In 2019, Uni4m Media and the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) joined forces. From then on, Uni4m have been primarily handlers of IMMAF's social media accounts, leading on content creation processes.
Two years on, in 2021, IMMAF have had one of their most significant years to date. Following an enforced hiatus due to the pandemic, the federation's event calendar resumed. Three, large-scale international MMA competitions took place all across Europe. Uni4m Media covered all of them digitally. Here's how it went down.
The Client
IMMAF is the global governing body for the world's fastest-growing sport - mixed martial arts. Their aim is to further MMA as an international sport through a common set of rules, safety regulations, structure, progression pathways and mutual exchange.
The overriding goal is to achieve official recognition for MMA and its federations from relevant governments and the National Olympic Committee. IMMAF are constantly working to achieve this. They do so by improving the perception of MMA in the eyes of the general public, sports fans, journalists, politicians and businesses alike. From the forming of safeguarding measures, to enabling funding of grass-roots MMA, to the hosting of full-scale amateur competitions, the remit of the global governing body knows no limits.
The Objective
Social media, therefore, is incredibly important to IMMAF. It is used as a tool that allows them to engage with their federations and athletes around the globe. Key platforms see IMMAF reach new audiences, spread MMA's positive message, highlight positive work that they are doing, as well as facilitating awareness for their up-and-coming athletes.
Another important use of social media for IMMAF - in 2021 especially - was to provide comprehensive coverage of their events.
IMMAF competitions encapsulate all that is brilliant about the federation. Naturally, they also provide key periods in which Uni4m can expect engagement to peak. During those events, the eyes of the MMA world would be on IMMAF and their social media pages. It provided the perfect opportunity to unleash the true power of social media.
This year saw three IMMAF competitions hosted across Europe. They were:
2021 IMMAF Youth World Championships (held in Sofia, Bulgaria)
2021 IMMAF European Open Championships (held in Kazan, Russia)
2021 IMMAF World Cup (held in Prague, Czech Republic)
The Plan
The events caused real excitement here at Uni4m HQ. They provided a rare chance for some on-site content creation (which we love). Due to the pandemic, it had been a long time since we'd had the chance to do some long-awaited, hands-on work.
The Uni4m motto reads: "on social media, content is king. And we're the kings of content". On event week with IMMAF, that rings more true than ever. At every competition, we deployed a full team of videographers, photographers, graphic designers, social media managers and copywriters to provide holistic, around-the-clock coverage across IMMAF channels.
The objective is to showcase all that is good about MMA's global governing body, to as many people as possible. By providing a wealth of visually-engaging content, optimised for and distributed across a wide variety of social media platforms, the word of the incredible standard of the athletes participating could reach all corners of the globe.
Uni4m would be at the heart of each campaign, with each of the events - all with individual purposes and audiences - providing a rare opportunity to produce content that could have a worldwide impact.
The Outcome
First and foremost, the main takeaway for Uni4m was that all three events were great fun. The opportunities provided at these events are any digital marketer's dream. Especially when you love sport as much as we do.
The response to the widespread coverage from each event was tremendous. With the Youth World Championships in Bulgaria, the continual showing of support for MMA's up-and-coming generation was plain to see on social media. The younger audience also proved useful in harnessing new followers for the recently-launched IMMAF TikTok account.
The most established of the three events, the European Championships, was a gargantuan that featured a star-studded roster of some of the world's best amateur athletes. The event attracted a global audience, with the engagement to match. The Euros also marked the first time that Russia hosted an IMMAF event. The home team's medal table-topping performance also piqued the interest of a deeply passionate local audience, as their love for MMA shone on social media.
Finally, Uni4m headed to Prague for the MMA World Cup. The inaugural event was a brilliant showcase of some federations who were not able to travel to Kazan for the European Championships. Relatively unknown athletes left as stars in their own right, thanks to social media providing them with their moment in the spotlight.
The Metrics
The success of the three events on social media were duly reflected in the combined analytics. Whilst ad spend was used at some events, Uni4m is proud to say that the vast majority of the totals were achieved organically.
On Instagram, impressions totalled at more than 2.6M, as IMMAF content reached almost 300,000 accounts. This was more than doubled on Facebook, where IMMAF reached 685,000 accounts. As a result of such a vast Facebook audience, engagement totalled just short of 45,000 likes, comments and shares on IMMAF's most significant account.
As the federation's presence on Twitter continued to grow, the tournaments alone registered over 600,000 impressions. This has helped IMMAF's follower count to rise to almost 25,000 at the time of writing.
The return of competition has also fuelled the IMMAF YouTube channel, which has seen content produced during and after each of the tournaments retain interest long after the final bout.
Uni4m can help your brand or business reach its online goals. Feel free to email us at info@uni4mbrand.com.