“The impact of social media on hunting media has been] extraordinarily positive,” explains Charlie Jacoby. “When I edited hunting magazines, I could hope to reach 5,000 to 10,000 people per issue. Last year, Fieldsports Channel had 12.75 million unique viewers on YouTube. It is an audience that the hunting/gun trade could not have imagined thirty years ago.
“We are in a position where we can claim a truly global audience, making it easy to attract people into hunting. Note the resurgence of hunting among young people in Germany and Denmark. I put that down entirely to promotion of hunting by young vloggers, such as David Carsten Pedersen and the Hunter Brothers.
“The only problem we have is that there is a large industry committed to ending hunting and a smaller gun control lobby, which has access to the same platforms, and has successfully embarrassed them into anti-gun and anti-hunting policies. However, an examination of the relatively small social media audience our detractors achieve shows they are fighting a guerrilla war. It is for us to lose more than for them to win.”
Meeting the Audience Where They Are
For companies and brands seeking to promote their products and services to hunters, the explosion of different ways in which they can do that may seem daunting. Should you embrace every single new technology as it arrives for fear of missing out on the next big thing? Should you remain partially with traditional media, which some argue is seeing a small revival, given people’s digital burnout? The answer, which will involve significant research and understanding of your target market, is that you should try to meet your audience where they are. Some will still read magazines, some prefer YouTube, and some try every new media channel as it develops.
Charlie continues: “The legacy hunting press has wasted the last twenty years trying to interest readers in digital versions of its print copy. It may now be too late for them to leverage their previously strong brands online.
“Since 2004 (launch of Facebook) and 2006 (launch of YouTube), the following media types have emerged that are relevant to advertisers: Blogs – despite widespread irrelevance in the face of new social media, the most mature of these have survived, mainly as resources for technical information about guns and hunting. With the move from websites to AI in search results, these will become more important to advertisers for product placement and less important for advertising.
“Chatrooms – largely replaced by Facebook groups, a few of these exist across Europe. They should, in theory, remain useful for advertising.
“WhatsApp groups. The ‘hidden media’ of WhatsApp groups is likely the best way to achieve influence, but the most difficult. It currently requires personal access and monitoring of enormous amounts of data.
“Ambassadors and influencers – these are a popular choice for advertisers. They may be able to cover most of the media types above. They come in enough audience sizes for some to be encouraged to come to ‘influencer days’, which may result in media coverage.
“Hunting TV – now delivered mainly by YouTube, this is the largest audience available to advertisers, but the most expensive.
“Shows and Expos – these remain popular. With the availability of information about hunting and shooting online, there has been a slow merger between the consumer and the trade show since the early 2000s. They have struggled to extend their audiences beyond their visitor numbers, which makes it hard for them to compete with web audiences numbering in the millions.
“Brand pages on Facebook, Instagram, etc – Editorialised, these are some of the best value available to advertisers.
Traditional Methods Still Have Value
This list represents just a few of the options available to brands – figuring out how to best utilise the vast arsenal of hunting media weapons at your disposal can be tricky. Any good marketer will tell you that it’s foolish to rely on only one. Any good brand will try to be present on multiple platforms and use research and statistics where possible to assess success rates. Despite the smorgasbord of digital flavours available, some believe that traditional media still has a very worthwhile place at the table.
“Traditional media are still very important,” argues Boris. “Magazines, for example, have an authority, depth, and consistency that digital media often lack. They also reach parts of the hunting community that may not be as digitally engaged.
