Magnets are magic. Things just get drawn to them and pull everything around them into their orbit. Science tells that magnetism actually works because a spinning charged particle creates a current and all currents head in one direction.

But how do we get our audience and our fans to do the same? 

Why can’t we create a simple social media post and 100% of our audience follows our desired intent? That would be much easier–and yet humans aren’t conditioned to follow everything we say to each other. 

So as marketers we need to develop ways to bring people into our orbit effectively and we can call those “lead magnets.” In an ecosystem like SMS for sports teams, this is even more critical because we want our fans to take one of two general actions: love us and/or buy our things.

With over 39 million members on the Community platform, data has revealed highly-effective mechanisms for driving fandom.

5 Lead Magnets to Help Grow Your SMS Fanbase

‍

‍

1. Social Media

As marketers our largest and most obvious lead magnet is our social media footprint. With millions of ardent, subscribed fans we have the opportunity to leverage these audiences one step closer in our funnel to become text subscribers. Some of the most effective campaigns have been executed by simply sharing a 10-digit phone number in stories, posts and more to drive fan curiosity. In addition to leveraging Instagram Stories and other visual media, simple additions to the infrastructure of your social media handles helps too. Teams and brands have added their text number to their evergreen link trees as additional spots to integrate a natural conversation. Simple CTAs like “Text Us” or “Join the Conversation” can be highly effective. 

2. Giveaways

Perhaps no mechanism is proven to drive fast, unencumbered fan growth quicker than contests and giveaways. From signed objects like cleats and jerseys, to behind-the-scenes access, fans realizing that the only way they can access these giveaways is through the SMS channel is a quick hack to success. Promote the contests anywhere you’d like (in-venue, social etc). From these contesting entry points, fans are generally quick to realize that the content offered on the channel is more than just the giveaways or promotion. Being intentional here is important: don’t condition your fans that the only reason to subscribe to the channel is for the promotion. Overall, the value exchange between the fan and the team needs to always be clear and the idea of a giveaway is a no-brainer.  One team saw a nearly 500% growth rate on their account in 9 months using a series of contests and giveaways duriIf your organization is hesitant to run contests for legal reasons, there are also just surprise-and-delight opportunities that can be executed in the form of a giveaway. For example, you could ask your fans to subscribe to the SMS channel to get occasional prizes for interacting: “Sign up and share your prediction of the game score–we might surprise you if you nail the result!” Consult with your legal team for any questions on contesting.

3. Gated Content

Sharing content with your fans is a sure-fire way to get them engaged, but throwing that content behind a gate or wall is another way to drive fans into your SMS channel. According to one study, nearly 80% of B2B content is gated. By creating a gating mechanism, you can begin to capture fan inquiry in exchange for providing them something. Among the options for things you can set up for fans behind a gate might be something as innocuous as your press clippings and game notes or something more substantial like behind-the-scenes content. 

‍

‍

One factor to consider here is your content team would always love giving their content second life or a new distribution channel. Consider using your SMS number as a mechanism to drive fans to subscribe in order to access long-form versions of your shared content or even exclusive content that didn’t make the cutting room floor. 

‍

4. In-Stadium Executions

Nearly one-third of the population in the United States attends a major sporting event at least once a year. That staggering number suggests that we have 103.6 million opportunities to get people from being in attendance in our buildings to being in our SMS distribution lists. From public address announcements to contesting, the opportunities to drive fans into your ecosystem is significant. The use cases have become even more plentiful as the quality of video boards has increased and fans are served world-class content on video boards with direct CTAs via QR codes and more. Additionally, teams have leveraged objects in-stadium such as beer coasters, seatbacks, and even A-frame signage to drive fan acquisition.

Additionally, Community has leveraged the work being done by contesting companies to drive automatic sign ups into your SMS ecosystem. For example, running a contest program put together by a third party? Let Community grab those fans who are playing the game and drop them into your SMS subscriber list!

‍

‍

5. Owned Digital

Perhaps the easiest place to grab fans is by leveraging the multiple entry points within your owned digital ecosystem. From newsletter signup forms, to on-page widgets, to grassroots marketing efforts, you can drive fan behavior into your ecosystem with virtually no friction. Do you have a team out in the community with a prize wheel or doing another grassroots activation? Make entry into your Community a condition to entry. Same thing with a newsletter subscription–if your fans are ready to jump into becoming a newsletter subscriber, have them check that box to join your SMS community.

‍

SMS Marketing for Sports

By leveraging your existing assets to drive fan growth, you can more effectively get fans into your ecosystem to maximize the value of SMS marketing for sports. In addition, the opportunity to overlap these tactics (driving a gated promotion in-stadium or having a contest leveraged through your social media) is the key to building something that will resonate with your audience, in your voice.

‍