Recently, when we talked to you how we can improve Sports Networker, a lot of you gave us (essentially) one word: more!
Now, we have been bringing you posts Monday through Friday, give or take a sick day ever since our inception. This is about to change.
Welcome to The Overtime Post, where each weekend I will give you a casual highlight of our week’s posts, along with some of the hottest news in social media and sports business. The posts will be more light-hearted and relaxed, since most of us have traded in our weekday suits for football jerseys and foam fingers anyway.
Think of it as a weekly Sportscenter – something you can read between downs or during timeouts. I know a lot of you have a lot of trick-or-treating to do, so without further ado, this week’s posts:
Sam is the community manager of Sports Networker and the Sports Executive Association. He is passionate in all things sports, mobile, and social media. His dream is for the Vancouver Canucks to win a Stanley Cup in his lifetime, although so far, its looking kind of bleak. In the past, he worked with BlackBerry and helped relaunch their Business-to-Business network. With his experience there, he can probably help you change your ringtone, maybe. When he finds time (never), he also writes infrequently at his personal blog. If you would like to talk sports, write a guest post for us, or argue about why iPhone > BlackBerry, you can find him on Twitter, Facebook or email.
Before you read further, watch Nike’s latest commercial, “Rise,” featuring LeBron James.
The Background
Since most of you already know the story, I’ll make this as quick as I can. Feel free to skip through if you know the background. The last four or five months have been interesting for the King. After seven years in Cleveland and no championship rings, LeBron James decided it was time to leave.
In a prime time ESPN event called The Decision, LeBron announced to the world that he would be “taking [his] talents to South Beach” to play for the Miami Heat. Cavs fans were furious, their hometown hero (LBJ is from Akron, Ohio) was leaving them, having never delivered the championship he promised.
Basketball fans from all over were upset as well, mainly with how LeBron decided to handle the announcement. Even though the money raised during the show was then donated to the Boys & Girls Club of America, most thought it was a pretentious and selfish way to announce his decision. [click to continue…]
Sam is a Creative Strategist for VaynerMedia, a social media agency based in New York City. Sam previously worked as an Account Executive for the New York Jets as well as the New Jersey Nets and spent time working with former NBA player Jalen Rose as well as NFL safety Kerry Rhodes. He now focuses on creative strategy across VaynerMedia's portfolio. You can follow Sam at http://twitter.com/gosam & visit VaynerMedia at http://www.vaynermedia.com.
Pro football offensive line players know which opposing team defensive guard will clobber them with a vengeance on every play. They know the dirty players with intentions of delivering late hits or even career-ending blows.
Pro players also know who their ‘go-to’ people are – the ones who have their back. The teammate who will defend them with everything they’ve got. The coach who guides, instructs, and corrects. The family member who is at every game, cheering them on.
Entrepreneurs, much like pro players, know who their “go-to” people are; the friends who will give us a verbal shot-in-the arm. We gravitate to people who share our extreme need for continual motivation. It’s important to know who to call for guidance, instruction, and correction along our path to success.
What’s even more important is who we DON’T call in times of discouragement, distress, or failure.
We’re all familiar with the famous question in the Ghostbusters movie…”Who Ya Gonna Call?” I propose to ask the question differently…Who Ya NOT Gonna Call? [click to continue…]
Michelle Hill, the Strong Copy Quarterback for Winning Proof, is a sports and fitness copywriter. My mission is to help pro athletes, coaches, and sports agents increase their success score in their entrepreneurial endeavors with my writing expertise and creative turn of mind.I write website content, client letters, media pitch letters, sponsorship proposals, and brochures for sports-related companies. www.winningproof.com
After successful networking events in New York and London, we’re headed to the City of Angels – Los Angeles! However, this event will be run a little differently than the ones in the past. As space is limited, it will be an intimate event capped at 50 sports executives in the L.A. area. Also, part of this event will be filmed during a live online web reality show.
If you want to be part of this limited-space event, fill out your information below and I’ll email you with more details about the time and venue for this event. It will either be in the evening of Nov 10 or 11 and I’ll email you soon if you qualify. Hope to see you there! [click to continue…]
Have you heard the adage “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know?” Well, in sports, it’s more like “who knows you” or “who is familiar with your work“. The key to getting your first sports job (or any job) is networking. You need to get out there in front of the decision makers who have the power to hire you, whether that’s the head of the sales department, box office or the general manager.
Attending networking functions is a great idea. Most teams and leagues either run their own career fair or attend sports related fairs every year. For example, job seekers interested in a career in Minor League Baseball should attend the annual PBEO Conference (the same “Winter Meetings” where players are traded and the Rule V draft are held ever year) and network with as many people as possible.
2. Get Ready to Sell
Sales is the most important aspect of a front office. One of the first things you must know about working in sports is that you’re always selling, even if you don’t work in the sales department. Although you might work in marketing, public relations or events, you will be called to sell tickets-or perhaps even sponsorships-from time to time. You’re always selling the value of attending a game at your stadium/arena so the concept of selling tangible goods like tickets really isn’t that different from selling the experience itself.
3. Be Comfortable Wearing Many Hats
Get ready to wear many different hats throughout the day-it’s true of the sports industry and especially in minor league sports. One day you might be driving to the airport to pick up the newest addition to your roster and the next day you might be dressing up as the mascot. Understand that all sports organizations do this to some degree. It’s more prevalent in minor league sports where staffs are small and “to do” lists are long but it occurs in major league sports at times as well. [click to continue…]
Brendan Wilhide runs Sportsin140.com, a site that covers sports and social media. He is currently co-authoring a textbook on social media for the sports industry. Follow him on Twitter: @BrendanWilhide and @Sportsin140.
This is part of a short blog series where we take a look at how social media can be utilized to grow a sports team’s fan base, regardless of whether the team already has a large following or is starting from the grassroots level. You can see the other posts here.
The first three posts of this series have covered listening, content and community. This week I’m going to focus on the importance of taking online connections offline.
Keep It Consistent
Offline conversation about brands is still what prompts us to search for more online. If you want to build awareness and grow your fan base, you need to get out into the community offline as well as online.
Your message should be consistent across all platforms and all types of media, whether it’s online or offline. Make sure that if people see your team online they’ll recognise your brand offline and vice versa. Online and offline marketing should be part of one strategy and both should be kept in mind at all times.
Ash is the co-founder of FundSport.com a grassroots sports community providing sports clubs and athletes from around the world with professional, easy-to-understand advice and articles on all aspects of grassroots sport including sponsorship, fundraising, the Internet, social media, club management, PR and marketing. As well as being passionate about the development of grassroots sport Ash also has a keen involvement in the sports social media industry. You can follow Ash on Twitter at @ashread14
Whenever I get a chance to watch my Buckeyes crush opponents on television these days, I always catch myself checking my Twitter stream or Facebook feed in between plays and during commercial breaks. I may catch a commercial here or there, but for the most part, I am too busy socializing online about the game to pay attention.
Social media has become a regular part in my sports-watching experience. For kids growing up now, it’s a whole new ballgame than the one we grew up where we had to bear through every single advertisement impatiently wondering if there will be another first down. The geniuses at Espresso’s Infiltrators capture this essence perfectly in the deck below. They go through the age of sports that us ‘old folks’ went through and compare it with the new age of social media: sports 2.0. [click to continue…]
Being that I’m a huge sports fan and an avid social media user, I always wonder why there are no good sports-themed social networks. Many have tried, but none have succeeded.
In my opinion, sports and social media are a perfect marriage. Sports fans love to talk about sports. We spend hours of every day watching, reading, and talking about the teams and players that matter to us. Sports fans also love to show and demonstrate our pride. We want to show the world our allegiances. And most importantly, there are plenty of instances where sports and social media have succeeded!
I spoke to my boss and great friend AJ Vaynerchuk about it. He brought up a valid question: “is there really a problem there that needs to be fixed?”
I’m not sure of the answer, but I’m going to talk it through right now:
Sam is a Creative Strategist for VaynerMedia, a social media agency based in New York City. Sam previously worked as an Account Executive for the New York Jets as well as the New Jersey Nets and spent time working with former NBA player Jalen Rose as well as NFL safety Kerry Rhodes. He now focuses on creative strategy across VaynerMedia's portfolio. You can follow Sam at http://twitter.com/gosam & visit VaynerMedia at http://www.vaynermedia.com.
Remember the Rocky III movie in 1982 when Rocky goes back to Apollo Creed’s “old” gym to train for the big fight with Clubber Lang? Of course you do. Apollo takes Rocky back to basics to polish his fighting style and prepare him for the ‘big’ match in which he knocks Clubber out in the third round.
The same thing happens in the NFL. The hours of mindless, but necessary, stretching, drills, and weight training. The team meetings pouring over playbooks. Sports massages and physical therapy. These are the basics that teams and their players positively need to do regularly to prepare for the “big” game. It’s in the crucible of basics that we poise ourselves for victory.
If the fictitious Rocky Balboa, and the NFL, benefit from the basics, then as business owners and entrepreneurs, we absolutely need to do the same.
Here are my top 5 ‘Back to Business’ tips that will take you back to basics and will set the tone for future success: [click to continue…]
Michelle Hill, the Strong Copy Quarterback for Winning Proof, is a sports and fitness copywriter. My mission is to help pro athletes, coaches, and sports agents increase their success score in their entrepreneurial endeavors with my writing expertise and creative turn of mind.I write website content, client letters, media pitch letters, sponsorship proposals, and brochures for sports-related companies. www.winningproof.com
Geolocation apps are the latest craze in social media in the sports industry. Just last month, the National Hockey League launched its own official Foursquare branding page. Just this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the National Basketball Association is developing its own geolocation application for the iPhone and Android smartphones. “Turnstile,” the NBA’s app, will allow fans to check in at NBA arenas and while watching NBA games on television this season. It is expected to be released later this month.
While the NHL and NBA have embraced geolocation apps like Foursquare and Gowalla, the National Football League and its teams have yet to join the geolocation frenzy. Indeed, the Washington Redskins are the only NFL team with an official Foursquare page and badge.
Here are five tips that NFL teams can use as they embrace the mobile geolocation frenzy currently sweeping the sports industry. [click to continue…]
Brendan Wilhide runs Sportsin140.com, a site that covers sports and social media. He is currently co-authoring a textbook on social media for the sports industry. Follow him on Twitter: @BrendanWilhide and @Sportsin140.
Recently, when we talked to you how we can improve Sports Networker, a lot of you gave us (essentially) one word: more!
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