Jim Harshaw » Securing Sports Sponsorships with Social Media

Uploaded by Jim H. & Riot Staff | on Riot Sports Marketing | February 28, 2011

Coaches and administrators often ask me about the ROI of social media. The easy response is to ask them the ROI of their tv, radio, schedule card, and team poster campaigns. These can be tracked but rarely are. So many like to sell cookies and "stuff" because they can see the return on their investment with no effort (even it if is not significant per the energy spent) ROI of social media and communication (fan-raising) is rarely tracked, unfortunately.
However, you can immediately see the size of your fans, followers and subscribers where as you don't know how many people got your poster or heard your radio public service announcement. Regardless of the apparent vagueries that accompany the ROI of marketing, there is one very tangible means of generating real cash on a recurring basis through your social media properties.

Sponsorships.

College and high school sports teams are the rallying point of local communities and businesses want to be associated with them. Put a little effort into growing your Facebook Page and email list and you will have not only a stronger fan base but a platform from which to solicit sponsors. It is likely that you already have sponsors or businesses that support in some way. What if you could give them recognition through mentioning them on Facebook? Thanking them in your email newsletter or Tweeting their link and handle?

USA Track and Field is hosting the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships. They posted the following on their Facebook Page: "It's TV time! Tune in to ESPN to watch the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships presented by BMW! One minute till showtime!"

Do you think that this recognition to the 60k USATF Facebook fans figures into their sponsorship package? I would think so.

You may not have 60k fans on your Facebook page but you're also not luring the likes of BMW. But you can get 1,000 fans easily. Even 10k depending on the size of your organization. (The local wrestling club that I run has over 3,000)

So, as I usually do, I will give you some actionable steps to take...

1. Maximize your Facebook following by asking... no, requiring your athletes to click the "Share" button on the bottom left column of your Page. They should share it both as a wall post and as a Facebook message to their relevant friends.
2. Ask each athlete to collect 20 email addresses of friends and family who want to receive your email newsletter.
3. After doing the above, you should have grown your following by over 1,000 fans more than you previously had. Now, go to your sponsors and sell them on the benefits of being associated with your great organization. You can recognize them with a public thank you, an event sponsorship (like BMW above), posting a video interview, and/or sharing a link to their website.

This is called fundraising through fan-raising.
Good luck!