Sports have brought people together for thousands of years.
We’re now spending more and more time nurturing our digital connections – the average daily time spent on social networking by internet users worldwide is 2 hours 35 minutes per day, compared to 90 minutes in 2012. Therefore, the way fans connect with athletes, teams, and events is changing to align with evolving consumer behavior.
Influencers and content creators are now the bridge between sporting moments and the audiences who celebrate them.
Creators are often more approachable and relatable than the athletes themselves; however, we’re also seeing professional athletes leaning further into social media to showcase more personality and connect with loyal supporters. We have social media to thank for sports fans' experiences becoming more innovative and exciting.
During the post-season football run, we worked with DoorDash to identify creators who could speak to their audiences about the link between sports and delivering watch-party essentials. Delivering items like food, drinks, and decorations, DoorDash is the perfect brand to integrate into sporting moments.
The winning formula was humor, relatability, and working with creators who are known for their love of sports and sporting commentary.
Joey Foo’s content was true to his usual style – funny, slightly hectic, and inviting audience participation. He asked his audience questions about their game day rituals to encourage comments. His content hit 343k impressions and a 15.22% engagement rate on YouTube Shorts.
The Jones Brothers played up their comedic style, showing the frustration of not having snacks for a football game; of course, DoorDash was the solution. Their TikTok achieved 379k impressions with a 10.04% engagement rate.
These high engagement rates show the campaign captured the excitement of the sporting moment, and by focusing on watch-party essentials like food, drinks, and decorations, creators made DoorDash feel like an essential part of the game-day experience.
Content across other platforms also drove high engagement rates with an average of 8.80% on YouTube Shorts and 6.33% on TikTok.
Formula 1 has entered the realm of social media. The sport was once seen as exclusive and offline, but it is now thriving in the social media spotlight.
At its 75th anniversary launch at London’s O2, fans could follow every moment online – this was the first time dans outside of the room had a front row seat. Now, influencers are being invited to races, sparking both debate and excitement. Some questioned whether influencers outside the traditional F1 fan base should be attending, but it’s important to recognize that influencers, like anyone, can have multiple interests.
The integration of influencers into big F1 moments is encouraging their fans to explore new passions. Influencer involvement has opened the sport to new audiences, as well as providing a way for those who are unable to attend races or meet their favorite drivers to feel more deeply connected to the sport.
Madeline White is a content creator that typically posts about beauty, fashion, and lifestyle moments, but she is also obsessed with Formula 1! Madeline has over 5 million followers on TikTok, so is the ideal creator to make Formula 1 more accessible to a large audience. She has been vocal about her love for the sport on her socials, and because of this, she was invited to the F1 media day to interview drivers and create content for socials.
Her fans are supportive and enthusiastic about this venture…
Not all sporting activations are about the sport itself - adjacent communities can get in on the fun, too. For the NYC Marathon, Bumble created a “cheer zone” where singles could connect in real life while supporting runners.
We partnered with local NYC influencers to spotlight the event, including Riri Bichri, who captured the energy of the moment and showed how Bumble brings people together beyond dating. It was a perfect example of how brands can use sporting occasions to create cultural touch points that allow non-sporty individuals to feel involved.
Follow these tips to turn sporting moments into connections for your brand:
We want to chat about how your brand can connect with sports fans and capitalize on sporting moments by collaborating with influencers. Send us an email at hello@digitalvoices.com
