Promoting Your Club
The best way of promoting your club is by getting your club out into the community.
Engage with communities
Don’t fall into the trap of "people know where we are so, if they are interested in Rugby League, they will know where to find us."
Go where people are, engage with them and talk about Rugby League.
Work hard at getting the contact details of people participating and watching and follow up interest by sending texts and emails.
Why not hold an open day at your club and show people what you are all about.
You could also consider taking part in community and charity events in the local area.
Share activities you are organising or participating in on social media, both on your own accounts and on local community pages on Facebook, where active audiences thrive.
Experience shows that clubs who are perceived as being hubs for their communities and engage with people form their local area, find it far easier to recruit new members and players at all levels.
A good example would be former rugby-league.com Club of the Week Stanningley SARLC, who have strong relationships across all areas of the community and professional game. This has helped the club raise money for charitable causes, while they host 17 teams in total, from age four to six training sessions, to three Open Age men’s teams and a Ladies team.
Social Media
Social Media is the easiest and cheapest way to spread the word about your club. Here are some useful tips:
- Building your number of 'followers' on Twitter can be easy. 'Follow' local organisations such as schools and businesses - they may 'follow' you back!
- Offer low-cost prizes such as rugby balls - 'Retweet and follow' competitions are a useful way of growing your reach. Include an important club message in your Tweet for maximum effect
- Always thank people who engage with your club. This will encourage more people to follow their lead
- Make your tweets interesting. Make announcements (such as new head coach / signing) and tell your audience
- If you have any players, parents, ex-players or friends of the club etc who have large numbers of Twitter followers, ask them to RT some of your messages. This will increase the reach of your messages.
- Use pictures in your tweets. Reserach has shown that 44 per cent more interactions occur on Tweets with attached photos
- Try new things and be innovative. After all, Tweets are free.
- Create a page for your club to make the best impression on Facebook
- Keep it active to keep your followers interested
- Ask your club photographer for a picture gallery of your most recent game. Encourage your players to 'tag' themselves for the best reach
- Promotoe your website and other channels by using simple watermarks on your pictures
- Share your news in local community groups - a whole new audience can open up
- Ask your players to share club posts. This will spread your reach to their friends, creating a simple online 'word of mouth' campaign