School sports events can come in many forms, depending on the institution, area, and occasion. Invariably, they can often be the biggest talking point of the entire year.
Such events, whether annual sports days, competitive football, netball, hockey, or rugby matches between schools, or local or regional tournament matches, are all worth celebrating and promoting. They bring individuals and communities together to foster positive change, promote physical fitness, and build essential life skills for students.
Organising a successful sports event is only half the battle, however. The real challenge lies in promoting it effectively to ensure total participation and engagement from your students, parents, spectators, and the wider community. Managing the utilisation of sports facilities is just one piece of the puzzle; additional strategies are necessary to promote the event effectively.
Depending on what your event involves, organisers should consider utilising helpful assets to maximise attendance and hype for their upcoming event(s). This article will explore the best possible strategies that school event organisers can use to promote events.
Harness the power of your school’s social media channels
Social media is an invaluable tool for promoting school events. School representatives themselves can utilise social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn to generate awareness of their events and how people can get involved. To take full advantage of social media promotion for your event, consider the following:
- Create pages and events on Facebook to invite attendees, encourage discussions, and incentivise sharing.
- For charity events, build a landing page or event using a third-party app like GoFundMe to collect donations, share updates, and promote the event.
- Use unique hashtags and branded content to encourage online conversations and ensure consistency across your platforms.
- Utilise interactive features like Q&As, countdown stickers, polls, and other interactive content on Instagram and Facebook stories.
- Host live videos and discussion sessions on social media to build awareness, share updates, and drive engagement among attendees.
Many schools will likely already be well-versed in proper social media etiquette, but when it comes to building anticipation for your upcoming sports event, using a wide range of tools will be a huge asset to you. Remember to tailor your approach and content to each tool you use, factoring in ideal image dimensions, content lengths, and link placements.
Leverage local media and PR
Social media encompasses a broad range of digital channels to promote your school’s sports event but another – often overlooked – one that holds tremendous value is using traditional media.
Don’t underestimate the power that local or regional press and media publications can have on driving awareness and attendance to your event.
Consider sending press releases to local newspapers, radio stations, and community websites and asking if they will cover your event and promote it. These publications may simply plug and promote it on their website, or, on the event date, they may even send a representative there to provide real-time coverage.
Local journalists and reporters conducting interviews can give the event a much more professional appearance, not to mention drive publicity through their own channels. The same can be said for school alumni who have achieved sporting success post-school, or other local sports clubs or personalities.
When you have local media and community publications promoting the event bilaterally, you can drive some serious intrigue into your event and promote your cause to an even wider audience.
Embrace more technology
Technology can be an incredible asset to your sports event before, during, and after it happens. It doesn’t mean that schools should fork out thousands upfront to invest in high-tech equipment, but rather, some simple quirks can give it the ‘wow factor’ it deserves, particularly when promoting it on digital channels.
Consider using an event app to provide schedules, maps, and real-time updates for users. You don’t necessarily have to develop one from scratch, but you can utilise open-source tools to promote your event and keep attendees updated while it goes on.
If you plan to create engaging videos of your event, or live-stream it to people who can’t attend in person, then the right camera setup is crucial. Consider setting up multiple cameras at different angles to capture the action of your sports events and offer an immersive experience to your viewers. Consider creating polished, well-edited videos to drive interest in your future sports events as well.
Engage your school community
While you, as a representative of the school, will need to do some legwork in getting the right promotional assets in place, don’t forget the power that your students, staff, and parents have.
Create promotional materials like posters, flyers, and other printed materials to display around the school. Ensure that these materials are given to students to take home as well.
Your school’s Parent-Teacher Association is also instrumental in reaching out to families that may not be as involved, as well as the wider community. Working parents may be able to drive outside interest through their colleagues and wider networks. This can also open the door to sponsorship and partnership opportunities.
Local businesses, charities, and sports clubs may be forthcoming about donations and sponsorships if it means that they can gain some advertising space. Fundraising may be part and parcel of the sports event itself, but that doesn’t mean that other brands should be excluded from partaking.
Email marketing also remains vital, despite being fairly old-school in comparison to other digital marketing channels. Sending regular newsletters and updates to your mailing list (of parents, students and community members) will prove useful in driving awareness. If you plan to market to a wider audience, consider segmenting your emails to local media, businesses, charities, and other organisations nearby that may benefit from hearing about your event.
A blended approach to promoting school sports events
Promoting school sports events effectively requires a blend of modern technology, traditional media, and community engagement. While Bookteq school booking software helps manage facilities, additional strategies such as utilising social media, leveraging local media, and involving the school community are essential to promote sport events at schools. These efforts ensure maximum participation, making school sports events memorable and impactful.
About the author:
Annie Button is a professional freelance writer who has written for a variety of prestigious online and print publications. She specialises in lifestyle, business, digital marketing and branding.
