If your sports team or athletic organization is preparing to take fan experiences online, the technology you choose to make that switch needs to be a primary consideration. While some event organizers have taken to sharing free live streams or past content via social media or other third-party platforms, these scattered tools are likely to leave your sports fans feeling less than fulfilled. Whether you’re planning a fully online gathering, or a fan event with both in-person and online components, you’ll need an integrated event technology solution to provide a seamless fan journey from start to finish.
We’ve broken down seven key components of a complete virtual solution to explain what a difference they can make to you and your fans!
Gated Access
To effectively generate revenue from online ticket sales, the ability to control and restrict who has access to your streams, fan communities, and live chats is paramount. That said, not every virtual event technology provider can honestly offer these capabilities. With our platform, you’ll take full control over who attends each one of your online fan experiences and secure your exclusive content by providing every customer with a unique access code to use for entry into your virtual event. For them, the experience isn’t much different than buying a ticket to any other event! For you, automatically assigning a unique access code to each attendee means you can easily track who attends your live streams, athlete interviews, and other online activities to gain valuable insights for targeted marketing campaigns and future event content planning.
Live Stream
From athlete Q&As to live streaming gameplay, it’s safe to say video streaming will form a considerable chunk of any virtual fan experience’s content. With a fully integrated solution like ours, you can stream live, present pre-recorded content, or work with a hybrid of the two to fit the busy schedules of your athletes, presenters, and sponsors. Throughout your event, you can provide registered fans the ability to unlock additional online content like team town halls and exclusive player interviews, bringing every bit of the action straight to their screen. And after your stream is finished, you can choose to share a recording with those who attended live, or even continue to sell access to the recording after the fact!
Official Companion App
One of the most effective ways to keep your fans connected before, during, and after your virtual fan experience is by offering an event companion app that acts as a centralized hub for event content, game details, player announcements, and more. This can mean creating a brand new app dedicated to your virtual event, or integrating your new virtual components with your team’s existing app. Direct fans to download your app when they purchase tickets, encouraging them to access a dashboard of your entire fan event lineup that provides a full schedule of live streams, community discussion boards, player sessions, and more. With Patron Technology‘s integrated mobile app features, you can even give sports fans the chance to build a custom experience at your event! They can plan out exactly which sessions, Q&As, and community activities they want to attend, play branded games, and connect with fellow fans.
Player Meet & Greets
Transform your online experience by giving fans the opportunity to have a full-on conversation with their favorite athlete, coach, or owner, all online! Our solution gives you the tools you need to sell online sessions with your talent, either one-on-one or in a group, boosting your revenue and creating unforgettable experiences for your attendees. Provide your fans with access to live meet & greets, exclusive Q&A sessions, and even personalized pre-recorded videos and autograph requests. Not to mention, after fans virtually meet their favorite sports stars, you can send them a recording of their session as a memento!
Community-Driven Experiences
Sporting events have been bringing people together for centuries, and fostering those connections online is a crucial piece of making your virtual fan event a memorable experience. It’s important to provide every opportunity for genuine connection and engaging interaction between your virtual attendees to ensure your online fan experience will provide the same energy and excitement as your in-person events. Bring your fan community together online with features like live chats during your streams, interactive waiting rooms, watch parties, real-time user-generated polls, and so much more!
Gamification
Build your virtual sports fan experience to be just as engaging as any in-person sports gathering by offering an array of fan-favorite games, like GIF battles, mascot races, scavenger hunts, and more. While waiting for their next legendary celebrity session, your online attendees can play games and connect with each other right from your dedicated event app, so they’re always engaged with your fan experience (and your sponsors)! Fans simply log into your app, pick their game of choice, and follow the instructions to earn badges and win any and all exclusive prizes you choose to offer, like VIP online celebrity experiences, limited edition jerseys, and more.
Sponsorship Engagement
Sponsorship activations will always be a prominent component and major revenue source for any fan experience, and our solution allows you to ensure your virtual fan events are no exception. Take your online sponsorship offerings beyond the obvious in-app banner ads and branded push notifications (which we absolutely do provide!) by also offering prospective sponsors even more exciting features, like pre- and post-session sponsored videos, live stream sponsorships with on screen branding, product reveals sessions, sponsored online games and prizes, and much more. It’s a game-winning score: while fans gain access to exclusive sponsored content, your sponsors will be on the receiving end of valuable customer data they can use for future marketing campaigns.
Ready to start planning your fan event experience? Find out today why Patron Technology offers the perfect virtual sports fan event solution, which is completely integrated into the ShowClix system!