Rise and shine every day of 2017

If you are sports club, you probably know that sports content is not enough to win over fans’ hearts. A shortcut to their hearts can be a celebration of a special day of the year. Some ”usual” days like Christmas, New Year, Valentine’s day, Easter, Mother’s or Father’s Day, Halloween or your club’s birthday are a must to celebrate. But if you leave the confort zone and start to think outside the box, you’ll realise that one year offers a lot of other great days to celebrate. Here are ideas for some of them. If you are an individual athlete, brand, organisation or someone engaged in sports in some other way, don’t hesitate to read this. With just a little dose of adaptation, you can use these ideas, too.

JANUARY

The best way to start a new year is with a dose of positive energy. So the 2nd of January, or Motivation and Inspiration Day, is a great chance to share some positive thoughts with your fans.  It can be in form of short videos or graphics, with a message or story that will give them new strenght and motivate them for what’s coming in new year. You can also ask you fans to tell you what motivates them the most.

January 23rd is Handwriting Day. On that day you can share simple sentences written by your players on your social media accounts and ask fans to guess who wrote which one. I’m sure that they would be very active in guessing.

Last Monday in January (this year it falls on the 30th) is the so-called Blue Monday (day celebrated as the most depressing day of the year). In order to make it happier for your fans, share some content that will make your fans smile. Funny fails or bloopers seem like something that will do the job.

FEBRUARY

The old sentence says: Behind every successful man there is a woman. These great women should be celebrated at least on the 11th of February or Pro Sports Wives Day. Idea for this day – a video in which ”tough” sportsmen will say how much their ”better halves” mean to them. Fans love emotional stories and I when it’s something they don’t see every day, they appreciate it even more.

If you have lot of internationals in your club, a good day to celebrate can be February 21st, International Mother Language Day. Just shoot a short video in which they will say a couple of sentences in their mother tongue. I am sure that lot of people would proudly share this video just when they hear their language in it.

Tell A Fairy Tale Day (February 26th) is an excellent chance to activate your youngest fans. Challenge them to write a fairy tale. Give them a beginning (something like: Once upon a time an evil witch kiddnaped our club’s mascot) and let them tell you the rest of the story. Then, let players read it and choose their favorite. Publish the best fairytales on your web site and reward them.

MARCH

Fans always want to know more about their favorites. On March 14th, also the International Ask a Question Day, you can give them chance to ask their favorite player a question. No matter if the answer is in a form of video or article, if they see that the question is answered, you’ll probably have them for life.

International Read To Me Day (March 19th) is a perfect day to visit the local hospital or orphanage and read to children who are there. Fairy tale read by a popular athlete is something that will bring a smile to every child’s face and that’s priceless.

Memory Day, which is celebrated on the 21st of March, is a time to remember the best moments from the past. It’s simple: share old photos or videos and ask fans to share theirs. Remembering great moments from the past will probably make them fall in love with you all over again.

APRIL

The 11th of April is Pet Day. Since it’s well known how pets are popular on social, you can make the best of it and ask your fans to show your ”animal army of fans”. I’m 100% sure that they’ll proudly do it. Giving a discount on pets’ apparel from your fan shop is another cool thing to do on this day.

April 19th is Poetry And The Creative Mind Day. On that day you can check how talented your fans are by asking them to write a short poem about your club and one of your players. Of course, have your players read the poems and share the video.

April  29th, International Dance Day, is a good time to show the world how your players can(‘t) dance. Play some all times hits like Macarena, Asereje, Gangnam style or whatever is popular in your conutry, and have your players hit the dance floor. Viral content is almost guaranteed.

MAY

May 16th or Drawing Day is a great day to wake an inner artist in your players and make everyone laugh. Divide them into pairs and let them draw one another. No matter how bad they do this task, reactions by fans will definitely be positive. You can also ask your young fans to draw their favorite one and then send them an autographed ”Thank you” card.

World Hypertension Day (May 17th) can be used to take care of your fans’ health. Let your players remind them about the importance of meassuring blood pressure and give them some advice on how to stay healthy. They’ll probably appreciate the fact that you take care of their health and do something good for themselves.

Since the entire month of May is Photo Month, this will be a good time to ask your fans to share meaningful photos related to your club. Putting together an online gallery on your website is an excellent way to collect a lot of memories and emotions in one place.

JUNE

14th of June is also known as World Blood Donor Day. It’s not neccessary to explain how great the act of donating blood is, but it is always good to encourage people to do it. Use your influence and let players invite fans to do it. Maybe your video will save one life and that’s priceless.

The 21st of June is Music Day and the best possible way to celebrate it is with singing. So just let your players sing their favorite song or your club anthem. If they can sing it’s good but if they can’t it’s even better. Everyone would like to see something so funny.

Pink Day which is celebrated on the 23rd of June can be used to send strong messages against bullying. Players in pink shirts takling about their experiences and speaking against any kind of violence is something that will be remembered.

JULY

The 1st of the July is the Second Half of the Year Day, so don’t forget to make it festive. Wish your fans a happy rest of the year and prepare a throwback video in which you will sum up the first half of the year.

July 17th is World Emoji Day. On this day you can ask your fans how they feel and have them respond with one emoji or write a status with emoji and ask fans to ”detect” what you wanted to say. Another cool thing to do on this day would be launching official club’s emojis, so fans can ”connect” with you in this way as well.

For lot of people they mean a lot, so celebration of Gorgeous Grandma Day on 23rd of July is a great day to celebrate. Sharing an emotional video in which players talk about their grandmas seems like something that will melt fans’ hearts. You can also create some cool cards that can be printed and given to the grandmas who are your supporters.

AUGUST

On the 2nd of August you can celebrate Coloring Book Day.  Since children love them and adults use them as a stress relief, posting a club themed draft seems like the perfect thing to do on this day. Inviting them to share their ”masterpieces” online is also an option.

Tell a Joke Day (the 16th of August) is an excellent chance for players to show their humorus side and share their favorite joke. It’s always nice to put a smile on a fans’ face, especially if it’s caused by something that can easily go viral.

On the 27th of August you can celebrate Tug-of-War Day. Split your team into two squads and let the games begin. Announce this ”match” to your fans earlier and ask them to predict winners. Broadcast it on Facebook Live if you want. Your fans will enjoy it.

SEPTEMBER

September 9th is a great chance to show how big your heart is. It’s Teddy Bear Day, when you can invite your fans to donate teddy bears they don’t need anymore to those who will be happy to have them. If your players personaly deliver it to, for example children in a orphanage, it will be even better.

It’s often said that ,,One apple a day keep doctors away”. So the 16th of September or International Eat An Apple Day is another excellent chance to show your fans how you care about their health. Simple video reminder in which is mentioned how apples are good for your health or sharing them on your stadium during the match are interesting ways to do it,

The 25th of September is Family Day. Since your fans are like a family to you, don’t forget to tell them that you are proud to have such an amazing family. Organize a Family Day at your game and have discount prices for a game for groups of 4 or more people.

OCTOBER

Senior Citizens Day, which is celebrated on the 1st of October, is a perfect day to show some love to your “golden age” fans. Find out who are your oldest members or season ticket holders and reward them for their loyality with a visit and a gift. You’ll make them so happy and the others will be delighted by this gesture, too.

The 17th of October is Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day. Cool day to invite fans to do that and prepare for them new and creative desktop backgrounds as a motivation. I believe that every fan would love to recieve this virtual gift.

Pumpkin Day or October 26th can be used like an introduction into celebration of Halloween. All you need is pumkins, players, knives and a dose of creativity. It can be especially fun if you give them a task to carve a pumpkin in a way that it looks like one of their teammates.

NOVEMBER

November 6th is Saxophone Day.  So ”introduce” this amazing instrument to your players and show everyone how they can(‘t) play it. It doesn’t sound complicated but I believe that it can bring so much fun and positive reactions.

The 20th of November is Universal Children’s Day. For me, perfect time for photos from you players’ childhood and letting fans guess who is who. You can also intoduce/present some talented children from your youth academy and show everyone how bright your future looks.

World Hello Day is celebrated on 21st of November. Video in which players say Hello is something that sounds very simple (maybe in their mother toungue if you have some international players), but it will probably cheer fans up. If you decide to celebrate it on the streets of your city, don’t forget to record and share the reactions.

DECEMBER

Pretend To Be A Time Traveler Day, which is celebrated on the 8th od December is an excellent chance to ask your fans to ”peek” into the future. A simple post like ,,Let’s imagine that we are in 2041. Tell us what’s going on? Are we still rocking?” could be very engaging. If you find some of the answers very creative, don’t forget to reward them.

Gingerbread Decorating Day (December 9th) is a nice chance to wake the inner chefs and artists in your players and fans. Showing the whole process of making gingerbreads or letting fans guess who decorated which one is an excellent way to wake up the holiday spirit.

The 20th of December or Go Caroling Day is a day when you can perfectly heat up the Christmas atmosphere on your socials. It’s not nuclear science: just let the players sing some of the most popular Christmas songs worldwide. Of course, Christmas sweaters, Santa Claus hats or Reindeer horns should be a part of the ”dress code” in this case.

CONCLUSION

As you can see, every day is a new chance to rise and shine. If you do a little research you will find even more interesting days that can be celebrated.

Some other advices that I can give to you are:

1. Surprise! Do something they don’t expect at all and it will probably make them even more impressed with the idea.
2. Engage! No matter how much they love you, fans will love you even more if they feel that you care about them, so find a way to engage them.
3. Inspire! Use your influence to make your fans do something good because it will eventually be repaid.
4. Be original! Don’t just do things that others have done may times before or that are expected to be done, ’cause you’ll probably end up being lost in a sea of similar ideas.
5. Dare! Don’t be afraid to try something new. No risk, no glory!
6. Learn! Observe how your fans react to different kind of content, discover the ”secret formula of success” and use it in future actions.
7. Hashtags! If you’re trying to engage fans, don’t forget to create a hashtag that will make sharing easier.

 

Happy creative and successful 2017!

 

Article sources:

Days of the Year

Photo source:

Flickr