Social media, what’s it all about really at the end of the day? Yeah, most people use it as their go-to medium to post pictures of the food they’re eating, talk about shows and movies they’re watching, and even just talk about what they’re doing on an everyday basis.
In recent years though it has also become the utmost important tool for businesses to build up their brands, professional networks and make money. With pro sports, the social media trend has become a day-to-day tool to become more relevant.
Sports leagues and organizations have come to an understanding that everything you do becomes that much more relevant for online betting fans of their sports if they are able to see it on any social media platform.
Why is Social Media So Important For Sports?
Social media in pro sports is a beneficial two-way street between leagues or teams and their fans. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even Tik-Tok have become the most direct way for fans to engage with games, players, and teams on a daily basis.
Teams have seen this and come to the realization that by managing top-of-the-line social media strategies they could also reek in serious profits from marketing their teams to their direct consumers, the fans.
Social media provides users with real-life time score and statistical updates from any and every team and athlete, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Athletes like Juju Smith Schuster have become dual stars, both on the field and in social media.
Using social media for teams and players allows them to persuade their fans into behaving in certain manners that benefit them greatly by humanizing and creating a better-suited image for their brand.
In the US, the NFL is the most socially active league in social media, with the MLB in second place and the NBA in third.
Understanding The Fans’ Wants and Need
It has become more than obvious that social media has become one of the most important tools for sports, especially once the teams and athletes understand what the fans want and need from them on the different platforms.
Social media has become a pivotal tool for distributing content and attracting fans on a continuous basis. The population of social media users is always increasing and that is something sports organizations have become very aware of.
The opportunity for there to be direct interaction between fans of the sport with themselves as well as with the teams and athletes is helping breach the gap that separates both worlds.
Allowing fans to have an inside look into the life of their favorite teams and athletes gives them the opportunity to feel like they are a part of the organization they root for.
If you add the fact that they are given first-hand information regarding stats, injury reports, and scores, it keeps the engagement between both parties active and thriving.
Teams have come to the understanding that having happy fans, as close as possible will end up only bringing back huge benefits for them, both in exposure as well as merchandise sales.
Athletes, Stars Of The Sport and of the Internet
Professional athletes have gone from being someone you hear of, watch and idolize on tv and in the occasional live game, to people that are basically there with you, all day, every day thanks to social media.
If they produce great results during games and on top of that have won championships, they automatically see significant increases in their fan bases. Unlike other social media accounts where followers can be bought to bulk up stats, athletes don’t need that, they just need a good day in the job to do it.
If you look at guys like Lebron James in the NBA, the previously mentioned Juju Smith Schuster in the NFL, Conor McGregor in the UFC, and Cristiano Ronaldo in professional soccer, their social media accounts are perfect examples of how athletes can thrive in social media as well as in their respective sports.
The amount of money to be made from product endorsements by athletes on social media has made pro athletes one of the best assets to have when trying to promote new products or services.
Give a guy like Lebron James a glass of water and with his social media reach, he could probably see that water being sold to the ocean in a heartbeat.
