Strictly social has been involved with the Cougar Women’s Hockey Alumni they are former hockey players for the University of Regina Cougars who have been raising funds for future generations of Cougar players for five years. They have been doing this through the Cougar Women’s Hockey Alumni Golf Classic. This is a tournament that started at Emerald Park Golf Course and in 2016 moved to the Royal Regina Golf Course. We have been involved with their marquee event since 2014 and think this is a great community event because of the support it provides to local athletes and students.
<blockquote>Many people think getting on the course is about tapping the same group through email… but…. That’s not the case…</blockquote>
Additionally current Cougars run a program called Cougar Cubs hockey that our families have participated in for three years.  This is a great hockey program for 3 to 7 year olds in Regina where they learn fundamental hockey skills with current players every Sunday October until March.

One of the duties we have undertaken every year since Strictly Social became involved was taking photos of the sponsor signage on site and the teams participating.  Sponsor signage helps demonstrate that the alumni are fulfilling their promises and show sponsors their money is well spent.  Team photos are used for promotion for the next year’s event and also as a souvenir for the teams who participated.

So how did we improve our approach to this year?  Well part of the content that was going to be gathered beyond traditional photos were of golfers singing the praises of the tournament for the promotion of the 2018 tournament on video.  Very early in the day it became apparent this video would not be possible.  Photos still occurred and a having someone on site offered other opportunities.

The following video was intended to be part of the “why golf in the classic?” video series for 2018, and it evolved into a very simple thank you video.  Before all of the golfers reached the clubhouse for the silent auction and dinner this video was edited and posted to all of the social media channels for the Cougar Women’s Alumni.

https://youtu.be/OCLkO_J_OME

During the golf tournament, the title sponsor had set up a sample station to launch a taco menu.  They were serving free duck tacos to the golfers in attendance and while golfers were enjoying this delicious taco it also gave chef Joel time to explain the new menu and the restaurant.

After observing this a few times, the chef was asked if it could be filmed to share on the alumni social media as a thank you to them for doing it, as well as create additional promotion for them.  This video was shot in one take and edited three feet away from the taco service.  During the course of editing chef Joel heard a phone alert and asked if it was the background music, at which point it became the background music…

https://youtu.be/0VeJ1M8z7-8

After the video was posted on all social media channels it was edited a second time, the edit was necessary to fit Instagram’s story length criteria which is 15 seconds..  The chef’s description was removed but essence of what was happening preserved.

https://youtu.be/yZF0s-MP_8E

Instagram stories was a strong part of the social media delivery the day of the tournament. During the day, several clips were shot and posted to Instagram stories and whenever possible sponsors were tagged.

The value of having live social media at the event was very apparent because of the outside comments and traffic back to the alumni’s social media that day.  Many who wished they had registered commented and liked the various posts  and sponsors who realized they had missed an event that would make their brand look good.