How To Guide: Harnessing the Power Of Sports Content Personalisation

Helpful Summary

• Overview: The article explains the process of sports content personalisation and how it can benefit both fans and teams.
• Why listen to us: Cortex specializes in implementing personalized content strategies for major sports organizations like Premiership Rugby and FIFA.
• Why it matters: Personalized sports content makes fans feel valued and connected, which boosts their loyalty and engagement.
• Action points: Collect detailed fan data using tools like Cortex's Fan Data Platform. Segment the audience based on shared characteristics, create tailored content, and continuously test and optimize strategies to ensure effectiveness.
• Further research: Explore Cortex's advanced personalization tools, AI-driven content recommendation engines, and real-time updates to enhance your content personalization strategies.

Wondering How to Personalize Sports Content?

When fans receive tailored content that speaks directly to their interests and passions, it creates a powerful connection that keeps them coming back for more.

The key to achieving this level of connection is knowing your fans inside out—who they are, where they live, what they enjoy, and what drives their passion for sports. This understanding can only be achieved by gathering, analyzing, and actioning detailed fan data.

Cortex, specializes in harnessing the power of data to create captivating, personalized experiences. This comprehensive guide walks you through the essentials of creating a personalized content campaign for your organization.

Why Listen to Us?

Cortex  connects data, content, and commercial inventory to drive fan engagement and revenue in sports. The results speak for themselves—Crystal Palace FC saw a 150% growth in video revenue, while Premiership Rugby saw a 900% increase in clicks to sponsored content.

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The secret? Highly targeted and personalized content.

How to Personalize Sports Content

1. Collect Data

Data is the bedrock of effective personalization. The data you gather powers segmentation and analysis (more on this in a minute) and ultimately allows you to say, “This person would like more of this type of content.”

Cortex’s Fan Data Platform (FDP) is an excellent tool for effective data collection, helping you gather transactional and behavioral data from multiple sources, including:

• Ticketing systems
• Merchandise stores
• Social media platforms
• Digital activations
• SSO
• Fan profiles

You can also upload CSV data from sources that don’t integrate directly to get a holistic, 360-degree view of fans. The key is diversity—the more diverse and complete your dataset is, the better the insights it yields will be.

That’s why we recommend exploring gamified first-party data collection methods, like Cortex’s polls and forms and the more advanced Digital Fandom Engine.

2. Segment Your Audience

Every fan is different… but that isn’t a helpful observation when trying to personalize at scale.

Instead, you need to segment your data (and fanbase) into more manageable groups based on shared traits, behaviors, and characteristics. Then, you can target them with personalized content based on that grouping criteria.

There are all kinds of ways to segment your data, including:

• Engagement (e.g., active vs. inactive fans based on ticket purchases)
• Demographics (e.g., Gen Z fans based on age)
• Interests (e.g., fans interested in X player based on social media interactions)
• Location (e.g., fans in Manchester based on IP address)
• Behaviors (e.g., fans who regularly buy jerseys based on past purchases)

The best way to do this is an integrated segmentation  tool. Cortex’s Audience Builder tool, built into the Fan Data Platform, that allows for flexible, efficient data querying at all levels to help you build meaningful audiencess. Plus, it integrates with external marketing technology for near real-time updates to contact lists and segments on third party platforms.

3. Create Tailored Content

Next, it’s time to create the content for a given segment.

The idea is to map the information you have about that segment to specific content pieces or campaigns. For example, take this imaginary “active fans” segment—this is a perfect segment to target with content surrounding ticket promotions and meet-and-greets.

Cortex’s CMS is a perfect solution here.

It’s a flexible headless CMS that’s designed specifically for sports organizations. It features a wide range of custom and templated content blocks, powerful sponsorship tools, and built-in personalization features for localizing content and age- or location-restricting content.

Once you have the content personalized at a high level, you’ll need to rely on technology for the granular personalization.

This includes things like:

• Name personalization in content
• Dynamic content on landing pages
• Personalized product recommendations.

Leverage advanced personalization tools like AI-driven content recommendation engines. These tools analyze user data in real-time and deliver content that matches the individual preferences of each fan. For instance, if a fan frequently engages with content about their favorite basketball team, the tool can prioritize updates, news, and highlight reels about that team.

4. Test and Optimize

Personalizing sports content is an ongoing process that requires continuous testing and optimization to stay effective and engaging. Here’s how to refine your personalized content:

A/B Testing

Implement A/B testing to compare different versions of your content.

This involves creating two or more variations of a piece of content and testing them with other audience segments. For example, you can test headlines, images, or call-to-action buttons to see which version resonates more with your fans. Use the insights from these tests to refine your content strategy.

Performance Analytics

Track key metrics like click-through rates, engagement, and conversions. This data helps you determine which personalized content performs best and allows you to adjust your strategy based on these insights.

Deliver Better Sports Content Personalization with Cortex

Personalizing sports content is essential for engaging and retaining fans—it’s no longer a luxury. However, this process doesn’t have to be overwhelming. You can achieve outstanding results with the right approach to fan data, tailored content creation, and ongoing optimization.

Cortex merges data, content, and commercial inventory to deliver captivating, personalized experiences. These comprehensive solutions, including the Fan Data Platform and advanced personalization tools, provide everything you need for effective sports content personalization.

Transform your sports content strategy with Cortex.

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