User-generated content and fan sourcing are not new topics in marketing, but a panel of sports marketers shared some of their do’s and dont's on how to attract fans to participate in creating content during a panel at the'15 Momentum Sports Marketing Symposium in N.Y. Buffalo Wild Wings VP/Marketing Bob Ruhland said, “I think Millennials are the first generation who understand that they don’t own a brand, but that they want to have a huge role in how that brand is portrayed.” StubHub Head of Social Media Johnny Volk added, “Fans don’t want to be talked to, they want to be talked with.”
DIGGING INTO STRATEGIES: NHL VP/Product Development & Social Media John Pacino pointed to a successful campaign the league launched during the ’15 Stanley Cup Playoffs called #MyPlayoffsMoment, which he said was created to “re-engage that emotion from fans during the playoffs, and giving us a chance to put it back out on our platforms.” The campaign, which took shared social media clips from fans and coupled them with critical moments during playoff games, had more than 30 million online views with more than 119,000 fans contributing their “moment.” For Buffalo Wild Wings, which Ruhland said aims to be “that third place you hang out besides your home and your work,” user-generated content is about turning social comments and tweets into social currency, and then putting those fans in the spotlight. The company created a portal called Hometown Highlights that allows anyone to upload interesting sports clips from their community, with selected and approved clips appearing during a weekly broadcast at select restaurants.
HUB OF ACTIVITY: While StubHub is widely known for its ticket-selling website, Volk said the company doesn’t try to use social media to sell further tickets, but rather prefers to “blend in,” using its brand to amplify what some of its consumers are experiencing at events that they were able to go to as a result of buying tickets online. Volk said that StubHub often asks followers what sort of experiences they’re having at events, or what was their favorite experience with friends. But one of the most popular things StubHub shares? “Ballpark food,” Volk said. “It crushes it.” While GMC and Buick have a bit of a different relationship with user-generated content than the other brands on the panel, Buick and GMC National Sales Promotion Manager Chris Hornberger noted the importance of making car buying a social experience. “Unless someone they know supports the brand, consumers won’t want to buy a car,” Hornberger said. This has led GM to include more social elements to its individual car pages on websites, as well as to further expand opportunities for consumers to experience its vehicles in more social ways, like virtual reality test drives and easily shareable social experiences with the brand.
Quick Hits:
• Pacino, on the future of user-generated content: “I’m looking to see what comes from phone manufacturers and carriers. You saw from the (NHL) campaign that not much was high-quality video, or some was only vertical or horizontal. As devices get better, I think (user-generated content) gets better, too.”
• Hornberger, on working with leagues and events: “We want to make sure we’re celebrating at events with consumers and highlighting that. Who doesn’t like to see themselves having fun?”
• Ruhland: “We talk about UGC 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and so on. I think what we’re going to see is that advertisers and marketers will become more transparent when collecting content, and more genuine. The biggest change I’ve seen is fans can smell bullshit a mile away.”
• Volk: “Trending topics are like a party. Is your brand invited to the conversation? If they are, then yes, participate and be on pulse.”
