Boosting Fan Engagement Becomes the Aim for Soccer Teams Expanding as Brands

Soccer teams, particularly the elite class of the top tiers of Europe, are globally-renowned brands already. However, even though they stand among the most popular sports teams in the world when counting fan bases, few can rival the branding power, revenues, and values of the much more US-centric sports teams.

Only the likes of Real Madrid and Manchester United can hold their own against the top 15 most valuable sports teams, with the others mostly being NFL teams. The NFL’s footprint beyond the US is growing, but is incredibly small by comparison. So, major soccer teams need to utilize their presence by expanding as brands.

Making the Most of Engagement Potential

One of the clearest paths to further fan engagement and growing an even larger fan base is, naturally, social media. The digital space of news alerts, competitions, and more can do a lot to grow a brand and develop a platform if done right. The key to this arena is seeking engagement over viewer count.

Almost by default, major soccer clubs will collect hundreds of thousands or millions of followers from around the world just by having a standard social media presence with a few posts a week. However, it’s been recognized that engagement is what truly propels a brand in this space rather than followers.

Beyond Social Content for Creating Engaging Experiences

If an engaging digital experience is created, you can bet that people will share it across social media. Streaming entering sports has been a big boost in this way. There are the Prime Video series, but the true bar has been set by Netflix’s Drive to Survive, which has, somehow, made Formula One even more popular and engaging.

There are also newer ways of offering a more hands-on and engaging experience if individual teams or leagues were to license out their brands. Online gaming is now a huge corner of entertainment and is teeming with branded content, and soccer has a presence among these bingo slots online.

Delving deeper into digital touch points for fans, Manchester City have been pioneering of late.

The Citizens have been keen to explore virtual, augmented, and mixed reality experiences as well as those based in the metaverse. Already, fans are diving into City-branded reality content that’s fully immersive and all about the club. This way, even when the team isn’t playing, fans can use novel avenues to engage with the club and share.

Boosting fan engagement in the digital world is a clear path to enhancing a brand and, potentially, increasing revenues through merchandise sales and the like. Already, some teams are exploring their options, but much more can be done.