Early in 2020, the team at Scottish Volleyball reviewed how we utilised our digital platforms and social media on the back on the new Scottish Volleyball PRICE principles. Communication was identified as a fundamental aspect of how we operate and it made sense to ensure that we were utilising the digital platforms to the best of their capability, whilst establishing a corporate online identity that was fitting of our new brand.
The findings of the review and a plan to streamline and develop our digital footprint were submitted to the Board and was approved in 2020. This determined the amalgamation of several individual pages and groups into one centralised official page, allowing for clear and concise messaging which could take a degree of often unwanted extra responsibility from some of our hardworking volunteers.
The ensuing lockdown, digital learning and online engagement that came with Covid-19, was in fact and in some ways, a welcome test for our corporate digital strategy and allowed us to utilise new and exciting software with our #SVAonline programme. The growth of our Facebook page has been steady since early 2020 and we are fast approaching 5000 likes. The more people who see our posts can really help grow our sport. You can support this growth by engaging in our posts liking, sharing, and inviting friends to like our page. External sponsors and even funders look at a sport’s digital footprint before investing.
Our live video interviews with some of the biggest stars in the world of Volleyball obviously helped our international reach with many of them having over 30,000 views from all four corners of the globe. Blair Pettigrew our RDO for the west region who helped develop and implement the new strategy added “as a staff we are delighted with the continued growth across all our digital media platforms. We understand we live in an era where instant information is constantly fed to us, our sport needs to be part of that and would like to thank all our supporters for helping us improve our reach”.
Veronica Rusich our Competitions Officer project managed the creation of our new website said, “I really like the new website, one of the key parts was making sure it was more user friendly for mobile browsers, our analytics showed that’s where most of the hits are coming from so that was a key priority. Making sure the layout and functionality were improved whilst ensuring the colour scheme and front was in keeping with our new brand guidelines has also been part of the revamp”.
Scottish Volleyball CEO Margret Ann Fleming MBE added “our online growth is testament to the hard work of our staff and volunteers who despite the complexities we have faced as a sport over the last year have continued to develop and improve our digital offering. Our plans are well underway for a strong return to our sport and our social media channels and website will be the first place to find out about our exciting plans”.
