Dana White Connects Directly with UFC Fans Via Fan Phone

Dana White, the current President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and social media extraordinaire, recently teamed up with Digital Royalty to provide the sport's fans with unprecedented access.

Prior to the UFC 118 Event in Boston on Saturday Night, Dana White tweeted out a phone number to his 4.5MM Twitter followers that allowed UFC fans to call him directly and share their predictions for the fights on tap that night. Within seconds, White received a call from a loyal UFC fan and shortly thereafter heard from a number of other fans from across the world.

Amy Martin of Digital Royalty documented White's "Fan Phone" strategy and created a video case study that she recently posted online to help bridge the gap that exists between the virtual and physical worlds. Check it out below!

UFC Hits Twitter to Engage with Fans

As sports properties look for new ways to engage fans through non-traditional channels, they should take a close look at how Dana White and UFC are utilizing Twitter to reward their followers.

White is using the official Twitter account of UFC and his own personal Twitter profile to host a #Hunt4UFC scavenger hunt that rewards UFC fans with a variety of prizes. To drive awareness for upcoming fights, White provides a call-to-action to fans via Twitter, posting his location and offering up a prize to the first person who can meet him at that location and repeat a message, etc.

White recently posted a viral piece that shows a fan tracking him down to win free UFC gloves within just 3 minutes and 33 seconds of his post... a pretty remarkable feat! UFC's originality and authentic approach to using Twitter has driven an avid fan following online (White has 1,115,000+ followers; UFC has 139K followers).

Check out the video below and consider new ways that your organization can use Twitter and various other channels to reward fans through non-trational means!

A special thanks to Chris Boggs of GMR Marketing for his insights and contributions to this column.