Welcome to Part 3 in our blog series on using keywords and automations to drive engagement with Hustle. Part 1 of the series (read it here) focuses on boosting alumni engagement for educational institutions, and Part 2 (read it here) is all about event communications.
In this post, we’re zooming in on NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) collectives — new, fast-growing organizations that are redefining how fans, alumni, and donors support college athletes. These collectives operate independently from universities but are deeply connected to their communities. That makes personalized, direct communication essential, and text messaging the perfect fit.
Let’s break down how NIL collectives can use Hustle’s features to build excitement, grow donations, and deliver unique experiences for their audiences.
Personalize fan engagement through text
Supporters of college athletes want to feel personally connected. Text messaging gives NIL collectives the ability to deliver messages that resonate. Not sure how your collective could start leveraging texts to engage with fans? Here are a few ideas:
- Celebrate local athletes and share individual NIL stories through targeted messages.
- Highlight achievements, milestones, or personal details that foster deeper emotional ties.
- Tailor messages based on fan interactions and preferences using keywords and tags to segment your audience.
Elevate your impact with video
Video is where NIL collectives can really shine. Fans love to see their favorite teams and athletes in action, so grab their attention by sending short videos that show up in a text message, no links needed. You can leverage in-message video to:
- Share highlight reels, post-game thank-yous, or shoutouts directly from athletes to their fans and donors. Use Hustle Stories to stitch together several video clips or share a longer video in the story format your audience is already familiar with, and include a custom CTA directly from the story.
- Offer personalized video clips as fundraising incentives — e.g., “Donate $100 to be entered to win a message from your favorite player.”
- Use Hustle Clips to deliver short, high-quality videos inside a message thread.
Deliver real-time fundraising campaign updates
Momentum matters! Keep your supporter base energized with real-time fundraising campaign updates via text. Leveraging text messaging for time-sensitive updates can allow your collective to:
- Share fundraising progress in real-time as you hit milestones.
- Use urgency-driven messages, like matching donation deadlines, to boost action.
- Schedule a message series with automated reminders leading up to big moments or key deadlines.
Make the donation process seamless
Texting makes giving easy and eliminates barriers for your supporters. Hustle’s platform makes it easy to leverage (or pass along new) data from your CRM to personalize your outreach to individual contacts, whether to make an ask or to thank them for their support and donation.
- Include short, clickable (and trackable) links to donation pages in your message.
- Use keywords like “GIVE” or “SUPPORT” to trigger automatic replies with direct donation links.
- Automatically tag contacts who donate, or add them to groups, to help segment your follow-up and thank-you campaigns.
Offer exclusive content & rewards
Your most engaged fans and supporters want to feel like insiders. Offer fans VIP access to the team and players through texting to create a sense of belonging and value for donors. Whether you offer exclusive content and rewards to a select group based on donation level, or to your entire mobile subscriber list as a way to grow mobile opt-ins, here are a few ideas to get fans excited:
- Use keywords (e.g., “JOIN” or “INSIDER”) to let fans opt into special updates or raffles.
- Automatically tag these contacts for future outreach and to segment messaging.
- Send behind-the-scenes video clips they won’t see elsewhere, or a quick shout-out from their favorite player.
- Offer pre-sale access to upcoming merch drops or ticket sales.
- Pro tip: send a photo of the merch or a POV video from specific seats/sections to pique interest
Build momentum with interactive campaigns
Drive energy and boost participation with fun, interactive text campaigns that keep fans engaged without making an ask of them. Strengthen the relationship with your audience by:
- Running simple polls (“Who had the best play this week?”), trivia, or Q&A sessions via a message series. (Check out this blog post for some examples)
- Entering contacts into prize drawings based on whether they respond or donate.
Next step: build your fan-first communications strategy
NIL collectives thrive on passion, personal connection, and fast action. With Hustle, you can create high-touch, low-lift campaigns that connect directly with your supporter base.
Start small with a video thank-you campaign. Test keywords for fundraising outreach. Send out a game-day update series. However you decide to start incorporating text into your outreach, start with the tools that will make your collective stand out. Book a demo to learn more about texting (and calling) with Hustle.
Stay tuned for more in our blog series — coming soon!
