From Reels and TikToks to YouTube Shorts and Snapchat— you know the easiest way to sell your programs and brand is through video. After all, in 2022, video accounted for 82% of all online traffic. Maybe you don’t know where to start. Or maybe your current videos aren’t pushing the needle the way you want your program to grow.

Why Use Video for Youth Sports Marketing

When done well, video marketing will help you attract new parents, players, and coaches as well as retain your current members. It can help you increase your social media engagement, improve your SEO and boost your conversions, as well.

Use video to help communicate your mission and build trust with your players. To do so, keep this in mind: People connect with individuals, not organizations. When you see videos on social media that garner a lot of attention, you’ll notice they’re often highlighting a personal and authentic experience. By creating videos that highlight your members and their stories, you’re effectively marketing your organization in a more organic way. 

Kinds of Video for Youth Sports Marketing

One good place to start is documenting some highlights from games and practices so parents who weren’t able to attend can watch or players can use for their own highlight reels. Having a staff member that’s assigned to capture this video content each week is a great way to ensure you’re consistently capturing content. 

Other kinds of video content you’ll want to capture and share are branded hype videos, interviews with players, coaches, and parents, and instructional videos. 

No one knows the players and game better than your coaches, which means no one is better suited to help you make authentic, personal video content. You can ask them each to provide one feature a week—a video of a drill, say, or the presentation of a player’s award. If such a task isn’t yet part of their skill set, set up meetings to brainstorm ideas or to help them capture their knowledge. And definitely brand everything they create.

Ripken Baseball does a great job of utilizing video content on their Instagram (and has 29.6K followers to show for it!). Some examples of video content they share include tournament promotion, merchandise, and training tips from Bill Ripken (co-founder).  

Centercourt Club utilizes reels and TikToks to show off what’s going on at practices and games. 

For an example of a sports organization that utilizes TikTok in a productive way, check out Firecracker Softball’s account. They have 2,207 followers and do a fantastic job showing off the culture and community of Firecracker Softball via dance videos where players wear merch, player intros, and tournament coverage–all while highlighting the fun players have with each other. Approximately 32.5 percent of TikTok’s global audience is between ages 10-19, and 41 percent of TikTok users are 16-24—so TikTok is a great way to show the players what a fun and inviting community they’d be joining by choosing your organization. 

For more examples of how to strengthen your digital marketing efforts through social media, read this.

Getting More Eyes on Your Video Content

To really reap the benefits of using video to market a youth sports club, you need to ensure you’re getting as many eyes as possible on your video. Using LeagueApps’ messaging tools, users can send out their video content in a number of ways.

• Send out a link to the video in an email or text message
• Embed an image promoting the video, and link that image to the video
• Share the video with your team participants by sending a link via chat message in LeagueApps’ Mobile Apps
• Integrate with MailChimp, and send your contacts your video by embedding it into your campaign. You can then track who clicked on your video! 
• Embed your video or link it to your website pages and blog posts
• Post your videos to your social accounts—like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok—and consider using them for paid social advertising

Are you interested in building a youth sports video marketing plan that is easy to execute on? Join us for the free webinar, How Video Can Help Grow Your Brand, on May 23rd.