Social media has come along rapidly in the last two decades, travelling from strength to strength and allowing people all over the world to keep in contact with each other instantly. Fans can share their favourite moments and keep up to date with their much-loved sports personalities lives in real time. Where previously, fans who missed a game would need to wait until the highlights or sports news to re-watch the best moments. Digital media has made catching up on games much easier, with full matches hosted online, rather than on individual channels. You can even find hundreds of people posting and uploading their highlights as soon as they've happened!
However, it's not all positive. Social media has also made it easier for fans to spread negativity about certain sporting moments and there are plenty of stars that manage to drop themselves in it. Take for example the uproar regarding Raheem Sterling's leg tattoo. Luckily, the good outweighs the bad and the increasing quality of sports image captions or well-timed moments are enough to keep us crying with laughter.
How the Digital World Has Influenced Sports Technology
You may remember the controversial disallowed Frank Lampard goal in the 2010 World Cup, well this particular moment influenced a huge change in the world of Football. With the introduction of goal-line technology. Goal-line technology allows referees to be notified if the ball has completely crossed over the goal line, under the crossbar and between the goal-posts. It's a change the fans had been calling for, for quite a while and was received warmly by both players and followers.
Digital Technology also influenced several changes to uniforms and sports industry equipment, from high-definition scoreboards to incredible protective helmets. The development of smart helmets ensured that not only were coaches and referees alerted to a head injury but through magnets absorbed and dispersed the force of collisions to reduce the risk of concussion. The implementation of digital technology has also given players the opportunity to gather data
regarding their play and improve themselves. Take for example, the introduction of Smart Golf Clubs that measure your swing and check your accuracy. Perfect for golf lovers looking to reduce their handicap.
The next exciting development will soon be upon us and fans won't even need to attend games to get into the action. Virtual Reality has come along in leaps and bounds over the last few years and there are several companies developing VR applications that give you a front-row seat to the action.
How Sports Teams Can Efficiently Utilise SEO & Social Media
For the big named teams, there's always going to be plenty of people looking up information and posting relevant moments. However, for smaller teams and players, it can be more difficult to get your name out there.
Luckily, search-engines love content so the more you post regarding a specific subject, the better you will be rated by the likes of Google and Yahoo. " Content Marketing " as it's known, is a particular tool used for SEO or Search Engine Optimisation and includes everything from podcasts to blog posts. Combined with good, active use of Social Media will ensure your fans have no trouble finding you. It's not only for teams and players, suppliers of sports equipment can effectively use SEO to connect with their customers.
Players and Social Media
It's not just clubs on their own that can make social media work for them, as some of the most famous athletes in the world have found out. Take Cristiano Ronaldo, for example, with his 158 million Instagram followers - the Portuguese footballer earns a cool $750,000 per sponsored post on the social media channel.
As well as opening up another source of revenue for sportsmen and women, social media has also proven to be an effective means of fans connecting with their idols. As sport grew more and more professional over the decades, the days of fans mixing with elite level talent after fixtures came to an end - many felt as though they couldn't truly connect with the players they support from the stands.
With players having a social media presence, fans are provided with a platform to communicate directly. Of course, not all players can communicate directly to each and every response - it simply wouldn't be feasible, especially in Ronaldo's case - but many do make the effort to reply to some, which goes a long way.
Clubs are savvy and, because of this, will often use their players' accounts to promote the club - i.e. ticket sales, merchandise and more. This maximises the club's social reach by utilising their own social influencers
PPC Advertising
As well as SEO, many sports teams and organisations have been making full use of PPC advertising - specifically Google Ads (formerly AdWords). With the capability to reach out to a highly-targeted audience based on location, it's no wonder sports clubs have been utilising the function.
It isn't just clubs that have been getting in on the PPC action, with ticket sellers also making sure they are present. Why? Because if tourists want to attend a Premier League match and search for 'Premier League tickets' on Google, ads directing the user to pages where they can purchase tickets will show.
While PPC advertising is simple in theory, in order to be carried out effectively the campaign should be overseen by someone who knows what they are doing. As good as Google Ads are, there is the potential to spend a lot of money with very little return on investment. If you visit this website, you will find a good example of what running a PPC campaign entails.
Considering, 93% of traffic is said to come from Search Engines, with lower numbers of users going directly to pages. It's important that sports industries utilize good SEO practices, so they can be found easily by fans and customers.
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Savita Singh is the author of computergeekblog, She has a superlative knowledge of Graphic and Web designing. She is a part time and award winning tech blogger who loves to write about latest technology, social media and web design. Her blog focuses on creative things of designing and tech, providing professional opinions on designing products, performances and a variety of business.
