With no action on the field, now is as important time as ever to engage with the community, and CV Media has assisted the Hampton Rovers through live streams, new podcast and other digital activity.
The Hampton Rovers Football Club is one of the largest community clubs in Melbourne, but with no sport due to coronavirus, its 800 players are unable to take the field for matches or training.
CV Media has been there since day one, and in fact, produced one of the first ever websites for a community footy club – way back in 1998. Still looking after the main club website (the juniors have since created their own dedicated site), it’s fair to say 2020 has been a challenge, but a few digital activations have helped the club remain active, keep its membership base in touch, and most importantly, continue some form of revenue.
The Rovers have been ‘live’ streaming classic matches on Facebook, and the ‘ISO Tuesday Night Live’ series has been a hit. The club has now streamed seven matches, including senior Grand Final wins from 1998, 2001, 2013 and 2014. Some streams have featured live and/or pre-recorded chats prior to the game. Most recently, a pre-recorded zoom call featuring stars of the 2001 win streamed prior to the game, with plenty of laughs had.
The videos have attracted a total of 7,500 views on Facebook to-date – with a heap of engagement, including live chat, and some of the positive feedback through the comments has been great to see. The integration of sponsor logos has helped the club promote its major sponsors during this time. The live streaming side of things has been quite simple – using software on a mac to push through to a Facebook Live publishing point via reliable internet. Perhaps the most difficult part has been obtaining old games and converting DVD to digital. Thankfully some had been transformed from VHS to DVD in the past! We’re also in the process of getting all classic matches up on the club’s YouTube channel.
The ‘Roverland Podcast’ recently launched – the first time the Hampton Rovers Football Club has entered the ever-popular world of podcasts – after being talked about for a while. Club players and up-and-coming digital media stars Josh Pavlou and James Prosser have taken the lead on recording the episodes and planning out the content in conjunction with CV Media, who has designed the artwork and set-up the podcast hosting and distribution to all the popular platforms. Within days, it was available on the likes of Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
While players and members are unable to congregate at the club, the traditional ‘Thursday Night Raffle’ has been taken online and has been a huge success. After an initial two-week trial within the playing group, the raffle was expanded to the broader club community. A dedicated Facebook group was setup, and anyone can purchase a ticket via the club’s online store (built on WooCommerce in WordPress) then watch the draw live each Thursday at 8pm. It has generated much-needed funds for the club while traditional revenue streams brought to a halt, with the results surpassing all expectations.
In addition, the club has continued to post regular updates on the website and update members via the newsletter and social media platforms to keep the engagement going. This has also seen membership sales continue since the beginning of covid-19.
Between March 1 and May 20 this year, hamptonrovers.com.au has attracted over 5,000 sessions and 13,000 page views, and while that’s 55% and 62% down (respectively) on the same period last year, it’s more than respectful given the fact a footy hasn’t been kicked.
Bring on the season…