The Engine Room 003 | Social Strategy for Sports Brands - Explained ??

Last week we talked about something very tactical in the world of social media, the growth of Instagram Reels. This week we’re going a bit deeper and delving into social strategy to define exactly what we mean by the word 'strategy' and why sports brands need one, or more accurately, why they need a good one!

I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve been asked by clients for a ‘social strategy’, or even worse for a ‘TikTok strategy’, or even worse than that an ‘NFT strategy’, so I thought it’s worth taking on the thankless task of trying to define what on earth a social strategy is.

Defining the why in 3 steps

So at this point it’s probably worth defining what social strategy is. As one of the most popular buzzwords in marketing, I’m sometimes even reluctant to use the word myself as it’s become so overused. For me, strategy in any field is always about defining the why. Without the why you are a dog in the fog aimlessly chasing every fad and trend that exists. And in the world of social and sports there are a lot of fads and trends to chase!

Without the why you are a dog in the fog aimlessly chasing every fad and trend that exists.

1. Defining the marketing problem

When End Product hosts strategy workshops with clients or I’m interrogating a brief, I’ll often start with a very simple and pointed question “Why is your brand on social?” If I’m not met with a blank expression that suggests I’m an idiot who doesn’t understand the merits of social media, it often fuels a really interesting debate about the marketing problem that clients believe social media solves for them.

This is essentially part 1 of social strategy - defining the actual brief. It’s amazing how often this step in the process is skipped (and by the way, growing followers or increasing the engagement rate is not a basis for a good social media brief!).

2. Defining the audience problem

The second part of social strategy, which is just as crucial but also gets missed, is asking why your audience are on social and what problems does it solve for them? Brands who have a clear understanding of why they’re on social but not why their audience is there, tend to be the ones shouting into the void about how amazing their product is or their latest great deal while their target audience skips past them to find another video of Ronaldo blanking Jamie Carragher. 

3. Finding a brand truth

Now the final step of social strategy, and probably the most difficult one, is about solving that audience problem in a way that’s incredibly unique to your brand and in a way that solves the marketing problem you’ve got. I’m sure we’ve seen those sports publishers dishing out quizzes about your favourite ever crisp. Yes it might solve some of their audience's problems (mostly boredom) and it might even have your brand logo on it, but unless your marketing objective for some bizarre reason is to grow awareness of NikNaks or Walkers Sensations then please just stop.

I’ll often look at these three things and try to get to an action-oriented statement about a brand’s social strategy.

One of the best examples I often refer to is Paddy Power. They quite clearly have a social strategy that’s about causing mischief. It fills an audience need for entertainment on social, it ladders up to a marketing objective of making more people aware of Paddy Power and more likely to bet with them during key betting occasions and the idea of mischief is just incredibly unique to Paddy Power. 

Strategy vs Tactics 

Now before I sign off this newsletter, you’ll notice I’ve not once mentioned channels, formats, cadence, content ideas or any other words you often hear associated with social strategy. That’s because these things are not strategy, they are tactics. They should reflect the strategy but they should not be defined in the same way, they should change at a rapid pace.

Channels, formats, cadence, content ideas or any other words you often hear associated with social strategy are not strategy, they are tactics.

Having a tightly defined ‘Twitter strategy’ with fixed content pillars, cadence and formats is both dumb and incredibly restrictive. Your tactics should move at the pace social conversation, platforms and trends do, and in the world of sport that’s incredibly quickly. This is not to dispute the importance of having a content plan and having a lot of science behind when you post, for example, the formats you post in and the length of your content. Those things are important, they’re just not what I’d call strategy, and in a slick social media operation, they should be things that come instinctively.

Define your strategy slowly and deploy your tactics fast.

So in summary define your strategy slowly and deploy your tactics fast. And that’s just what we do at End Product, meticulously nail a strategy and then move at the speed of Usain Bolt to execute game-winning tactics and ideas that ladder up to the strategy. 

If you enjoyed this delve into social strategy, let's chat more on Twitter, Instagram or head to our website and get in touch!