Active Network - United Kingdom

At the Running Symposium – Mapping the Course of Endurance, that took place in London on the 19th April, event organisers and other running professionals from around the globe got together to discuss the latest trends affecting the industry. An open discussion led by Keith Williams (Senior Manager, Emerging Markets EMEA) and Sam Renouf (VP, Emerging Markets & GM, APAC) covered 3 main areas: The effect of mobile usage and social media. The surge in adventure and MOB TM /adventure racing. How altering pricing strategies can be beneficial for running events.

Amongst the topics of discussion one key conclusion came out - event organisers must stop and think before putting on their next event! Organisers should not just switch the event live and react on a daily/monthly basis. Instead, they should plan in advance for the audience's reaction. Optimising demand generation can be leveraged through channels' event organisers already have at their disposal.

Sam Renouf commented on ACTIVE Network’s data gathered over recent years, saying that those participants who register from a social media network and from a mobile device have risen significantly in the past couple of years. So much that ACTIVE.com predicts the number of participants registering to events from their mobile device will surpass desktop by early 2014. By mobilising event sites, organisers can improve participant's usability and convenience.

To help understand how social media interactions actually translate into offline actions ACTIVE revealed the results of a research conducted to 500 consumers that demystifies what exactly happens "beyond the click”. Follow this link to access the results Infographic- http://ow.ly/kzeBc.

Symposium participants also discussed the accelerated growth of adventure racing, or the so called mud and obstacle races (MOB TM) and how they are likely to influence traditional running events. “Over 80% participate in a MOB with at least 1 friend and 29% of them heard about the event through social media as seen from a 2012 ACTIVE.com survey1. Considering this, event organisers should consider this social athlete when strategising their race planning.” said Keith Williams.

Running Symposium participants concluded that event directors need to utilise better strategic event planning when considering pricing. Setting up 4-5 pricing tiers through the event's registration page can help drive demand, while early event sell-out will not only improve relations with the event but also allow charities involved, with an extended window to fulfil their entries. Endurance event organisers can grow their revenue by around 18% by making a shift in their pricing strategy, according to ACTIVE Network’s client case studies presented at the Running Symposium.

With these channels and trends still being recent to the market, it is down to the proactive event organiser to take advantage from these trends and combine them into their strategic fit. The symposium proved to be a big success, with great feedback received from delegates who considered it “a very useful initiative, which provided valuable information, relevant to the industry”. If you are an endurance event organiser of any race type and would like to attend one of ACTIVE’s future Endurance Symposiums, you can request to be included in our invitation list here.

84% of sports and endurance event organisers don’t measure the return on investment of their social media campaigns. That’s just one of the key findings in the new Social Media Report for Sport & Endurance Event Organisers published by Active Network today. Social media. These days it’s part of the fabric of our everyday lives. It’s also massively popular with sporting celebrities and mass media audiences. Who hasn’t used Twitter and Facebook to follow highlights from the Olympics to the Tour de France to Euro 2012? So you’d expect sports and endurance events to be enthusiastic users of social media to promote their events and drive participation. True? Well yes, but only up to a point. The new Social Media Report for Sport & Endurance Event Organisers published by Active Network today shows that sports and endurance event organisers are increasingly using social media heavy-hitters such as Facebook and Twitter to promote their events.

But beyond these two channels, it’s a mixed story. Critically, 84% of the organisations surveyed don’t measure the return on their social media investment. In addition, many are missing out on the opportunities offered by complementary activities such as SEO optimisation and Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising.

The good news is that many of the tools and software required to meet these goals are inexpensive or free. In addition, they are increasingly user friendly, so that digital marketers can quickly establish the value of their social media investment without needing to acquire specialist skills and training.

Take the next steps
The report also includes best practices for organisations running sporting events of all sizes. As well as describing how to create an engaging Facebook page and raise event awareness using Twitter, we’ve also outlined the best way to make the most of new channels such as Pinterest and suggested inexpensive and free monitoring and measurement tools.

To get the full picture, and discover the opportunities to increase engagement and participation, download Social Media Report for Sport & Endurance Events Organisers today.

*Source: Ofcom, The Communications Market Report: United Kingdom, July 2012

Yesterday morning, at London’s Commonwealth Club, we saw the insight and thought leadership driving the recently announced partnership of ACTIVE Network and Just Giving. An audience of 93 leading organisations heard from both companies and industry leaders before they had their say.
Co-host Keith Williams, Head of Biz Dev for ACTIVE Network, revealed new data showing the endurance sports market (running, cycling, and triathlon) in the UK has seen a 23% growth in the number of events organised since 2008. Cycling and triathlon have shown the sharpest increase, buoyed by on-going success of British Cycling and the publicised achievements of the Olympian Brownlee Brothers. This increase in the number of events contrasts markedly with ACTIVE’s insight into event participation – which has seen just a 1% increase in those four years. There are more people participating but they are being more choosy, meaning competition is intense and on the increase.
ACTIVE Network and JustGiving shared their expectations for the considerable growth of mobile as people’s primary device for accessing the internet. If your participants and fundraisers can’t find, register and activate their fundraising via their mobile phone they probably won’t [1].
Use of Social Media influence in the endurance and fundraising events market was spotlighted at the event with JustGiving, revealing that each individual fundraising page that is shared on Facebook is seen by an average of 562 people [3]. ACTIVE Network published research that revealed Facebook has driven 300% more ROI to event organisers than email communications [4]. Through insight and case studies courtesy of Jo Dyson and Graham Tyrell (Maggies Cancer Care Centres) and Mike Tomlinson (Run for All), the hosts illustrated the importance of engagement with the consumer, putting them at the centre of your organisation. The use of video, social media, mobile optimisation, and accessible intelligence and understanding around your community are areas that give significant return on investment.
“Making Every Step Count” also allowed an opportunity for endurance event organisers and charities to network, share ideas and create new business relations. The benefits for event organisers, corporates and charities teaming up and forging stronger relationships were highlighted by Jenny Baskerville from KPMG who partnered Barnardos on the Big Blue Kick, and by Mike Tomlinson and the story behind Run for All. Find out more about ACTIVE Network & JustGiving partnership here

[1] Based on past and current analysis of Google analytics and ACTIVE Network data over a period of 12 months.

[2] JustGiving analysed internal data for over 300,000 fundraising pages, with additional data from Google Analytics and Facebook Insights. In total, each individual fundraising campaign has an average of 562 impressions on Facebook, through fundraisers and sponsors sharing information about the event

[3] Data verified based on the analytics of ACTIVE Network client endurance events based on the referral links from registrants over a period of 4 months in 2011.

Active Network Seeks “Active Samaritans” to Support United Through Sport Charity at the SportAccord Convention

Active Network is looking to support its chosen charity, United Through Sport, with the help of the SportAccord participants. Anyone at the SportAccord Convention will be able to support the charity, simply by visiting the Active Network stand (119) and leaving their business card or requesting a consultation. Active Network will give up to $0.30 for each of these stand visits.

For those who would like to support directly the United Through Sport projects that help disadvantaged communities around the world achieve their full potential through sport, Active Network has setup a charity fundraising page - http://www.justgiving.com/ActiveSamaritan. Through this page anyone can become an “Active Samaritan” by donating or helping to fundraise for the cause. One week after the convention, Active Network will verify the name of the person or the company who financially helped the most and, in return, it will make a donation to the charity on behalf of the top “Active Samaritan”.

''It has been extremely exciting working alongside Active Network to promote the work we do at United Through Sport and get people aware of how they can get involved,” said James Burton, United Through Sport charity director. “Active Network has shown us some fantastic, yet simple and creative ways to engage with the wider sporting community, reflected in their effort to support us through the SportAccord Convention.''