Today, every sports organization has a digital team that’s in charge of the upkeep and management of the teams digital assets. From the articles that go up on the website daily, to the Tweets and Facebook updates that are shared with fans, a teams digital presence has grown from just banner ads and email blasts to fan interactions and real-time content. Still, although every sports organization has a digital team in place, not all are making an impact with their efforts.

5 Questions To Ask

So how do you know if you are doing a good job? While it would be convenient if there were some sort of grading scale where A’s and B’s were easy to distinguish, instead we have to develop our own scale of what is considered ‘passing’ and what is ‘failing.

Here are 5 questions that every digital team should ask themselves in no particular order:

1. What ‘brand’ do I want to present versus what people actually think of my brand?

Fundamental to any digital effort is the question of what the main focus will be in regards to representation of the teams ‘brand.’ By having a clear idea of what ‘brand’ you would like to present as well as what people actually think of your brand currently will help you determine what areas need work. Without knowing this, it’s like trying to build a bridge without knowing how far the distance is between the two sides.

2. Do I know what people are saying about us?

A popular catch phrase in the mid 80′s, GI-Joe’s “Knowing is half the battle” PSA is still very relevant. With the digital space become an ever growing collection of conversations and ideas, sports teams need to make sure that they are ‘listening in’ on what their community is saying. A great example of brands that are benefiting from listening in on what their ‘community’ is saying include BestBuy, ComCast and Whole Foods.

3. Is everyone on the same page?

Having a set goal is great, but unless everyone is working toward that same goal, reaching it will be twice as hard. Similar to the ‘united we stand, divided we fall’ motto, teams need to make sure that everyone involved has a clear understanding of what the goal is and more importantly, why. Too often are individuals asked to do something without having an understanding of why. By educating someone on why they need to do something or why something is done a certain way, you create an environment where everyone feels like they are part of something important.

4. Do we offer a unique experience?

Having a digital presence not only means putting out content and engaging fans, but offering them something unique. For example, putting out last nights box score and a recap of what happened is good, but what’s to stop a fan from going to ESPN or Yahoo! Sports for the same content? Sports teams need to focus on providing fans with exclusive content and the ‘can’t get anywhere else’ opportunities.

5. Would I share the content we create?

A key part that many of us forget to ask ourselves about the content that we create and publish is whether we would actually share it with others. When it comes to content development, we often forget to put ourselves in the shoes of the fan or consumer.With the digital space, content that is ‘share’ worthy helps to grow and further a brands reach and influence. As a rule of thumb, digital teams need to be the biggest critic of their own work.

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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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In the last weeks I’ve thought a lot about a hot button issue that began with a political decision, yet has touched sports organizations from the National Basketball League to Major League Baseball…or should I say that they hit on the topic by no choice of their own.

As if the Arizona Immigration Law SB 1070 2010 needed more steam, the topic of immigration has jumped to Page One of several sports searches because professional organizations and athletes have either voiced opinions or taken action to show dissatisfaction for the legislation.

The law, which will require police to verify a person’s immigration status if there’s “reasonable suspicion” that he/she is in the United States illegally, is scheduled to take affect in July.

Major League Baseball commissioner, Bud Selig, is being pressured by groups and individuals that include the Major League Baseball Players Association, to move next year’s All-Star game from Phoenix because of the controversial law.

Some groups find the law, that Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed last month, to be unconstitutional and prejudicial.

Game One of the NBA Western Conference final experienced an unexpected pre-game event when dozens of people staged a peaceful protest outside Staples Center before the Los Angeles Lakers played the Phoenix Suns because Lakers coach, Phil Jackson, wouldn’t publicly oppose Arizona’s new law. The prelude to the May 17 action was the Suns’ show of support for diversity when they wore “Los Suns jerseys on May 5 (Cinco de Mayo).

Phoenix Suns’ Steve Nash, a Canadian, said on ESPN’s PTI: “I think that this is a bill that really damages our civil liberties. I think it opens up the potential for racial profiling … racism. I think it’s a bad precedent to set for our young people. I think it represents our state poorly in the eyes of the nation and the world. I think that we have a lot of great attributes here and [this law] is something that we could do without. And I hope it will change in the coming weeks.”

“The frustration with the federal government’s failure to deal with the issue of illegal immigration resulted in passage of a flawed state law. However intended, the result of passing this law is that our basic principles of equal rights and protection under the law are being called into question, and Arizona’s already struggling economy will suffer even further setbacks at a time when the state can ill-afford them,” said Phoenix’s managing partner, Robert Sarver.

It’s not unusual for individuals to take stands on national and world issues, but leagues and teams typically stick to sports when it comes to public expression. There is precedent, however. As noted in a story entitled “Arizona’s Immigration Law: A Sports Story” published by theAtlantic, the state of Arizona was at the center of dispute in 1993 when the NFL pulled Super Bowl XXVII out of Tempe, Ariz., because the state didn’t recognize Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (it has since voted to recognize the law mandating the day be observed).

My question to you is this: do professional sports organizations and those affiliated with them have a civil duty to speak for or against laws? Do politics have a place in the often-cushy world of sports, or do these organizations have enough to worry about with increased public scrutiny and media attention about the behavior of their personnel on and off the field and court? Does political expression hurt a sports organization’s brand and image, often carefully crafted by PR pros? Let us know what you think.

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Ken Lund

Urban Mixer

About Gail Sideman

Twenty years of public relations experience, including 10 in NCAA Division I sports information during which she received national awards for her work, have helped Gail Sideman emerge as a nationally-respected publicity professional in sports, social media and publishing. She is also a veteran support staffer of sports television crews for events that include the NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA regular and postseason and others. You may learn more information about Sideman's business at www.publiside.com or follow her at www.twitter.com/PUBLISIDE and www.facebook.com/gail.sideman.

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Yes or no?  Does it depend on what sector of the sports industry we are talking about?  Should we even care?

Whether it’s a sports teams using a Facebook fan page, professional athletes on Twitter, sports agencies trying to promote their brand from blogging, sports management programs looking to recruit new students, or other sports organizations looking to find ways to increase sales and drive profits…. do they fully understand social media and are they ready to include it in their game?

I have been pretty frustrated with the somewhat ignorance I continue to see with sports teams and leagues banning social media,  sports agencies thinking social media is a waste of time, or even sports pr and marketing companies believing social media in sports should not be used, period.

WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!

The fans that watch your team on weekends, those students that want to learn about your sports management program, companies that need your marketing expertise or are looking to buy advertising are all online using some form of social media!  Even top sports business experts like CNBC’s Sports Biz reporter Darren Rovell talks about the power of social media on his blog and is tweeting daily to get his message out there.

And yes, there are ways to get your message out there with little or no cost to help you achieve your goals within the sports industry.  If you need a more in depth marketing strategy just ask top social media sports professionals Amy Martin, AJ Vaynerchuk, Jason Peck or Ryan Stephens as they can easily help any sports organization figure out how to achieve their goals and what action to take to reach them.

I am just tired of hearing that the sports industry still doesn’t have a forward thinking mindset when it comes to using social media and it is really frustrating me (and you don’t want to see my football playing aggression come out in my blog, or it may get ugly!).  My goal is to start providing more articles that help give the information the sports industry needs to start taking action with using social media so they can start to see the same successes other industries are gaining from it.

Are you as upset as I am and ready to strap on the helment, lace up your pads and kick some butt?  If so, leave a comment with your thoughts on which sports organizations are and are not using social media correctly.  What are they doing right, what are they doing wrong, and what can they do to make it better?  Ready…. Set-Hut!

About Lewis Howes

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