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.

One big criticism would be that Alex fails to interact with commenters. These are readers who feel passionately enough about him to leave their thoughts on Alex’s posts, and yet he misses the opportunity to capitalize and engage.

Matt Antonelli (MatthewAntonelli.com)

While not the prettiest of blogs design-wise, Matt does an excellent job with content. He posts regularly, using the blog almost as a journal. Matt generally posts about what is on his mind and what he’s been up to. I love the fact that he posts videos. Recently, he posted some footage of his trip to the San Diego Zoo, as well as footage from a recent Massachusetts to Arizona road trip. The content is incredibly personal and authentic, and that’s what makes it so great.

Matt also asks site visitors to “Become a Fan” with a Like Box and to “Follow Matt on Twitter” with an embedded Twitter feed. Great to see the incorporation of social media, and also to see that Matt updates both his Facebook & Twitter accounts quite frequently.

Fun Story: Recently, my boss, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Matt Antonelli had an exchange on Twitter where Gary told Matt that his brother AJ owned Matt on his fantast team. He replied, “tell @ajv I’m sorry I’ve been hurt all year…Don’t lose the faith lol.” Great stuff!

Honorable Mention: Kevin Durant (KevinDurant35.com/blog)

This is easily the best blog I’ve seen from a well-known athlete. Durant posts about once per week, and generally seems to write his own posts. He writes about basketball, of course, but also about what’s on his mind. For example, he recently posted about hip hop artist Drake’s new album as well as his thoughts on pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg. The blog isn’t perfect, but it’s the best I’ve seen from a notable pro athlete.

Advice for Athletes

Take some notes. Buy your domain name. Create a blog (use Tumblr, it’s easy). Post regularly. Be authentic. Post lots of pictures and videos. Include your social presence if you have one (if you don’t have one, get one). Give fans a behind-the-scenes experience they won’t be able to find anywhere else.

You may think you don’t have the time, but believe me, it’s smart to take the five minutes per day to post some content on a consistent basis. Why? Facebook and Twitter are great, but they are only platforms. You can make your blog your permanent home on the web.

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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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We’re now starting to see more and more teams getting involved with social media. This is great, but I think it’s time they start to look beyond only utilizing the major platforms (Twitter, YouTube, Facebook) and really start to embrace more emerging and niche platforms (Ustream, Tumblr, Flickr).

Every platform offers something different and therefore appeals to different types of people. Facebook and Twitter are (currently) more popular than others and should demand more time and resources, but surely the fans that use these emerging platforms deserve some love too? And surely there is value in these platforms for teams?

One team that has had great success through getting involved in a niche network is Manchester City FC with their use of Flickr. They are the first team I have seen using this platform, if you have seen any others please let me know. They use Flickr as a way to embrace their fans creative side allowing them to use photography and design to express their feelings about the club.

Flickr gives Manchester City fans the chance to see all the latest images from the clubs official stream as well as inviting them to share their own images and get involved in discussion. Some of the images that have been posted in the Flickr group have even been taken on board by the club and helped inspire new PR and retail campaigns.

Another team who have started to get involved with an emerging platform is the New York Knicks on Tumblr. Personally I’m a big fan of Tumblr and feel it has huge potential because it offers a great way to find and share information.

It allows users to easily post a range of content with just a few clicks – everything from photos and video, to links and even short voice recordings making it the perfect way to keep fans up-to-date. Currently the Knicks mainly use Tumblr as a way to share videos, short blogs and promotions. I’d like to see them mix up posts a bit more and maybe include a few behind the scenes images, quotes and audio clips from the coaches and players.

It may be a while before Tumblr becomes main stream, but once it does I’m sure it will be a powerful tool for both teams and brands.

Conclusion

Obviously the major platforms shouldn’t be overlooked. Every team that isn’t involved with them is missing out on a big opportunity because they offer great value for both the teams and fans.

However, I feel that niche and emerging platforms allow teams to build up closer relationships with fans and also open up many new engagement and participation opportunities. Teams can choose to share images on Flickr, post short blogs on Tumblr or run live chats or showing live training sessions on Ustream – there’s plenty of potential and opportunity out there.

What do you think?  Is there value for fans and teams on niche and emerging platforms? Have you seen any examples of teams or athletes getting involved? What platforms do you feel offer potential?

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Image by dullhunk

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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