The sports media landscape is evolving, and you need to evolve with it. We’ve often discussed the industry’s shift toward independent content creators, which has opened up more pathways for aspiring influencers to carve their own way. However, with more ownership of your content comes greater responsibility. Here are three essential strategies for aspiring content creators to succeed as influencers in this dynamic and competitive space.
How Aspiring Influencers Can Thrive in the Modern Day Sports Media Industry
1) Develop a Versatile Skill Set
No one does it all on their own, but the content creators of the modern sports media industry are much more independent than they have been in years past. Larger brands are suffering amidst market disruptions, and there are fewer opportunities underneath brand umbrellas for those who don’t have established audiences.
If you’re a content creator trying to break into the space, your team will be much flatter and more central to you as an individual. This can be both good and bad. You’ll have less guardrails and more freedom to experiment, but you also may have to fill multiple roles – among them content planning, writing, editing, recording, video editing, and social media management.
Once you gain a following, you’ll be able to monetize, gain more resources, and potentially add to your part-time staff. But to truly weather the evolution of independent brands, you’ll have to become extremely versatile, and fulfill multiple roles with efficiency. To accomplish this, adopt a constant learning mindset, and strive for excellence in all that you do.
If you’re looking for an example of self-made versatility, Benjamin Solak is a great example in the football media industry. Solak rose up through the ranks independently, from independent ventures to The Ringer, and now to ESPN.
Solak is one of the most versatile talents on the platform, with sharp and informative written analysis, engaging presence on video, an advanced understanding of statistics, and an infectious personality on social media. And his all-encompassing versatility provides a blueprint for others to follow, to climb the independent ladder.
2) Create a Brand Around Your Passion
The audience is still one of the most important components when it comes to content creation. But it’s no longer the master of your work flow. For years, brands tailored their content to audience interests and search trends. While that still has a place, its importance has paled in relation to true audience loyalty.
In the new sports media industry, audiences are cultivated through the distribution of passionate, interactive content, and active engagement and involvement by creators themselves. Audiences aren’t simply catered to with standardized, interest-driven output. They are shepherded by those who can attract and retain their attention.
If you try and chase audiences based on fluctuating trends, you’ll find that you’ll run into multiple blockers. One, your brand image won’t be consistent enough to retain a passionate following. And two, you may find that your work doesn’t always align with your passion, which inhibits your authenticity and your ability to connect with audiences.
The name of the game in audience cultivation is connection. To connect, you need to be authentic. To be authentic, you need to be truly passionate about your subject and the work you put in. So create a brand around a passion of your own, and use that passion – combined with your presentation, attention to detail, and creation skills – to build an audience of your own.
3) Engage With Your Audience
Audiences will always crave information. That’s one reason search engine optimization (SEO) has been such an important tool in the past. But search trends aren’t the most important item anymore, because audiences don’t just want unfiltered information.
Audiences still want information; let’s not get that twisted. But along with information, audiences want to become a part of the conversation. Audiences want to be able to participate, and interact, and utilize their knowledge gained. They want to be engaged with, and they want to be a part of a community.
Being informed is now the bare minimum in the sports media industry. Everyone is informed on their respective subject matter, and information has never been more accessible than it is now. To draw audiences your way and gain brand loyalty, you need to frame that information within authentic, engaging content that not only invites, but includes the user.
Connection around content: That’s what you’re selling. And in the evolving sports media space, where independent creators and influencers are becoming king, that’s the best, most reliable way to gain audience loyalty, and effectively strengthen your brand.
Playbook
- Become versatile to fulfill multiple roles with efficiency
- Create a brand around your passion, inspiring interaction
- Forge human connections with your audience to gain loyalty
