START A PROJECT

Big Bash League clubs must unleash fan engagement potential

The Big Bash League clubs are yet to unleash the actual potential of fan engagement. Read how they can do this.

Three-time champions the Perth Scorchers are the most successful team in the history of Big Bash League (BBL) Australia. The club has earned a great goodwill and it often uses its name to promote things like women’s cricket or thanking fans of specific region. However, there’s so much that this BBL club can do, given its fan following and its phenomenal performance. There are seven other BBL clubs that are named after Australian cities and have national and local fans looking up to them.
BBL clubs have been missing out on effective sports fan engagement strategies so far. Here’s what they can do in order to engage fans more deeply.

Going where the fans are

BBL clubs can do this quite literally since they have local fans in their hometowns. A great online platform with exclusive city page, say in case of Sidney Sixers or Brisbane Heat, would help contextualise fan engagement. Apart from local social media pages, the clubs can create forums encouraging fan discussions – one of the most organic ways to instil genuine engagement. Relevant and local content related to fan’s interest can go a long way in establishing a club’s brand into the minds of fans. The BBL cricket clubs have enough content in the form of facts, history, trends and transfers. These cricket clubs can create videos revolving around the practice session of their clubs, have dedicated Youtube channels and Facebook pages to get their fans informed all the time.

Evolve with online fan presence

Today’s cricket fans keep a device – a mobile phone or a tablet – handy while watching a BBL match. It should come as no surprise since worldwide sports fans have changed and digital platforms have connected them with sports content like never before. BBL clubs must see this as an advantage and make their online platforms – website or mobile apps – more and more device-friendly. They may come up with exclusive mobile apps, gaming applications or fantasy cricket apps in order to reach out to more and more fans. EPL club Manchester City provided high-speed wireless internet access for phones and tablets in a football stadium in England at their home Etihad stadium. BBL clubs may come up with similar strategies to attract and retain fans.

Consider retaining fans on various brand-related apps

BBL clubs must try to reach out to fans in various online ways instead of restricting themselves to a website. There’s a plethora of options that they may consider as they set out to engage fans. Dedicated merchandise to be sold on exclusive club platforms, sports fan engagement applications like Arabian Gulf League or Pickdraft involving real prizes and rewards, community engagement groups and pages on social media, cricket gaming applications on relevant BBL season are just some of the ways to engage the millennial cricket fans.

Using accurate social media channel

BBL is a world of its own. What’s relevant to cricket fans of Indian Premier League may not be applicable for BBL. The clubs therefore must choose their social media channel wisely and accurately. If their fans are mostly millennials, Facebook and Instagram could be utilised. If their fans are mostly Gen-Y, then having a Snapchat account won’t hurt. But most importantly , the content served on these social media has to be a great balance between the interests of the fans and the branding of the club.

Fortunately, today there are several options such as fan engagement platforms, fantasy sports applications for cricket, online fan clubs etc for engaging sports fans. BBL cricket clubs can opt for any of these ideas for deeper and more meaningful engagement with fans. If you need help, we can be your fan engagement partners.

IN A NUTSHELL
  • Going where the fans are
  • Evolve with online fan presence
  • Consider retaining fans on various brand-related apps
  • Using accurate social media

About Vinfotech

Vinfotech creates world’s best fan engagement solutions for fantasy sports startups, sports leagues & clubs and sports brands. We promise initial set of real engaged users to put turbo in your fan engagement and fantasy sports growth. Our award winning software vFantasy™ allows us to build stellar rewards platform faster and better. Our customers include Zee Digital, Picklive and Arabian Gulf League.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE…
How to make any sports tournament more popular among fans

The success of any sports tournament is directly determined by its fans. More spectators and participants mean...

Feb 28, 2022
Why do fans engage through a fantasy sports platform?

Sports fans have been playing fantasy sports for decades, but its popularity has grown exponentially in the pa...

Jan 19, 2022
How Leagues can get millennials to follow and attend

Millennials, depending on which endpoints you use to define the generation, account for some 75 million Americ...

Jan 17, 2022
How to Engage Big Bash Cricket League Fans

Big Bash Twenty20 Cricket League in Australia is the sixth most attended sports league in the world. But does ...

Apr 23, 2019

How to build a fantasy cricket website & mobile app like Dream11?

Read More
Trending Now
vinfotech-up-arrow