Whether you cover an internationally-loved professional team, your local high school's sporting events, or something in between, check out our best practices for digital fan engagement.

1. Hosted by Alli Lazarus and Lauren
Johnson from ScribbleLive
Digital Fan Engagement
How to engage with your biggest
fans during the game & beyond!

2. Your Hosts
Alli Lazarus
Customer Success Manager
alli.lazarus@scribblelive.com
Lauren Johnson
Customer Success Manager
lauren.johnson@scribblelive.com

3. Time for a Poll

4. Digital Sports Engagement: A Changing Fan Base

5. Digital Sports Engagement By the Numbers
More than 3.5 billion people watched
the 2018 Mens’ World Cup. 1
World Cup Tweets were viewed 115
billion times. 2
Source: 1. Independent UK, 2018, 2. Engadget, 2018, Image: Facebook

6. Time for a Poll

7. DURING
Connect with and convert casual
fans into loyal, raving fans
AFTER
Learn about your audience,
nurture them post-event
Digital Fan Engagement
BEFORE
Offer exclusive content by capturing
events like live commentary

8. Strategic
planning

9. 01
02
03
Assemble a Winning Team
Who’s involved? Who will create the content? What are their
roles? How will they contribute to the success of your content?
Plan the Overall Fan Experience
If you are targeting fans going to an event, have you discussed
traffic, things to know about getting there, etc.
Assess Past Performance
What are some challenges your team has faced in the past and
how can you prevent them from happening again?
Things to Think About When Planning
Make sure that those goals are clear to everyone on your team
to ensure that you meet or exceed them!
Clearly define the goals you are looking to
achieve

10. Convert traffic to
paid visitors
Have visitors spend
more time on site
Increase unique
visitors
How to Define Success
Establishing a goal will help to define KPIs, which will guide your content
What’s your goal?

11. 01
02
03
Work sponsorship opportunities into
content you are already creating
Focus on innovative ways to
highlight sponsors!
Use special content to add value to
premium readers
Keep high interest content, such as exclusive
chats or live event coverage, behind a subscription
paywall to promote conversion.
Share the metrics you have collected from previous
event coverage with your sales team.
Make the Most of Your
Content through Monetization

12. Before
the game
Strategic
planning

13. 01
02
03
Spread the word
Now is the time to let fans know what time they can tune in for
your coverage.
Capture lesser-covered events
Summarizing or transcribing pre-game interviews with athletes,
experts, and journalists will get your fans excited.
Before the Game: Set the Stage for the Big Event
Share your social media
Are you capturing pictures and comments from fans?
Let fans know how they can be a part.
Increase User Engagement Minutes

14. “In an increasingly competitive digital media
marketplace, audiences want accurate news and expert
analysis as quickly as possible. Readers will not wait
around for publishers to catch up, and that makes live
blogs a key component of the Evening Standard’s
continued success for news and sport.
Using ScribbleLive means that beyond our coverage of
major sporting events, we can break news as quickly as
possible – with our transfer blogs a particular success
story – and diversify our coverage, allowing our team to
efficiently provide the latest updates from multiple
locations across the globe.”
Tom Doyle, Online Match Editor, Evening Standard
Before the Game: Define Success

15. Before
the game
During
the game
Strategic
planning

16. 01
02
03
Highlight the fans
Creating a hashtag is a great way to connect with fans cheering
on your team both at the game and all over the world.
Keep it Local!
Find ways to tie large international events back to a local level.
During the Game: Build a Community
Entice fans to come back all season long
Provide engaging content that will drive fans to feel
like like they are a part of a community they can count
on every week.
Convert everyday fans into loyal
viewers

17. 01
02
03
During the Game: Play By Play
Serve as a trusted resource
Whether your readers are second screen viewers or those who
are unable to cover the match, offering a play-by play will boost
your credibility as a valued voice.
Increase time on page
Kick this KPI up a notch by offering your readers a compelling
reason to spend time on your site.
Vary the content you offer
Offer your journalists’ own voices and incorporate official
images, social media posts and info to enhance the fan
experience.
Increase repeat visitors

18. Before
the game
During
the game
After
the game
Strategic
planning

19. After the Game: Provide Expert Insight
Leverage the team you have around you
Bring the fan experience full circle by
offering insight that they can’t get during
a live event
Fans are always looking for insider
interaction with their favorite teams
“Fans want to be closer to the action, to the
athletes, to the stats and to the most revealing
camera angles. They want the insider’s view.
As a result, generating constant, captivating,
exclusive content has become a modern
marketer’s priority.”
Suzy Bashford, Campaign Live UK
Source: Campaign Live
Drive traffic to your page and provide
premium content to your readers

20. After the Game: Evergreen Content
Use fewer resources by being ‘always on’
Provide a thoughtful recap after large events
Offer a different perspective on lesser-known topics
Increase time on page

21. Find What Works
Create Evergreen Content
Monetize It
Build a Loyal Base
Expand Upon It
Spotlight on
Photo by: Ben Swanson/ DenverBroncos.com

22. Don’t Forget!
It’s never too early, or too late, to drive fan engagement. The beginning of the season is
the perfect time to start mapping out your strategy
Create actionable content goals and set your team up for success with measurable KPIs
that will directly impact your bottom line
Fans are getting creative so you should too! Use different avenues for your content -
including play-by-plays, unique coverage times and evergreen content

23. Any Questions?

24. Alli Lazarus
Customer Success Manager
alli.lazarus@scribblelive.com
Lauren Johnson
Customer Success Manager
lauren.johnson@scribblelive.com

25. The New Era of Digital
Fan Engagement
Visit scribblelive.com/resources to download.