It’s time for soccer tournaments to get serious about a Soccer Tournament Media Officer to manage media, from newspaper and TV to social media channels.
This photo was posted by the Solar Impulse team. Sure, the photo itself is pretty impressive but once you get beyond that, there is a spectacular epiphany that was easy to overlook at first:
The Solar Impulse has a selfie window built into its design.
Marketing the Solar Impulse using social media was not a thought bolted-on after the fact. Marketing using social media wasn’t going to be one of those things an intern or a community manager would handle. From the very beginning, marketing on social media was planned.
It’s time for soccer tournaments to design their own selfie window into their events. It’s time for a Soccer Tournament Media Officer to plan, coordinate and execute the event using all media channels, including social. Start here.
Our advice:
- Get serious about social media, especially the top four; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. While it is still important as an anchor to reach your teams during the event, your website as a destination is becoming less and less so. Your sponsors and advertisers want to reach your participants. If they are all off on social media channels, a “link from the website” will continue to have less and less value.
- Start developing a Snapchat presence through hosted “stories” from the touchline, the HQ tent, the t-shirt tent. Invite the teams behind the scenes.
- Do not dismiss social media (especially Snapchat) as something the kids do. Look around during your soccer tournament; there are thousands of kids! That is your audience, whether or not they “buy” directly from you. The kids are the influencers for their parents and coaches.
Build a “selfie-window” into your soccer tournament event by design. Start now and make sure it is up and running for your next “flight.” Also, follow the Solar Impulse on Instagram. The photos are amazing!