Mascots are sometimes the butt of the joke in a film or show, but when done right, these characters could be quite powerful. The following will help you figure out how to use your mascot correctly and connect with your audience.
The Comic Relief During Events
Allowing your mascot to have fun is a good way for fans to connect with this character. You do this all the time by making your mascot do cool or funny things during each game, but it's time to take your mascot outside the game day.
For example, you can have the mascot at press conferences, live video chats, and other similar events. Yes, the mascot is going to be distracting, but that's the point. People have a strong reaction to images or characters that could make them laugh.
Turn to Social Media
You might also want to turn to social media. You can easily use your mascot on various social media platforms. People online, especially young folks, love to see fun images; sports images aren't always fun. What could be fun is having your mascot take the latest social media challenge.
Another fun idea is to have your mascot dance to the trendiest song. After a while, your mascots could become one of your online sports influencers to bring attention to important sporting events and other things. Hire a social media expert to make sure that what you share feels genuine rather than forced because social media users can tell.
The Photo Connection
Having your fans connect to your mascot could be as easy as having them connect in person. The best way to do this is to hold events where you give your fans a chance to take a picture with your mascot. In a time when people are hungry to share an image, letting fans take pictures with your mascot is a good idea.
Set up an area where your mascot and fans can take pictures. Be sure that there's enough lighting in this area to make sure your fans look great. Good pictures usually means your fans will share the picture. If you can get a professional to take the pictures, then that's even better.
Make Your Mascot be Part of Campaigns
You're always finding ways to initiate marketing campaigns to reach your fans or keep them excited. You want to throw in your mascot from time to time. Put your mascot into campaigns that you know your mascot has no business being in.
For example, if you're asking fans if they're excited about the team visiting another state for a competition, then let your mascot chime in with something silly that your mascot is excited about. If you do this right, it gives folks a chuckle, and it also personifies your mascot a bit more since you're giving the mascot a voice. People have an easier time connecting to a mascot that's been personified.
Connecting to fans using your mascot can be done, but you need to work on this project for a bit, so try to be patient. Given enough time, you'll be able to use your mascot for more things like selling merchandise, and you know that's going to be good for your team.