SPORTS have increasing become one of the most saleable events of all time.

Marketers and brands are throwing money into the leaps-and-bounds growing industry.

The strategic plans for the likes and dislikes of the fans are, however, not always accurate. Selling everything attached with sports besides the game plan is not necessarily an answer to how to increase sales.

Good strategies employed by brands must author appropriate content incorporated with the tactics behind soliciting user-generated content.

courtesy of brandwatch

We need to see a way by which brands can leverage techniques in the competitive nature of sports so that we can engage consumers and augment the sports experience specifically linked to the purchase.

Victory happens in the field, but we all know that good marketers rather use sporting victory and shared camaraderie, brands embedded, as an integral part of the celebration and bask in the reflected glory of sporting achievement.

Brands or personality seek the fans’ collaboration and interaction (‘like’, ‘comment’, ‘share’), co-creating content using any aspect of the game to connect to the consumer as if they all are part of an everyday life or daily plan.

In this 4.0 era, revenues as a result of good marketing are in your face, to a greater extent in sports. All these social media channels are there to be exploited. The opportunities are really almost endless.

Brands get to be seen over and over again through customer social engagement in Facebook and Twitter.

Every time on any side of a game; win or lose, dramatic or generic, as they are re-watched, comments on media platforms, shown on the news, instant replays, brands can create reinforcing value.

Now we also have this live streaming that brands can have total control over. It’s a whole new world.

The key part of sports marketing is its relationship with a favourite team, which does not really exist much when it comes to a age of “less royalties, the more value”.

The power of repeated impressions for winning or losing are more certain than game results. As long as brands keep them (social) talking, brands or sponsors will keep winning.

Social games are not just an integral part, rather they have also become a leading flag for brands.

Bringing out success in a bad game is a result of good media strategy. Old-fashioned winning is too limited, social marketing is infinite.

This article by the author was originally published on The Nation 26th July 2017