Influencer Marketing for Soccer Teams: How to Win on Social Media

Soccer is the most-watched sport in the world, but that doesn’t always translate to filling seats in the stadium. To boost awareness about a team’s existence, upcoming schedule, and available tickets for home games, savvy promoters have started turning to influencer marketing.

Using hyper-localized content creators, teams can spark enthusiasm for a team and drive traffic to ticket pages. Of course, it’s not just about boosting ticket sales for a particular game. While one-time attendees are good, transforming these spectators into true fans is better. After all, devotees significantly increase their lifetime customer value through purchases of tickets, food, and branded merchandise.

If you’ve been tasked with creating and managing an influencer marketing campaign for soccer teams, read on to get tips and examples on how to do it successfully.

Identifying local influencers

When it comes to influencer marketing for soccer games, the location of the content creator will trump their number of followers, although niche is still somewhat important. After all, a fashion influencer isn’t likely to generate a lot of enthusiasm for sporting events, although a sneaker influencer might.

You’ll need a general idea of how far spectators travel to come to the games to gauge how local your influencers need to be. Local or regional soccer teams will typically draw from a smaller radius, of course, than say, national teams where fans are more willing to travel for vital matches.

You’ll also need to identify which types of content you want to use (like photos or videos), as well as what channels you want your influencer marketing campaigns to run on. Then, you can ensure that the content creators with whom you collaborate have accounts on those channels and experience creating content in your chosen medium.

When looking for influencers, use a database that allows you to search by location, topics, tags, and channels. In addition, details should include information about engagement, past influencer experience, and typical rates charged for campaign collaborations, such as what can be found on IZEA.com.

Example of campaigns using local influencers

When the Oakland Roots Soccer Club wanted to utilize influencers to expand the community fan base, boost awareness about the club, and drive traffic to SeatGeek ticket pages, it turned to micro-creators in the Bay Area. Ideal creators were passionate about sports (especially soccer), but the team also partnered with foodies and travel creators who highlight Bay Area activities and attractions. The latter helped pull from a wider pool of spectators who might be willing to travel to the games and “make a day out of it.”

The Soccer Club created a Casting Call on our platform, sharing examples from two influencers already posting for the campaign. Check out Chelsea’s video post on Instagram, which offered a unique discount code for tickets and BayAreaFoodz’s Instagram post offering a discount code for 15% off tickets to two specific upcoming games.

Ideas for content

Building excitement to attend a soccer match extends far beyond the game itself. Content creators should develop ways to showcase the fun, energy, and memories the game setting creates. This might include a montage of game highlights, up-close shots of the food, smiling spectators, wide shots of the crowd, or even pre-game excitement.

Here are some examples of influencers successfully promoting the fun to be had a soccer teams:

When Sarah attended her first pro soccer game in St. Louis in May, she posted a video on TikTok encouraging people to add a match to their summer bucket list and referred to herself in the caption as a “certified STL City Soccer fan.” The high-energy montage of her day was paired by upbeat music.
Food and travel vlogger Shawn provided the Houston Dynamo Football Club with some great content, which it shared on the team’s TikTok channel. The TikTok influencer, who has more than 210.3K followers, showcased the pre-game block party, various food offerings at the stadium, and the free portrait opportunity that fans can take advantage of to memorialize their experience.
TikTok influencer Ariel Viera went to a New York City Football Club match at Yankee Stadium and compiled clips into a video to share his experience. The fast-paced video panned on the pre-game energy of the crowds, the smoke stacks that let out a plume of smoke whenever the home team scored, the food, and a custom jersey he had made with his name on it.
In one of the most unique promotions for a soccer team, The St. Louis City Soccer Club sponsored a canine influencer, Brodie The Goldendoodle, to share his experience at the Purina Club. The club is the first-ever and only permanent dog-friendly space in a major soccer stadium. To encourage dog lovers to attend a soccer game, the TikTok video featured the pup-friendly suites, the free doggy swag and water bottles, and the fact that noise engineers helped design the suites so they wouldn’t be too loud for the dogs.