How to create content for sports fans: 10 ideas + steps

The outdoor sports industry is a hotbed of opportunity. With around 490 million participants around the world bringing in over $200 billion each year, it’s pretty much a  goldmine. One you could tap into with just a bit of content creation effort. The right content can get you seen by millions of people around the world – but in such a stacked field, you have to think outside the box to get ahead of the competition.

Action sports fans love to stay informed about their favorite sports. Having all the information at their fingertips makes them feel like they’re truly part of a community. A place where they can push themselves further, faster, harder. By leveraging a content strategy that brings them in on the action, you’ll get better sales, better engagement and better ROI. And who wouldn’t want that?

If you’re looking to boost your campaigns and engage bigger audiences, we’re here to help. Here’s our roundup of 10 sports content creation ideas to add to your next strategy planning session.

10  awesome content ideas for sports fans

If you’re struggling for ideas or looking for a new and exciting way to interact with outdoor sports fans, why not give these 10 sports content ideas a go? 

1/ Breaking news

Media outlets prioritize breaking news because people can engage with it wherever they are in the world. People love to know what’s happening in real time, giving you a golden opportunity to cement yourself as an outdoor sports brand in the know.

As well as reporting breaking news on your website, you can leverage your social media accounts by:

•   Live Tweeting sports events
•   Providing real-time updates on Facebook and Instagram
•   Sharing small clips on TikTok

Even better – encourage followers to engage through catchy hashtags, live polls, Q&As and giveaways as the event unfolds to watch your follower count skyrocket.

2/ Interviews with athletes

Creating content around the athletes undertaking the world’s greatest adventures is a surefire strategy to get people engaging with your brand. You might even inspire the next generation of explorers.

From making history in the Himalayas to climbing the steepest overhangs, athletes are constantly chasing new extremes. And this means you can get a wealth of content by interviewing the biggest  adventure-seeking names in the outdoor industry. You could even go one step further by including them in future campaigns.

The North Face has really dialed this strategy in their online journal. Their content inspires customers by sharing stories of pioneering athletic expeditions through the eyes of the alpinists, skiers, snowboarders, trail runners and climbers they’ve teamed up with.

And translating this kind of content – like, for example, using multilingual subtitles for your videos – is also a great way to create content for sports fans, since many up-and-coming athletes already have a strong international following.

3/ Expert opinions

Incorporating expert opinions into your content can help boost your brand’s credibility. It can also cement your place as a key player within the industry. The most successful sports brands use seasoned athletes and behind-the-scenes experts to give their perspective on what might happen during a competition. If you want to draw people to your website, create content – like blogs, videos and interviews – using industry experts your audience will recognize.

4/ Beginners also rock

It’s not just professional competitions that outdoor sports fans want to hear about. They care about grassroots events and up-and-coming athletes, too. Keeping up to date with local competitions is a great way to resonate with smaller communities. It also gives your brand something new to shout about.

Amateur events aren’t as widely covered by the big adventure sports brands. This leaves your brand with an opportunity to establish itself as a reliable voice at all levels and tap into a market that’s not as crowded. After all, every Big Wave started as a small one.

5/ Insightful podcasts

People are getting into podcasts in a big way. And for good reason – they’re so easy to listen to whether at home, on the slopes or pounding the hiking trail. Plus, if there’s one thing adventure fans have in common, it’s that they can’t get enough of their favorite sports. They want to know everything about them – from the athletes to the competitions and everything in between.

Podcasts are a fantastic way to scratch that itch, providing your audience with a different way to engage with their chosen sports. Grab their attention and help them build their knowledge base by hosting a podcast on your website or social platforms. Then, sit back and watch (or listen to) your fan base grow.

6/ The broader culture

A passion for outdoor sports goes far beyond the sport itself. It encompasses everything surrounding it from the environment to the people in it. Take the buzz of après ski. People love to get involved, whether they’re seasoned skiers and snowboarders or newbies discovering snow sports for the very first time. Tapping into the culture is a great way to pique your audience’s interest, giving them a good reason to stick around. It’s also something you can have a lot of fun with.

7/ Fun quizzes

People engage with interactive marketing WAY more than static content – and quizzes are no exception. The hidden gem of lead generation, quizzes are super easy to throw together but capture leads and increase revenue better than more complicated forms of marketing.

This study into quiz marketing statistics found that 82% of people interacted with the quizzes they found on their feeds. And the average quiz is shared almost 2,000 times. So not only do people love getting involved with a quiz – they’re more likely to share it on their social media profiles. Talk about maximizing your reach!

And once your followers find something that reels them in, they’re more likely to stick around. A quiz could be that something for you.

8/ Give back to the community

If you or your athletes are doing good in your local community, why not shout about it? Creating content around your charitable activities is a great way to show off your brand values. It’s also an opportunity to share your worldview with your audience. Don’t worry about virtue signaling. It’s not signaling if you back it up with your actions. Think of flashing your charitable credentials as a call to action to your followers to get involved, too.

If you’re not sure where to start, there are several outdoor organizations you can support. Whatever level your business is at, supporting any one of these nonprofits will help you drive meaningful change within your community. You can also find inspiration with the 7 things outdoor brands are doing to make the world more sustainable.

9/ Inject humor with some memes

Love them or hate them, memes are an awesome conversation starter and a language all their own. They’re also a great way to show off your fun side. Memes make us feel like we’re part of a community, giving us a chance to share our experiences with like-minded people. Not to mention that they’re easy to like and share.

The power of memes in marketing can’t be underestimated, either. According to a survey, 60% of people are more likely to buy from a company that uses memes in their marketing. Memes have about 10 times more reach than regular marketing graphics, too.

The trick to using memes in your content is to use them sparingly so you don’t look gimmicky. But sharing the right meme at the right moment is a smart, surefire way to engage our audience. You might even go viral!

10/ Behind-the-scenes

Want to appeal to your audience’s inquisitive side? Then treat them to a sprinkling of behind-the-scenes content. Whether that’s offering a peek into how your clothing collections are made or showcasing what their favorite outdoor sports athletes get up to on the daily, people can’t seem to get enough of this type of content.

Sharing behind-the-scenes content makes people feel like they’re part of your community. Chances are they’ll be more engaged with your brand as a result. See, curiosity doesn’t always kill the cat.

5 steps to create content that works

Before rushing ahead with our content ideas, follow these steps to make sure they’re a success.

Step 1: Plan 

You know the drill – fail to plan and plan to fail. A cliché, for sure. But the simplest pieces of advice are often the wisest. Before starting your content strategy, draw up a plan setting out:

•   Business objectives
•   Who you want to target
•   Messaging ideas
•   How you plan to measure your content’s success

At every stage of your content plan, be sure to loop back to these points to keep yourself on track.

You should also apply the ‘so what?’ method when planning. What will your audience get out of your content? What does it mean? Does it have any relevance to your wider goals? Doing this will help keep your content ideas focused on your end goals.

Step 2: Choose the right channels 

The next step is to think about the channels you want to use for your content. This could be your website, social media, YouTube – or, more likely, all three. Social media is an important tool for shareable content, but your website is where people are more likely to convert.

Remember – social media channels aren’t all created equal. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok attract different audiences, so a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work. You may need to adapt your content for your different channels to get it noticed by the right people.

Step 3: Be informative (and funny)

Keep your outdoor sports fans in the loop by giving them the information they’re actually looking for. Truly passionate adventurers want to know everything about their chosen sports, like the best backcountry slopes in Europe and real-time results from their favorite competitions.  

But these days, it’s not enough to just provide information. You need to be engaging, informative and funny. Getting them to laugh while they learn is a guaranteed way to keep your dream audience coming back for more.

Step 4: Track what works

Measuring your content is arguably the least glamorous part of marketing, but it’s one of the most important. There’s no point spending time and money on content that doesn’t resonate with your audience. By seeing what works, you’ll learn which ideas to develop and what to avoid in the future.

Social media platforms make it easy to track metrics. You can download tons of tools and plug-ins to simplify things, too. 

Step 5: Don’t discount a copywriting or multilingual content translation assist

Stuck for time, ideas or both? You’re in the right place. We’ll take the hassle out of your marketing communications, creating killer content tailored to your brand, audience and objectives. From multilingual copywriting services for your website, blog, or social media to transcreation and more, we’ve got you covered in every language. Sound good? Then send us an email at hello@theactionsportstranslator.com to find out more.

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