How U.S. Soccer can use the blogosphere to increase brand awareness (Part I: Sharing Video)
U.S. Soccer has a problem.
Possible endings to that statement might include: “the teams don’t play in difficult venues on foreign soil” or “the coaches aren’t top-tier.” But those are things that, given enough time, will work themselves out. U.S. Soccer’s real problem? Marketing; namely an institutionalized inability to do it effectively.
This is the first in a series of three posts that will offer methods for the U.S. Soccer Federation to leverage the soccer blogosphere to increase visibility.
The Current Conditions
Approximately one year ago, U.S. Soccer created its own YouTube channel. You can find a lot of great stuff there, including behind-the-scenes video, player spotlights, and examples for use in referee position papers.
The video content that appears on the YouTube channel also appears on ussoccer.com. In fact, that’s where I ran into this well-produced piece about DaMarcus Beasley.
Note that I had to link off-site to the video examples in order for you to see them; I wasn’t able to place the videos on ThroughBall.com. U.S. Soccer has disabled easy embedding of their YouTube content and there is no easy way to get videos from ussoccer.com. That isn’t to say that an enterprising blogger couldn’t embed them directly on their site but it’s not quick or easy for the everyday blogger to do.
Why They Might Think Prohibition is a Good Idea
So why won’t U.S. Soccer let bloggers easily embed their video content? Frankly, there aren’t any good reasons but they probably believes something along these lines:
Why They Are Wrong
Let’s take them one at a time:
“We worked hard to make those videos and we’re not going to give them away.”
The quality of U.S. Soccer video has improved markedly over the past couple years and I’m sure they are very protective of it. But if I make the best widget in the world but don’t find a way to tell anyone about it, that widget is worthless.
“We want people to see the YouTube channel and ussoccer.com as the official channels for communication.”
Ussoccer.com will always be the “official” channel. Only allowing videos to appear on YouTube or ussoccer.com assumes first, that true believers—the U.S. Soccer fanatics—will remember to go to YouTube or ussoccer.com to look at the videos and second, that U.S. Soccer is marketing only to the true believers; that no else could possibly be interested in their product.
“Bloggers are a volatile bunch and we don’t want our content seen next to posts about WAGs.”
This is probably the most reasonable objection. There is no telling what someone without an editor will post. One day, it’s a K-Fed rumor, the next, it’s a look at an offside call in an international friendly, and so on. But it isn’t about the contiguous content; it’s about the one piece of content and whether or not people see it.
“Giving these videos away might lead people to compromise the content.”
An organization must be very careful about maintaining its brand. Letting consumers or retailers (bloggers, in this case) get a hold of a product requires a bit of trust: trust that they will present the product in the best light; trust that they will see how valuable the product is. But they need the chance to earn the trust if you want your product seen.
It’s a New Media World
Like it or not, bloggers are here (whether we’re here to stay is a different question). It isn’t like the mainstream U.S. media are breathlessly awaiting word that the U.S. Soccer Federation has released a new video. By limiting their distribution, U.S. Soccer has effectively cut off the only real mass media way to attract new viewers.
The market is a diverse place full of diverse people and bloggers are best positioned to reach them. People who read soccer blogs aren’t necessarily soccer fans. In fact, I can think of a few regular ThroughBall.com readers who had no exposure to the game prior to reading about it here. That’s not significant until you multiply those numbers by hundreds, maybe thousands of soccer blogs (and maybe, just maybe, non-soccer blogs). That’s when you are talking about an untapped mass market.
Just Do It
Furthermore, bloggers are always looking for new content and are quite happy when content is dropped in their laps. Of course U.S. Soccer should have figured this out by now and it is hardly a new idea. After all, their kit supplier, Nike (arguably the best marketer in the world), has mastered the art of video sharing as a means of spreading a message. How many times have you seen the Eric Cantona World Cup spots or Wayne Rooney commercials on the blogs you visit?
It’s never too late to start and U.S. Soccer should abandon their close-minded approach and set their content free.
Stay tuned for Parts II and III of this series.
[Photo by aye_shamus]
15 comments
Great post.
In fact, I can think of a few regular ThroughBall.com readers who had no exposure to the game prior to reading about it here. That’s not significant until you multiply those numbers by hundreds, maybe thousands of soccer blogs (and maybe, just maybe, non-soccer blogs).
Indeed. And, as one of those readers, I’ll add this to the conversation: I don’t have cable, and probably won’t get it for some time. As a result, my only real exposure to soccer is on the internet. When I see videos on your site, I watch them, because hey, they’re videos. When those videos are of good soccer, I get excited about the sport and want to learn more (”whoa, how’d he do that?” “who is that player?” “what was the team strategy there?” “is he on my fantasy team?”). As a casual observer, though, I’m not going to head to any official U.S. Soccer sites for such videos, just as I won’t be going to NBC.com for random Conan videos. If a video is worth watching, I trust the blogosphere to bring it to me. As you suggested, Josh, I’d only go to the source for a product I’m already passionate about.
Jeremy:
You are the proof of my pudding. Wait, that’s not right, is it?
I’ve watched more scaryice/Climbing the Ladder videos than official US Soccer videos in the last 12 months.
Needed to be said. Hopefully the content guardians will relent . . .
First off, thanks for the “around the soccersphere” link from a few days back. And thanks for this post. I’m awaiting parts II and III with anticipation. When you put them up, I’ll be returning the favor and linking back to you, because this is an issue that interests me.
A few months ago I was discussing this same thing with a friend. My point was that bloggers are going to be the difference for soccer in America. It’s already starting to happen. It’s not as if the mainstream media are competing for the honor of providing the most soccer coverage, and blogs are filling the hole. If the soccer powers-that-be had any brains whatsoever, they would work with us and harness the power and make it easier for the information to get out rather than putting up hurdles.
As you point out, it’s impossible to completely control information on the internet. It’s a losing battle. I think that eventually the powers that be will recognize that the benefits of providing this content to everybody will outweigh what they lose in doing so.
You are the proof of my pudding. Wait, that’s not right, is it?
Wait, you have pudding? I have two questions: How much and give it to me.
Great post! For an organization trying to get their brand out to an immature market, you would figure their content would be easily assessable.
Care for a link exchange? Click on my name for the link.
Very nice post. With the game in this country, it’s all about marketing. I agree with Jimmy’s post above – ease of accessibility is EVERYTHING.
I also agree with Jimmy’s assessment of an “immature” market, though I might define it differently. The immaturity of the American sports fan is also emotional, and here I speak of the snobbery we too often see from columnists and commentators who write about our game once every four years at the World Cup to tell everyone how much they hate it.
These are the people who have to be reached, and they aren’t going to be reached the way the rest of us look, through U.S. Soccer.
I consider myself pretty fortunate – I get FSC, GolTV and Setanta Sports so my weekends are PnP DVR-fests. I’ll look all over the net for clips I want to see, but the casual fan will not. So providing opportunity is everything. If our game is to be the wave of the future in the United States, U.S. Soccer needs to release its death grip.
Agreed. Have thought the same thing when I’ve tried to link on our blog by embedding. Doesn’t make any sense does it. Almost as bad as when US Soccer took World Cup ticket orders last year by having you fax them in. They had one fax machine and US Soccer. They said they had no idea they were going to get 20 some thousand requests. HELLO!
And Laurie is correct. There is this big void that is slowly starting to get filled by mainstream media only because we the bloggers and discussion board junkies made them take notice that there a whole bunch of us out there. These are the very people US Soccer want to involve. So why alienate them.
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US Soccer and the SoccerSphere…
Josh at Throughball takes US Soccer to task over their disregard for the many soccer blogs out there covering US Soccer on a daily basis. Clearly US Soccer can do more to leverage the SoccerSphere and expand the reach of US Soccer online.
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