With tech playing an ever-increasing role in the way sport is played, watched and managed? Why is it that so many sporting organisations are struggling to build their digital brand? See below how these 3 tips can help you build your digital sports brand.

The intangible world of tech and the physical, real-time world of sport may seem like natural foes, however, in the last decade or so, the two have become the best of friends.

Technology has unlocked remarkable opportunities for growth in the sports industry while presenting greater potential to draw fans in through means of innovation and customized experiences.

For sports brands, your fan base is your primary audience and keeping them engaged and ensuring they have a memorable experience, is often your biggest and most rewarding challenge.

Technology is playing a big role in making this happen today. With the rise of smart devices, there has been an eruption of sorts, in live streaming.

Sports brands must leverage the vast digital platforms and channels to directly build connections with their fans.

Let me quickly take you through 3 ways you can go about doing this:

1. Social Media

Social media is the first place you need to get your sports brand on, to create its digital presence or brand.

Ultimately the goal is to enhance the experience your fans have while engaging with your brand.

With live updates, exclusive content, and interactive content via social platforms you can do this to give fans the shareable content they crave.

Such engagement should also be directed to your own website or other online properties to get traffic from the relevant audiences.

2. Sponsor Engagement

Sponsors are key to the world of sports and sports branding.

With an increase in media consumption from fans, the next natural expectation is personalized engagement.

This means targeted and interest-specific advertisements.

More millennials today are receptive to such promotions and are willing to share their data for rewards such as coupons or chances to win.

By harnessing the power of digital analytics, sponsors can get valuable insight into what excites and appeals to fans.

This ensures engagement models are designed for the future accordingly, fan-engaging activations are successfully delivered and measurable outcomes can now be quantified.

3. Virtual Connection

The world post the pandemic has changed and how. After Covid, conversations in all industries have shifted to the digital realm in a big way.

Such a shift allows for immediate and open connections with your fans and audiences.

With many sportspersons active on various social platforms, fan interactions are far more authentic with new opportunities for direct connections between the athlete and fan, enriching their overall experience.

Sporting bodies and team management have an opportunity via technology to create these connections, to nurture their brand through the hands of ambassadors and provide guidance for a shared and consistent voice via these channels.

Simultaneous conversations from hundreds of sources have become the new normal.

Having the right technology and resources to simply and consistently control the message, the voice and the brand of a sport is more important than ever.

This is only the beginning of what you can do once you decide to adopt digital marketing and promotion for your sports brand.

With each step, you’ll discover more ideas and approaches you may want to adopt.

Just be mindful to go phase by phase as this is an iterative process, so you give each stage enough time to play out before moving to the next.