2010 was a big year in the world of sports and social media, as leagues, teams, individual athletes, and sports fans alike began to truly understand and harness the power of social platforms. For me, 2010 was the year when social media went mainstream in the world of sports. There were many highlights, too many to name. But when I thought back on this year, these five moments stood out (in chronological order): [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.
The explosion of social media has expanded our sphere of influence and connections to the farthest parts of the world. We’re able to do business with anyone in any country with the click of a button and a twist of the mouse. PayPal has made it possible to receive payment and pay our vendors within minutes.
Social media has allowed me to do business with pro athletes I would never have crossed paths with in a million years. Through LinkedIn and Facebook, I’ve been able to build rapport and long-lasting business relationships with my target market. Many are now clients and friends. But, how do you cross the border from a first contact via social media into relationship building and marketing? After all, it takes more than just a few emails to garner the ‘know, like, and trust’ dynamic that brings business your way.
Here are five easy steps that will move you beyond making that initial contact and into a solid relationship with your potential clients: [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
In 2010, we’ve seen professional athletes come a long way in social media, and perhaps there’s no better platform as evidence of this than Twitter. The amount of engagement in the last year going on in the space has been phenomenal but after doing polls on the top sports professionals and top sports resources of 2010, we were curious to see who you thought the top athlete on twitter was. For more information how each athlete has ‘won’ using Twitter, read below the fold. Voting will end on next Monday and we’ll announce all the winners shortly after!
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.
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing David Barton-Ginger, online social media manager for the New Zealand All Blacks Rugby team. Since we are based in the U.S, it was interesting to see what sports teams are doing all the way down in New Zealand.
For those of you who don’t follow rugby, the All Blacks are like the Manchester United of Rugby, only with cooler jerseys.
They have over half a million fans ‘liking’ their Facebook page, and considering all of New Zealand only has four million people, that’s a pretty good percentage. They’re also not afraid to push the envelope and have been extremely successful in getting their players involved with engaging the fan community.
Two things in particular stuck out at me, first that the amount of success they’ve achieved while running on a small budget. In my opinion, this is one of the core drivers behind sports 2.0 – a lot can be done with sweat equity. The second is their partnership with Adidas and how they have incorporated them into their marketing campaigns. Definitely take the time to watch this video interview and find out how David and his team are breaking barriers:
If you want to read our conversation instead of watching it, the transcript is below the fold. I’d love to hear your thoughts so please leave a comment down below! [click to continue…]
This is another side to Social Media that is often overlooked, when organisations plan their online approach yet can be as important, if not more so than having a Facebook/Twitter page.
A old approach that has taken on a new meaning and been opened up by social media is creating brand advocates and generating positive ‘Word of Mouth’. This is important because you as a brand can only generate a certain amount of trust in what you say to people. [click to continue…]
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.
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.
Tyler Johnson has written a number of articles for us over the last year including the Top 100 Ways to use Social Media in Sports and the influence of LinkedIn Groups. We wanted to take a deeper look at how Tyler personally uses social media and how it pertains to the sports industry on a daily basis.
1. How did you effectively utilize social media in your work with the White Sox?
While with the White Sox I mostly utilized Twitter and LinkedIn in relation to my work. I changed my signature in my e-mail to direct people to my social media accounts. In less than a year, I noticed some direct sales driven through LinkedIn. However, the most significant value that became of these tools was the rapport I developed with my clients and potential customers.
Once customers could see a quick snap shot of what I was about, a more solid relationship quickly followed. At the same time, using LinkedIn I was able to learn more about what they did, the companies they work for, and the things they enjoyed most outside of their 9 to 5 job.
I also used twitter to send out updates in regards to group outings, discounted ticket opportunities and other general PR material. I let our official MLB Twitter account drive the bulk of our traffic and Twitter brand, as I had other purposes in its use. [click to continue…]
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. [click to continue…]
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 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. [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.
Back by popular request, Sports Networker returns to the international stage one again this fall as it teams up with the UK Sports Network for an exciting sports professionals networking event at the Sports Bar & Grill in London.
When: August 10th from 6pm-9pm
Where: Marylebone Station, Melcombe Place, London NW1 6JJ, United Kingdom
The UK Sports Network is a group founded by Daniel McClaren that strives to share its expertise on sports social media and the industry’s latest trends with sports professionals. Since its inception in November 2009, nearly 1,000 sports professionals now seek the insight and creativity that the UK Sports Network offers.
All sports professionals are welcome to attend this event and learn from the experts on social media and the latest developments in the sports industry. Admission is £10 GBP if you sign up now, and £15 GBP at the door. Stay posted for updates about the event by registering for the event on LinkedIn HERE.
To receive early bird pricing and ensure your spot at this event (as there is limited spacing) register below and we look forward to seeing you at the event! Make sure to add your company name when you check out as this will be included on your name tag.
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