FloSports Content Strategy 2.

0:
Produce polished content audiences will crave.

Methodology
1

Define our unique voice

What are we? What are we not?

Understand our current content strategy

How did we get here?

Prioritize based on effort and return

Where should we put our focus first?

Present plan that addresses threats and

opportunities
How are we going to take the mountain?

Execute, measure, and provide feedback loop to

stakeholders
Whats the plan to execute and iterate quickly?

01

Define our unique voice

Who we are

Who we are
Since its inception FloSports has approached content in a
unique way.

Be immersive. We take our audience inside the sports, behind

the personalities and beyond the scenes of the competition.
Provide the inside scoop: Our audience comes to us for our
sports expertise. We showcase our knowledge by speaking in
specifics, not superlatives.
Look through a different lens: We cover all of our sports from
athletes and competitors points of view, giving our content a
distinctive voice.
Dont patronize, contextualize: We speak up to the sport and
not down to it. We provide details and specifics.
Humanize the athlete: Its not just about the Xs and Os, but
the stories.

02

Our current strategy

How did we get here?

Current Content Strategy

Our current content strategy can be boiled down to four easy
points.
Events have priority

Opportunistic on breaking news

Emphasis on quantity
Measured approach on improving quality

03

Prioritize based on strength and return

Where to focus?

SWOT Analysis
Stengths
Live Events Coverage
Writers are subject matter experts
FloFilms production and storytelling
Rankings
Relationships
Workout videos
MileSplit Network
Understanding of the communities we serve
Live results
Shenanigans

SWOT Analysis
Weaknesses
Content lacks polish: Create a formal review process
Poor focus: Delimit travel and content
Lack of coaching: Create formal review process with notes
Premium documentaries not accompanied by written features
Not following SEO best practices: Content Marketers will facilitate

SWOT Analysis
Threats
High costs: To counteract this, we will not travel as much. Other content will compensate for this.
Breaking news response time: To counteract this, we have a clear plan of attack from an editorial
and email standpoint.
Competition from other media sites: To counteract this, reference the above section, What are
we doing here? as well as our style guide.
We are competing with our NGB (or, in the case of FloElite, CrossFit): To counteract this, we
must capitalize on our resources and take risks where NGBs wont.
UGC: To counteract this, we must emphasize our production quality, storytelling and relationships.
Burnout: To counteract this, well be travelling less and emphasizing quality over quantity of events.
Poor social presence: Our content marketers are all over this.

04

Plan that addresses strengths and

How
are we going to take the mountain?
opportunities

SWOT Analysis
Opportunites: Low effort and high return
Understanding the psychology of the content we crave
Breaking news
Positioning
Create multimedia-rich content
More Q&A format interviews
FT More HS coverage
Transcribe more interviews
Use unused content from FloFilms
Underutilizing FloFilms trailers
Scheduling scheduling scheduling

Opportunites: Low effort and high return

Content We Crave
Content that reveals secrets
Content that reminds us that dreams can come true
Content where David beats Goliath
Content that confirms our assumptions (tells us were right)
Content that exposes unexpected twists
Content that tells us a story
Content that challenges our assumptions (tells us were wrong)
Content that inspires us to act
Content that makes us laugh or smile

Opportunites: Low effort and high return

Breaking News: Be out in front of news not reacting to it.
Strategy:
We win! We lost! It is vital in these black and white scenarios that we be first and in all of these scenarios there must be an
immediate full-court press to get it up first. Having the SEO title and A picture up first is the win. We can add quotes, editorial,
videos etc. later. Notice here that we said A picture. If Ryan Bailey runs the WR in the 100m, I do not care that we see a picture of
him doing it. We need to get A picture of him up with the title: Ryan Bailey Sets World Record In The 100m
Controversy In controversy there is opportunity and we need a culture that is ready to seize these moments and not shy away from
them. The opportunity here is to help the good guy, defend the bullied, or be the voice of reason. These stories need a hands on
approach and need to be discussed with content and department heads immediately. Standing still will not be tolerated from our
editorial staff. To quote FDR, There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still. Gymnastike controversy falls
into this category and all cases need to be addressed carefully.
For The Record: Oscar Pistorius - Someone being arrested and hauled off to jail under the charge of murder is a fact and should
be reported as a fact immediately with proper reference. According to early reports fromlocal media in South
Africa,ParalympianOscar Pistoriuswas arrested after shooting his girlfriend while mistaking her for a burglar.

Opportunites: Low effort and high return

Positioning

How we position content is just as

important as the content. The point
purpose is to add context to the
content, thereby setting it up for
success. Think: Why is it important?
Urgent? Exclusive? Relevant? How
you pick these words will determine
whether or not it is clicked.

Opportunites: Low effort and high return

Media Rich

Content on our site needs to be rich

with media. Not just photos and
words. We need to look for
additional material with which to
add color and context to our
content. Photos, Tweet, IG, animated
gifs, polls, graphs etc.
BJJ DeadSpin

Opportunites: Low effort and high return

More Q&A format interviews: These are easily digestible pieces
of content that have great SEO benefits. A piece that is video-only
can easily be transcribed and posted as a Q&A along with the
video or as a stand-alone piece.

Opportunites: Low effort and high return

FT More HS coverage In Q2, articles that focused on High School athletes garnered

on average 16,824 pageviews per article.

Transcribe interviews Just like Q&As, transcribed interviews are easily digestible, can

be read at work or at school, and offer big SEO benefit. A video interview that has poor
picture quality can be a great transcription piece.
Use unused content from films Our FloFilms are by their very nature great content

and we need to be using every last morsel of good content. Stop leaving views on the
floor.
Scheduling scheduling scheduling The content schedule is easily overlooked. The

content on our site, from the macro (season and year) to the micro (daily content)
should ride the ebb and flow of our communities. Also, noticing peaks and troughs in
our traffic should guide us in our efforts to bring troughs up and to ride peaks longer

Opportunites: High return and high effort

Quality over quantity
Better utilize photos
More feature content
More stats and analytics content
Content that has broader appeal
Feats of strength
Fantasy and sports gambling
Bumpers and branding
Brand our writers

Opportunites: High effort and high return

Quality over quantity Fewer pieces that are SEO savvy, media-rich, wellmarketed, and well-executed.
Better utilize photos Top 10 photos, slideshows (whether they be on the site or
on our Facebook), caption contests, and photojournals are some suggestions.
More feature content In Q2, feature articles garnered 6K and 9K pv/article on FT
and FW respectively. By delimiting our focus we can do more of these articles.
More stats and analytics Statistics and analysis focused articles on FT earned
15K pv/article and 17K on FW. This is smart content that drives the brand forward.

Opportunites: High effort and high return

Broader appeal Take every opportunity to widen our net. Examples are pop

culture references, like in McFarland or Foxcatcher, or when

celebrities mention our sports.
Feats of Strength Be vigilant for these smart content opportunities. Better

still, get out in front of it and ask them to send them to us first.
Fantasy / sports gambling Unfortunately, we are a long way from there

but we can do odds, have people Tweet in their picks etc.

Brand our writers Include your Twitter handle on every piece of content

you do. Grow your reach.

05

Execute and iterate

Whats the plan to execute and iterate quickly?

Execute, measure, feedback

Next steps
Iterate

Execut
e

Feedba
ck

Measur
e

Execute The Sr. Editor of each team

will be responsible for employing the
above content strategies and will
identify these at Eaglehawks
Measure The Director of Content will
measure in weekly meetings the types
of content being deployed and their
effectiveness based on a KPI document
that will be accessible to everyone on
the content team.
Feedback Loop Myself, Joe Battaglia,
and the Sr. Editors will get together
monthly to provide feedback on this
new content strategy and iterate.
Iterate This plan is not perfect and
does not need to be. We will learn and
improve.

FloSports Content Strategy 2.0:

Produce polished content audiences will crave.