Pulling Off a Flawless Hat Trick

An Unscripted Moment That Engaged New Fans

Capacity Interactive AUTHOR: Capacity Interactive
Aug 10, 2016
4 Min Read
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Similar to the arts, great sports content is born from gripping moments that aren’t scripted.  These moments can be a rare commodity but when they arise, we as marketers must be ready to capitalize.

My team is constantly working to create social content that tells a story and creates a genuine connection to the Houston Dynamo and Dash. Sports are more than just winning and losing – they’re about a connection to youth, the community, and the players.

That connection may be very small at first, but if we can get fans to jump into our funnel of soccer fun, they will become more engaged and passionate.

Here’s a great example:

Soccer is a 90-minute game. 45 minutes per half and a running clock. Unlike other sports, the clock doesn’t stop when new players enter the game or someone gets hurt. To account for those breaks in the action, additional time – called stoppage time – is added at the end of the 90 minutes.

Illustration of two soccer jerseys and a soccer ball highlighting the July 2 game between Houston Dynamo and Philadelphia Union

On July 2, the Dynamo played the Philadelphia Union at home. 90 minutes passed without either team scoring a goal and five minutes were added as stoppage time.

At 94:45 – 15 seconds remaining – Christain “Chaco” Maidana scored a dramatic goal to give the Dynamo the win. (YAY!)

Within minutes, our content team took action.

The initial Facebook post pulled in 664 shares, 94K views and more than 3500 likes. All organic! Not a dollar to promote.

Facebook post depicting the players "At the death" during the Dynamo vs. Union game

Here’s the magic about this post – for more than a week, my team used variations of this moment to drive engagement.

We posted a short video of the celebration only between Chaco and his family (pictured below). What I love about this video is it shows the player’s personality. It made him relatable as a dad and husband.

Facebook post of a family hugging and celebrating Houston Dynamo's 95th minute win.

Next, we posted the goal from all angles and in slow motion. Then we posted the goal with both Spanish and English announcers.

We also drove people back to our website with a page that featured fan videos of the moment the goal was scored.

A great piece of content can live on and be repurposed for days and years. I’m sure these videos will be a #TBT at some point down the line!

Here are some stats to compare the original post and our day-to-day content:

Chart depicting stats that compare the original post and our day-to-day content.

This is a great example of how content can tell a story from several different angles. This was a soccer story at first, then it transformed into a story about a man and his family as well as the shared jubilation that thousands of diverse fans shared in a single moment.

You never know when those great moments are going to come for your organization, but when they do, they can result in multiple pieces of great content and generate massive engagement!

 Amber Cox is the Chief Marketing Officer for the Houston Dynamo and Dash. She presented at Digital Marketing Boot Camp for the Arts in 2016 on What Arts Can Learn from Sports.