Figure 1 The Most Successful Organizations – Like UFC – Use Social Media Wisely
There was a time – only around 30 years ago – when UFC and mixed martial arts in general were considered a niche, underground, and novelty style of fighting. Unlike boxing, which had a storied and respected history, and wrestling, which was already considered mass entertainment, MMA was more of an afterthought.
Even though the UFC was already the elite MMA organization, even it was considered low-grade and a brand of the fight game that was just for those who enjoyed watching unruly brawls. But, since then, UFC has become a multi-billion dollar market leader, with UFC betting apps covering pay-per-view events that rival the biggest boxing bouts and WWE.
If you are wondering how this small fight organization has become one of the biggest in the world – and one whose brand is known even by people uninterested in fighting – then marketing is a good place to start. UFC has utilized social media better than any of its competitors and has helped it become a global phenomenon.
Mobile Technology
Once you understand how UFC was quick to realize the power of social media in reaching its potential audience, its rapid growth is far easier to comprehend. In one way, the fact that it has not been around as long as some boxing and wrestling organizations has been to its advantage.
There was no “old way” of doing things for UFC. It was able to benefit from becoming popular at a time when mobile technology was advancing, and social media was being born. UFC’s marketing teams didn’t have to change anything to use these new platforms and exploited the situation to help with its growth.
Social Media Platforms
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat – you name a social media platform, and you can guarantee that UFC has used it to its advantage. Social media platforms go in and out of fashion and UFC have been able to time their usage to perfection. By identifying the audience for each platform, UFC has been able to target its marketing better than most.
UFC understood very early on that social media was a great tool for spreading the word about their brand and what it was about. There would obviously be an older audience that was interested in a new way of fighting as well. But social media would be able to expand to a younger fan base that wasn’t interested in comparing MMA to older fighting styles.
Free to Paid Content
There are many different revenue streams for UFC these days. But one of the most successful is its regular pay-per-view (PPV) events. Following the same model used by boxing and wrestling before it, fans are only too glad to pay for these PPV events.
But those paying fans have not materialized out of thin air. The first season of The Ultimate Fighter, UFC’s showcase for young fighters, was available for free. This promotion of free content has continued to attract new fans – and these fans then think nothing of paying for the bigger events.
Knowing the Audience
One way that UFC has kept ahead of the game is by constantly changing its social media marketing strategies. By keeping up with current trends, the organization is able to reach newer audiences and grow the fan base. But UFC knows that it must also cater for its existing customers too.
Social media is a great way to engage and keep in contact with an audience, and UFC is able to collect more data through its use of the platforms. By analyzing the data it receives, UFC can change their strategies, knowing that they will be successful. This engagement is key to its success.
Video Content
Running through all of UFC’s successful social media strategies is its use of video content. Most businesses using social media for marketing purposes will know that using video is key for greater engagement and interaction. UFC’s clever use of its action-packed content has certainly worked for growing its own fan base.
UFC has been able to create short videos for many of its social media platforms and then extended the coverage on YouTube. It can trawl its archives for fight highlights and has also been able to create an entire media ecosystem around the organization. This meant that potential fans were already aware of the latest news even before mainstream media became interested.
Figure 2 UFC Has Been Able to Engage with Fans in Person and Online
Telling Stories
Unlike boxing organizations, UFC is in a better position to use the fighters themselves to sell the business. All UFC fighters are under contract and help produce video content to be used in a variety of ways. UFC has been very good at delving into personal stories to create and maintain the brand.
By telling the stories of the emotional and personal journeys of the fighters, UFC gets its fan base to become more invested in what might happen next. The fans feel as though they are involved in the fighters’ careers and care more about the outcomes. This way of storytelling has been incredibly successful for UFC.
Social Media Challenges
As with any high-profile business or organization, UFC needs to make sure that it keeps up with technological advances and the way that its fan base expects to be engaged. So far, it has been very good at identifying when and how to change – and that is why it has been so successful.
UFC uses its social media presence in a way that not only keeps existing fans happy but also actively attracts new fans. If it can continue to create content appealing to as wide an audience as possible, there is no reason why UFC will not remain at the top of the fight game for years to come.
