Need help deciding whether your sports club should join today’s hottest social media network? Then this blog is for you. Let’s take an in-depth look at TikTok for sports clubs.
In this blog we provide you with some ways to assess the value of TikTok for your club and how to get started on the platform. Plus, we provide some examples of what sports clubs, teams and athletes are doing on TikTok right now.
What is TikTok?
TikTok is a video sharing platform that allows users to easily shoot, edit and publish 15 second videos. Videos are often set to music and include animations, emojis, overlay text and more.
TikTok has been the hottest social media platform as of late, outpacing all other social media platforms in new user growth. It’s currently estimated to have 1.5 billion users with 500 million of those users residing in China, and nearly 100 million in the United States.
The majority of the social network’s user base is between the ages of 16 and 24 years old.
Sports teams on TikTok:
As we’ll discuss in more detail below, there aren’t a lot of clubs, businesses and brands on TikTok yet. Of course, this will change as the platform continues to grow in popularity. Those sports organizations that are on TikTok, often engage with TikTok users by posting lighthearted dance videos to accompany athletic highlights and promotional videos.
Here’s a quick look at a few of the sports organizations that have joined TikTok today.
One of the world’s most valuable sports teams, FC Barcelona uses TikTok to showcase their talent, give fans some behind the scenes views and have some fun.
@fcbarcelona🐐 THE 6OAT 👑♬ Gold – Spandau Ballet
Above: FC Barcelona star Lionel Messi collects a historic 6th FIFA Ballon d’Or awarded to the world’s best male soccer player.
The Olympic Channel is still relatively new to TikTok. However, their current content mixes Olympic highlights with some lighthearted fun to promote the Olympic brand.
@olympicchannelThat holiday feeling… 😁♬ original sound – olympicchannel
Above: The Olympic channel shows gets playful with a TikTok dance mash-up.
Much like the previous two examples, the Team USA account mixes USA sporting highlights with some playful content that users expect on the platform. Even the USA wrestling team joins in with some dancing and a nod to 90’s pop culture.
@teamusaThe first person in history to perform this dismount ✔️ Simone Biles’ 2019: 🐐 #teamusa #gymnastics #flips #sports♬ No Idea – Don Toliver
Above: Team USA shares Simone Biles’ history-making double-double dismount set to a track by Don Toliver.
Assessing TikTok’s Value for Your Sports Club
TikTok is dominated by Generation Z users who are eagerly consuming and producing content each day. Slowly but surely the strength of the platform is driving big names to join in.
Celebrity juggernauts like Justin Bieber and Kevin Hart have only recently joined the TikTok craze which suggests branding and advertising dollars will likely soon follow.
Sports clubs and sports teams have been slow to join the platform, but they aren’t alone. Most businesses and brands have yet to join the platform in a content publishing capacity, and only a few brands have begun testing TikTok’s ad formats.
Like all social networks before it, companies are choosing to take their time and assess TikTok’s value before jumping on. Even if they deem TikTok as a valuable platform, companies will still need to free up resources to produce content.
Does your sports club need TikTok?
There’s no doubt that sports fans are on the platform. And at the current user growth rate, there are soon to be a lot more.
Let’s look at gymnastics and figure skating as examples. A quick search today reveals over 331.5 Million views on content tagged with #figureskating and over 5.3 Billion views on content tagged with #gymnastics.
In both cases, the pieces of content getting thousands, or even millions of views are simple and easy to produce.
The clip below shows a user imparting basic skating instructions with no additional affects or overlay text. It’s a piece of content that any figure skater or coach could create and it’s received over 1.9 Million views.
@sciarramusicHow to ice skate for beginners ☃️ #figureskating #iceskating #foryou #tiktokpartner♬ original sound – sciarramusic
Note: the user who published this content is a verified musician. Although she’s not your average user, the 1.6 Million views total is 18 times greater than her following. This suggests that her simple skating instructions still went ‘viral’ regardless of her follower base.
This is all intriguing to see. However, if your potential customers in your local community aren’t using TikTok, then it simply won’t matter.
Run an informal TikTok poll at your Sports Club
In order to understand how affective TikTok can be in reaching your target market, ask you current membership if they use it.
During warm up or cool down for your classes, ask for a show of hands to see how many athletes are currently using TikTok. If you find a lot of athletes are using the app, it will show you that there is strong potential for using TikTok to attract like-minded prospects.
For those who find that very few current members are using the app, consider asking again in three to six months. Sometimes it takes a while for different groups to join a new social network.
Note: It never hurts to be ahead of the curve on social media. If you’ve got the time and resources to produce content for TikTok, and you’re interested in doing so, go for it! Creating a back catalogue of content is a great way to keep potential members engaged when they do finally join the app and come across your club’s profile.
TikTok for Sports Clubs
So, what do you do after you decide TikTok is valuable to your sports club?
1)Choose a creator
The first thing you want to do is choose one or two individuals to create content for TikTok. The platform is easy to use and there are lots of tutorials already online. However, you don’t want to learn on-the-go when you have a class full of athletes waiting on you.
It’s best to get your content creators to quickly create a personal TikTok account and start testing. It shouldn’t take long for them to get comfortable with the new social network.
2)Get consent and start learning
Once your creators are ready to get started, you need consent from your members. Many sports clubs already include social media release forms in their signup procedure so that parents know the club may post pictures or videos of their child on the club’s social media accounts.
If your club doesn’t have a social media consent form, you need to get one.
3) Layout a TikTok strategy for your sports club
Create a strategy, or at the very least establish a clear purpose for your club’s posts on TikTok.
If you don’t have the time to create a detailed marketing strategy for TikTok, establishing a purpose is key. When you have a purpose, you can always use that purpose as a way to test your posts.
An example purpose could be: Our club uses TikTok to entice prospective members to take a free class.
If your club has the above stated purpose, content producers can double-check that the tone of their posts matches your club’s purpose.
This can be especially helpful when viral trends or ‘challenges’ occur on the platform. These trends may be fun or funny for individuals, but they may not always be fitting for a club.
4) Schedule TikTok time
Set time aside some time to shoot a 15 second video at your club, at least once per week.
Although it may sound silly to schedule time for a 15 second video, it’s important not to rush. Like any production, things may not always go smoothly on the first try. For example: If you’re taking a quick video of an athlete performing a skill, they may need more than one attempt.
Schedule your TikTok time whenever is least interruptive to regular coaching and training. This time could come at the end of class, or if you have willing and enthusiastic athletes, a couple minutes after class may be best.
@geno_the_greatWhen did you start tumbling❓#tumbling #tumble #level6 #gymnastics #cheerleading #cheerleader #cheer #fyp #foryoupage #foru #sportofcheer♬ original sound – geno_the_great
Above: The owner of a Cheer Club in Texas posts a video of an athlete completing a tumbling line while he watches in awe.
5) Watch and understand the trends
It’s always important to keep an eye on the trends and understand why they’re trending.
Whether it’s the ALS “Ice Bucket Challenge” or Jimmy Falon’s lighthearted “Tumbleweed Challenge”, it’s good to know what’s trending (and why!) so your club can make an informed decision on whether or not to participate.
6) Work within your capacity
Check in with your content producers to ensure they’re not over extending themselves.
TikTok can be a fun social media platform, and club marketing is important, but you don’t want it to impact club services. A coach or administrator who heads up TikTok content production has to treat TikTok as secondary to their job.
While it seems somewhat obvious, it’s important to manage.
At the end of the day, service delivery to your existing membership is always more important than prospecting because, it’s always easier to sell an existing client on a new class, than a prospect that’s unfamiliar with your club!
7) Replicate what works
After publishing a dozen pieces of content, review engagement for each piece. Ask yourself, which types of content are people liking and viewing the most?
If there are pieces of content that clearly outperform the rest, create more of that type of content. Ultimately, the more views and engagement that your content generates, the more likely TikTok can drive prospects to your club.
An alternative to creating content for your sports club on TikTok
Consider letting your membership create their own content at your club. If you have several athletes using TikTok, it may be beneficial to simply support their content production.
This is especially true if your club is interested in participating on the platform but doesn’t have the time or resources.
It is more beneficial to have a branded account on TikTok where prospects can find all of your videos in one place. However, allowing your athletes to be ambassadors for your club can be very beneficial too.
Allowing athletes to showcase the skills they’re proud of on TikTok, empowers your membership while promoting your services. When an athlete shows off the skills that they’re proud of, they’re showing their friends what they’ve accomplished and where they can learn the same skills.
Summary: TikTok can be a great community building platform, but not for all clubs
When a new social network takes off, everyone tends to think they should jump onboard. However, it’s important to understand if your local, target market is on the platform before committing any time and resources to it.
If you do decide to give TikTok a go, let us know about your experiences by emailing us at info@uplifterinc.com. At Uplifter, we’re always searching for best practices to help today’s sports clubs and organizations elevate the confidence and capabilities of athletes.
