How sponsorship in official groups can work | Community management | Partner make-goods | Unique content campaigns.

Episode 99 of the podcast looks at how some sports rights holders are using Facebook groups to commercialise relationships with brands. We’ll hear from two experts in the field. First, Nick Marquez. He’s Facebook’s North American Sports Teams Partnerships Lead – and he works closely with a select band of major league franchises to maximise value through Facebook’s various functions and platforms. What that means in practice is a focus on four key areas, namely audience development, sponsorship and branded content; commerce and conversion; and direct revenue-generating products.

One of the teams Nick works most closely with is the LA Clippers in the NBA. We’ll be hearing from the Clippers’ Executive Director of Digital Media and Content, Charlie Widdoes, and we’ll be homing in on the work that Charlie and his team have been doing on building and managing a community within the Clippers official Facebook Group, and looking at how they’ve already managed to commercialise that with their partners at Red Bull.

Maquez and Widdoes – as well as many other sharp digital sports content folk – were interviewed for the latest Leaders Special Report. It’s called Activating Digital and it plots the accelerated route to digital the sports industry has now embarked on as a result of the pandemic, picking out areas of outstanding impact along the way. You can download the 24-page report for free from the Leaders website.

This episode of the Leaders Sport Business Podcast is supported by global facilities management firm ARC. ARC is continually developing life changing solutions for the world’s ever evolving workforce because they understand the need to restructure and remain safe during these unprecedented times. Their team of specialists has devised every conceivable variation to deliver working solutions, which are equally applicable for those working from home or in the office. Visit www.e-arc.co.uk for more information.