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Hears What We Learned
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@Juventus / TikTok
white whale mktg just turned one at the beginning of December 2021. With that, it means the company has been around for the emergence of new social trends - short-form content. The issue? We weren’t utilizing this tool enough and from our meetings, there’s still a lot of athletes and brands that were in the same boat.
Everyone sees the advantages of taking part in short-form content but there’s a learning curve. How do you make efficient short videos that align with your brand and help reach organizational objectives, and that’s where you get stuck. With our brand turning one, we wanted to increase exposure so we can reach the next generation of athletes and brands.
Let’s discuss why more sporting brands need to hop on the short-form train, ways to utilize these social platforms, and what the findings have been after 10 days and counting of posting.
Why do athletes and sporting brands need to hop on the TikTok/ Reels train? Simple. Growth. Currently, social media algorithms are set to prioritize short-form content over everything else. Therefore, if you want to grow you need to be creating TikToks and Reels. Think of it in this sense, you aren’t substituting your current platforms for the new ones, but they’re being added within your ecosystem of social media. Use short-form platforms to get exposure and bring people to your brand, validate your brand via your Instagram and Twitter profiles, and finally, own their attention by having them join a group or subscribe to the content you have. Now you’ve taken someone who knew nothing about your brand to having them as a dedicated follower. All stemming from short-form content
Ways to utilize TikTok, Reels, and YouTube Shorts. One of the biggest hurdles you’ll have to get over is - what would we even post? Very fair. It’s a daunting question and something you may feel that you aren’t qualified to answer. So let’s say you’re an athlete or someone running a sporting brand - what value can you provide to a viewer? Share your knowledge. If you’re a hockey player, share skating tips or what meals you cook for yourself pregame. If you’re a brand in sports, like a golf course, share the different intricacies of your course or tips on how to best play different circumstances in golf. Once you start with one, a snowball effect will take place. For example, your first video can be your top 3 favourite pre-game meals. The next three videos? How to make each meal. Another 3 videos? How you played in each of those games… what you wore, how you scored that goal, your routine, what things you like to do post-game, day-offs, summer, etc…. Now you’re in the flow state.
What white whale mktg’s findings have been after 10 days and content creating short-form content.
It works. We’ve been gaining followers that are directly involved within the sporting space and are receiving DMs from people interested in working with our brand.
Practice. Practice. Practice. Nothing will be great the first time. That’s why Nike has said it best Just Do It. Your 1st will never be better than your 100th.
Try things out. Short-form content requires less investment from both a time and production standpoint. Meaning you can post more frequently and learn what works vs what does not, sooner rather than later.
If you haven’t already checked us out on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts @whitewhalemktg, if you haven’t already and let us know what you think.
Published: December 10, 2021 - Issue 17 of The Sport Marketeer