Because customer segments, and especially their attention spans, are so fragmented now, it is no longer enough for brands to expect consumers to come to them. Instead, they need to proactively be where the customers already are. And as more people are also demanding customer experiences that are relevant, meaningful, and consistent, it is also imperative for marketers to take advantage of every touch point at their command.
This means developing a comprehensive and omni-channel strategy, which is an approach to customer engagement that many of the largest and most powerful brands are embracing.
In this respect, the National Football League is no exception, and it has just announced a new multi-year strategic partnership with Twitter. The agreement will extend a previous deal made back in 2013, and it promises to bring even more daily NFL content to Twitter users for the upcoming season.
“We want to try and reach our fans wherever they are, and increasingly there is a lot of fan interaction on social platforms,” Alex Riethmiller, NFL Media VP of Communications, told Loyalty360. “For Twitter in particular, we know that we have many NFL fans on that platform, and there is a lot of discussion about NFL football happening there. So it’s a natural partnership for us.”
Now the NFL can engage fans with coverage of even more official and exclusive content on Twitter. From the pre-season month through the Super Bowl, the NFL will deliver exiting game highlights, expert analysis, behind-the-scenes looks, entertaining infographics, archival footage, and more.
The extended partnership also calls for a creative collaboration between the NFL and Twitter to continue discovering new ways to broaden fan and customer engagement. The NFL hopes to not only successfully engage millions of current fans everywhere, but also to attract new fans.
“The upside to this partnership is that, through their Amplify program, Twitter will take the messages and the content that we are putting out through @nfl and @nflnetwork and expand it,” Riethmiller continued. “So our content will get seen by people that aren’t following our Twitter handles. And, potentially, we’ll be able to attract new audiences that way.”
Not that the NFL is struggling in this respect. In fact, it has never been more popular. According to the Nielsen Company, 202.3 million unique viewers watched the 2014 NFL regular season. That number represented 80% of all television homes in the country.
But even though it already has a staggering amount of fans, the NFL understands the need to resist complacency.
“The brands that do the best, regardless of if they are in sports or anything else, are always looking for different ways to touch their fans or customers,” Riethmiller concluded. “The brands that only rely on one or two channels are losing out on an opportunity because putting content on as many different touch points as possible only increases exposure and, in turn, increases loyalty.”