AFL Digital Best Practices: The Hawthorn Hawks Give Us a Personal Look Into Their Roster

When you're a team, you have more access to players than most of the rest of the world. Which makes video content a challenge, oddly enough. There's a higher expectation. And it's that expectation that keeps several teams from taking a chance. The question to ask is this: "How do you use your players in a way that brings both the athletes and the team closer to fans?" (Oh and you have to do it in a way that is ownable and that you can become famous for).

No pressure, huh?

The Hawthorn Hawks give us a great model to follow.

The journey starts on the Hawthorn YouTube page, here. I'm going to paste a series of images from their video series "Hawks at Home" below. We'll pick this up after you check out these 3 images.

What you'll note is an image of one of their athletes (Shaun Burgoyne) in his house. Then you'll see a collection of toys. And then, his dogs. When the player is at his house, with his dogs, how can he not be relaxed? And when a player lets his or her guard down, the result is magical -- we become more connected emotionally with the team, not just with the player.

Watch the video for yourself, here. Or, you can hit this same video from the Player Profile on the Hawthorn Website, here.

How could this be better? It would be great to take these videos and create a Playlist for Hawks at Home, to encourage sign up. This could be hyped and used as a way to draw fans in.

From a content standpoint, the squad should maintain the style of conversation around points that will connect them closer to fans. For example, conversations about family, pets, team, and what they love about playing for Hawthorn. There's something to asking questions that will both let that guard down and which will make the team (and players) feel more relatable. Finally, I'd love to open up the sessions to include fan questions -- a touch that we've seen before, and which makes a monster impact wherever it exists!

Come back tomorrow for more AFL Best Practices! As always, you can follow me on Twitter (I'm @pawlow34) or on Facebook (Digital Hoops Blast).

Thanks!

Andy