January 2009

Super Bowl Weekend Networking and Events

by Lewis Howes|January 29th, 2009

Check out the Big Game VIP Event hosted by Ashton Kutcher with guests like Demi Moore, Tiki and Ronde Barber, Clinton Portis, Santana Moss, Drew Brees, Cole Hamels and Warrick Dunn.

Meet up with Leverage Agency and myself on Saturday for lunch. Full details here.

I will also be at the Diamonds and Pearls Pro Athlete event

And finally ESPN The Magazine’s Next Big Weekend with basically every major celebrity and pro athlete in attendance.

Say hi to me if you will be in Tampa, and also, let me know your thoughts about SportsNetworker.com so I can continue to produce valuable content for you in 2009. Post your comments below.

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Networking Tip: Score BIG By Not Keeping Score At All

by Lewis Howes|January 20th, 2009

image by SlinkyDragon

This is a guest post for The Huddle series by Frank Agin:

Keeping score. It is a natural part of most any athletic competition. In fact, we would be hard pressed to find a sporting event anywhere in the world that does not have some sort of tally system to keep track of who is ahead and … well, who is not.

Even four-year-old kids in instructional sports programs – where parents proudly proclaim “we don’t keep score” – can and will tell you their unofficial, yet highly accurate tally of any contest.

We measure football in terms of points, baseball by runs and with hockey we speak of goals. In basketball, we award victory to the teams with the most, while in golf, we declare the winner to be the one with the least, and with soccer, the triumphant team is likely to be the one with any score at all.

The fact of the matter is that keeping score is not just part of sports, it is vital to them. Without the score, we might as well just be fooling around with a ball in the backyard. It is the score itself that tells us whether we should adhere to the planned strategy, stall for victory, or press for a comeback.

The whole notion of keeping score has made its way into our daily lives as well. In the business world there is the Dow Jones Industrial Average, housing starts and Consumer Price Index. Each of these is akin to keeping score.

Closer to home than these measures of macroeconomics, there is still the notion of keeping score. Some of us contend with sales records, others focus on production quotas, or even the number of days without an injury. Again, these are more scoring systems.

Keeping score is a natural part of sports and it has become part of much of our personal and professional lives. Despite this, we should never allow any notion of keeping score to become part of our daily networking activities. That is we should not tally, track or score how much we have done for anyone in comparison to anyone else with whom we interact.

“She owes me a phone call.” …
“I’ve done more for him than he has done for me.” …
“I hardly get anything from that relationship.”

These all allude to the notion that the person making the statement is keeping track of something, which we should never do. These sorts of thoughts should never enter our minds and these sorts of words certainly should never leave our mouths.

First of all, the primary underlying theme of networking is to give without expectation. That cannot happen when we try to keep score. Attempting to tally and track who has done what for us relative to what we have done for them, simply flies in the face of the notion of “giving and expecting nothing in return.”

Even beyond this basic concept of recommended networking practices, keeping score of who does what as we interact with those around us is simply impractical. We each have hundreds of contacts and no two of those acquaintances are the same. The human brain is simply not equipped to compartmentalize and compute all the data.

Even if we could, how do we go about keeping score? How do we even begin to quantify the value of one referral, introduction or kernel of information to another? The value of some things have an immediate apparent benefit. On the other hand, for some things the value may not manifest itself for years to come.
Furthermore, what we give in the realm of networking does not deplete us. After all, referrals, introductions and information do not take money from our pocket. For the most part, these things have no value to us. So what does it matter what we might get in return?

Even if we could quantify the tally of “who has done what,” why would we? As the exchange in any good networking relationship ebbs and flows, the score could never possibly be “all tied up.”

As a result, part of the time, we would be ahead in the count – getting more than we have given. This would likely leave us feeling a sense of guilt. The other part of the time, you would be behind – not getting as much as we have given. Then we would likely waste energy with feelings of animosity.

In networking, by attempting to keep score we hinder the end result of what we are trying to accomplish. Keeping score takes time and it take attention, both of which could be devoted to our efforts to develop relationships with others. Keeping score in network does not enhance our net results, rather it impairs them.
Yes, it is acceptable to keep score in football, basketball and track … and any other sport we can think of. It is what elevates the activity from a mere pastime to an actual contest.

And yes, it is also acceptable to keep score within our personal lives through tracking accomplishments, focusing on quotas and striving for goals. These tallies keep us driving ahead and looking for more.
In our associations with others, however, there is no value in tallying who has done what. When we network, we need to simply focus on doing as much as we can for others and simply trust that whatever we do will find its way back to us – because it almost always does.

The lesson is simple: In networking, if you want to score the most, you need to endeavor to not keep score at all.

Frank Agin writes a monthly sports themed networking series for SportsNetworker.com entitled “The Huddle“. Frank is the founder and president of AmSpirit Business Connections and consults with individuals and businesses on how to become more successful through networking. He is the author of Foundational Networking: Building Know, Like and Trust to Create a Lifetime of Extraordinary Success.

Did you like this article? Check out the other articles from “The Huddle”:

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Hop On The Social Media Wagon In One Month

by Ryan Stephens|January 15th, 2009

Image by Matt Hamm

Lewis asked me to discuss the benefits of blogging to enhance your sport marketing efforts this week. Being a huge advocate of blogging, this shouldn’t be a problem for me, but when I sat down to write the words didn’t flow.

I suspect because in my mind there’s a logical progression through navigating social media, and it doesn’t start with blogging. Using the framework set forth by Gary Hayes and Laurel Papworth (and expanded on by Valeria Maltoni) I’d like to start a mini-series on engaging social media for sports marketing.

As noted in the aforementioned framework, the first step is to involve.

My interpretation of involve is to completely immerse yourself into the social media stratosphere. Until you do this, and familiarize yourself with what is pertinent to you, your business, your brand, etc. then you are certainly not ready to create content (i.e. blogging).

What follows is a 1-month plan to becoming completely immersed in social media as it relates to sports.

Week 1: Read Relevant and Interesting Information

Go get Google reader. It is one of my favorite online tools, and it allows you to enter RSS feeds by clicking on the add a subscription button, and then pasting the feed to a website in the blank. One you start submitting sites it will even give you recommendations. [In the interest of space, I won’t detail out every step, but if you have any specific questions feel free to e-mail me or utilize the comments section of this post.]

Find some sites that interest you related to both sports and social media. It is important to follow both because being familiar with the current sports trends (and also what works for those websites) is important with respect to sports marketing, but so it your ability to learn from prominent social media blogs. Start big and then trickle down. Try Deadspin, The Big Lead, Sports by Brooks, Chris Brogan, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Seth Godin.

Also, consider using Alltop and Technorati to search for other relevant blogs you might be interested in potentially following.

Set up Google alerts for search times you want to monitor and how often you want these alerts sent to either your e-mail or Google reader. This will pull information you are interested in that you are not necessarily getting from the sites you subscribed to.

By the end of the week you should be getting a good feel for current trends in the sports industry, and also becoming relatively familiar with the social media space. During this process just focus on finding content that you find compelling; then towards the end of the week start thinking about how you could use what you’re learning about social media and how you could apply it to your sports marketing efforts.

Week 2: Listen to Relevant and Interesting Conversations

Now that you have familiarized yourself with a significant amount of both sports and social media content it is time to start learning about the influencers and thought leaders that are producing this content. More importantly, it is time to learn about the conversations they are having with others in this space.

I suggest using both Twitter and LinkedIn and their respective search features to (Here for Twitter) search for people that you found yourself admiring, learning a lot from, or those that were earning your respect as you delved into their content in week one. Follow them and just get a feel for the kinds of conversations they are having. Remember you’re still learning so that when it’s time to start creating your own content you won’t be fumbling through the forest with a blindfold on.

Lewis has a great article on ways to generate success with Linkedin, and I wrote about ways to use Twitter not too long ago. As you become acclimated to both sites I think it would benefit you to check out both articles to get a better grasp of how you can use the platforms more effectively.

[Note: Until you have something to offer people on LinkedIn, I would seek out people’s profiles and learn from them, but refrain from trying to add them to your network until you have reached out in other ways or have something valuable to offer them.]

Week 3: Learn what content “gets legs”

Two weeks down and you now probably have Google reader stuffed full of engaging feeds and your soaking up valuable content. You have started following influencers in the sports and social media fields and gotten a good grasp of the conversations they are having. In doing so you have familiarized yourself with the Twitter and LinkedIn platforms without rushing to try and do too much too soon.

Week three is about learning the types of content that “gets legs,” “goes viral,” and “becomes a pillar post.” All these phrases are just fancy Internet-speak for content that is very popular, well received, book-marked and passed around.

One of the best ways for determining this is to become familiar with social book-marking sites. I keep an archive of some of my favorite articles on delicious, but digg, stumbleupon, and Reddit are all viable options. By searching these sites for terms and using tabbed features to search (depending on the site you’re on) you can locate articles that have lots of bookmarks, representing the fact that other people found the content valuable.

Throughout the duration of week three pick a handful of these well received posts each day (let’s say 5-7) and read them. Understand the elements that go into making a great post. Are they long? Short? Bulleted Lists? Have great titles? Intriguing sub-headings? Chances are some common themes will begin to emerge. This is important because it will give you an idea of how to create great content when you are ready venture out and begin creating content of your very own.

Week 4: Participate in the conversation

Now that you have spent the last three weeks absorbing a significant amount of content you should have a good grasp on the kind of content that intrigues you, what the experts and thought leaders are talking about, and what elements make up an article or post you could be proud of.

So you think you’re ready to start your own sports marketing blog now?

Not quite. The final week of the month should be spent joining in and participating in the conversations on all the places you have been following for the past three weeks. Now would be a great time to re-visit the articles Lewis and I wrote, and start connecting with people who you want to get to know better.

Reach out on twitter by using the @insertusernamehere feature. Start joining groups on Linkedin and participating in discussions on Linkedin answers. Better yet ask a few questions. Share content that you have really enjoyed via Google reader, and start commenting and weighing in on the blogs that you have become acclimated to.

Following this one month plan to immersing yourself into social media will give you a great feel for this stratosphere, and also give you momentum and credibility once you decide to start creating your own content.

Honestly, I wish someone had given me this advice when I started because I spent the first few months of blogging working out a lot of kinks instead of hitting the ground running. Follow this advice for just one measly month and then enjoy the smooth sailing!

Ryan is an Associate Media Analyst at Sports Media Challenge where he helps champion social media strategies for sports, lifestyle and entertainment brands. In his spare time he serves as a social media consultant who is passionate about the power of web 2.0 and its ability to cultivate conversations, build relationships and spread of ideas. Feel free to leave your thoughts on his article in the comments section below, connect with him on his blog at Ryan Stephens Marketing or on Twitter @ryanstephens, and read the rest of his bio here.

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Video Interview: Key Ways To Break Into The Sports World

by Lewis Howes|January 12th, 2009

Even though I may be exactly one foot taller than Mark Tudi, he is a man that stands above us all with the work he has done in the sports industry. With all “height” jokes aside, and thanks to a kind recommendation from a highly respected mutual friend of ours, Mark and I were able to find some time to meet one another and talk.

Mark truly loves what he does because he is constantly helping individuals fulfill a passion of theirs by working in sports. It doesn’t get much better than that!
In this video interview, you really get a sense of who Mark is and how he helps individuals. I asked him three main questions:

1. What is Sports Careers and how does it help others?

2. Why is it so hard to get a job in the sports industry?

3. What are two key things you can do to differentiate yourself from others, and guarantee getting a job in the sports industry?

This video is a quick watch at a little over five minutes, but the information from Mark is extremely valuable. If you are looking for more career resources, sports job opportunities, and career development techniques then be sure to read more at SportsCareers.com.