If you are an individual athlete or a member of a sports club, we have interesting news for you. It’s very possible that at least one popular singer, actor, TV host or another athlete is your fan.
If you don’t think it’s important, let’s put it this way. Imagine two little spiders. Two spiders can make a much better net and catch more flies than just one spider. It’s pretty much the same with you and your famous fans. If you use your social networks to connect with them, you can both increase your popularity and I believe that’s what you want.
Now take a look at the Instagram profile of alpine skier Kjetil Jansrud.
He describes himself in a very interesting way. If I were a Liverpool fan I would definitely start to follow this guy and ”never let him walk alone”, even if I don’t know much about skiing.
THE EUREKA MOMENT
Motivation for this article came to me when I saw an interesting story about West Ham’s social.
Young and rising star Louisa Johnson, the finalist of a popular show The X factor and a lifelong Hammer, got a chance to make her dream come true. She met the players of her favorite team, showed her amazing singing skills and even got a chance to do the penalty shoot out.
It’s clear that together they made an interesting story. They set their social accounts on fire and got lots of publicity because of all the media who shared the story about their ”first date”.
It reminded me once again that just a little spark is enough to start a fire.
I read a bunch of articles about famous people and their favorite clubs. On the other hand, I didn’t notice that clubs use the potential of ”having a famous friend” as they could be used. I think that they should look into this a bit more.
Connecting two people ”like magnets” into one doesn’t sound like nuclear science, right? Simple and effective ideas always find a way to the fans’ heart. And when you spice it up with a dose of ”glamour”, time necessary to make a connection is much shorter.
DO’S AND DON’TS
Once upon a time in a country of Croatia there lived a queen of the supporters’ and a sports journalist named Mirta Šurjak. Guys would probably say that she is a dream lady but I would describe her as a dream supporter. She is doing her job, spreading the love for her club and using all the ”weapons” to promote it. I believe that every club in the world would be happy to have a person like her.
What happened about 3 weeks ago made me little bit sad. I realised that a lot of interesting stories could have been told, but they weren’t, because there was simply no reaction to them. It was especially ”painful” for me because one of my all time favorite clubs, Hajduk, missed a chance to react and use an interesting story to promote themselves.
Here’s the story: After one match, Mirta shared on her Instagram profile a photo of Hajduk players and said that her umbrella disappeared while she was interviewing some of the players. Of course it wasn’t just any umbrella – it was an umbrella with Hajduk’s logo on it, which was very significant for her because it was a gift from the club. Her followers started a discussion where could it be. This was also shared on some of the fan pages dedicated to Hajduk. The story about a missing umbrella even found it’s place on some of the leading portals in Croatia. Unfortunately, social media officers at Hajduk didn’t realise the potential of this story so they didn’t react to it at all. Wise people say that you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
Here are some of the actions that Hajduk could have taken in this case:
1. Share a ”wanted themed” graphic with a photo of an umbrella, offering a special reward to a person who gives the most valuable information about the whereabouts of the umbrella. I believe that this could have been something that would make people talk, like, share and comment. And that’s the main reason why clubs use social, isn’t it?
2. Share a photo of the umbrella with a text: ,, A big friend of our club, Mirta Šurjak, lost her favorite umbrella last weekend, so contact her if you have any information about it. And if you want to have your own, visit our web shop where you can find the same umbrella and many other interesting products. ” Holidays are coming and this could be an excellent CTA to buy club merchandise for holiday gifts.
3. Simply repost this on Instagram with a simple text such as: ,, If you have any information, help our beautiful friend Mirta find her special umbrella.”
Hajduk could have definitely learned that ”sharing is caring” earlier this year, after sharing a video in which players congratulate Blanka Vlašić on a silver medal that she won at the World Championship.
Blanka is not only one of the most popular athletes in Croatia, she is also the older sister of Nikola Vlašić (one of the most popular Hajduk players) and often uses her social accounts to send messages of support to her brother and his club before important matches. A simple 4 second video scored way more likes and views than many other videos on Hajduk’s Facebook page.
Remember: love, happiness and likes on social media are a few things that multiply when you share them. Try to implement this and you’ll see what happens.
CONCLUSION
If you notice that some famous person “loves you”, don’t hesitate to love them back. Just by putting in a little effort you can create something that everyone will talk about, make a longterm relationship and get new fans.
People like to reveal secrets of famous people and to see their personal, less known side.
Maybe some popular actor dreamed to be a player in your club while he was a child. Giving him a chance to spend one day with your team, capturing his experience in a video and showing it online seems like a potentially great viral video to me.
Maybe one singer’s life dream is to sing the national anthem at your stadium before an important match.
If you have a top model fan, using her/him to promote an item from your fan shop can be an interesting idea too.
It’s up to you to be creative and to do something that everyone would talk about.
PHOTO: YouTube screenshot
