A new form of engagement
While touting is en vogue, many experts agree this is not a long-term strategy for social relevance. David Woodley, President and Chief Revenue Officer of Playmaker, concedes some of these methods may be good for shortterm results. For Playmaker’s media arm, those wins are not worth the long-term losses they could create. “We'll never do anything that hurts our audience. We've built a lot of trust with them over the years, and they are young. If we give them bad advice, they will not cancel us, but we'll hear about it and it will make my life awful,” Woodley said.
YOU CAN DEVELOP INCREDIBLE CONTENT AROUND PICKS THAT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THE STALE KIND OF ‘THESE ARE MY PICKS FOR THE WEEK’
WHILE TOUTING IS EN VOGUE, MANY EXPERTS AGREE THIS IS NOT A LONG-TERM STRATEGY FOR SOCIAL RELEVANCE
Nonetheless they are all going after the same audience with mostly the same offering. Noam Klivitzky, VP of US Marketing for 888 Holdings, knows he can't compete that way. “Just repeating the news all the time in your social feed is not going to create any differentiation to any brand. Because these are exactly the kinds of things customers can acquire in 10 other places, so there is no reason they won’t do that on social media,” he said. “One of the things we've been trying to do is get them a much more unique experience that when they think about it in the future, they will always remember what brand is offering it to them.” Klivitzky used a campaign SI Sportsbook did where the company’s social channels gave away popular covers of Sports Illustrated magazine.
52 SBC LEADERS • SEPTEMBER 2022
Internal research indicated 60% of sports fans had an SI cover on their wall to begin with. Giving away something so tied to a brand not only engendered goodwill from its customer base, it gave them a means to literally put the brand up on the wall where they would never forget about it. Working with an established brand like SI is much different to smaller brands or sports betting influencers trying to build a community. One of the most popular ways these brands and personalities aim to gain traction is with touting their picks across social media channels, including TikTok, which currently has a ban on gambling content.
SOCIAL MEDIA IS A LONG PROCESS, AND ONE THAT INVOLVES SO MUCH MORE THAN BEING FIRST WITH A MEME
Playmaker has a no-pick policy and tells its influencers as much from the jump. “We don't do any picks and we have a lot of athletes that work for us. So we just say no picks and I think that's because I think we're honest with people and we say, ‘you're taking a pick from anyone, you're not going to be profitable long-term’,” Woodley added. “And that said, if anyone could actually pick at 60%, they wouldn't be frickin’ hustling on social media for a $30 Discord or Patreon. Then beyond that, I think if you make a pick, you're gonna piss off your audience 50% of the time.” Concannon has seen picks work for groups like Barstool, but with a caveat. You have to create unique content around the pick, not just throw out a number with a meme and post it. “You can develop incredible content around picks that doesn't have to be the stale kind of ‘these are my picks for the week’,” she explained. Social media is fast-paced, but in order to succeed over time, it is a long process and one that involves so much more than being first with a meme. You have to build a brand while building community, entertain while providing service, and companies and influencers have to think beyond what is working now to build a brand that will work for years to come. •