Leveraging Platforms for March Basketball Hysteria
Social
Mar 12
Basketball viewing during the March tournaments used to be restricted to only the game(s) that were playing on cable at the time. Now, fans have the ability to watch multiple games on various devices while staying up-to-date with bracket-busting news via social media.
Social platforms alone have become a hot spot for hoops hysteria. During the 2015 tournament, there were 350 million impressions on Facebook and Twitter, according to Koeppel Direct. In 2017, March Madness Live (MML) brought in 69.1 million live streams. All the excitement is prime opportunity for brands to leverage the influx of users streaming the live action and catching up on the day’s wins and losses. To help your brand slam dunk its campaign, we’ve provided some strategy tips.
Facebook profiles are full of customer-specific data, including a user’s college history and location, which provides ready-made segments for your ads. This presents a variety of strategic campaign options to appeal to various audiences.
A company selling sports gear, for example, can create Syracuse Orangemen ads for Syracuse alum, or a travel agency can create an ad for a Final Four trip aimed at fans vying for the chance to see the games in person.
Instagram has access to Facebook data allowing for similar segmenting of users. It also presents the opportunity to leverage trending hashtags around game excitement. Adding a relevant hashtag to your message can tie basketball and your brand together. The searchability increases your brand presence when used correctly. For example, Acme Footwear asked users to pick the game winner by combining the predicted winning team name with its company name for responses like #dukeacme. Fans love to show their team fandom and get excited to be a part of the celebration.
YouTube
To get the most bang for your buck, consider launching a campaign via YouTube during the tourney. With audience-specific targeting available, you can show ads to users who have watched a specific video or tournament related content. You can also leverage remarketing capabilities to further your reach.
Digital Video Ads
With people now watching sports via live-streaming channels at all hours, digital video ads are a great way to stay in front of consumers. This spans platforms, increasing opportunity for exposure. Facebook, for example, will interrupt a live stream with breaks for ads. Since viewers are already engaged in the game and ads are limited, you have a captive audience who are more likely to remember your brand and product.
The hype surrounding bracket success, or the sleeper team that’s sure to be a bracket buster, presents a great opportunity to reach consumers with fun and memorable ad experience. Fans are engaged and playing into the excitement is sure to be a marketing win.
