Let me start off by saying that I hope my interpretation of this topic is correct, because the description was very vague. I'm assuming that you're (desperately?) trying to figure out how to market your sport using the Internet, social media, and so on. I touched on this a little with my commentary on marketing in the eventing topic, but it is my frank opinion that the FEI is doing an atrocious job of handling the wealth of opportunities modern communication provides in order to grow our sports and their following. I'm just going to pour out everything that comes to mind here, because oh my god, you guys. Oh my god.

First off, why is the WEG stream (and the stream for most other major competitions) put behind a paywall? More specifically, why is the only option to buy a full month's subscription for an obnoxiously high fee rather than per event coverage (or in the case of the WEG, per discipline)? If you want ANYONE who doesn't spend all their spare time watching competition to see value in purchasing access, a pro-rate for these is a must. If you really want a large audience watching the stream, it needs to have a free option- advertise all you like between competitors, please, just as long as we aren't having to shuck out eighty bucks (SERIOUSLY?!?) to watch three days of competition. Even lifelong equestrians have a hard time justifying that- casual viewers can pretty much forget about it. Until coverage is easily accessible to anyone wanting to watch, you have no right to complain about the ratings you're getting or the supposed unmarketability of the sport.

Which brings me to my next point. To draw in a larger audience of casual viewers, you have to actually start marketing towards them. Right now, the FEI's communication on the internet comes across as largely "shop talk". There's no need to remove or reduce this - as the international federation for horse sport, you should absolutely be encouraging it - but some content directed at new fans should be regularly posted and easily accessible as well. This would help those who are interested in learning more about the sport to do so in a manageable way rather than having to dive headlong into jargon and concepts they may not understand. It's said that the mark of a true expert is one who can explain what he knows in terms a kindergartener can handle and, well, y'all are supposed to be the experts here...

In a similar vein, your content could be a lot more interesting. Right now, most of the videos on your YouTube are news, competitions, competition previews and post-competition interviews; your Twitter feed is mostly announcements and links; and articles on your website read like press releases. Compare this to other sites like EventingNation that produce popular content for the equestrian world. While the quality remains high and the approach mostly professional, these sites produce a much more diverse range of content that keeps visitors coming back for more. The functions the FEI currently serves are important, but perhaps you could also begin producing videos that introduce viewers to world class riders, articles over topics besides news and results written in a more natural style, and other content that draws your athletes, connections and fans together as a community.

This is honestly where so many companies and organizations miss the mark with relation to Internet communication and social media in particular. This is not traditional advertising. You cannot just scream what you have to say into the void; you will seem disconnected and out of touch and only be left with the echoes in response. The entire point of social media is that it is SOCIAL; it works best when you engage your followers to connect with you and with each other. It has to be a conversation.

(As a note, a large part of that engagement is taking feedback and doing something with it. The FEI has come under a lot of fire lately for being out of touch with the wants and needs of its athletes, particularly in my discipline. The fact that this discussion board has been open for four whole days and I am one of exactly two people who have commented indicates that either no one feels their opinions are valued, or no one has heard the board exists, and neither says anything good about how the FEI is engaging with the people in this sport.)

As the governing body for this sport and thus its foremost advocate, promoter and defender, the FEI ought to be leading the charge for equestrianism around the world - for its safety, for its popularity, for its status and so much more. Please, please step up and do this job so that in the coming years horse sport can grow with the modern world, not in spite of it.