Pittsburgh Riverhounds Marketing Strategy
By Lexi Javorsky
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About the riverhounds SC
The Pittsburgh Riverhounds are a professional soccer team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team was founded in 1989 and competes in the USL championship. The team plays home games at Highmark Stadium in the Station Square area of Pittsburgh. The Riverhounds have a devoted fanbase called The Steel Army which supports them throughout their seasons. While their fans are sure to be in attendance at their games, there is always room for attracting more people to watch them play. With that, the intention of this blog post will be to view this team as a prospective client and devise social media and digital marketing strategies which will help them increase ticket sales.
target audience
The overall goal of these efforts will be to garner more ticket sales. But to whom? Pittsburgh Magazine describes their fanbase as “20-somethings” or generally younger people. However, the strategies that will be listed will aim to target all soccer fans within a driving distance of 50 miles of Pittsburgh and those who do not currently attend games. Pittsburgh is known for their devoted followers of their sports teams so hopefully with these efforts The Riverhounds will become just as iconic as the Pirates, Penguins, and Steelers.
strategies
Sports teams have a growing presence on social media. The accessibility of social media allows players to keep in touch with fans. Fans can then get inside looks into the team and form stronger bonds with the player and the overall franchise itself. Today, athletes are not just team members but they often help attract fans and bring in more watchers. Not only that but, social media allows platforms to reach large audiences that normally would not have been reached. Therefore, it is incredibly important that teams constantly stay in touch with their digital audience. Below will be strategies that The Riverhounds can use on each of their social media platforms that can be used to increase engagement and boost ticket sales.
For more information about sports marketing, check out this blog post!
Youtube
The first social media that the Riverhounds can utilize is Youtube. Currently, the Riverhounds channel consists of game highlights and other game focused content. While this is effective for soccer fans, it might not attract the average casual watcher to want to come and attend a game. A good way to attract these people is highlighting the players and making them more personable. A way to do this would be by including them in more content off the field. According to Think with Google, one of the biggest trends for 2025 on Youtube in the United States is gaming. To benefit off of this, Youtube videos could be filmed with the players where they play a popular video game. Since the Riverhounds are a soccer team they could have the team members play FIFA, an extremely liked soccer video game. These video could make for great content as it would show how the players' skills transfer from field to screen and it would give the soccer loving audience something to relate to therefore making the players and team more impressionable.
Tiktok
Tiktok tends to be a more casual and “down-to-earth” platform. This is where the Riverhounds can highlight players personalities and behind the scenes content. This success has been seen in multiple cases but specifically with rugby star, Ilona Maher. With the utilization of her TikTok, Maher was able to bring thousands of people to the game of women’s rugby giving the sport a new life. From posting about her daily life and allowing fans to get an inside look into her training, people wanted to see more so they attended her games and followed her content. This could be something that the Riverhounds use in their TikTok strategies. This could include having individual players create “day in the life” videos. This would entail players filming their everyday tasks on game day or even a regular practice day. This would connect audiences with the players and make them more inclined to show up to games to support their favorite players.
Instagram
Finally, the Riverhounds need to continue to use their Instagram. The best way to do this is by including influencers. Although the Riverhounds are popular amongst Pittsburgh soccer fans, they may not be as known by students from out of state who attend the city for college. Therefore, on Instagram the Riverounds can utilize influencers to spread awareness. Specifically, they could partner with Harrison Szep and Arjun Manjunath. Both of these content creators highlight hidden gems of Pittsburgh. Their audience is mostly college students looking for activities to do. This could be a great partnership that would make people more aware of the team and bring new fans to games, especially when they see their favorite influencers attend.
Harrison Szep
Arjun Manjunath
Check out these other blogs about influencer marketing!
Conclusion
In conclusion, The Pittsburgh Riverhounds are a budding sports team in the area. To maximize their popularity in the city they should utilize their social media to increase their awareness and popularity. This includes utilizing strategies on all of their platforms but specifically targeting Youtube, TikTok, and Instagram. If done then they are likely to increase ticket sales
works cited
About. “About.” Steel Army, 2025, steelarmy.com/about/. Accessed 6 May 2025.
Bruno, Corey. “Olympic Star Ilona Maher: A Case Study in Successful Athlete Brand Partnerships - Out2Win.” Out2win.io, 2024, www.out2win.io/blog/olympic-star-ilona-maher-a-case-study-in-successful-athlete-brand-partnerships.
Santelli, James. “Surprise! Pittsburgh’s Soccer Team Is Worthy of Your Attention | Pittsburgh Magazine.” Pittsburgh Magazine, 25 June 2015, www.pittsburghmagazine.com/surprise-pittsburghs-soccer-team-is-worthy-of-your-attention/. Accessed 6 May 2025.
Sinha, Smriti. “Top YouTube Trends to Know for 2025 - Think with Google.” Google Business, 3 Feb. 2025, business.google.com/us/think/search-and-video/2025-youtube-trends/.
“The Official Website of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC | USL.” Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, 6 May 2025, www.riverhounds.com. Accessed 6 May 2025.