by Holly Tyler, Marketing Director
Sep 2023
Today’s fans expect more than “just” watching the game. Nothing new in that observation. We know they want to be able to interact with each other, give their opinions on starting lineups, play predictive games, and participate in other activities that make them feel part of the action.
This is where fan engagement platforms come in.
Why choose a fan engagement platform?
A great platform allows you to access tools to create interactive experiences that keep fans engaged throughout a game, tournament or season.
A small number of offerings will even allow you to consolidate multiple vendors or products into one. This allows you to deploy, edit and syndicate fan engagement experiences from one centralised system – benefits include reduced integration and maintenance costs, and simplified workflows.
There are a number of different fan engagement platforms available, each with their own view of the world. So it's important to do your research and select one that is right for your needs.
Setting criteria for selection
Once you’ve established the need for a fan engagement platform, here are some considerations:
Capture your goals
What do you hope to achieve with your fan engagement platform? Do you want to build loyalty and fandom via sign-up? Increase revenue? Maybe you want to consolidate existing vendors, saving cost and complexity. Make a clear list of goals and focus on 1-3.
How Monterosa can help: The Interaction Cloud is designed to address strategic business objectives while inspiring teams with creative possibility. By adopting the platform, teams cut down the time it takes to launch innovative new product features, and gain access to over a decade of expertise and insight.
Identify essential platform features
What is it you need the platform to be able to do? Do you need a secure voting solution? Or want to increase participation with a range of gamified fan experiences? Do you need multilingual support? Once you’ve identified what you think you need, you can select a platform that is designed to help you deliver. If in doubt, ask for advice from vendors or unbiased experts. .
How Monterosa can help: We support an extensive range of use cases, including real-time games, voting, competitions, interactive video and many others. Underneath the hood, the platform provides a breadth of capability including:
Massive scalability with reliable handling of peak concurrent loads
Interactive content automation via data feeds and control systems
Progressive audience profile generation and data pipelining
Secure vote processing and auditing
Self-service content creation
How easy is it to use the platform? Will your team be able to self-serve content creation on a daily basis? Will they be able to test, rehearse and deploy Experiences live? Choose a platform that is easy to use and navigate. However, beware the lure of “simple”: often that can also mean inflexible.
How Monterosa can help: We’re happy to supply a range of guided demos and links to documentation which will show you the main platform features. We’ll even set you up with a trial account on Playground, so you can test it out for yourself. With potential for automation, a range of content creation tools and more, you’ll be setting up branded fan engagement experiences in no time! Contact us to request an account.
Support
What kind of support does the platform provider offer? Do they have a help desk or online documentation? Make sure you select a partner that offers the support you need and be upfront about your expectations.
How Monterosa can help: We understand the need to provide reassuring human assistance for both critical moments and ongoing needs. Our helpdesk operation is run by trained operators available via email and phone during both office hours and 24/7 booked support availability.
Evaluate
We recommend creating a matrix of requirements with priority levels. Make sure you identify what is essential and what is optional or desirable. To establish what is on the market you might choose to engage with vendors before a formal process.
We're a hands-on organisation and we will embrace your need to get into detail, try things out and help make sure you're making a great long-term partnership decision.
As a buyer or stakeholder evaluating your options, our sales team is on hand to guide you through the process.
