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General Managers Embrace Social Media

At the Tribe Social Forum last week, Lewis Howes learned that Indians General Manager Mark Shapiro is set to fully embrace social media this fall, from the head office all the way down to the players. Especially in a season where the Indians suck aren’t as competitive, Mark sees more reason than ever to harness the power of social media to interact with their fan base. At least one other General Manager agrees; Vancouver Canucks’ Mike Gillis has decided to use Twitter for the upcoming hockey season.

While Gillis isn’t as enthusiastic as Shapiro, he notes in the Globe and Mail, “social media is not something that is going to go away, and I think it’s a way to get a little bit of a different perspective out there”.

The Canucks are no stranger to social media with over 36,000 Twitter followers and 219,000 fans on Facebook. On top of that, players like Ryan Kesler and Bill Sweatt have their own twitter accounts and have been active through out training camp. However, the move by Gillis is still unprecedented as General Managers in other sports have been busy banning players from using social media rather than embracing it. Besides interacting with fans, Gillis hopes to eliminate some of the propaganda regarding his team by providing an official source directly from the team. Recently, he was displeased with the discrepancies in the media in regards to his star prospect Cody Hodgson.

Personally, I think this is a great move by Mike Gillis and he should pave the way for other media savvy general managers in sports across the continent. Ever since Shaq stepped into Twitter with his size 22 feet, social media has been made a constant even for the casual fan. It’s a wonderful time to be a sports fan, as we can interact with our favourite players and teams no matter where we are located – something that would have never happened 5 years ago. However, it has not been without controversy. Multiple players in various sports have been fined for tweeting at inappropriate times or simply saying things that would give their agents migraines.

Genearl Mangers bring a higher level of education as all of these executives are trained PR professionals that know how to deal with the public. One concern I have is whether Mike Gillis will simply use Twitter as his own personal press release, or will he actually interact? It will definitely be interesting this season to see how Gillis uses Twitter.

What do you think of General Managers using social media to provide an official word for fans? Do you think it will work?

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Images by mafue

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2 Responses to General Managers Embrace Social Media

  1. Charlie Quirk September 21, 2010 at 7:09 pm #

    Nice post Sam.

    No team (apart from the Pittsburgh Pirates it seems), goes out to try and lose games. Yet not all teams have the same resources/brand appeal in order to appeal to fans and maximize profitability.

    Social media is a great tool for the teams with fewer resources to better connect with their fans. No matter what part of the world they live in. Geography is becoming less and less important for teams seeking to connect with their fans.

  2. Sam September 21, 2010 at 7:55 pm #

    Hey Charlie,

    Thanks for taking the time to reply! Besides the Pirates, the Royals seem pretty close 😉 Jokes aside though, the New Jersey Nets are a prime example of a team who’s managed to keep a stable fan base and create excitement using social media campaigns even through its losing woes last season.

    I believe that social media can help ANY team out there, but it will be much easier to see results from small market losing teams who were going downhill competitively versus bigger markets with strong teams who sell out every night and are contenders.

    and yes, geography is being less important everyday! I totally agree.

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