Does Branding Through Social Media Work for Teams?

by Lewis Howes | September 2nd, 2010 | View Comments

(This is a Guest Post by Joseph Yi)

Sitting on a panel with some of the Bay areas leading social media professionals from teams like the San Francisco Giants and Sacramento Kings, a recurring discussion was the benefits that social media had as a branding tool. While we’ve seen plenty of examples on how athletes are using social media as a public relations and branding tool, many forget about the teams themselves.

With nearly every professional sports team having some presence on Facebook and Twitter, sports teams are faced with the difficult decision of having to decide how their organization and brand will interact with fans.

Before moving forward though and discussing how sports teams are using social media to maximize their brand exposure, we need to take a step back to look at how sports teams first used social media.

In its’ earliest stages of adoption, sports teams used social media primarily as a news feed where they could post updates and articles. While there was nothing wrong with this, sports teams weren’t maximizing its potential. With minimal fan interaction, little direction as far as best practices and strategies, and their respective leagues trying to develop digital media rules, sports teams were essentially driving blindly through social networks.

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PGA misses PR Opportunity with Fans

by Gail Sideman | August 25th, 2010 | View Comments

A couple of weeks ago I was faced with a challenge unlike anything I’d experienced in the last few years while attending the Professional Golf Association’s premier event – the PGA Championship — at the beautiful Whistling Straights golf course in Kohler, Wis. I went to the tourney as a fan, not as a member of the media, which limited my communication throughout the day.

According to PGA rules, I was not allowed to bring a phone or mobile device of any kind (which in my case, are one in the same) into the venue. I could deal with having to silence my phone, but to be removed from social media and email was trying for someone who depends on those tools to run and monitor a publicity business.

After all, I was pretty excited about the prospects of how I could monitor other holes from my iPhone – the PGA touted its apps like few other organizations do. But they weren’t app-licable to me. I was there.

As it turns out, it was a Friday in August and people who may have contacted me were either at the beach or cutting their days short so correspondence wasn’t crucial. There’s always that “what if” though, and I was nervous that the biggest opportunity of my career might come across in a tweet while I was incommunicado.

Alas, all remained calm on the social media front.

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Recap: Social Media Basketball

by Sam Taggart | August 20th, 2010 | View Comments

A couple of months ago, NYC-based social media agency Carrot Creative challenged the agency I work for, VaynerMedia to a game of basketball. “Hey @vaynermedia,” they tweeted, “Since our comps are the 2 best Sports Social Media Shops It is time to battle it out on the Basketball court! #challenge.” Of course, we accepted the challenge and played the game. VaynerMedia won, 61-41.

The Website

Carrot created a fantastic microsite for the game, called SocialMediaBasketball.com. They included both teams’ starting rosters, complete with names, nicknames, and the ability to follow all of us on Twitter. Even cooler? Visitors had the ability to “like” the team they were rooting for / thought would win. Finally, a live feed featured anyone who tweeted about the game with the hashtag #CCvsVM.

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A Twitter Guide to the 2010-11 NFL Season

by Sam Taggart | August 16th, 2010 | View Comments

Note: If you don’t use Twitter, you can still follow along! Twitter has announced the ability to “fast follow” any account by simply texting “follow @____” to 40404. Their tweets will automatically be sent to your phone. So, if you’re a football fan, no reason not to read this article and keep up with the best NFL sources this season!

The 2010 NFL season is quickly approaching. The preseason is already under way, and the regular season begins on Thursday, September 9th, with the Minnesota Vikings visiting the New Orleans Saints in a rematch of last year’s NFC Championship game. I love baseball and I’m a huge basketball fan as well. In fact, I really enjoy watching most sports. But there’s nothing like sitting on your couch on a Sunday afternoon with a couple of buddies, and a table full of junk food and beer, and watching nine straight hours of hard-hitting football.

So, why am I writing this article? Why a Twitter Guide? Twitter has become the best platform for up-to-the minute news and analysis in most arenas. If you want to stay on top of… anything you care about, Twitter is the place to do it (especially with “fast follow”). I’ll list a number of my favorite NFL-related accounts with a brief reason as to why they’re worth following. Enjoy!

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Sports Clubs, Do You Know Your Audience?

by Lewis Howes | August 3rd, 2010 | View Comments

(This is a guest post by Daniel McLaren)

When talking to people about their social media plans, most will talk about Facebook and Twitter. Yes, these are the most popular platforms and we are all aware that Facebook has recently topped the 500 million mark.

But is this the right audience for your team?

Taking a step back from the technology and looking at who your target audience is and where they hanging out is the first step that any organization should take. You may be surprised with the results and it will certainly impact on your plans.

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Pro-Athlete Bloggers

by Sam Taggart | July 27th, 2010 | View Comments

One of the first posts I ever wrote here was about Gilbert Arenas, the true pioneer of the social media space for professional athletes. Shaq gets the credit for being the one who led the way, because of his use of Twitter, but Gilbert was in the space first. And Gilbert was a blogger! Forget Shaq writing 140-character tweets in 2008, Gilbert was writing blog posts that consisted of hundreds if not thousands of words… two years earlier!

Anyway, this post is not about Shaq or Gilbert Arenas or anyone you’ve likely heard of before. This post is about Swedish professional golfer Alex Noren and minor league baseball player Matt Antonelli. Why? They’re both professional athletes and outstanding bloggers. We focus so much on Facebook & Twitter as the tools athletes should be utilizing, but let’s not forget the power of the blog.

Alex Noren (AlexNoren.com)

Alex uses his blog very much like how I would recommend a professional athlete to use his or her blog; frequent updates with lots of pictures and behind-the-scenes looks that tell the story of who Alex Noren is. He posts pictures from the course, as well as from workouts, and the clubhouse lounge, and he’s always sure to add a caption or a bit of commentary. All the posts seem to come directly from Alex.

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Phollow Phriday: A Twitter Resource for the Philly Sports Fan

by Sam Taggart | July 16th, 2010 | View Comments

There are few things in life (family, friends, & my cat) that I love more than the city of Philadelphia and sports. I was born and raised in the city, and I’m a lifelong Philly sports fan. One of my first sports memories is Joe Carter hitting a three-run walk-off home run against closer Mitch Williams, propelling the Toronto Blue Jays into a World Series victory over his hometown Phillies. Sigh.

A big complaint about today’s Internet is that there is “so much noise” and it’s too hard to find the content you care about among all the other stuff out there. I agree, there is a lot of noise, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I’d rather everyone had a voice than only a select few. Plus, Twitter is a great platform for getting through the noise and to the stuff you really care about. Why? Because you choose the people you follow. Essentially, you choose the amount of noise you want to see and hear. If you only want to follow people who talk about peanut butter, that is entirely possible.

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CoachBook – revolutionizing social media in the coaching industry

by Matt Clark | July 14th, 2010 | View Comments

Imagine a site where users could send friends messages, customize personal profiles, network through online chats, and have the ability to stay in contact with those whom they may not be able to see on a daily basis. No, I am not talking about Facebook, but rather the new and upcoming networking site for coaches, performance specialists, and sport professionals called CoachBook.

CoachBook is a powerful networking site that enables users to have the ability to connect with other coaches. Those who become members of the site have the ability to leave comments on as many profiles as they wish, invite friends, join groups, reply to discussions in forums, create a personal profile, and dive into a list of job postings from around the country. Anyone can sign up on CoachBook—it’s easy and free. CoachBook encourages members to create a profile that allows them to promote not only themselves, but also their website, products, services, or company.

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Following NBA Free Agency

by Sam Taggart | July 8th, 2010 | View Comments

Over the past year, Twitter has shown us its incredible power when it comes to talking about and sharing “breaking news” and current events (not just in sports). For example, last year’s Iranian presidential elections completely dominated Twitter for a number of weeks, and became the medium for finding out what was happening in the Middle East. Other major news events, like the Hudson River plane crash and Michael Jackson’s death, have proven the same.

July 1 marked the start of one of the biggest summers in the history of the National Basketball Association. A number of the league’s premier players, including LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwayne Wade, became free agents. 2010 NBA free agency has been quite an experience, and Twitter has truly given fans an insight into free agency unlike we’ve ever had before. Like the events mentioned previously, Twitter has completely altered who controls the messaging and the way we gather information.

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British Basketball Uses Power of Social Media

by Ash Read | June 28th, 2010 | View Comments

Social media has opened up the doors for fans to have a voice like never before, this is something which in my experience scares some teams but also offers great opportunity.

The upcoming free agency, or Decision 2010 as the NBA have branded it, has lead to many fan led campaigns telling stars like LeBron James why they should come to their team, this summer could change the face of the NBA for years to come.

But, there’s a fan led campaign kicking off over here which could change basketball across Britain forever; Back British Basketball was started by basketball fanatic and Editor of Hoopfix.com, Sam Neter.

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