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AZCentral.com recently unveiled a bunch of new business-oriented blogs covering topics like real estate, biotech, entrepreneurs and personal finance. The authors seem promising and the content should be fairly high quality. However, these business blogs share the same problem as all AZCentral blogs - they are hard to find, you can't subscribe to individual blogs (no RSS feeds) and no TrackBacks. Its not quite 3 strikes and you're out, but AZCentral.com, with all of the resources at their disposal, is definitely behind in the count.
I had the pleasure of attending a NHL hockey game last week between the Phoenix Coyotes and the Edmonton Oilers. It was a good game with the Coyotes out-skating the Oilers to win the game by a score of 3-2. The Coyotes' have a great team, great fans and a great organization, but not many people know that. The Coyotes need to more effectively tell their story. They need to reach out to new fans and keep current ones. The Coyotes need a blog.
Need to Build a Fanbase? Build a Blog.
Hockey fans are a niche audience. The night I went to the game and at several subsequent games, the arena was half-full. But those fans in attendance were die-hard fans. Many were season ticket holders, bringing the families, friends or anyone else they could drag with them. The folks in the stands knew the game, the players and the dynamic. They were hockey aficionados. They love to soak up hockey information and they love their hometown team, the Phoenix Coyotes. They really really want to be connected. They would be all over a Coyotes blog.
The team could address this craving by offering fans a blog, a natural outlet where they could get the straight Coyote dope, connect with other fans and enrich their Coyotes experience. Just the thing management wants, right? The Coyotes could definitely use a little more buzz in the community and a relevant, interesting blog could spark that buzz. Of course, that buzz must then be converted to tickets sales for newcomers.
Coyotes Following the NHL's Example
Currently, the NHL is doing a poor job with blogs on their site. They have a few fan blogs and links to supposed blogs for all NHL teams. However, RSS and commenting appear to non-existent. Strange for an industry with a lot of knowledgeable, dedicated, young fans. The link to the Coyote's blog is actually a link to their television announcer's video diary, which could be very cool, interesting and appealing to fans. Dubbed the "Coyotes X-ing," it offers behind-the-scenes interviews with players, analysis with Coyotes insiders and insight from NHL followers. It has a ton of potential. However, lack of comments, shareability and feeds make it difficult to regularly access and enjoy. Narrative, text posts are nowhere to be found and the ability to connect with the Coyotes and other fans is lost, along with a major opportunity. No community = no connection.
The Coyotes need to put people in the seats at Glendale Arena. They need to attract new fans, retain and build loyalty among current ones and increase awareness of the Coyotes brand in the local area. They could easily achieve these goals by taking advantage of the tools available today and building a Phoenix Coyotoes blog. Costs would be next-to-nothing, maintenance and updating would be easy and the return could be huge. Who knows? Maybe Howler could do some posting.
