1. Host Fans
Non-match days provide opportunities to “host” fans at your venue and make them feel part of the club by giving them an intimate experience. Stadium tours are a well-established way to achieve this. EE has shown with their smart guide (produced for the Wembley stadium tour), that the integration of technology can enhance the traditional idea of a stadium tour and present valuable data collection opportunities.
Museum tours are another area touched by the digital revolution. The Minnesota Vikings are using virtual reality to bring their rich history to life for fans.
The so-called “Vikings Voyage” is a 10,000 square foot interactive experience located at the clubs U.S Bank Stadium.
English Premier League (EPL) club Tottenham Hotspur showed how a venue can be used to host fans and serve the community.
Their use of the clubs facilities to host job fairs which connected over 3,000 local job seekers and over 90 employers won “best non-match day use of venue” at the 2015 Football Business Awards. Equally, Manchester City’s “Hackathon”, hosted at the City Football Academy, was a great way to host and engage with new target audiences.
This kind of innovative use of your venue can be augmented further by integrating participant data into your customer relationship management (CRM) system.
2. Connect Fans
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Fans are tribal and want to feel connected to fellow fans as well as the club itself. Facilitating these connections is critical to an everyday fan engagement strategy. A classic example here is Liverpool FC’s (LFC) tie-up with Skype whose platform is helping the club to connect LFC fans via the “LFCofficial” Skype account.
Virtual reality, augmented reality and 360 degree video technologies are now enabling clubs to create exciting behind-the-scenes experiences. In American Football, Visa and Bank of America gave New England Patriots fans the chance to “Travel Inside the Game” to Patriots’ training sessions via Google Cardboard.