Our MAN v FAT Community do a great job of telling our story through their own words. Carl Norton, a MAN v FAT member, is one of the best – and is twice winner of our Media Mogul Award. He tells us more…
Why is celebrating success so important to you?
I LOOOOVE seeing people succeed, but more importantly, I love seeing their happiness elevate, I have always wanted to motivate and encourage people, especially overweight men. It’s something I am extremely passionate about, I want to see people grow in confidence and feel empowered.
It also stems from my own experiences where I feel if I had support and encouragement from the people, my life would have been different in a positive way, unfortunately I had poor self-esteem and didn’t believe in myself and I stopped caring as much – I hate the idea of anyone feeling like I did, were they think they’re not important, and their success isn’t a big deal, because it absolutely is.
This is a big reason why I like to celebrate players success because it not only lifts that player, it lifts their team mates, it lifts their league and it also provides an incentive for players to achieve their own success.
I also think, if a potential member sees this type of content, they will be encouraged to sign up or at least further their interest by enquiring because they want to experience the same as the person who we celebrate.
Personally for me, it’s very rewarding having the ability to make someone’s day better, It makes me feel good to be able to do that.
What are the key steps involved when sharing players success?
Always make sure the player has consented and seen the content before it is put online, that’s the first step for me. I usually reach out to players in the main group chat, I will post previous content and ask if anyone would like their story sharing, I also arrange this at the sessions.
I will get the player to send me some photos and ask them to write their story. I usually include questions such as
- Why did you join MAN v FAT?
- What appealed to you about MAN v FAT?
- What was your first session like?
- What is your favourite aspect of MAN v FAT?
- What have you achieved so far at MAN v FAT?
- How has MAN v FAT impacted your life?
- What would you say to someone thinking of joining MAN v FAT?
Sometimes players will answer the questions directly and sometimes they use it as a guideline to answer the questions and I will edit it onto a template that I try to make personal.
For example, the most recent one was a veteran James Moore and I wanted to incorporate that into the image. I also add a before and after photo, I try to be as creative as I can be with it.
Once I have finished, I will get the green light to post it from the player, usually at 7.30am/12pm/5.30pm/9.30pm, I time it to be around the times that people are scrolling, the more engagement the better because it makes the player feel good.
