BOF Blog – Aideen Shortt – The Social Scene

Aideen Shortt recognised igaming consultant and social media evangelist, sheds insight on social media strategies for sports betting operators ahead of the FIFA 2014 World Cup.

Speaking to the 2014 Betting on Football audience Shortt notes that the industry must learn social engagement strategies from other sectors who have embraced reactive marketing to spread their brand credentials.  Shortt suggests that igaming strategies for social media, have been varied in success, with many operators failing at the first hurdle, since many brands have not been able to define key social variables and audience drivers.

 

SBC Session Notes

• Unlike traditional digital marketing practices such as PPC, SEO and Affiliate marketing, Social Media has a much broader set of KPI’s.  Shortt comments that even before measurement of a campaign is undertaken, social media formats can have up to 35 KPI’s These includes – views, follows, likes, friend refferals etc…. Operators have to be able to define exactly what KPI they want to achieve with each social action – ie what is important to them, to their campaign  and to their business.
• Social media is starting to understand its convergence with traditional media formats. Shortt notes that Twitter traffic peaks around prime time TV viewing with 60% of Twitter users viewing TV content, whilst engaging on the social device. Successful social interaction and brand enagement should filter through any medium.
• Connecting with mass or crowd thinking must be the driver for marketing teams when approaching social advertising. Mobile offers instant engagement which has to be activated and put to use by the operator. This requires marketing teams to now think around the clock as any moment can lead to engagement – this has its positives and negatives for marketing teams operationally, but winners will adjust. Shortt comments she is excited to see social responses to World Cup 2014 campaigns

•  Shorrt urges the audience to begin to understand what drives social engagement and social reaction. Operators  now  need to think more in terms of qualitative in-cognitive patterns rather than quantitative thinking. Operators should not be afraid to ask personal question of their customer base,  their feelings, their emotions, their reactions.  Winning operators will be those who can turn feelings into further gainful actions by the view  for their brand and products.

__________________________