In a previous blog post I discussed some of the athletes using social media and now I would like to talk about some of the athletes that have gone “pro.” Social Media Athletes I’m Thankful For addresses 5 athletes that have really become star players in the social media arena. Well what makes them social media athletes?
Chad Ochocinco of the Cincinnati Bengals has definitely created a following on social media by using all different outlets. His controversial tactics and informal dialogue make him more accessible to the public. He is an entertainer and knows what people want to see and read. Chad created an upstream channel where he posts regular videos for fans. He gives his fans an inside look at his everyday life. Chad Ochocino-Social Media Marketing Guru explores other areas where Chad is marketing himself. He has created his own news network, and has over 450,000 followers on Twitter. He even has his own personal website where fans can easily access his biography, and media gallery. He also uses YouTube to display his famous touchdown dances.
Another important athlete using social media is Shaquille O’Neal. He is definitely the one to follow when it comes to creating a strong media platform. Shaq has more followers on his Twitter than any other athlete and fans are responding great to his use of social media. According to Lessons in Hot Social Media, Courtesy of The Big Twitter Shaq uses Twitter to promote a two-way conversation and give fans a glimpse of his day-to-day life. He also has created many contests on Twitter to promote his upcoming games. He also lets fans decide his new nickname, and he is so personable that many have tried to follow in his quite large footsteps.
Chad and Shaq are just a couple of the athletes leading the way in social media. They have generated so much buzz and have let fans in to their everyday lives. With others coming up to follow them it will be interesting to see how this social media marketing game plays out.
Athletes have really started to integrate social media. Although, many use social media on their own there are people who work together to help many athletes improve and measure their social media strategies. Digital Royalty helps many professional athletes, sports teams and leagues develop and integrate social media. The Digital Royalty about page discusses some of the clients and events that they have worked with in the sports industry. These include the 2010 Super Bowl, Arizona Cardinals, 2009 NBA All-Star Game. Their clients consist of Shaquille O’Neal, Bubba Watson, Chicago White Sox, and the UFC.
Below is a video with Amy Martin the founder of Digital Royalty explaining what her firm does and how important social media is to the sports industry.
Digital Royalty is headed by Amy Martin who has really improved social media by measuring and adjusting the way athletes, and teams use these online tools. She also is a celebrity in the Twitter world according to Vanity Fair because of her immense amount of followers.
Digital Royalty uses a lot of social media as well to get across important points that can benefit almost anyone trying to get involved in social media. The video below demonstrates the model used at Digital Royalty to help create a social media relationships:
Listen- Fans will be able to guide you in the right direction
Experiment- Social media space has a short life so do not be afraid
Listen again- See what reaction you are getting
Measure- be consist with metrics
Digital Royalty recently helped host the Sports Networker Summit in NYC. The panel at this event addressed topics focusing around social media. Martin along with others explained the importance of social media marketing and measurement, as well as how to keep fan loyalty.
Sports teams and athletes do get help from the sideline from coaches, teammates, and managers. But firms such as Digital Royalty also stand there and help them create a “brand” through social media. They are helping the sports industry connect and create a relationship with fans and supporters.
I have talked about social media being used in a variety of sports such as football, baseball, and basketball but what about soccer? I do not really address soccer on my previous blog posts because up until this point there have been many challenges when it comes to connecting this sport with social media. However, at a recent South By Southwest interactive session the US Soccer Federation addressed the challenges faced as they emerge on to the social media map. They do, however, talk about how they are going to overcome those obstacles. According the blog post Live from SXSW: Igniting U.S fans for the 2010 World Cup the world cup is actually the most widely viewed sporting event in the world. Therefore it is important for them to step up to the plate regarding social media.
During the interactive meeting called World Cup 2010: Engaging U.S. Soccer Fans Online the U.S. Soccer Federation examined the challenges they face as the try to enhance their social media. The important aspect of this event, however ,was to focus on what they can do to rise above these challenges. Here are some examples of their progress:
They are working on Search Engine Optimization for their website ussoccer.com
Providedn behind the scene perspectives, player interviews, and making it easy for fans to embed videos into their blog posts.
Worked with Pluck Media to change their social media strategy and made commenting more accessible.
Chris Hall can be heard through the podcast of the event on the South by Southwest website. He wants to capitalize on the World Cup this year and make sure online and social media make a local presence in the United States. His overall goal is to make fans passionate about the sport.
The U.S. Soccer Federation also teamed up with OleOle, a social media site, to create a more dynamic approach to how they use social media. The article OleOle Teams up with US Soccer discusses how OleOle provides fans across the globe with blogs, shared photos, and news about pervious US Soccer Trips. They also are offering fans a place to get and exchange tickets for the up coming games. Users are encouraged to contribute to the site as much as possible.
With the 2010 World Cup to be played this June in South Africa it will be interesting to see how social media will be used to engage fans in the United States.
Before defining Jokipedia it is important to understand what a wiki is.
A wiki is a website that allows for collaboration. Users can create and edit a page using content they have found in web browsers. Wikipedia is one of the most popular wikis that is used to find historical information as well as information on a specific topic. With the popularity of wikis increasing the sports industry jumped on the bandwagon and created Jockipedia.
In previous posts we discussed all the ways athletes use social media. Now there is a centralized place for all this information.In an article What Did Shaq Just Tweet? the website’s creator Douglas Warshaw found there was a
Douglas Warshaw- Sara Krulwich NY Times
need for a sports wiki and called it Jockipedia. This site contains links to athletes’ Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr feeds. It also offers YouTube video channels, and personal websites. People can also contribute to by creating links for athletes, coaches, and teams that are not already on there. Warshaw believes it will be like an interactive phonebook.
Jockipedia: A Social Media Database of Pro Athletes describes that not only it is a combination of the things listed above but also demonstrates the social media presences of these athletes. This is a social media database essentially. For example Lance Armstrong’s page shows his recent twitter posts.
Warshaw makes it clear though that although he wants fans to contribute he believes this is a great site for athletes. He wants the facts and stats to be there and commentary from fans is prohibited.
Hopefully this site will grow and we will see where it takes us in the world of sports.
There are so many different tips and reasons why sports teams and athletes should use social media. An overload of these tips and reasons are being tossed around the web and its hard to decide which ones are important or not. The article 6 Best Things Sports Teams Can do to with Social Media to Engage fans gives some great advice on how to engage fans and make them respond to social media. Using this as a guide I have created 5 ways that the Sports Industry can improve social media use based on information from previous posts.
1.Use twitter to connect with fans . Athletes and Sports Teams should tweet about their games and events. This lets fans feel more involved. Tweet about upcoming schedules, special events that fans can attend, create contests and give winners prizes. With only 140 characters per tweet this is a great way to stay ahead of the game.
2. Bigger is Better. When it comes to huge events such as the Olympics and the Super Bowl it is important to use as many channels of social media as possible. create sites, applications, generate comments, and use YouTube. The more outlets the more ways for fans, and followers to find and connect with you.
3. Start keeping a blog. There are so many blogs out their dedicated to sports. Why not start a blog that can give out informal information. It also is a great way to deal with a crisis and give people your side of the story. Deadspin, a popular blog, is just one of the many blogs that are found on the web. One story on there shows 75 clips of amateurs shooting baskets in honor of march madness. Creating a blog about a particular sport or athlete really will booster popularity.
4. YouTube is a great alternative to Tv. Show fans and followers what goes on behind the TV cameras. Create a channel on YouTube and upload videos.
These are just a combination of ways that the industry can improve the use of social media and make it more available to fans and followers all over the web.
Professional sports teams are not the only ones using social media, college recruiters are using the same techniques to get talented players to play for their schools. Coaches and managers understand that social media is becoming a major focus in the sports industry and want to use these new innovative technologies to create a competitive edge.
Many coaches have set up twitter accounts to use as a recruiting method as a well as a way to connect with the fans of the team. Kentucky’s UK basketball coach John Calipari set up his Twitter account recently and already has 350,000 followers. Coaches and colleges explore new frontier of social media explains how Calipari who once was not tech savvy at all updates his Twitter page constantly. Tim Beckman, Toledo’s football coach, also uses twitter to recruit players. He explains that it is hard to communicate with potential athletes and using Twitter is a great way to get started. Beckman believes that tweeting all year-round with help potential recruits stay interested.
NCAA also allows coaches to send direct messages on Facebook and twitter to potential recruits. Colleges are working to stay connected with potential recruits and knows that using social media is a great means for doing just that. Players,however, should be aware of colleges that are becoming more interactive online because there is always potential to see something that they do not like. Technology changing the face of recruiting explains that colleges may back off if they see things on Facebook about a player that do not fit what they want on their team. Players much pay attention to the new social media too and make sure they are setting up an appropriate image as well.
Coaches and recruiters should really take note of the colleges already using social media. They are definitely ahead of the game and have created an edge that makes them more accessible to potential talent.
The sports industry has been no stranger to the new social media and is using it to create new sites for fans and anybody else interesting in following sports. Sports Media Challenge has created a glossary of some social media terms as well as some social media sites for sports fans. The glossary Winning Fans with Social Media highlights three different important sites that give fans a place to communicate as well as offers some other blogs that sports fans should visit. Highlighted below are the three sources and some of the features included when visiting these sites:
The first site is called Ballhype, a sports news sites highlighted some of the biggest stories on the web. Fans can read stories about their favorite type of sports. Everything from the NFL and MLB to Soccer and Boxing is on Ballhype. Fans can also post their own stories about an important sport updates. This website also shows videos from youtube and you can follow the site on other social media sites on twitter and facebook.
Another important site is FanNation. This is a site owned by Sports Illustrated and similar to Ballhype it discusses top sports stories but is also a great source for rumors. A fun feature about this website is called throw down. It is a page where two sport’s fans can debate on hot topics. Each fan gets three tries to argue a their point. Other fans can comment and vote on the winner. This site gives fans a place to come to and get everything they need and want about their favorite teams and athletes.
The final site for Sports Fanatics is called Sports Blog Index. This site is a great reference to find the top sports blogs on the Internet. The way this site determines the rankings of these blogs is through three types of criteria. Content is first. Posts should be interesting and valuable to the readers. Next is community. This shows just how many people are visiting the site and commenting. Lastly there is influence. This demonstrates the blogs overall influence in the sports blogosphere. Every sports fan should visit this site to direct them towards some great blogs on the Internet!
These are just a few of the great sites that are out there for sports fans and each site uses the new social media and technology to suffice the needs of the fans and the sports industry.
As the 2010 Olympic games continues in Vancouver social media sites and applications are connecting fans, athletes, sponsors and advertisers. Sponsors, as stated in an article from USA Today called Olympic sponsors reach out through YouTube, Facebook, Twitter are calling it the “Social Games.” The accessibility to the athletes and the events through social media will impact the olympic games like never before.
One of the most talked about apps is the NBC Olympics app which will be set up to give event updates on the iPhone. In a blog post called NBC Olympics app delivers mobile Vancouverthe author Ronny Kerr discusses the iPhone app main screen which will display headline stories about the games. Other features include a list of sports that users can access to gain updates on that specific event. This app will also give users a list of the days events as well as who won which medals. This is a great way to connect fans with the games as well as iPhone to the olympics.
iPhone is not the only product producing ways to connect with social media youtube is taking advantage of the Olympic games It is using videos to show highlights of the events and previews for upcoming ones. As well as an inside look of everything that goes on outside the events. One video on youtube Introducing The Street View Snowmobile shows how google maps is capturing the scenery at the olympic games.
These Olympics will hopefully give Sports a Social Media boosts and create more interaction regarding these large events in the future. Sports fans get excited because the olympics is coming into your lives in more ways than one!
This years super bowl everyone from athletes to advertisers used social media tools to hype up the NFL Superbowl. Every source of social media was being used to connect athletes with fans and display companies products. Social media and the super bowl finally collided and there was no way of getting away from it!
In Mashable, a social media guide, the article 8 Social Media Resources for Super Bowl XLIV describes the top eight places where social media was used during the Super Bowl. Choose your team, one of the top eight, gives some exciting websites where fans can go to interact with other fans. Some of the well-known ones are MyColts and Black and Gold. Staying informed is also important and fans can visit places such as AOLs Fanhouse Super bowl page to get information on the team and their positions before they descend upon the field.
One of the interesting ones seen on the top 8 resources was food. How important is food on game day? I think everyone would agree it is one of the things that make the super bowl that much sweeter. That is why places such as the Food Network give great super bowl recipes to share with all your family and friends.
Another article on Mashable called How Social Media Is Changing the Super Bowl describes the advertisements and commercials during the Super Bowl. Advertisers are stirring up controversy by playing banned advertisements on youtube, and gaining support for their advertisements on Facebook. Advertisers also used it to create more buzz about the game and their products. An example would be Coca-Cola who used the facebook Live Instantly application to let fans share a “virtual coke bottle on facebook in order to watch a sneak peek of one of their advertisements.”
Commercials also were seen as being a top 8 social media resource during the super bowl. They took every aspect of social media to get their products displayed and fans wanting more.
We are at point where it is not enough to watch your favorite athletes on TV and see highlights of games the day after. We are a society that is looking for a more instantaneous connection with our sports stars and athletes who are starting to use social media to give their fans a way to connect with them.
They are using Facebook and Twitter to talk about their games and further their agendas of staying connected to fans. Athletes also use social media to create a persona and drive future business opportunities. Social networking is promoting fans to increase their connection with the teams they love.
The 76ers is just one of the many teams that are reaching out and using Twitter as a social media platform. In an article written by USA Today titled 76ers reach out, touch fans with Twitter it explains how this NBA team is using social media to communicate with their fans. The article states that “Twitter compliments the Sixers website and traditional media.” The tweets are written by the public relations team. They offer fans with courtside insight as well special deals and items for fans. The team was cautious at first but they soon realized just how powerful social media can be and how it can help create fan loyalty.
Individual athletes are also using Twitter to connect with fans. Lance Armstrong, Tony Hawk, and Andy Roddick are just some of the professional athletes using Twitter to communicate. Sports and Social Media: Where Opportunity and Fear Collide is an article demonstrates how these athletes are using twitter. They use it to respond to comments, and host live web broadcasts. The fans feel they can relate more to the athletes that are using social media in creative ways.
Social Media benefits both the athlete and the fan. These tools make it easier for fans to gain access to their favorite athletes and teams. As for the athletes they can increase their following and create new and improved business opportunities.
