Tag: loyal communities

How Reach PLC Caused Sports Fan Engagement To Skyrocket Online

Due to the pandemic, sports teams and media companies worldwide have an all-too-familiar challenge in common: They’re unable to engage with audiences in person. Organizations that want to grow and retain their now-digital communities of sports fans must pursue new ways to get fans excited for content and sports games online.

By equipping themselves with the right tools and engagement strategies, sports organizations are successfully building thriving, loyal communities  — directly on their digital properties.

In fact, after working with Viafoura for just three months, Reach PLC achieved 150% growth in sports fan engagement while reducing the workload for staff.

Interested in finding out how Reach is unlocking meaningful engagement with sports fans online? Learn about Reach’s quest for higher engagement below.

The Growing Need for Powerful Engagement Tools and Moderation Services

Reach had an engaged audience before the pandemic ever started; however, it had yet to perfect a way to boost sports fan loyalty and related engagement metrics online. As soon as COVID-19 began to ban in-person audiences from sports events, it became clear that digital engagement would have to become a priority to fill the void for fans.

In order to deliver highly engaging experiences, Reach’s audience development team knew that the company would have to overcome some significant challenges. 

For instance, most of the company’s sports content only consisted of in-depth articles written by journalists. Reach quickly realized that sports fans weren’t being engaged after they finished reading the content. Instead of connecting with each other and participating in online discussions, consumers would leave Reach domains right after reading content without becoming registered users. 

The company also realized that its staff members were spending too much of their time moderating comments and trying to encourage positive and meaningful discussions on its properties. The lack of an automated moderation system meant that trolling behavior could easily overtake any productive conversation. 

Since 50% of people will leave a situation entirely after experiencing incivility, Reach’s engagement tools needed frequent human intervention to create a safe space to nurture its community.

Ultimately, Reach turned to Viafoura to help engage its sports fans and build loyalty through civil and interactive experiences online.

Benefiting From Rich Engagement With Digital Visitors

Using Viafoura’s conversation-based tools, Reach has been able to interact with sports fans in an extremely engaging way while gaining first-party user data. 

At the start of the pandemic, when sports games were all on hold, Reach put these social tools to use by creating a space to discuss milestone anniversaries, gameplay strategies and pandemic predictions in the sports world. That way, fans could satiate their hunger for sports engagement, and Reach could keep its community active and loyal to its brands — even without in-person games.

Keep in mind that sports fans would need to register for an account to participate in these discussions. This gave Reach a steady stream of user behavioral data that helped inform its business decisions and improve the fan experience. 

Digital visitors to Reach’s sites continue to participate in live chats with their favorite sports journalists, so they can get excited to discuss teams, games and players.

“Viafoura has helped us tap into new and better ways to keep our audiences engaged and build more loyalty,” says Kristian Walsh, head of sports audience engagement at Reach. “With Community Chat, we’re delivering more value to the fans, while also increasing engagement.”

In general, Reach’s use of Viafoura engagement tools led to a 117% increase in comments across its digital properties.

Building an Active Community Through Civil Conversations

Media organizations that host positive and productive social spaces can access a wealth of audience engagement data and encourage strong relationships to form between users.  

To prevent trolls from destroying the benefits of these social spaces, Reach decided to take on Viafoura’s automatic moderation system, which instantly blocks up to 95% of toxic comments. Together, Reach and Viafoura adjusted the moderation algorithm to support the unique community guidelines built around Reach’s audience and understand the nuances of language used by visitors. 

The addition of an effective moderation system ended up saving staff 120 hours of work each month. Now, Reach’s sports journalists no longer have to spend their time scouring comments for toxic behavior and can refocus their efforts on higher-value tasks instead.

Because Reach’s digital users have a safe space to voice their opinions and form connections with each other, there’s more reason for users to return and engage with its brand regularly.

Whether sports fans can return to stadiums or not in the near future, Reach PLC will continue to build positive, engaging experiences that captivate sports fans online.

Where Consumer Loyalties Currently Lie in the Media Industry

Since the inception of digital media, building consumer loyalty has been important for brands everywhere. But as reader revenue becomes the key to sustaining media companies, industry professionals must now decipher what kinds of experiences and content truly matter to audience members.

Bonnie Kintzer, CEO of Trusted Media Brands, explains that “we are living in the experience economy, and consumers — especially millennials — are willing to pay for products or experiences that have value.”

So what kinds of experiences with the media are people willing to stick around for?

You can unravel some of the most effective tactics that media brands are using right now to drive consumer loyalty. That way, you’ll be able to enhance your company’s existing strategy to attract audience members and retain them in the future.

Online Features That Enable Social Interactions

Humans need a social outlet. And since physical distancing continues to be so critical to our safety, consumers depend on opportunities to interact with others online to fill the void. 

“Brands have an opportunity here to offer solutions that foster social interaction online to combat the increased levels of depression and anxiety that Gen Z has reported experiencing as a result of home isolation,” says Nick Gardner, who runs a podcast on Gen Z. 

This doesn’t just apply to younger audiences, though. 

From live conversation and chat tools to interactive games, people from all walks of life want the chance to engage with one another and form meaningful connections that they can nurture every time they return.

Explainer-Style News Stories

As the pandemic continues to run its course, consumers still have a lot of unanswered questions. Both Emily Oster, who launched a newsletter focused completely on COVID-19, and BBC News have noticed that people are craving explainer-type content to get more details on the virus… especially now that worldwide lockdowns are going into their second wave.

“The questions we are getting are much more about people’s everyday lives (amid the outbreak) and by capturing those, we can respond in a way that actually meets their needs, rather than us coming up with the most generally important content.” explains a senior software engineer at BBC News Labs. 

At the end of the day, media companies are seeing a spike in interest for in-depth coverage that’s relatable and understandable.

Video-Streaming Platforms

The popularity of video-viewing platforms has been climbing well before the pandemic ever hit. Now, Industry experts are realizing that consumers favor on-demand streaming platforms over regular cable or satellite TV. 

And this has only been accelerated by the pandemic as consumers look to fill the extra time they have at home. 

“With the breadth of streaming services available — both free and via subscription — consumers will look to build their own smorgasbords of content to suit their appetite, funding this from their current TV costs,” Forrester’s Principal Analyst Jim Nail states. 

As media companies like Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video continue to engage consumers through top-notch video-viewing experiences, users are encouraged to return to their platforms over and over again.

Hobbyist Content

While the news is essential to keeping individuals informed and safe, there’s a clear desire for content that distracts from the doom and gloom of the pandemic right now. 

That’s why media companies are seeing a huge amount of consumer interest in content that targets particular at-home hobbies. 

“Publishers who can capitalize on this surge in attention and build loyalty now will be in a strong position to maintain this engagement as we settle into the much anticipated ‘new normal,” reads an article published by the Digital Content Next media organization.

Businesses That Communicate the Need for Consumer Support

Media companies that clearly state the value of their subscription programs and why they need financial support are striking a chord with consumers. 

Publishers like BuzzFeed News, The Guardian, The Daily Beast and  Portland Press Herald have all been direct with readers about their need for consumer-based revenue, and are seeing a major boost in support.

This strategy is helping consumers recognize that they rely on trusted news sources regularly and must actively support quality journalism so they can continue to rely on these companies in the future. 

Your business’ ability to build consumer loyalty is ultimately a never-ending journey. So be sure to constantly test out new ways to improve the experience with your brand and secure loyal community members in the future.

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