How U.S. Soccer can use the blogosphere to increase brand awareness (Part III: Providing Incentives)
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 third in a series of three posts that will offer methods for the U.S. Soccer Federation to leverage the soccer blogosphere to increase visibility.
Read the first and second parts.
Incentives
So, how does U.S. Soccer ensure that soccer bloggers continue writing about their product? Furthermore, how can they convince other bloggers to promote their product? Almost everything in life is an economic decision; as such, it is as simple as providing incentives.
I should mention that I’ve rewritten this post a few times because I think that the federation has started to figure it out.
For instance, I think that giving bloggers the ability to embed videos is a good incentive. Shortly after the first post in this series, encouraging U.S. Soccer to provide embeddable videos, I received a note from a reader, saying that embedding was allowed on some of the videos posted since I wrote it. A quick check of the YouTube channel reveals mixed results.
Another reason I had to reconsider this post is that I was going to argue that, in addition to handing out annual awards for the best players, best goals, etc., the federation should consider giving an award to the best soccer blog. Of course, I soon learned that they added a new category this year, to be given to the best U.S. soccer blog.
Isn’t that enough?
It’s a great start, that’s for sure; but they can do more.
How about offering a T-Shirt for the best article about a recent game? (It doesn’t have to be SWAG for the sake of SWAG. In fact, if I were the recipient, I’d run a contest to give it away to a reader.)
In the second post in this series, I said that bloggers should be given moderated access to what are traditionally media-only areas. I was clear that any blogger participation should be at the blogger’s expense. That said, wouldn’t it be nice to send one blogger per year to a game?
Why not give a blogger an exclusive e-mail/phone interview with one of the players? There are so many simple, creative options.
So, you want a bribe?
No; I want to give readers the best product possible. If we accept the premise that bloggers aren’t constrained by journalistic ethos and that they are uniquely-positioned to reach a diverse audience, it makes sense for U.S. Soccer to provide bloggers with incentives to promote their product. Those bloggers who hold themselves to a different ethical standard can pass on (or pass along) the incentive.
Wrap it up, already
All of these posts are predicated on the idea that bloggers represent a viable way for U.S. Soccer to increase brand awareness (reasonable people can disagree about that). But if U.S. Soccer is waiting for the traditional media to give them exposure, they’ll continue waiting. Leveraging the power and nimbleness of the of the blogosphere is an alternative to that status quo.
photo by andrewb823
5 comments
After reading this post as well as the one at Top Drawer, where I also posted this response:
I’d just like the ability to provide original content to readers that they aren’t getting elsewhere. But in some cases, without the cooperation of MLS or USSF, that is impossible. Sure there are still things to do - sometimes it forces one to dig deeper which could lead to an even better story - but a big (and potentially popular) piece of the editorial pie is out of reach.
Admittedly, I come at this from working as a journalist outside of soccer where getting access is rarely a problem for me. But say the word ‘blog’ and all of a sudden it becomes an issue. I’ve seen the smirks, heard the cackling.
It is sad that the diction brings negativity, but It is not unlike the mainstream need to build basic trust and respect. A new magazine or newspaper for example launches and needs to prove to their subjects that they act professional and reasonable. At first, it may be hard to get access to certain things, but over time that may change. Do a good job with your newspaper, magazine, or blog, prove your worth and the access should come. You could also just call this building contacts. I’m guessing Steve Goff doesn’t wait for MLS to grant him access. He just calls the player on the phone.
I know I have seen this predicament change in the almost three years I’ve written TIAS. It’s still a battle, especially the big corporate battles, but many more people are open to my questions now than in 2005.
Am I allowed to do the fly-on-the-wall features with MLS players and teams that I would love to do? No, but I might with the USL or a college team. And I have with high school teams, whose stories are as worthy of coverage as any.
From my experience USSF does a good job for the most part in this regard. MLS is less focused. The quality of their respective on-line products pretty much paints the picture.
Something they could do is offer an affiliates program for their online store. It’d get them more exposure and maybe a little money in the blogger’s pocket.
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I always thought the biggest problem would be internal competion from other more established sports, like gridiron, basketball, and baseball, even golf. Maybe if there was like a Ryder Cup stlye competion with US teams vs European or Latin American teams that would be a start. It could be played in the European off season as a money spinning warm up for the European teams. This pre-season timing woudl give the US teams more chance of winning too.
The chance of the yanks to pull on over the Europenas, and vice versa of course, would be quite exciting. And it woudl raise the profile of the US game in both continents.
More than this I don’t know however.
Jimmy: that’s a great idea, assuming the store functioned properly to begin with? I’ve had nothing but trouble buying from there.
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