5 rules for football content in 2021
The ‘new norm’ is now just the norm. It’s almost been a year since stadiums were filled with supporters, ten months since writers and journalists had access to players and managers in real life as opposed to just Zoom, and seven months since football returned with a vengeance in the UK, with more games now available than ever before.
Given what is going on in the outside world, the demand for football content is greater than ever before. However, the landscape is changing. Here at Twenty3, we work with the likes of Sky Sports and Squawka, and feel as though we have a firm grasp on the needs and desires of this market. Our products help shape what viewers and readers ingest on a daily basis, with content touched by the Toolbox reaching thousands of football fans every single day.
Through our experience seeing our products in action, plus our continued work as a Content Services provider in the football industry, we feel well placed to identify five key rules for football content in 2021.
1. Embrace Data
It wasn’t long ago that data-driven content was a niche in the world of football content. For starters, you needed writers who not only understood statistics but also had the ability to present them in a user-friendly manner. Initially, only a small pool of people had the capabilities to do this, and this, therefore, limited what was and wasn’t viable.
However, data is now everywhere. WhoScored and FBRef, powered by Opta and StatsBomb respectively, have free data available. API feeds are also available to allow brands to manipulate the data in a bespoke manner. At Twenty3, for example, we have a Football Lab (among several other tools) which strips away the pressure and time restraints placed on data scientists. The Lab presents all of the data from feeds in an easy to digest, highly customisable way.
In 2021, data is key to standing out.
Opinions and reports need to be supported with data otherwise they’re easily picked apart. Short-term, this might not necessarily be an issue, but, long-term, it most certainly is.
If you have a reputation for misusing or ignoring data, it can damage the brand. Readers aren’t going to give up their time reading the content produced if writers (or social media editors) aren’t prepared to spend a little time researching the subject they’re writing on.
2. Add personality to your content
Social media has allowed writers to build their own brand. They now have their own audiences and following, and this will occasionally see them valued above the outlet they’re writing for. No player is bigger than the club and no writer is bigger than the company.
However, the loyalty shown to writers who have earned the respect and trust of their readers can go a long way in this competitive market. Giving them the freedom, whether that is a weekly column or vlog, allows them to add to their audience and, by default, your audience.
Of course, there are guidelines for every publication, but allowing them to add a touch of themselves into their writing goes a long way to helping them get their personality across and put a ‘face’ to the brand.
3. Take risks
Just because others aren’t already doing it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it – quite the contrary. This fear is often built around the idea that if something was a good idea, someone would already be doing it.
But, that isn’t always the case. Chelsea, for example, are the first club to use data and visualisations in their own content. Their weekly Debrief feature is something many fansites have been doing for years already, but because they’re one of the best teams in the world, this is something of a statement.
The West London club are giving fans something they’ve never had before and it appears to do well for them.
Similarily, Reach PLC spotted an opportunity a couple of years back and hired two specialist writers to handle their analysis of clubs. They didn’t just want to use data within their content to tick a box, but offer high-level analysis across their brands. Their Analysing Anfield show is regarded by many Liverpool fans as the best statistics and tactics podcast out there, and that’s saying something.
4. Value brand uniformity
This one is regularly overlooked. The whole purpose of football content is to drive traffic and the best way to do that is by creating genuinely shareable content. Post a graphic within an article and it’s likely that someone will post it on their social media. Others download the graphic and it gets sent around WhatsApp groups. Before you know it, the graphic is viral and nobody actually knows where it originated from or who it belongs to. Logos can be cropped out and in the quest for retweets and likes, people will often do that so it appears like an original idea.
However, if you have a unique colour scheme, and consistently showcase it across all content, people familiarise themselves with the brand and automatically know who it is, even without logos. Having one colour scheme across written, video and social helps to build a brand.
The black and red colour scheme, for example, is now synonymous with Twenty3.
5. Listen to your audience
Putting out a survey asking for feedback isn’t always the best way to understand your audience. Here at Twenty3, we run a monthly social media campaign called #AskVizAnything. It gives people on Twitter the opportunity to request visualisations or data on players they’re interested in, something they’d otherwise not be able to access.
This doesn’t just serve as a marketing tool, but it also allows us to: 1) directly engage with our audience and beyond; 2) review what is being requested and identify the types of content we could create moving forward to align with it.
For example, if there’s a particular fondness for shot maps, we’ll look to integrate more of those into what we’re producing as we know they’re the flavour of the month.
If you’d like to learn about how we can help you make the most of your content opportunities – either through our products or services – drop us an email and we’ll be in touch.