It’s the holiday season, and we sports marketers have plenty to celebrate because our favorite social media platforms for sports brands have gifted us with three enhancements. Here are three social media launches and updates you can’t miss and how you can use them.
1. Pinterest Secret Boards
Finally, Pinterest has granted us the ability to pin things privately. And, this isn’t just an early holiday present for hopeful brides who don’t want to scare off their boyfriends by publicly planning their hypothetical wedding. As Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann recently announced, the arrival of private boards will “give you a place for things you’re not quite ready to share yet.” But, there’s so much more to that statement for sports marketers.
You can use these boards to privately bookmark articles that inspire ideas for content plus images that can be used as attached media, collaborate with your marketing team to as a visual shared document while keeping the project in planning mode and take note without sticky notes — you can pin sites you like for an upcoming redesign. The possibilities are endless, but most importantly, invisible.
2. Instagram Badges
Instagram’s new badges are an easy way to help users, especially brands, promote their Instagram profiles across the web. They’re similar to the buttons offered by Twitter, Google+ and Facebook, and because users can now follow profiles online, it will also drive social traffic. This creates a seamless multi-platform social media strategy to strengthen your sports brand.
Even before it was acquired by Facebook, Instagram was popular with brands and celebrities, and is undoubtedly a favorite among sports stars since its photos are fast and easy to publish/share in the mix of their busy schedules.
3. Facebook Gifts
With the launch of Facebook Gifts, brands have the power to partner with the social network, make their products available for purchase – on what TechCrunch calls the “dominant social network on which to share personal things with friends” – and have the opportunity to propel awareness of the brand when buyers share the news of their gift publically.
Over 100 partners are reportedly working with Facebook on this, offering gifts from Uber, Starbucks, Warby Parker, 1-800-Flowers, Magnolia Bakery, Happy Socks, and Jessica Alba’s Honest Company in perfect timing with the holiday. And, with American users being the first to use the new service, the rollout has already touched tens of millions of people.
What does this mean for sports brands? Well, don’t you have a nephew, neighbor, sport-nut mother begging for a new jersey to cheer on their fave team this year? It’s a great way for your sports brand to be one of the first available on Facebook, not only increasing memorabilia sales, but increasing the popularity of your brand in a place where sharing is constant.
