Sports teams and brands are constantly looking for new ways to connect with fans. It’s an important part of the business side of sports. But there’s a new trend emerging, a trend known as 360-degree fan engagement. It is quickly becoming one of the most important trends in fan engagement. But why?
A Basic Definition
Let’s start with a basic definition. KORE, a leading sports data intelligence provider, explains that 360-degree fan engagement is a comprehensive approach to understanding and interacting with fans. Its foundation is a holistic view that accounts for each fan’s behaviors, preferences, and interactions across multiple touch points.
Its main goal is to provide a deeper connection to fans to enhance brand-fan relationships. Stronger relationships lead to increased loyalty and brand strength. Both drive revenue.
It Starts With Data
KORE facilitates 360-degree fan engagement with data. In fact, you might want to check out their website to learn more. As far as fan engagement strategies go, their 360-degree system collects, integrates, and analyzes data from multiple sources including:
- Ticketing systems
- Merchandise purchases
- In-stadium behavior
- Website and app analytics
- Social media interaction
- Email and marketing campaigns.
Even loyalty programs are on the table when it comes to data gathering. By centralizing as much data as possible, KORE helps teams and brands gain a comprehensive understanding of their fans. That understanding is accomplished at multiple levels.
What 360-Degree Engagement Offers
The bigger question is what 360-degree fan engagement offers. Why go through all the work? For starters, a holistic look at fan preferences, behaviors, and interactions allows teams and brands to deliver highly personalized experiences more effectively. Think of it as being similar to holistic medicine. By getting the whole picture, medical providers are better able to come up with a customized treatment plan.
Other reasons to deploy 360-degree fan engagement include:
- Fan Satisfaction – Personalized fan experiences tend to be more satisfying experiences. When fans are more satisfied, they are also more engaged and more loyal. But they cannot be satisfied if teams and brands don’t know what they want.
- Fan Retention – Fan retention is a big deal for sports teams and brands. Increased retention translates into stronger sales and higher margins. What better way to boost retention than by taking a holistic view of fans and then responding accordingly to give them what they want?
- Increased Competitiveness – As sports and entertainment options increase, the competition for loyal fans only gets tighter. The 360-degree approach to fan engagement empowers teams and brands to be more competitive.
- Better Decision Making – In the modern world, decisions are driven by data. Decisions regarding fan engagement strategies are no exception. The 360-degree model provides more and higher quality data on which to base decisions.
- Revenue Generation – Throw it altogether and you wind up achieving the primary goal: revenue generation. That’s what sports teams and brands are all about. Sports is a business, and a holistic approach to understanding the customers of that business has a direct impact on revenue.
KORE Software is not the only sports data intelligence provider offering a 360-degree fan engagement system. They aren’t the only ones obsessed over fan engagement strategies. The 360-degree model is the hardest thing in fan engagement for sports teams and brands. Everybody is doing it because it works.
The 360-degree fan engagement model looks at fans from a holistic point of view. It seeks to know their thoughts, behavior, preferences, and interactions. At the heart of it all is figuring out exactly what fans want and delivering it in a highly effective way.
