fan engagement innovation

The Importance of Offline Fan Engagement

Even if fan engagement is now shifting towards the digital environment, offline fan engagement remains a powerful tool in its own right. And while fans want to stay connected with their teams over the internet, actual physical events are fun memory generators that will last a lifetime.

Over the past several years, the digital world has taken the sports industry by storm. It should not come as a surprise to anyone, as this trend is happening in every sector, not just sports. In any case, online fan engagement is becoming increasingly more widespread among sports leagues, each trying to adapt to the new trends and technologies as they appear, otherwise risking to become obsolete.

In the end, every sports club or event is looking to have sold-out stadiums, and fan engagement is the key to achieving that goal. And even if online fan engagement is on the rise, offline engagement is equally as important. In fact, both have to be used together to generate the best results possible.

Making the Fan Part of the Team

What avid sports fans want most of all is to be part of the team in one form or another. Offering them this chance is a sure way of turning a casual fan into a lifetime loyal devotee. To achieve this, however, you will need to know your audience, what are their wants and needs, and what they want from their favorite team.

Nevertheless, marketing campaigns that are generalistic and which try to ‘speak’ to everyone, may end up speaking to no one. It is why it’s important to personalize your messages and campaigns. One easy-to-do example comes from Go Ahead Eagles, a soccer team in the Dutch Eredivisie, which took its photo with the 12th man on the team, as it were.

Another example comes from Manchester United which decided to involve its fans when unveiling it’s 2016 jersey. The promo video shows actual Manchester United fans marching down the streets of the city and singing ‘Glory Glory Man United,’ all the while, showing how the club’s jersey had evolved through the years.

In-Stadium Fan Engagement

The focal point of every sport is the actual event itself. And being there in person is on every sports fan’s wish list. Making this experience even more pleasurable and memorable should, thus, be on every sports team’s mind.

Wembley Stadium in London, for instance, is known for its overhead arch. But what some don’t know about it is its interactive LED lighting system. Back in 2014, Wembley signed a six-year-long deal with EE, the country’s largest mobile network operator. Besides bringing state of the art internet connectivity, EE has also installed this LED lighting system.

With over 228 high-tech floodlights mounted on the arch, the system can produce almost limitless color combinations that react to the event’s noise, crowd reactions, and points scored.

Pre and Post Event Involvement

Sports leagues also need to engage with their fans before and after a game to keep themselves relevant and to build hype about what it’s to come. Consider FIFA’s Trophy Tours where the trophy goes all over the world to the countries that will take part in the future event.

Something similar can be observed in Champions League with its fan zone called UEFA Champions Festival. Leading up to significant events, such as the league’s final game, this is a fan-dedicated area full of events, autograph sessions, and other soccer-related activities.

Conclusion

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Fan Engagement

Even the most successful sports clubs make some errors in how they engage, depriving them of the possibility of forming deeper and longer-lasting relationships. With that said, here are several common mistakes to avoid when trying to engage with your fans.

Fan engagement is the lifeblood of the sports industry. Nevertheless, this doesn’t exempt many sports teams or leagues from making mistakes in how they engage with their fans. Even the most successful sports clubs make some errors in how they engage, depriving them of the possibility of forming deeper and longer-lasting relationships. With that said, here are several common mistakes to avoid when trying to engage with your fans.

Generalization

The first mistake many sports clubs make is to generalize their content regardless of the often fragmented fanbase. Depending on the notoriety of the club, its fanbase can be spread out over numerous areas or even countries. Some of these sports teams present their content as if these fans were all centered in the same location and with the same interests. But while the team itself is what ties all of them together, other content may not be as relevant to everybody involved.

Arsenal FC, for instance, has a Hindi Facebook page that talks to its entire Indian fanbase in their native language and presents some other relevant content that only Indians may find engaging. Fanisko Engage is a highly-customizable fan engagement platform that can address this issue, ‘talking’ to each fan, based on their preferences.

Diluting the Fan Experience

Somewhat similar to the point above, some teams and leagues focus too much time and energy with separate products and promotions that ‘dilute’ the overall fan experience. While in and of itself, this activity isn’t a bad thing, doing it too much, however, will take away from the overall fan engagement. Known as the Pareto principle, or more commonly known as the 80-20 rule, it implies that just 20% of causes drives 80% of results. This principle is found everywhere in nature, finance, and even in personal relationships.

When applied in fan engagement, the Pareto principle implies that only about 20% of a team’s followers are diehard fans, but they are the ones that drive 80% of the revenue. And while these fans spend up to six times more money than their casual counterparts, bombarding them with too many promotions may have the adverse effect. Fanisko Engage can separate raving fans from the rest and target each of them with the relevant content for higher engagement and revenue generation.

Connecting but Not Interacting with Fans

Plenty of clubs spend much of their resources and energy connecting with their fanbase. Video content, for instance, is gaining a lot of ground in the marketing world and it’s shown to generate a high ROI. Nevertheless, when it comes to engagement, fan interaction is a definite must. In fact, 81% of marketing specialists agree that interactive content such as polls, quizzes, or all sorts of interactive games can better grab and retain attention than video content. Likewise, interactive content is better able at converting visitors.

Conclusion

All in all, proper fan engagement revolves around one’s ability to understand the fans, their wants, and needs, as well as the place they reside. It is to provide them with the most relevant and engaging content possible. Luckily, however, Fanisko Engage is a platform that can quickly achieve this.

By making use of its back-end analytics, every team can connect and interact with their fan base like never before, providing them with all sorts of interactive content like Mixed and Augmented Reality for gamification, and Artificial Intelligence for personalization. All of these are sure to allow your fans to stay connected 24/7, and helps you avoid the many mistakes other clubs are making when trying to engage with their fans.

How AR is Used in Fan Engagement and Sports Media

Software companies have noticed this shift in sports content consumption and changing behaviors, and are now delivering all sorts of high-end and easy to use solutions to fill in those needs. Either working in collaboration with sports leagues or catering to the fans directly, these companies are changing the way we interact with the sporting world.

The overall sports experience is not as it used to be. If in the past, most of what implied fan engagement revolved around Sunday Football or Baseball October, today’s sports fans want to be connected and interact with theirteams and favorite players, 24/7.

If high-depth TV and nationwide fantasy leagues made fans feel more close to their teams and even engage in a more active role than before, present-day audiences are looking to immerse themselves into a participatory-style viewing experience further.

The Rise of Augmented and Virtual Realities (AR/VR)

Even though the MLB is notorious for its willingness to stick to tradition through thick and thin, not even it can deny the need for some technological innovation to keep up with the changing times and consumer expectations. Back in September 2017, major league baseball announced the launch of its new app, aptly called At Bat.

This AR app allows fans to use their phones or tablets by pointing them at the field, look at each at-bat and instantly obtain a comprehensive view of each player’s stats. That’s not all that At Bat can deliver. It can also analyze every play happening on the field, displaying useful data such as speed and trajectory for every single hit.

Let’s also not forget about Hawk-Eye, the VR technology that’s been part of tennis, cricket, badminton, curling, rugby, or volleyball as early as 2002. Its technique makes use of several high-performance cameras positioned at different angles that, combined, generate a 3D image and depict the ball’s trajectory.

As of late, the NBA has also joined the AR/VR club. The league announced, not that long ago, that it partnered up with Next VR and that it has plans to broadcast all of its future games in virtual reality. Even the major league soccer (MLS) is delving into this realm. DC United has been experimenting with various ways of incorporating augmented application technologies to drive more fan engagement.

Sports leagues aren’t the only ones taking such a proactive approach to these relatively new technologies. Individual developers are coming up with their solutions regarding VR/AR to satisfy the fans’ needs. One such example being Fanisko Engage. Not only does it provide its users with these technologies, enhancing their overall enjoyment, but it manages to funnel all other content about their favorite teams under the same roof.

Conclusion

In short, augmented and virtual reality technologies are here to stay. Regardless of whether sports leagues are willing to implement them or not, consumers want to feel more engaged with the teams they love, and AR/VR is quickly becoming the norm in this regard.

Meet CSK AR : Fan Engagement Innovation

READ : http://www.fanisko.com/fan-engagement-innovation-meet-csk-ar/

Turning Sports Enthusiasts into Hardcore Fans

Hardcore fans, unlike simple sports enthusiasts, see themselves as part of the team and not just simple spectators in the arena. With this in mind, teams, leagues, and clubs should cater to these needs as much as possible. Luckily, however, this has become increasingly more feasible, thanks in large part to all the technological achievements in recent years.

Hardcore fans are the lifeblood of any sports team, league, or club. These fans are the ones that live and breathe for their favorite teams and are the ones more than willing to go to every game, purchase merchandise, and follow their teams wherever they go. Not all sports teams enjoy this high level of fidelity and idolization, meaning that their bottom line has to suffer, stifling, in turn, their possibility for expansion, sponsorship acquisition, and better results, in a sort of positive feedback cycle that is incredibly hard to break.

Nevertheless, some sports teams such as FC Barcelona, Real Madrid CF, FC Bayern Munich, among many others, seem to be blessed with fans spanning the entire globe. So, what are these teams doing right that others aren’t? And more importantly, what do fans want and expect from their favorite teams?

What Do the Hardcore Fans Really Want?

These fans want to be in touch with their teams 24/7, if possible. And while this was somewhat hard to do, say, back in the ’90, with today’s many social media platforms, like Snapchat, Instagram, or Facebook, this is no longer a problem. Teams and individual players alike can live stream from the locker room or their own homes, all to their fan base delight and satisfaction.

What Key Elements Facilitate Hardcore Sports Fans?

No person is born a hardcore fan, so, certain things must be turning them. Knowing what these are, can help teams to turn them into their loyal fans better.

For starters, and this is somewhat obvious, hardcore fans are usually from the same city. In fact, roughly 60% of all hardcore fans of any given team, especially those that hold international recognition, are from the same town or area as their team. An equally important aspect is the family tradition of rooting for a specific team. It is unlikely, though not unheard of, for children to endorse a different team than that their parents, siblings, and relatives do.

Then, there’s the matter of a team’s performance. Scientific studies have shown that fans whose team won a game see an increase in their testosterone levels. Likewise, some sports fans tend to follow individual players and not the teams themselves. It means that they are willing to change teams as long as their favorite player is part of it.

Lastly, there a matter of convenience. Today’s sports fans are all about convenience and versatility when it comes to their engagement with their teams. And as we’ve mentioned before, this trend has been facilitated, in large part by the rise of social media and other such digital technologies. The downside to this development, however, is the fact that there are too many platforms from which fans engage with their teams, which is somewhat the opposite of what convenience is about.

Conclusion

Fortunately, specific platforms such as Fanisko Engage are fixing that by funneling all this fragmented content, and more, within a single source. This is a win-win situation for everybody involved.

Fan engagement innovation: Meet CSK AR

Who doesn’t desire to look like Dhoni?
Well, The CSK AR app provides you with that. Pretty cool, right?

Even though still in its infancy, the rise and popularity of Augmented Reality (AR) is pervading into every possible industry in the world with the sports fan engagement leading the business.

While other sports like NBA, NFL has gone through countless innovations with AR, The cricket fans, especially in India, are yet to experience AR.

Though the AR apps in cricket have been around for a long time now, it wasn’t quite popular until the Melbourne Renegades, and few other Big Bash teams used them in the recently concluded Big Bash tournament.

With over 20 million followers, The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is known for their innovations to keep the fans engaged, and they have done it once again.

The long wait for the Indian cricket fans to experience AR has come to an end. Indian cricket fans, meet the cool kid on the block “CSK AR App”.

Powered by Fanisko and Binaryface, the CSK AR app uses real-time face effects, lets the fans take a selfie using five different face filters and allows them to share the pictures in social media for bragging rights.

Who doesn’t desire to look like Dhoni?
Well, The CSK AR app provides you with that. Pretty cool, right?

Fanisko has been working their hearts out to take fan engagement to the next level and is successful in solving fan engagement problems for brands and franchises with the millennial fan base. CSK AR App is an excellent example. We turn loyal fans into digital diehards.

Fanisko offers their fan engagement platform Fanisko | Engage as a backend plugin that infuses sports teams apps to engage and retain the connected millennial. Think live play-by-play predictions, AR/VR/MR games, engagement rewards, and a personalized stream of all team news and social buzz – 24/7, 365. Fanisko has further innovated to create hybrid play along fantasy platform Cricking Duels. Fanisko’s connection to CSK is not something new – in 2015, Fanisko (a/k/a Cricking) partnered with CSK for 2015 IPL season as their official Fan engagement partner.

You can download the app, CSK AR from Google Play store.

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