Big corporate brands quickly cottoned on to the fact that they could promote their goods and services via social media. Sports clubs and organisations can do the same!
With a little work, you’ll be able to get started quickly and you can do it for free.
Talk to the type of people you want to reach and find out which social media channels they use. For example, there’s no point investing lots of time and effort setting up an Instagram feed if your members and potential members aren’t looking at it.
Get involved with conversations on social media with those that can help increase your exposure – following your National Governing Body and local schools are a good start.
Social Media can help:
- Tell people about sessions and opportunities.
- Keep people up to date with latest news – cancelled training, new classes etc
- Promote your club to new recruits
- Members get to know each other, encouraging a social, friendly atmosphere at your club
Popular social media tools include:
This is great for fostering friendships among club members, sharing details about events and helping new recruits feel welcome. Share pictures and ask questions of your members to encourage a conversation. It can even act as a good substitute for a website, where information such as contact details can be visited time and time again.
GBSport suggest you set up a Facebook group and NOT a fan page.
- Twitter is fast and simple to use. With just 140 characters to compose your tweet, be short and snappy to get your message across. Provide updates in real time – such as latest scores or cancelled matches. Think of the keywords that people will search for and make sure these are visible in your twitter profile and your tweets.
- Youtube is a platform where you can share video content. It’s a great way of showcasing your club's activities. It can be viewed on smart phones, smart TVs and tablets so is easy to access. You don’t need expensive filming equipment either. Just use your mobile or tablets to capture footage. There are apps you can download to help with editing so that it looks professional.
- Instagram - its audience is growing quickly, especially among younger people. It is a good option if you want to share what your club is doing through a series of pictures. You can use apps like afterlight to make your images look more professional.
Other free tools are:
- Blogging – an online journal or diary. You could ask a member to write a blog about their training? Blogging sites include Blogger, Wordpress, Tumblr.
- Pinterest – a fast-growing visual discovery tool, used to share inspirational images
- Flickr – designed to manage and share images online
- Teamer- set up to help you organise and help with admin for your players and team
- Hootsuite and Tweetdeck – so you can schedule activity
Be consistent
Before you jump on the social media bandwagon, think about your social media handle – this is your username on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and so on.
If your club name is quite long, you’ll need something shorter, but try to make it similar.
And this is the important bit - use the same name across all social media platforms to make it easier for people to start following you. It also makes it easier for everyone to remember you.
Let’s say, your club’s called Bridgend Scuba. It would look like this:
Twitter: @bridgendscuba
Instagram: @bridgendscuba
Facebook: @bridgendscuba
Make your profile picture the same too so you’re recognisable across different channels.
Further Information
Read more about staying safe online and putting together a social media policy (links to pages within this section)