Social Media Tracker: How are operators using relatable content to engage with players?

In the igaming industry, operators typically follow trends in order to engage with their audience and drive traffic back to their site. Social media is a powerful tool but only if it is used properly. Yes, you can use branded graphics to promote offers and odds but is this kind of content really going to resonate with your audience?

More recently, we have noted that some of the larger brands like Paddy Power, for example, have been using relatable content on social media to increase engagement. This kind of content drives likes, comments and shares – ultimately benefiting the brand and its social channels. Below, we look at what relatable content is and how it is being used.

What is relatable content?

While relatable content is very important to have on your website, we are talking about social media specifically. These days, most operators are using social media channels like Facebook and Twitter to engage with their players, and it is no surprise why.

According to GlobalWebIndex, each person spends around two hours and 25 minutes on social networks each day. Back in December 2020, Facebook had around 1.84 billion daily active users – so it makes sense that this would be a great channel for operators to use.

Relatable content on social media is essentially content that users can connect with. It might be a meme that they find funny and want to share or it might be something that reminds them of their own opinions. Relatable content is typically different from regular promotional posts and it is used more so for engagement purposes rather than promotion. Of course, if it is done well, relatable content can push a product or an offer at the same time.

Paddy Power

Paddy Power is one of the leading sports betting operators in the UK and has been since 1988. With tons of high street retail stores and effective marketing campaigns, the brand has become a household name over the years. Back in 2016, Paddy Power merged with Betfair and is now part of Flutter Entertainment.

Paddy Power has a strong following on social media and the social channels created by the brand are used to boost engagement nearly every single day. On Facebook, they have over 1.5 million likes and on Twitter, they have over 658,000 followers. While the Paddy Power social media team uses a mixture of promotional and branded content, its relatable content arguably performs best time and time again.

A recent post by Paddy Power on its Facebook page referenced a joke about professional football player Harry Kane. The post included a simple photo of Kane and joked about ‘breaking news’. This ‘news’ gained over 4.9k likes on Facebook and 1.1k shares. In addition to this, it received over 1k comments on the post which offered great brand exposure.

Another recent post that focused on professional football player Frank Lampard gained over 2.6k likes in just two hours. The content referenced the real news of the player leaving Chelsea but included a joke about fake offers that he had received. Followers were quick to react and engage in the conversation.

While this content doesn’t specifically promote any odds or offers created by Paddy Power, it gets players and followers talking. Players want to engage with the post and share their thoughts and this is arguably more effective than a promotional post.

The content is similar to what football fans might joke about with their friends and this makes it relatable and more importantly – shareable. It is clear that the team at Paddy Power has recognised this and continues to share jokes and memes to boost engagement.

How can operators use relatable content to their advantage?

Most of the relatable social media posts by Paddy Power are simply that – posts with jokes. However, we believe that they could be doing more to really use this engagement to their advantage. For example, in a post about Harry Kane, the operator could include a link to their football odds page.

This isn’t a new strategy by any means but there are further opportunities to maximise the engagement on these kinds of posts. According to Hubspot, link clicks account for 92% of all user interaction on tweets. Links should always be added to social posts, alongside a CTA.

Finding the balance between posting relatable content and promoting the brand is vitally important. Operators shouldn’t fall into the trap of turning their fan page into a memes page as this can be harmful to the brand. As long as you can find the connection between the joke and the operator, we would argue that this is a success.

With huge sporting events such as the Euros on the way this summer, we believe that there are some great opportunities for sports betting brands like Paddy Power to create content that resonates with players.

Paddy Power has built a reputation as a brand with a sense of humour but that doesn’t mean that other operators can’t do the same. Find the balance and create content that boosts engagement while driving traffic back to your site at the same time.

Sharon McFarlane is the managing director of Crystal Content – a digital marketing agency that specialises in igaming. She has eight years’ experience in the industry and has contributed regularly to industry magazines and conferences sharing her expertise on all things digital marketing. Her company (www.crystalcontent.co.uk) offers an outsourced solution for igaming businesses when it comes to content marketing, social media, UX design, website design, branding and conversion rate optimisation.