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Sky’s the limit…
AGS Forsikring
+47 67 24 74 02 www.agsforsikring.no
AGS
F O R S I K R I N G
We believe it is our passion
for sport and our focus on
providing excellent customer
service that has made several
Norwegian sports federations
choose
AGS
and
Sportscover
as
partners on specialised insurance
coverage for their members.
For the scandinavian market
contact our insurance team in Oslo
touchline
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what they want. After all, without them we have nothing.
Control is a constant battle, but we need to embrace it - or the
lack thereof. Social media gives a voice to everyone and if you
don’t listen there is no point in participating. If we can build
relationships with our fans via social media channels, one in
which they trust, respect and are passionate about the club they
will become our best brand advocates. There is no simply switch
though, it takes time and must be backed up by a long term
vision. While there needs to be some control over language and
behaviour (particularly within our official club site), we encourage
discussion. We are most fortunate that people want to talk about
us, to us and around us. The club is built upon passion and there
are so many great stories to tell. How fortunate that others want
to listen, talk and participate in the conversation. It can be difficult
when times are tough, but we ask for commitment from our fans
year after year and must lead by example by communicating,
engaging and listening no matter what. We take the good with the
bad. The good will be all the more rewarding having gone through
the rough patches. We don’t do it because it is easy, in fact we do
it because it is hard.
Can digital media affect a sporting organisation’s bottom
line?
No doubt. However, it cannot be the only driver or KPI. Social
media has provided us increased traffic to our website, has
providing new partnership opportunities and has provided new
data and eyeballs – all of which can affect the bottom line if
utilised well. We have also seen an increase in merchandise
sales when campaigns are integrated by digital channels. It is
important to note that digital marketing is not the panacea to all
of our marketing challenges. It is best utilised as a component of
a fully integrated and structured campaign. I believe that it also
needs a long term approach when it comes to the bottom line.
Build the relationships, the brand advocates, the passion and in
time you will develop sustainable transactional relationships.
What advice would you give an organisation considering
entering the world of digital media?
Have a strategy. Set KPIs and expectations. Understand your
target market. Realise that it is not free – it takes time, effort and
resources. Integrate it across all marketing campaigns. Watch,
listen and learn from consumers, competitors and market leaders.
Gain internal buy-in across the organisation – educate, inform,
engage and empower the whole organisation. Think long term.
Expect a rollercoaster ride. Be committed and passionate about
it.
provides around 25% of our traffic), but also to reach a different
audience. We have 93,000 fans on Facebook and some of these
have never visited our website or spoken with the club before.
The next phase of the strategy is to get to know these people
more via data acquisition opportunities and Facebook connect
integration into our website. Facebook also allows us a little more
freedom in terms of content and we are working on providing
new and exciting options for our Facebook fans. It must not
simply become a ‘news service’, but must harness the power of
Facebook’s functionality to engage and entertain. Facebook has
provided us with our biggest data acquisition growth this year,
with many users entering various competitions and in doing so
providing data for use for future marketing campaigns.
Twitter is slowly growing in Australia, but is still a bit of a niche
market. While providing a useful communication platform to
promote news, events, merchandise etc. it also allows for one-
on-one conversation with users. It has become part of our
customer service strategy and allows fans to interact instantly
with someone at the club with a specific question or concern.
We aim to answer every question sent to us via Twitter. We also
provide live match updates – scores, insider comments, stats,
twitpics and twitvids – providing unique and
exclusive content on match day. Whether
a fan is at home, out and about or even at
the game, they can get inside information
from the club via Twitter and our mobile
website. We also have three players on
Twitter (@JobeWatson, @AngusMonfries,
@APWelsh) and plan on working closely
with them to provide more exclusive and
unique content from a player perspective.
Two of the main concerns that people
have expressed regarding digital media
channels are 1) its immediacy and speed
and 2) the lack of control. How much of a
concern are these to you?
Immediacy is one of the main drawcards.
People want and expect instant information
and gratification. We try to provide it. While
this can often be difficult and resource
dependent, it is important to provide fans
what they want, when they want and how
they want it. We don’t want to set the agenda
in terms of how, when and how we engage
with fans – we want to listen and provide