There’s a once-in-a-blue-moon sporting event in your market, and your station is carrying the game. It’s the MLB All-Star Game and your station has ramped up its pre-game and post-game coverage. There are a lot of activities and lots of celebrities in town. Your MLB team has a strong bond with the community and a […]
There’s a once-in-a-blue-moon sporting event in your market, and your station is carrying the game.
It’s the MLB All-Star Game and your station has ramped up its pre-game and post-game coverage.
There are a lot of activities and lots of celebrities in town. Your MLB team has a strong bond with the community and a rich history in baseball.
So naturally, you create some on-air promos to promote your coverage. But it’s sweeps and there’s an increased demand on inventory.
So what can you do to reach viewers to tell them about your game day coverage?
Use some of your station’s secondary channels like Facebook. The subject’s fun, and you can do a lot of interactive engagement that’s more immediate.
The 2015 MLB All-Star Game is in Cincinnati tonight and WXIX, Raycom’s Fox affiliate there is carrying the game.
And if you’re the home of the Cincinnati Reds, baseball fans are expecting something extra.
“No other station has the game itself and no other station can air a four-hour special leading into Fox coverage,” says Tony Reed, WXIX’s marketing director.
“Whether users/viewers choose to watch the programming or not, they at least will know that we support the community, and we offer compelling and original multi-platform content.”
WXIX starts its game day coverage today at 3 p.m. with Baseball’s Big Blast, four hours of pre-game coverage live from the Great American Ballpark and five other locations around the city.
The game begins at 7:30 after the Fox network pre-game show, then local coverage continues immediately afterward on WXIX.
“The All-Star game is truly a historic event that we’re honored to cover in a big way,” says Debbie Bush, WXIX’s general manager.
“We’re telling the story not only of the game itself, but the positive impact it has on our community. This is Cincinnati’s moment to shine.”
To spread the word of its expanded coverage and content, WXIX, of course, created some on-air promos. But since digital is in Raycom’s blood, the station turned loose its digital team to generate excitement for the celebration.
“The audience is declining on-air,” says Reed, “but there’s still value to that. But our feeling is you can use a social media platform like Facebook and get more impressions that you would on-air. We believe in the value of on-air, but it’s wise to place the same emphasis on what we’re saying digitally.”
WXIX’s Facebook page has 182,000 followers according to Reed. So Sunday night, WXIX posted a video about the Legends and Celebrities softball game that happened as part of the All-Star game festivities. In just half a day, it got 75, 000 impressions.
Cincinnati News, FOX19-WXIX TV
“That’s huge,” says Reed, “that’s like an 8.5 rating in this market.”
Reed likes that Facebook offers an opportunity to create more of an emotional connection with users.
“For us, it’s really an image builder. These are people who are all our fans so they’ll see those messages and increase brand loyalty.
“That power to get all of those impressions is amazing because it comes at no costs, and by the time all is said and done, we’ll probably have a couple hundred thousand impressions related to our all-star coverage.”
Reed says that 9 times out of 10, the station’s Facebook posts push users to the station’s web site for additional information and content.
“We hope we get a lot of sampling in the special. It’s such a huge opportunity for us.”
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