Sports Brands & Rights Holders: 3 Reasons Why You Need To Start Taking User-Generated Content More Seriously
User-generated content (UGC) is one of the bedrocks of a modern content strategy. From memes on TikTok to fan podcasts, UGC is an ecosystem in itself—and sports brands can use it in novel ways to increase reach, engagement, datasets, and revenue.
We found out that there are three key drivers affecting the content cycle for sporting brands:
Let’s take a closer look at each of them.
1. Gen Z is Dictating Content Trends (and Rules of Engagement)
Engagement is a valuable metric for understanding whether your content is hitting the spot.?Meanwhile, members of Gen Z make up an increasing proportion of digital (and live) audiences. Therefore, engaging Gen Z should be the directive for brands looking to increase reach and engagement across all digital media platforms.
The 2021 Status of Social Commerce Report by The Influencer Marketing Factory found that 65% of Gen Z consumers say they use social media to find entertaining content, with 61% saying they specifically value video content.
Audiences are more demanding than ever, but they’re not content with endless cycles of branded content.
This doesn’t mean Gen Z hates branded content – over a third of Gen Z follow brands they like – but they’re not unconditionally loyal.?
This raises an interesting dilemma for sports brands—especially those whose content output tends to be reactive to “game day” cycles—audiences are more demanding than ever, but they’re not content (!) with endless cycles of branded content.
Photo by?Emmanuel Ikwuegbu?on?Unsplash
This means brands can’t mindlessly churn out branded content to satisfy their audience; they need to stay silent and let their fans dictate the tempo of the content cycle.
But how?
Firstly, guide your fans towards the right type of UGC. Millennial and Gen Z audiences prefer video content over photographic content, which they prefer to text-only posts.
65% of Gen Z consumers say they use social media to find entertaining content, with 61% saying they specifically value video content
Launching campaigns that encourage younger fans to create catchy videos is now a better way to improve engagement than text-based polls, for example.
Secondly, brands need to offer fans different spaces to explore and interact with content. Amondo has found that Imprints (curated feeds) that contain UGC consistently lead to higher engagement for sports fans than those without, including lower bounce rates, higher click-through rates, and longer visit times on webpages.
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2. There is a Huge Appetite for UGC Among Fans
One of the best things about ecosystems spanning multiple platforms is that each space has its own fan group.
Take Chelsea FC, for example:
Or Formula One
Different platforms, different fanbases, with huge engagement potential.
All you need is a user-focused campaign.
But here’s where it gets interesting. According to Wyng, more than 50% of consumers want their favourite brands to prompt them with content ideas. In other words, “give me an excuse to make some UGC.”
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Once you’ve prompted your users with a suitably excellent campaign, all your social media team needs to do is pick and choose the best bits to feature on the official timeline (or website, app, big screen or email if you’re using Amondo!)
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3. UGC is a better Trustbuilder than you ever thought it was…and it has Commercial Potential!
It’s important to remember that UGC isn’t just TikTok memes and fan-led podcasts. It’s product reviews and real-life interactions—with your team’s name attached to them.
Statistics from Nosto found that consumers are 2.4x more likely to say UGC is more authentic than traditional branded content—and UGC also impacts purchase-making decisions.
UGC isn’t just TikTok memes and fan-led podcasts. It’s product reviews and real-life interactions—with your team’s name attached to them.
In short, what your fans say about your product, brand, team, and event is far more powerful than what you say. So it’s about giving them the platform to become your mouthpiece.
Meanwhile, the sports marketing industry is worth an estimated $388.3 billion, and it’s time to take advantage of that income potential.
The combination of content-hungry users and highly authentic UGC means major sports brands now have the opportunity to monetise their social media ecosystem in whole new ways.
What your fans say about your product, your brand, your team, and your event, is far more powerful than what you will say about yourself.
Finding ways to encourage brand-positive feedback and interactions between fans is paramount—especially if you can get them to do it unprompted.
One option is to build marketing campaigns based on things like product launches and “game-day” experiences that fans want to jump on, then collate the UGC into a specially-made feed as a “landing page” for the campaign.
Photo by?Joshua Hanson?on?Unsplash
Amondo worked with brands including Liverpool FC, Team GB, and Formula E to collate UGC across different social media platforms into one immersive space, enhanced with commercially-driven CTAs in the experience.
Guess what—the CTR performance well-exceeded client targets. And all it took was putting a relevant CTA inside an emotionally charged, heavily curated experience – reaching the user at exactly the right time and place (and emotional state!).
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In Summary
Digital native users are using content not just as an engagement tool, but to make purchasing decisions and better understand brands.?
If major sporting brands use curated digital spaces built upon a mixture of?UGC and non-UGC, and then target Gen Z with those spaces, they have a serious opportunity to engage those fans, build reputation and even unlock monetisation opportunities.
??About Amondo
Amondo is a storytelling platform that curates the content generated around your brand (including UGC and owned assets)?into immersive, engaging feeds called Imprints. Imprints can be monetised with data capture and promotions and shared anywhere online, including websites, apps, big screens and social.