Online Fan Engagement at Big Events Suffers From Lack of Connectivity

If you have ever been to a large sporting event, then you will be aware that when it comes to sending a text or tweeting about the event you often find it somewhat problematic. This is usually down to the fact that not only does the arena or stadium not supply Wi-Fi, but it also suffers with data connectivity. The attempts by your phone to find a good signal will then drain your battery and really you are left with no form of communication for the rest of the day.

In May 2013, Liverpool FC were the first major sporting event to offer Wi-Fi as they wanted to capitalize on the digital content that would be created and shared by their fans. It was thought the adoption of stadium Wi-Fi would spread like wildfire throughout arenas and stadiums throughout the UK, but this does not seem to be the case.

This weekend I was in Manchester for the UFC, and was excited to be back as it is always such a fun event, starting at 5pm and not ending until nearly midnight. After going to the UFC back in February, I knew that one of the most important things to remember was to charge my phone fully before going, as last time it ran out of battery half way through the evening.

One of the main reasons it ran out of battery is due to the fact that Wembley Arena had not supplied any Wi-Fi for the fans and so my poor phone was using all the battery it had in an attempt to find enough signal to keep up with my constant tweeting, I had high hopes this time and was sure that the Phones4U arena would have Wi-Fi to allow more fan engagement, but alas it was not to be.

The UFC is the fastest growing sport in the world and it cultivated a huge following on its own through a strong social media strategy. The use of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have been the cornerstone in developing the UFC from a small niche sport into a huge mainstream entertainment event watched by millions of people.

UFC president Dana White is the reason that the UFC adopted a social media strategy, as he is a social powerhouse himself on Twitter with nearly three million followers, who he updates and engages with at all times of the day and night. Back in 2011, the UFC was also the first sporting organisation to live stream an event on Facebook, and its YouTube channel now has over 424 million views.

A few days before each event, the company also gives fans a chance to get free tickets, with an integrated Twitter competition. They tweet out a clue using the hashtag #Hunt4UFC as to where a fighter is hidden with a free ticket, and Twitter users can then try and find them first in an attempt to win. I really like this idea, as it uses both offline and online engagement.

So what surprises me is, when I turn up to a UFC event I am already tweeting away, but using what hashtag? Well I usually try and find out what other people are already using, and this time I stuck with #UFCmanchester2013, but again there was confusion when I saw the hashtag #UFCFightNight

With such an incredible history in social media, I feel that having small scale social media strategies for each fight wouldn’t be a hard thing to do. Each event should have one hashtag and that should be promoted on the tickets, all the official UFC social media accounts, promotional products and on the screens in the arena throughout the night. This way everyone would be on the same page.

Even with this problem sorted however, the lack of Wi-Fi available to fans sitting in the arena makes it so hard to tweet about the event and engage with the fighters and other fans watching, the media get their own Wi-Fi for reporting so why can’t they provide an access code to one on the tickets? This applies to all sporting events, fans want to engage but it’s made incredibly hard to do so.

Digital content and fan engagement needs to be at the forefront of not only an online strategy, but also an offline strategy with fans being told how the best way to engage online with and where a community can be found for a particular event or niche. Days before a major sporting event (even earlier if the tickets can be used to provide hashtags), those attending should be informed as to how they can join in offline and online with the other fans/teams/fighters etc.

Currently, a connected stadium is a rarity, due to the investment needed to provide a service for such a large crowd of people. But with such a rapid growth in smartphones and social networks in the last five or six years, stadiums, arenas, sporting teams and sporting institutes such as the UFC really need to make sure that wherever the fans are, they know how to engage and more importantly can do so from the event.