Revenue Officer and President of Playmaker , who believes some of these strategies may work for short-term gains. These wins may not be worth the potential long-term losses Playmaker’s media arm could suffer.
We won’t do anything to hurt our audiences. Woodley stated that they have built trust over time with them and are still young. “They won’t cancel us if they give bad advice but it will be reported to me and I will feel awful.”
Playmaker does not pick its players and informs them as soon as possible.
Woodley said, “We don’t pick and have many athletes that work for our company, so we just say that we won’t pick and that we do not take picks from anybody, and you won’t be financially sustainable long-term.” Woodley said that if someone could pick at 60% they wouldn’t be busy hustling social media to make $30 on Patreon or Discord. Beyond that, I believe that if you pick you are going to piss off 50% of your audience.”
Concannon knows that picks can work well for organizations like Barstool. However, there is a catch. It is important to make unique content about the pick. Not just post a random number and a meme.
She explained that “you can create amazing content around picks, it doesn’t need to be the boring kind of ‘these were my picks for this week’.”
Although social media can be fast-paced it takes a lot of work to make it successful. To build a strong brand, you must build community and entertain people while also providing services. Companies and influencers need to look beyond the current to create a lasting brand.
