Digital media platforms offer the most accessible communications channel for fans. The majority of fans have readily embraced the use of digital media platforms. With the traditional media decline, digital media platform is increasingly becoming significant and offer institutions the chance to make news, and at the same time, managing shared messages. Digital media platforms, as a marketing strategy can help institutions to promote its degree of community engagement, boost participation levels, as well as improve sustainability over time through novel income streams (Stradtman 2012). Digital media platforms also offer a means through which fans can connect with one another, which help enhance activities of fans. Overall, the utilization of digital media platforms (DMP) can be termed a positive experience or gain for fans and institutions, but it must be noted that traps and risks for users exist, including individual or institutional reputational damage. Many of such risks or traps can be addressed and avoided by use of correct level of user consciousness, appropriate guidance, risk management, as well as effective administrative practice (Stradtman 2012).
Social media generate for institutions opportunities and dangers. These dangers are linked to the issues of reputation. The shared information can circulate immediately and is challenging to control. A third party may voice a concern directly as well as influence some corporate behaviors. Simultaneously, the institutions can converse directly with fans of social media. That conversation builds the forum on which many stakeholders advocate and interact. What is digital media platform? It denotes a hardware or software of a site. Live chats, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Quora, Foursquare, Twitter, blogs, Pinterest, as well as Google+ are some of the digital media platforms. Digital media platform permits real-time as well as delayed delivery of data, video, or audio to many networks, for example, cable, broadband, satellite, telco, and digital terrestrial broadcasting (Kurtz & Boone 2011). Delivery may be possible by many devices such as set-top boxes, computers, mobile phones, as well as PDAs. More often than not, the content may be generated generically, getting rid of the necessity for platform-definite content production tools (Stradtman 2012).
Even in early stages, digital media platforms proved to be an appropriate tool to promote fan interaction, create connections between institutions, merchandise and assist drive TV viewership. DMP represent an effective means to reach several stakeholders with speed, conveying adequate information, as well as with the ability of interaction (Kurtz & Boone 2011). Such fundamentals directly apply to link to the public, create a brand, carry out customer relationship management, as well as manage reputations.
Many institutions utilize digital media platforms mainly as a marketing and branding tool to reach fans of social media. For that reason, the advancing digital space is becoming significant in creating a group of fans, as well as enhancing offline or online fan engagement. Besides, institutions are seeking to use digital media platforms as a fans relationship management tool. Institutions have noted that DMP may appropriately offer fans service as well as address concerns, questions, problems, as well as related issues (Stradtman 2012). Additionally, institutions are trying to monetize daily functions through digital media platforms. Eventually, each institution endeavors to drive stakeholders and fans to its website for discussions. The possibility of digital media platform to directly link to fans offers the chance for institutions to directly influence the activities of their fans.
The advancement of digital media platforms has enabled institutions having major brand recognition, as well as elite players, win a greater social media following. For that reason, there must be thinking on how these organizations can concentrate less on persuading fans to use digital media platforms but instead, offer tools as well as initiatives to affect creatively over the internet conversation, and further focus on the monetization fans’ efforts. Besides, institutions having winning strategies or techniques are probably to get positive engagement or interaction in a higher frequency (Kurtz & Boone 2011).
The advancement of digital media platforms requires thinking about giving quality content to fans. The content offered over DMP should offer fans value as well as make following an over the internet posts meaningful. The content provided normally entails pictures, links, text, incentives, polls, video, news articles, trivia, tickets, free giveaways, access to other digital media platforms, as well as merchandise (Scott 2013). The content must be exclusive. Ideally, the visuals, as well as information offered over these channels, must be exceptional, for example, behind the footage of scenes or showing close propinquity to the institutions. Besides, in the content, a call for action must exist. Just posting links or news cannot be effective though building a reaction can result in comments, likes, discussion, tweets, and retweets on the brand or topic of discussion (Kerpen 2011).
The advancement of digital media platforms requires thinking about incorporating digital media offline. The thinking from a marketing viewpoint is to have fans consistently discussing a topic. For that reason, wherever the brand is, the digital media channels must be existing as a way to ensure the conversation continue over the Internet (Sutera 2013). The placements entail posters, TV channels showing games, posters, as well as billboards. Institution's website, as well as digital media platforms, should also boost each other. Each promotion or event should show the institution’s digital media channels, particularly the Twitter handle and Facebook URL. Such a move is significant in reaching novel fans as well as spreading the following of a brand or a topic of discussion. The future can seek to ensure that these elements are further explored with an incorporation of digital media on issues affecting people.
The development of digital media platforms necessitates the thinking to gamify efforts of digital media. The institutions can integrate competitive gaming applications, which spark the interest of fans. The games, for example, irrespective of relating to the field activity are appropriate in creating engagement as well as directing traffic to club's digital media platforms as well as a website. There should be thinking to create applications, for example, three-point play apps on Facebook, which permits fans to foretell the scoring results of 3 players indulged in a competitive spirit. The winning fan, after every game, should get free tickets to watch an upcoming match. Such a gamification brings fans closer to a club or league, builds more impressions, as well as permits team members to collect information about fans. Additionally, rewards for a gamification technique to indulge fans should be thought about and be implemented (Deterding 2012).
There should be thinking to personalize fans on a digital media platform. There is a need to be authentic as well as use personality. A demonstration that the relationships between audiences and institution through digital media platform are genuine is necessary. The digital media platform should be used to offer customer service by responding to questions, addressing problems, merchandise concerns, as well as related issues. In some instances, there should be a need to communicate appropriately by using appropriate slang, abbreviation, as well as punctuation. Besides, institutions should keep a steady plan of discussion or communication over digital media platforms as well as circumvent gaps as it relates issues affecting the current society (Deterding 2012).
The thinking on activities of fans because of advancement of digital media platforms should focus on gathering fan data. The institutions should utilize digital media platforms, related contests, as well as applications to collect fan information or input of fans. It is pertinent to have records of which fans share with individual institution's social media platform and offer applications in which fans may sign up, input data, for example, email, zip codes, as well as phone numbers. From such efforts, the institutions may create fans’ database information, and one-on-one share with fans outside and inside digital media platforms to merchandise, as well as related deals. Ideally, identifying where and who the fans are, help organizations to better market as well as reach their main audiences. For example, through the three-point play apps on Facebook can be used to add fans to institution’s databases as well as sell ideas or products (Amir, Katz, & Garrett 2012).
There should be thinking about crowd source or fan source. It is significant to offer the fans a chance for their contribution to be heard as well as to make critical decisions for the organization or controversial issue on the society. The digital media platforms offer fans a voice in the process of decision-making, as well as closely link them with each other (Falls & Deckers 2012). The fans of social media can be used to amplify institution's message. There can be a chance to amplify the impressions of organization’s messages through digital media platforms, as well as their following by using fans or their networks. Offering quality content can result in re-tweets, sharing, as well as likes though firms can do extra with the relationship of fans by requesting fans to increase the message via incentives. Ideally, the organization may request fans to re-tweet, which then can be followed by that institution on Twitter.
The advancement of digital media platforms needs thinking a fresh on fans’ activity to ensure they can contribute resources to help the institutions or people they support. For example, the institutions can hold a campaign in which fans can donate or contribute some dollars, say 5 dollars for each post of their share on Facebook. Such initiatives may lead to increasing the base of fans, fan interaction, brand impressions, as well as digital media platforms awareness on a given issue. Additionally, the institutions can develop initiatives in which they marshal volunteers, which are activists of social media on organization’s behalf and boost the organization through Twitter, live chats, message boards, Facebook, as well as other channels. Ideally in such initiatives or innovations, fans like promoting the each other as well as having the institution’s digital media ambassador name. As a result, they get the chance to merchandise that proves a significant investment in creating impressions as well as helping to secure constructive discussion efforts (Howard, Mangold, & Johnston 2014).
There should be a move to measure, assess, track as well as adjust by individuals or institutions due to the growth of social media. These institutions can utilize digital media platforms tracking analytics in order to measure as well as assess their ongoing initiatives or innovations. Twitter Dashboard and Facebook Insights analytics through Tweetdeck as well as Hootsuite are particularly effective in offering quality data, reports, or visuals. Besides, the analytics of Twitter Dashboards may offer link tracking. Such data may offer quantifiable insights to ROI and social efficiency of an organization. The data may offer foresight on the content to be shared as well as most prominent fans. It is possible for clubs to adjust or change their digital media tactics after measuring and analyzing data to offer an interactive fan experience through social media (Kelly 2013).
There should be thinking on connecting or interacting with supporters outside an arena. Digital media platforms allow fans to engage with one another or institutions when outside arena. Facebook and Twitter are popular, apart from live chats as well as streaming of live video (Sutera 2013). Ideally, whenever fans follow, for example, matches on TV, the clubs are interested in the posting or twitting on the match to widely market the brand as well as reach individual networks of a fan (Sutera 2013). The clubs should develop live chat platforms, which offers a discussion means for fans in games. The tool for live chat is appropriate in assembling fans or supporters in one digital location, updating them of events, as well as creating discussion on issues affecting them (Sutera 2013). Additionally, the advancement of apps of the second screen, as well as social TV, offers fans the critical chance to interact or exchange with one another over mobile phones when watching TV.
Posting enchanting images over the digital media platforms delight the fans. These social media fans would prefer to share such images with other fans and friends. This may start a series of posts and images shared, which expand the engagement of an institution and introduce novel potential people say to a business. In summary, there are gains and drawbacks of using social media by fans. For that reason, the management of fans' activity is no longer regarded as an easy task. The management of activities of social media fans must be thought out critically to exploit the advantages and minimize the demerits or activities considered detrimental.
List of References
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