Ben White at England Golf discusses the power of sports content on social platforms to encourage women to get involved in the sport
It’s no secret that social media is transforming the sports industry. The rise of streaming services and shift in generational behaviours means that now more than ever, individuals are turning to social platforms to consume sports.
New research has shown that 41% of global sports fans stream live sports through digital platforms. The same report also found that 32% of fans, more specifically, 43% of Gen Z fans, use social media to consume sports content.
When it comes to golf in particular, the hashtag #golf has been used over 35 million times on Instagram and has received a staggering 54.2 billion views on TikTok so far.
If these statistics prove anything, it’s that the effect of social media on sports and fans is massive and will continue to grow each year.
For sporting organisations and governing bodies, this spells a huge opportunity, particularly when it comes to driving awareness and participation around female sports, and in our case, golf.
Female golf is on the rise in England, with clubs up and down the country working hard to encourage female participation and erase the old stereotypes of golf as a male-dominated, elitist sport. Yet despite significant progress in recent years, there is still much that needs to be done when it comes to championing female participation in the game.
Like any sport, the key driver is visibility, centred around the famous expression, ‘If you can see it, you can be it’. At England Golf, we are committed to delivering a number of social campaigns and initiatives to boost the visibility of women playing the game, and ultimately increase participation.
One such example is our #WhyIGolf, an online and digital campaign aimed at celebrating female successes on and off the course, sharing inspiring and positive stories involving females and their participation at all levels of the game. Since launching the campaign, we have received thousands of stories from a mix of professional golfers, club players, golf insiders and celebrities across England, and the campaign itself reached as far as Australia, Canada, the USA, as well as throughout Europe.
More recently, we’ve launched our ‘Respect in Golf’ movement which reinforces the idea that golf belongs to everyone – all who play and all who aspire to play. Using the power of social media and digital channels, we’ve been able to spread the movement and the notion that there is no place in golf for any form of discrimination.
It’s these types of campaigns that are easily spread across social channels, that champion female participation and encourage others to get involved and are key to raising awareness of the sport.
Ben White is communications director at England Golf (the governing body for amateur golf in England).
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