About Ryan Stephens

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.

Author Archive | Ryan Stephens

Sports Debate: What Athletes Should Be Using Social Media?

By on March 8, 2010 in Social Media in Sports

Question: Who can benefit more from social media: small-time or big-time athletes? Ryan: My initial reaction is small time athletes and big-time athletes once their career is in a decline. I will start with the argument for small-time athletes. Upper echelon and mainstream athletes already have significant followings. Many have endorsement deals, sell tons ofRead more →

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Top 10 Sports/Social Media Trends of 2010

By on December 24, 2009 in Social Media in Sports

Jason Peck recently asked 16 sports industry thought leaders (a few of us who write here among them) to share their thoughts and predictions for sports and social media in 2010. The result was an awesome ebook full of some solid insights. In this post I’d like to build off the foundation Jason (and theRead more →

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2 Ways to Enhance Marketing for Unpopular Sports

By on October 7, 2009 in Sports Marketing

There’s two co-workers in my office who love soccer. “That’s cute,” I like to tell them and accuse them of being unpatriotic for not liking football or America’s pastime more. But that poses the question. What if you’re trying to market soccer in America? Hockey in Texas? The WBNA anywhere? 1.  Educate People About theRead more →

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3 Reasons Athletes Should Use Social Media

By on September 2, 2009 in Social Media in Sports

Last week Antonio Ramirez wrote in from Mexico to ask what the best arguments were for convincing players to participate in a social program. It’s a great question, and in Antonio’s case, for a great cause. Childhood obesity is quickly becoming an epidemic in Mexico, particularly surrounding low income areas and schools. And he’s lookingRead more →

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Relinquish Control, Empower the Passionate Fans!

By on August 24, 2009 in Sports Marketing

Sports marketing thought leader, Jason Peck, said something two weeks ago that really resonated with me. After hearing a company say they controlled their brand in social media he said this, “The words influence, facilitate and protect your brand should replace control.” Frankly, I couldn’t agree more… … Provided it’s your fans who pay moneyRead more →

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How can social media tools drive your sports marketing success?

By on August 11, 2009 in Sports Marketing

What brands have succeeded in using social tools to increase their engagement with their fans? Enhance their brand affinity? Drive their bottom line? These are all questions WE’RE going to explore today, together.  That’s right, I’ll get us started, but then let’s use the comments section to build out both lists until we have aRead more →

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Life-Streaming 101: The Starbury TV Experiment

By on August 4, 2009 in Social Media in Sports

Stephon Marbury should’ve refrained from life-streaming. Starbury TV, as far as I’m concerned, was an epic failure.  Why? David Neiman of Athlete Interactive put it so poignantly that I’ll just share what he had to say and let you judge for yourself: “We want athletes to awe us, and that’s precisely what they do when they’re doing whatRead more →

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Transformation: The Future of Sports + Social Media

By on July 29, 2009 in Social Media in Sports

Or since transformation can be negative, let’s say intelligent growth or evolving. People in the sports world do it all the time when they add another dimension to their game, or when they improve upon a certain facet of their skill set. Joe Mauer adding more power to his arsenal, LeBron improving his defense andRead more →

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13 Underrated Sports Professionals on Twitter

By on May 5, 2009 in Sports Networking

Lewis asked me to highlight some of the most influential sports business people on Twitter, and I’m all about making Lewis, and more importantly the Sports Networker audience happy. But when I sat down to make that list, all I could think about was BORING! Those people aren’t hard to locate, in fact if they’veRead more →

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How to Create Content Sports Fans Will Care About

By on March 15, 2009 in Sports Marketing

Image by SomewhatFrank Using the framework set forth by Gary Hayes and Laurel Papworth (and expanded on by Valeria Maltoni) I’d like to continue the mini-series on using social media for sports marketing. Last time we talked about how to involve, and for this post I’d like to discuss how to begin the second phase,Read more →

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Hop On The Social Media Wagon In One Month

By on January 15, 2009 in Social Media in Sports

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 progressionRead more →

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Fans Are Talking Online: Can You Hear Them Now?

By on December 12, 2008 in Social Media in Sports

Image by leonard.beckman This is a guest post by Ryan Stephens The last post I did for Sports Networker was a very applicable, step-by-step approach to utilizing social media with respect to sports. It is a formula I will typically use when Lewis gives me the opportunity to share with you all.  However, this weekRead more →

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