Please help provide feedback on my idea! :)

[jk100991]

TLDR: sports club instagram are not very well run, with some teams having 200+ followers to up to 20k followers. How do I land my first client?

Hi everyone, I would appreciate it if you could advise me on my idea.

I'm passionate about social media management, particularly on Instagram (e.g posting, creating visuals and engaging followers). I found a problem: many professional sports insta pages in my area are not well run.

The team's Instagram has a following of around 5-10k, and a few teams have only a few hundred followers. There are several issues I found:

1)lack of engagement with fans

2)lack of nice posters/visuals (post basic pictures only nothing that stands out)

3)don't collab or engage their fan pages which have way more followers than the official page

the only pro is that they frequently posting at the start of every match.

tbh with a team worth millions of dollars idk why they don't have a good social media account that has more than a few hundred followers

My idea is to engage these teams starting with those with a few hundred followers because I believe it would be much easier to convince them due to their follower count. However, they might have a social media manager already. I hope to provide them with a package that handles all their Instagram needs with scheduled posting, providing them with posters(with an additional cost which will be like an 'add-on').

Previously, I managed two non-profit organisations' Insta accounts which grew a lot and even founded my own non-profit initiative account that grew to over 500 followers in a week. I also intern at a top bank as an associate managing their online presence. P.S I did those for free so I feel it's very different to landing new clients, Recently, I started a sports insta account which received over 15k engagements in 2 weeks

My problem is I have no clue how to approach these sports teams? should I insta DM? cold-email? How do I land my first client? Should I continue to grow my sports insta account first?

Thank you so much! appreciate you taking the time to read

 

[discipleduchrist]

@jk100991 What problem would you be solving for them?

 

[jk100991]

@discipleduchrist Hi, thanks for commenting

I would be helping them solve three main issues.

1) Increasing their engagements with followers and fans

2) Designing content and improving posters

3) Improving posting frequency

 

[discipleduchrist]

@jk100991 No, those are a plan, and a solution to something. What is the problem that they face that you can solve? What outcome are you driving with your service?

 

[jk100991]

@discipleduchrist oh gotchu, could i DM you instead?

 

[discipleduchrist]

@jk100991 I'm happy to help a bit here, but maybe start with the hbr video on YouTube called "a plan is not a strategy", and look into solutions vs. outcomes. Because what you're describing is a plan of how you're going to do something, but you haven't clearly articulated the pain point that you're solving for the teams.

If you had said "I know a strong social media following increases ticket sales/advertising/ gift shop sales/etc of other sports teams, and these teams are leaving money on the table by not xyz, I can help them convert better by abc" then I think you'd be getting a bit closer.

Answering the question of "why would I care?" If I'm a potential buyer is important. You have a bit of an idea here, but maybe social by a team does fuck all for their ticket sales so it isn't a priority. Then it doesn't matter how good your service is, you'll be selling something they don't want.

First, start by accurately, carefully, thoroughly describing what the problem is that the teams are having. Then, create the solution that best serves their needs. Only then would you be talking about what you'd actually be doing in a company to drive the outcome they are looking for.

Cheers

 

[omnifam]

@discipleduchrist I agree. Often times a customer will see your solution as MORE work unless it's tied to outcomes. Their status quo is not worrying about their social media accounts, you're introducing something new that they need to care about. Someone else mentioned a case study. You could offer to partner with a team/club at a sharply discounted rate, and focus on driving very specific sales outcomes for them via instagram in exchange for being able to document the numbers and ROI along with a testimonial. You're pitching a services model, my background is more in building product companies, but I've taken a similar development partner approach and it's very effective. That that case study to customer 2, 3, 4 and charge full rate.

 

[discipleduchrist]

@omnifam I like where you're heading, but this fellow is still 1 step behind you: they don't know HOW to measure the ROI. What outcome are they trying to drive?

Get to that point, then you can orient the case study and drive the outcome.

 

[vikinglutheran]

@jk100991 Your plan seems solid! As for making first contact, maybe draft a proposal outlining what improvements you could make to their current social media strategy.

 

[bugs1962]

@jk100991 I would suggest reaching out to one and doing it for free.

It would be a much easier sell if you had a case study backed by data for a sports team. Right now, if you reach out to them and say you managed non-profit and financial Instagram accounts, they may not take you seriously.

Once you have a successful case study, you can then approach the others.