The Fan Engagement Pod

Welcome to the Fan Engagement Chat, the episode of the Fan Engagement Pod where we hear about someone’s approach to Fan Engagement.Abhishek Singh runs the Arsenal Naigpur Supporters Club, and is based in Naigpur, India. He works for Think Fan Engagement, and also runs his own business, Sport Ed India, working with sports organisations including football clubs, in India, on social media and other communications & engagement strategies.Abhishek tells us what it’s like for the international fans when it comes to Fan Engagement, what the relationship with the club is like and how they feel about being a fan. He also touches on football fandom when it comes to Indian football clubs. It’s easy to dismiss their place in what I term ‘the concentric circles of fan’, but in a gloabalised world, international fans are an important part of what clubs at levels deal with.Don’t forget you can find out how your club did in the Fan Engagement Index at https://fanengagement.net. You can also register for free for the Fan Engagement Hub if you want to access more detailed data and case studies from the 2019/2020 Index.Please like, subscribe and share.

This is a chat with Ryan McKnight, CEO of the North of England Football Academy, former Stockport County CEO and adviser to a whole series of clubs, and ex-editor of FC Business Magazine.Ryan has been thinking a lot about the relationship between fans and clubs, and how that manifests itself in the practical - as well as emotional - sense. We talk about the mistakes clubs make in marketing, how loyalty is always defined by a negative experience, and why season tickets are outdated. As Ryan says, the relationship with your club is going to be the longest you’ll have in your life, so it’s vital it’s done right.It’s a really fascinating and absorbing tour of the issues from someone who’s thought very deeply and read very widely.Don’t forget you can find out how your club did in the Fan Engagement Index at https://fanengagement.net. You can also register for free for the Fan Engagement Hub if you want to access more detailed data and case studies from the 2019/2020 Index.Please like, subscribe and share. It really does help our visibility.

Welcome to the Fan Engagement Chat, the episode of the Fan Engagement Pod where we hear about someone’s approach to Fan Engagement.Recorded in March 2021, this is a chat with Jonathan Bradley from Bang The Table. Their mission states that ‘Robust democracy requires real public participation. Our mission is to enable this participation as a fundamental pillar of well-functioning 21st century democracies by forging constructive relationships between communities and the institutions of government.’ The company’s EngagementHQ platform provides a managed online social space to facilitate this.So what relevance does this have to Fan Engagement? The common thread is to ensure that seldom heard and hard to reach groups are given opportunities to engage - in our case, Fans.It’s particularly interesting to look at platforms created by the likes of Bang The Table for ideas when it comes to moving constructive dialogue away from the very public social networks of Twitter and Facebook, to environments which are more protected and enable dialogue.Anyone looking at online tools to engage with fans should listen to this, and if you want to understand more about their work, go to their UK Consult podcast, where I appeared recently to chat about Fan Engagement, the European Super League and the work of Think Fan Engagement.And just to add: we have no commercial or financial relationship with Bang The Table. We just really like their platform and what they do.Don’t forget you can find out how your club did in the Fan Engagement Index at https://fanengagement.net. You can also register for free for the Fan Engagement Hub if you want to access more detailed data and case studies from the 2019/2020 Index.Please like, subscribe and share. It really does help our visibility.

The latest Episode of BasChat, with Bas Schnater and Kevin Rye, focuses on Fan Journey Mapping.We’ve provided a breakdown of the steps to take, some resources to do it, and some tips, belowIf you want to get in touch with us to discuss this further, drop us a line via the contact details on our website Fan Journey Mapping: How to do itStep One: PreparationsFind a model that could help map the journey (try the Lego Experience Wheel, below) that shows the fan journey from the moment the fan(s) leave the house, to the moment they arrive homeThink about which fans you want to carry out the research (these could be families, or fans from a particular part of the stadium). You might also want to focus on specific demographic or social groups, including younger fans or the disabled. Don’t just focus on one group. Try to cover different groups. This could be a good way to improve experience and relationships with your ‘hardcore’ fans, for exampleCreate a long-form questionnaire in an ‘open’ or ‘qualitative’ style to allow for lots of detailed commentThink about what incentives for participants you might offer (perhaps a free signed shirt, other merchandise, free ticket to a club event - e.g. meet the players)Remember that they need to get receipts for their spendingStep Two: Before the dayChoose your participants via a call on the website, your Supporter Liaison Officer (SLO) or Fan Services team (if you have one)Do not tell staff/internal stakeholders (all fan-facing staff members) that this is happening, so they behave normallyEnsure they have the questionnaire sent to them in advance. Ensure they understand what they need to doStep Three: On the dayEnsure that participants follow the fan journeyEnsure that you don’t have contact with them during the day. You don’t want anyone finding out what they’re doing!Step Four: AfterwardsParticipants debriefMeet with the participants to talk through their questionnaireAnalysis and disseminationFeed back to all fan-facing departmentsTo departments that performed really well, make sure they know what they did well and whyTo departments that have improvements to make, ensure they understand why those improvements are important and how it will help them with any internal targets or goals they haveDon’t forget!Although there are crossovers with ‘Customer Experience’, and there are transactions, loyalty isn’t created because of price or service. It’s deeper than that. And treating your fans well is even more important because of that!Use fan surveys, focus groups and other techniques to inform and shape your Fan Journey Mapping!More readingLego Experience Wheel: https://fanengagement.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Lego-Experience-Wheel.jpegHow to document the Stadium Experience: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-document-stadium-experience-bas-schnaterGannt ChartsWhat is a Gannt Chart? https://www.teamgantt.com/what-is-a-gantt-chartFree MS Office Gannt Chart download: https://templates.office.com/en-gb/simple-gantt-chart-tm16400962

Recorded in Jan 2021, this is a chat with Darren Bernstein, Director of Bury AFC. Darren was previously in a number of senior Marketing & Communications roles at The EFL, FA, and British Squash and Racketball. He also teaches at the football university, UCFB at their Etihad Campus, and is an Independent Non Executive Director at British Orienteering.It’s a dig into the challenges that the club has faced during a hell of a time to be reforming, and touches on some important points about the identity and meaning - and the heartbreak - of being a fan.Don’t forget you can find out how your club did in the Fan Engagement Index at https://fanengagement.net. You can also register for free for the Fan Engagement Hub if you want to access more detailed data and case studies from the 2019/2020 Index.And don’t forget to like, subscribe and share. It really does help.

The Fan Engagement Chat is where we hear about someone’s approach to Fan Engagement.Recorded in Jan 2021, this interview is a conversation with US football (Soccer) activist, Paul Cox.Paul, who lives in Valencia, Spain, has been a fan of Seattle Sounders for years, and when in the States was involved in the formation of a couple of fan groups/organisations, including the Seattle Sounders Fan Alliance, of which he’s the former Chair https://www.soundersfc.com/supporters-and-alliance/alliance/councilPaul tells us a bit about how influence and activism and how it affects the game in the States, his views on 'opposition' versus constructive dialogue, the early attempts to form a national organisation for fans and activists in the country, and the challenges of growing the sport in a country where three others are in immediate competition for eyeballs.Don’t forget you can find out how your club did in the Fan Engagement Index at https://fanengagement.net. You can also register for free for the Fan Engagement Hub if you want to access more detailed data and case studies from the 2019/2020 Index.