Branding

Social Media Changes Sports Photography

by Thomas van Schaik|January 2nd, 2012

The world is changing rapidly and from now onwards the speed of that change is only going to further increase. We’re daily bombarded with thousands of images. Every photo can be worth a thousand words. But which images are the ones that stick and make a difference? Which (and whose) story is being told (and where) has almost become as important as the quality of the image. Choices about which professional images are created are increasingly made by executives, not necessarily creatives. At the same time, anyone can now take pictures. The quality of a sports photography image is no longer defined by its resolution or razor sharp focus. A picture made by a fan can travel all over the world and end up on the international front pages before you can say ‘bong’.

This post covers the changes in sports photography from the perspective of the photographers, media, sponsors, fans and athletes. Its not intended as a philosophical reflection of the value of a photograph. The digital revolution, which this blog is dedicated to, has resulted in lasting behavioral change as well as the way sports imagery is produced, distributed, and ultimately consumed. How do photographers find their audience, how do sponsors maximize their visibility, and how do athletes manage their exposure? [click to continue…]

About Thomas van Schaik

Thomas studied Communications in Amsterdam and has been working in international sports for over 15 years. He started his professional career at the Amsterdam Admirals in the NFL Europe and moved to Dutch professional soccer champions PSV Eindhoven in 1997. In 2001 he moved to Southern Germany to join Adidas. He's filled a variety of roles with the sporting goods brand, including 'Head of Global PR'. In 2011 he moved into the role of Global Brand Director.

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Sports Professionals: Can You Tell A Story?

by Joseph Yi|April 5th, 2011

Sports Professionals: Can You Tell A Story?

Marketing. If you were to look it up in a dictionary, you might find one of the following definitions:

The exchange of goods for an agreed sum of money.

The commercial processes involved in promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service.

The process by which companies determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development.

While all may sound correct, one essential part that is missing from all of them is the phrase “storytelling.”

Good Versus Great

There are many sports professionals who may be considered ‘good’ when it comes to marketing, but there are few that can be considered great.

When you take a close look at these individuals, what you will find is that a common denominator among them is that they are able to take a message and turn it into a story. Just how an artist can take a canvas and paint a beautiful picture without any guidance or direction, great marketers can take a simple message or idea and turn it into a long-lasting and impactful story. [click to continue…]

About Joseph Yi

Joseph is the Social Media & Marketing Solutions Manger at GAGA Sports & Entertainment where he works with professional sports teams, including the Lakers, Clippers, and San Francisco 49ers, where he develops engaging content as well as social media and digital strategies to help teams better understand and engage their fans. Read more from Joseph and follow him on Twitter.

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The Benefits of Media Training for Athletes

by Michelle Hill|February 11th, 2011

Maintaining life as an athlete takes a massive amount of dedication and focus. Not only does the athlete need to demonstrate talent on the field, he needs to translate that talent into an effective media presence. After all, the athlete is himself a brand and he needs to ensure he doesn’t water down his brand with an improper and unsuitable media style.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with one of my strategic business alliances, Forrest Dorsett, Founder & Principal of Dorsett Sports Marketing and Managing Partner at Fred Hickman Communications. We had the chance to dive into the subject of media training. Here is how our conversation evolved: [click to continue…]

About Michelle Hill

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

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Monetizing on Facebook

by Sam Taggart|December 10th, 2010

Before I start, let me say that monetization should be far from the first concern for a brand when deciding to engage on Facebook, or with any aspect of social media. Social media is primarily about developing meaningful relationships with fans and consumers. It provides brands with the ability to humanize themselves, engage with consumers in a one-to-one manner, create trust, address customer concerns, and more. In the end, effective use of social media can lead to sales and other forms of monetization. But it takes time and patience. In this post, I’ll highlight how sports brands (specifically) can profit financially from an active Facebook community. [click to continue…]

About Sam Taggart

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.

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Interview with Evander Holyfield on Personal Branding and the ‘Bite-Fight’

by Lewis Howes|December 6th, 2010

I was able to spend three days with Evander Holyfield earlier this year in Tampa during the Super Bowl. I was amazed at all of the stories he had to tell, and all of the many variables in his personal brand. Later, we sat down so I could get the full details on how he has been so successful and how he has managed his brand along the way. His faith, perseverance, and up-bringing helped shape his brand and provide guidance through a rollercoaster of a professional career, and the following interview shares some great insight on the life of Evander “The Real Deal” Holyfield.

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About Lewis Howes

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Meet Paul Bissonnette – Twitter Superstar

by Brendan Wilhide|December 1st, 2010

Phoenix Coyotes hockey enforcer Paul Bissonnette is a popular guy these days. Although he doesn’t lead his team in scoring or play in hockey hotbed like Toronto or Boston, Bissonnette has a legion of loyal fans following his every move this season. In fact, Bissonnette’s fan club currently has more than 22,000 fans – on Twitter.

Bissonnette, who tweets as now as @BizNasty2point0. He was first known as @PaulBiznasty until an inappropriate comment about fellow player Ilya Kovalchuk made his agent nervous and he shut it down. At the time, he was one of a handful of active NHL players on Twitter. More NHL players have joined Twitter this season than ever before, in part due to Bissonnette’s enormous rising popularity. [click to continue…]

About Brendan Wilhide

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.

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How Exclusivity Can Be Big for Athletes in Social Media (Part 2)

by Sam Chan|November 30th, 2010

A while back I talked about how using social networks focused on exclusivity like Path and Facebook Groups can give less social media savvy athletes an outlet in case they want to blow off some steam or share things with their intimate family and friends. This week, I want to talk about how exclusivity can help elevate the brand of athletes who are already doing a good job with social media and want to take it to the next level.

Before I begin, I want to make something clear. I am in no way suggesting that athletes ought to focus on using exclusive networks in lieu of mainstream public social networks, but rather as a complement networks like Twitter and Facebook in order to grow their brand in more creative ways. [click to continue…]

About Sam Chan

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.

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Top 4 Ways to Utilize Social Media to Grow Your Fan Base

by Ash Read|November 8th, 2010

Over the past four weeks I’ve been writing a short series of articles taking 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 find the posts in this series below.

Throughout this series I’ve covered what I feel are some of the key aspects to consider when planning social media strategies and looking to grow your fan base. Today I’m going tor review what I feel are the key takeaways from the series. [click to continue…]

About Ash Read

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

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Take Online Connections Offline

by Ash Read|October 26th, 2010

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.

Jay Baer explains the concept of integrated marketing quite nicely in this post. [click to continue…]

About Ash Read

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A Simple @Reply Goes A Long Way

by Sam Taggart|October 15th, 2010

I work with professional sports organizations and athletes for a living, consulting them on best practices in social media branding. That being said, before working as a social media consultant (I hate that term), I am a massive sports fan (GO PHILLIES!).

I’ve loved sports for as long as I can remember, and ever since I realized I would not be a professional athlete, I’ve always dreamt of working with them in some capacity. I have several athletes’ numbers stored on my phone, and I would be lying if I said I think it’s no big deal. Because I don’t think that. I think it’s freaking awesome!

That’s why I understand this: a simple @reply goes a long way…

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