With the continued proliferation of social media content, it’s more important than ever to ensure your content is fresh, engaging and can “cut through the noise”.
During his Talks from the Tour session, Edward Peters, Head of Digital, Content and Business Development at European Tour group, explained how golf destinations are extremely well-positioned to target new audiences with interesting – and unique – content on social media, and grow their reach, followers and visitors. He said:
“Content is king – but great content is what makes you stand out.
“In a cluttered digital media and social media world, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get your content in front of your audience.
“So, it has been the DP World Tour’s philosophy, since becoming a content-led business, to always look to create content that ‘cut’s through’.
“However, being on top of your game all the time is challenging and indeed, despite numerous awards, accolades and recognitions, our numbers were starting to stagnate, so we did a deep dive to understand why and how we could rectify it.
Edward Peters, Head of Content, Digital and Business Development at European Tour group
“Constantly reviewing and refining content plans, finding out what works and what doesn’t is absolutely vital to ensure your strategy and approach are constantly in line with your objectives and what audiences want to see”.
“As part of that exercise, we were able to identify themes that provide the best chance of creating engaging content:
Focus on the weird and wonderful
At the Tour, we strive to showcase something different to cut through on social platforms. Traditional tournament coverage is core to our business but isn’t always suitable for social media, but can sometimes hand us some gems which, shows the game’s ‘human side’. For example, at the 2023 Korea Championship, Mike Lorenzo Vera played a howler but his reaction to the terrible shot was brilliant, and the clip went viral, with over 2 million views.
Create ASMR content
This is where content and psychology combine, through ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response). It’s about the sensations or feelings you get when interacting with a stimulating video or task. Cooking and meal prep videos on social media tap into this. If you look at the views and reactions to those types of videos, they are far above what other content types get. Last year, one of our top performing videos on Instagram was a greenkeeper cutting a hole. ASMR content works, so try to build it into your plans.
Reveal an unknown
From a Tour’s perspective, we seek nuggets of information about our events and players people aren’t likely to know, to provide something ‘new’ that drives engagement. For golf destinations in wonderful settings, with incredible properties and vistas, there’s a rich variety of content that could be created.
Behind-the-scenes works well
Social media gives you a very good opportunity to go behind-the-scenes and give an insight into how things are done. The example of the greenkeeper cutting a hole on a green is a good one as not many people would necessarily know how it is done, but it’s the type of content many don’t realise they’re interested in yet find fascinating and drawn to watching it.
Find your tone and push the boundaries
This is a simple one, but often overlooked. Your social platforms should reflect the tone of voice of your brand. So, find your tone and that works for your target audience. But at the same time don’t be afraid to push the boundaries a little. You don’t want to come across unprofessionally, but you can try to have fun with your content.
