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US Open – Social Best Practices from the USGA

Our friends at the USGA had a fantastic US Open a couple of weeks ago at Los Angeles Country Club, so we wanted to check in with them to share some best practices around their social media coverage for this year’s event.

Julia Pine, Senior Director of Championship Communications shared some notes from this year’s strategy:

  • We tried to prioritize quality over quantity for social posting. We posted 11% less than in 2022 but saw 150% more engagement
  • We leaned heavily on collab posting on Instagram, collabing with the PGA TOUR, specific players, DP World Tour… really whatever made sense. Engagement on collab posts heavily outpaced non-collab posts.
  • Once balls were in the air (Thurs-Sun), we decreased storytelling, and focused on the action, heavily prioritizing highlights and press conference footage
  • We increased our ASMR efforts, seeing high engagement with posts focused on natural sounds.

These tips are great ideas for IAGA member associations to implement in their championships this summer.

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Golf Ontario – Canadian Open

Golf Ontario’s Chief Marketing Officer, Nick Taylor talked with us about how he used the Canadian Open as a way to highlight the many connections between the event and Golf Ontario.

Nick and his team obtained media credentials for this year’s event to highlight the 11 Ontario natives among the 21 Canadians that were in the field. The team wrote three articles on the competitors, ensuring they mentioned the clubs they were from (their core customer group).

Nick and his team were also able to leverage a partnership with Golf Talk Canada to appear live on TSN’s TV broadcast to discuss their new member acquisition campaign and fundraising department.

See the link below for the segment on Golf Talk Canada.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NISLb0FjhaE

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Golf Space Collective and IAGA Announce Partnership 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Golf Space Collective (GSC), a leading provider of golf marketing solutions, and the International Association of Golf Administrators (IAGA) announced an official partnership today. Under the agreement, GSC will offer discounted digital marketing services to all IAGA member associations and assist the IAGA with its missions of serving its member associations.

This partnership will provide IAGA members with access to a wide range of marketing services, including digital advertising, social media management, email marketing, CRM management, content creation, and more.

“The IAGA and its member associations are at the core of what the game of golf is all about,” said Preston McClellan, Managing Partner for Golf Space Collective. “We couldn’t be more excited to get further involved.”

The International Association of Golf Administrators is a non-profit organization that represents golf administrators. The organization is dedicated to promoting the game of golf and increasing participation at all levels.

“We are thrilled to expand our relationship with the Golf Space Collective.  We have had a great experience working with GSC internally on IAGA specific initiatives and see this partnership as a win-win,” said Bill Walker, Executive Director of the IAGA. “Their expertise in golf marketing will be a valuable asset to our members, and we look forward to working with them to promote the game of golf and increase participation at all levels.”

GSC currently works with the Texas Golf Association, the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund, Southern Nevada Golf Association and has done projects with the Southern California Golf Association, Golf Ontario, and other IAGA member associations.

“Joining forces with Golf Space Collective was one of the best decisions we’ve made,” said Stacy Dennis, Executive Director of the Texas Golf Association. “Preston, Micah, and their talented team made an impact from Day One. The depth of their technical experience and innovative ideas have made all of our marketing efforts more effective. It’s been a great partnership. I recommend them to any organization looking to grow its brand and membership.”

“We’ve been working with Preston and the team at GSC for over a year now, and we love how simple the process is,” Colin McGuire, Executive Director of the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund, said. “Whether it’s design, editing, strategy, or something else, we always appreciate how easy it is to work with the team and get real, actionable results.”

About Golf Space Collective

Golf Space Collective is the industry’s first full-service digital marketing agency focused only on golf. Founded by three lifelong golfers turned marketing experts, GSC helps golf courses, golf associations, and golf-related businesses increase their visibility, reach their target audience, and generate more revenue. GSC’s services include digital advertising, social media management, and content creation.

About International Association of Golf Administrators

The International Association of Golf Administrators (IAGA) is a non-profit organization that represents golf administrators from around the world. The organization is dedicated to promoting the game of golf and increasing participation at all levels.

For more information, please contact:

Preston McClellan
Golf Space Collective
Email: preston@golfspacecollective.com

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GSGA Sees Large Increase in Online Auction Contributions with Use of TravelPledge

 

The Georgia State Golf Association recently held its third annual online auction to raise money for its Foundation. The GSGA solicited its clubs to donate rounds of golf and also auctioned several unique travel experiences.

TravelPledge Auctions provided the GSGA with proven, feature-packed auction software that is free for verified 501(c)(3) organizations. TravelPledge presented at last year’s IAGA Conference. In addition to the GSGA, the free auction software is also used by Youth on Course to run their national auction as well as Payne Stewart, AJGA, US Kids, and several other large golf organizations.

(Below is an example of what the platform looks like)

The GSGA increased its net dollars raised in 2023 to just over $80,000–approximately $40,000 was raised in 2021 and $60,000 in 2022. This additional income over the last few years was used to support the GSGA Foundation and has required a little bit of work by GSGA staff on the front end securing rounds and posting them onto the online platform. The GSGA has found that once a facility commits to supporting this effort they are in long-term and a simple email confirmation in subsequent years is all that is needed to prompt a facility’s continued support.

To maximize donations, the GSGA sold golf to runner-up matching bids for a handful of items that allowed a donated round or experience to be doubled at the end of the auction, but what really drove up bids this year was the “popcorn” bidding feature which keeps the auction going past the deadline by allowing active bidders to continue bidding until no bids are received for 10 minutes.

The GSGA promoted the auction to its membership through email, social media, and purchased social media advertising. TravelPledge sent communications to their network of bidders – a group of nearly 11,000 past bidders (from all over the US) who are also alerted when bucket list experiences are posted by nonprofits like the GSGA. This additional exposure proved to be quite valuable.

Feel free to visit the GSGA Foundation auction at gsga.travelpledgeauctions.com/Event to see the auction results and to click on items to see how they were set up.

Questions for the GSGA related to their auction can be directed to Chandler Kowalski (ckowalski@gsga.org) or for more information on TravelPledge Auctions, contact Alex McDonald (alex@travelpledge.com).
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SCGA Taps Influencer for U.S. Open Ticket Giveaway

 

When the U.S. Open is in your backyard, you have the opportunity to reach new audiences. We want to highlight one way the SCGA is doing that by partnering with a popular influencer for a U.S. Open Ticket giveaway.

Most professional events that take place in your states and regions would love access to your membership and followers. Leveraging partnerships/collaborations with both the event and local influencers is a great way to give back to your members and reach new audiences at the same time.

Click here or the image below to see the Instagram Reel.
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Indiana Golf Staff Compete in USGA Championship

 

The USGA hosted the 8th U.S. Women’s Four-Ball at The Home Course in Dupont, Washington. The championship was held from May 13th-17th in the Pacific Northwest.

It was brought to our attention by Indiana Golf that they would have two staff members participating in the event on two separate teams. Julia Potter-Bobb teamed up with Kelsey Chugg and Paxton Manns partnered with Annika Haynes. Paxton Manns, Junior Golf Director of Indiana Golf, was new to the USGA competition as it was her first event. Julia Potter-Bobb, Director of Business Operations and Membership, is no stranger to USGA events as she is a two-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Am Champion.

Indiana Golf put together a great 3-minute video featuring the players and also Executive Director, Mike David talking about their great achievement.

Subscribe to the Indiana Golf YouTube Channel and see the video here – www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHZG0oOPIKk
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Member Association Social Media Highlight: Wisconsin State Golf Association

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Rob Jansen, Executive Director of the Wisconsin State Golf Association was part of an eight-part video series in collaboration with Kyle C Walton, Links Land Photo, and Gimme Golf Studio. They joined forces to make some great video content highlighting Wisconsin’s 10 top-100 public golf courses titled Wisconsin Captured. With goals to feature the great golf courses in Wisconsin to draw tourist play and share what makes golf great in their home state. By clicking on the image or link below, you can see what has been released of the video series thus far on the WSGA Instagram account.

www.instagram.com/wsgagolf
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9 Core Elements of a Brand Strategy

 

 

This week, we wanted to feature a part of one of our presentations from the Las Vegas Regional meeting last week. Bryan Ford, the Creative Director at Golf Space Collective, shared the 9 core elements of a brand strategy:

  1. Brand purpose: This defines the reason why the company exists and what it wants to achieve.
  2. Brand positioning: This describes how the brand is different from its competitors and why customers should choose it.
  3. Brand promise: This is a statement that communicates what customers can expect from the brand.
  4. Brand personality: This defines the brand’s human characteristics and tone of voice.
  5. Target audience: This identifies the specific group of people the brand wants to reach and connect with.
  6. Brand story: This is a narrative that communicates the brand’s history, values, and mission.
  7. Brand visual identity: This includes the brand’s logo, color palette, typography, and other visual elements.
  8. Brand messaging: This is a consistent and cohesive message that communicates the brand’s values and benefits to the target audience.
  9. Brand experience: This is how the brand is perceived by customers when they interact with it, including the product or service, customer service, and overall experience.

By developing a brand strategy that incorporates these 9 core elements, a company can create a strong and consistent brand that resonates with its target audience and helps achieve its business goals.
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Partner Spotlight: Tournament Solutions

 

 

Tournament Solutions, a leading provider of promotional products and merchandise solutions, has enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with the International Association of Golf Administrators (IAGA) for the past 10 years.

As a sponsor of the IAGA, Tournament Solutions has participated in and supported the IAGA Annual Conference and helped bring on new sponsors. This partnership has allowed Tournament Solutions to exponentially grow its business with nearly all the IAGA association members.

For IAGA member associations, the partnership creates an awareness of what Tournament Solutions can provide for their merchandise needs and requirements. Tournament Solutions provides an effective and efficient merchandise platform for IAGA members, which is very helpful to them, particularly as their seasons go into “overdrive”.

As a result of the long-term partnership with the IAGA, Tournament Solutions has seen exponential sales growth with the IAGA association members, making it a significant segment of the company’s overall business.

Tournament Solutions has worked with most of the state golf associations and has been the “Official Gift & Award Company” of Mass Golf for a number of years. This has provided the company with a front-row seat to what these golf associations do to grow the game of golf. The vast number of programs that they conduct and the tournaments they manage and activate is incredible. Their passion for golf and growing the game is clearly evident in all they do.

In summary, the partnership between Tournament Solutions and the IAGA has been mutually beneficial. IAGA member associations can benefit from the partnership by taking advantage of Tournament Solutions’ effective and efficient merchandise platform. The long-term partnership has resulted in exponential sales growth for Tournament Solutions with the IAGA association members, making it a significant segment of the company’s overall business.

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Member Association Social Media Best Practices: Texas Golf Association

 

 

 

Key Social Media Marketing Best Practices:

  • Add Graphics – The Championship graphic shown in the Legends Jr Tour image is put together well with a good photo and simple graphics overlaid. It makes the image pop and gives it a “Tour” type feel making the players more prone to share and increase reach.
  • Feature your staff – As shown in the Texas Golf Association post, the staff is what helps Associations succeed. Yes, the players are important but the staff is also. Highlight make them personalized so when players come to events, they feel more comfortable with the staff at check-in.
  • Optimize text and gain more readers by breaking up lines and posting different text content per platform. Legends Junior Tour shown on Instagram is shorter with more use of emojis. Texas Golf Association shown on Facebook is longer and more in-depth.

Both examples shown above are fun ways to engage on social and are easy to replicate by all Member Associations.

Links to both posts for additional context can be found below
www.facebook.com/TexasGolfAssociation/posts/…
www.instagram.com/p/Cp1GtvrNZTC/…
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