LAFC – Colin Kelly – Block by Block – How to build a fan base from scratch

This has become our mantra that we're now putting it on merch – Street by street. Block by block. One by one. If we can make that one fan, he tells his friend and tell to another one. It became a very grassroots thing.

Colin Kelly on the early days of building the LAFC community

Colin Kelly has over 14 years of experience in connecting with sports executives, producers, content providers and developers. He has been able to deliver influential messages for well-known names in sports.

Colin's career in sports started through an internship where producing blog content, photos, videos, fan commentary and web development for the University website. After his stint at the Uni, he moved in to a role at National Hockey League working on content, covering live games and being the ‘go-to' problem solver for the teams in the league.

He took a break from the league scene for a while and worked on news and commentary at the CBS Local in New York and founded his own digital newsletter UpStrt. In 2015, he joined the New York City Football Club and managed their digital platforms, pages, applications and website content. Today, Colin continues to do his passion for digital as the Vice President of Digital for the Los Angeles Football Club.

• Connect with Colin Kelly on Twitter @colintkelly, Instagram and LinkedIn
• Follow LAFC on Twitter @LAFC, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and LinkedIn
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• Some Sports Geek episodes you might be interested in:
  • Bryan Srabian on digital the San Francisco Giants way
  • Al Guido from San Francisco 49ers on stadiums, fan and digital
  • Scott Kegley from Minnesota Vikings on digital, media and innovation
  • New York sports digital scene with Jayne Bussman-Wise

3:21 How Colin Kelly got into the sports business industry

6:09 Transitioning from journalism to a league role at the National Hockey League

6:56 What digital was like in the early sports web space at NHL

11:58 How his digital role at the New York City Football Club opened new opportunities at the Los Angeles Football Club

14:19 What are the challenges in building a fan base for LAFC

18:00 The impact of moving to the Banc of California Stadium for the team

19:31 How does the digital team work with other departments to fill in the stadium seats

21:06 Getting full fan support from The 3252 Club

24:35 Colin on how they are producing high quality content

28:01 Finding conversion success in LAFC Facebook and Instagram

35:47 How do they keep fans engaged to their digital content

39:47 LAFC’s partnership with Youtube TV

40:44 Getting inspiration from the community

41:16 Sports Geek Closing Five

50:46 Sean gives an overview on a quick #SportsGeekTrip and presentation at the NSF

55:36 Gravitas partnership with Pickstar. Read full details here

56:30 Join Sean and the Gravitas team on March 5th at GG EZ Bar in Melbourne for the Esports for Brands event. Learn how your brand can connect with esports and gaming audiences. Go to sgesports.com/esports-for-brands 

Best of luck in Season Two

The awesome 3252 Black Army

A peek into LAFC's partnership with YoutubeTV

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