Social Marketing That Moves at the Speed of Sports

This post was created in partnership with Viral Nation

Dynamic action and big plays are what make live sports so compelling to audiences, but traditional brand partnerships that take time to plan and execute are too slow to keep up.

During an ADWEEK House Sports Summit panel co-hosted with Viral Nation, industry leaders sat down with Chelsea Bakken, head of audience development and social at ADWEEK, to discuss how brands can match the fast pace of sports by leveraging social media channels and working with creators.

The power of social media to elevate

Brandon Lentino, chief creative officer at Viral Nation, kicked off the conversation by talking about social media’s role during the recent FIFA World Cup. He specifically called out the channel’s power to amplify mom-and-pop businesses, such as the New Jersey deli that went viral for welcoming a British visitor with open arms.

“On a macro level, social media has been such fertile soil to share those stories,” Lentino said. “The only reason we’re hearing about that deli in Jersey is because there’s content getting created around it.”

Smaller businesses with a social media presence were able to capitalize on the tournament’s global appeal in real time with a “communal wave of user-generated content,” he added.

“When you take that already-existing groundswell of using social to get these local businesses out there, and then you mix in all of these different cultures experiencing them for the first time, it’s created this really beautiful showing of the world coming together in a way that I don’t think you’ve seen in previous FIFA tournaments,” Lentino explained.

Creators as the new broadcasters

Amber Balcaen, a professional racecar driver and entrepreneur, thinks of social media creators as broadcasters. And because of their emotional connection to creators, fans feel more like participants in sporting events than like passive viewers.

“Creators are able to give the fans that type of perspective that they might not be able to see by just turning it on TV,” Balcaen shared. “It makes that emotional attachment deeper and makes them be more invested in what they’re cheering for.”

Lentino agreed, mentioning IShowSpeed as a creator who became “as much a face of the World Cup as some of the actual athletes were.” Lentino attributes IShowSpeed’s success to remaining authentic in his own appreciation of the athletes. For brands, that combination of audience and authenticity is unmatched.

“You’re going to penetrate these communities more effectively with a voice that they actually want to hear from,” Lentino said. “And that’s not to say that traditional media can’t work or can’t be authentic, but it is a whole new wave of spending that needs to be considered.”

Advice for brands

Balcaen wrapped up the panel with some advice for brands working with creators. Her headline was to allow the creator freedom to make it authentic rather than impose certain requirements on a piece of content.

“When brands are asking us creators to push their product within the first three seconds of a video, people are going to scroll right past that because they’ll know it’s an ad,” Balcaen explained. “If you truly want people to trust the creator that you’re working with, you need to be able to let them integrate your product or your brand in an authentic way.”