Yesterday I had a great opportunity to speak on the phone about social media and marketing with some people from the marketing departments of about 20 national governing bodies for US sports. This was made possible by Tim Yount (VP of Marketing, USA Triathlon), who I met last month at the IEG Sponsorship Conference in [...]
Since it’s the end of the year, it’s time to start looking ahead (if you haven’t been already) to see what’s in store for next year. The last few months we’ve definitely seen an increase in discussions about how teams, leagues, athletes and agencies can take advantage of social media tools and communities to reach their audiences and increase engagement. I believe social media is only going to become more important in reaching fans in 2009. But before I start with my predictions I want to share a few articles I wrote this year about sports and social media:
On to the good stuff. Here are a few predictions I have about what’s going to happen in this space in 2009. Keep in mind these are just my own predictions. I’m sure I’ve left out a few things and haven’t covered everything in depth, so feel free to agree, disagree and/or discuss as you’d like, either on your own blog or by leaving a comment here. I’d love to hear what you think.
As we’ve seen with Gilbert Arenas, who was pretty much the first sports superstar to have a very popular blog, and now with Shaquille O’Neal, who is on Twitter and has over 21,000 followers, social media tools can be effective at connecting athletes with fans, generating buzz and helping fans really get to know athletes. The funny thing is, I bet a lot of Shaq’s followers on Twitter aren’t even die-hard Shaq or NBA fans. But it’s just really cool to be able to see quotes and updates from a celebrity, and some people who probably didn’t care much about him before, now have a reason to keep up with him because they see he’s a genuine, caring person (and he’s got some hilarious quotes, too). YardBarker also does a good job with its pro athlete blogs. I enjoy reading what Donovan McNabb and Rajon Rondo have to say there. Overall, I think more athletes will start blogging (note: it has to be the actual athlete for it to be authentic) and using social media tools like Twitter in 2009.
Many pro teams have already gotten involved with social media and blogging, as there are many benefits to be had (increase fan engagement, drive ticket sales, learn about your fans, increase reach of sponsor promotions, etc). If you don’t believe that social media tools such as Twitter can help you, think about this: Dell has said that Twitter has helped them generate over $1 million in revenue over the past year and a half. In 2009, even more teams will start Twitter accounts and become active on Facebook and fan communities. More teams may hire bloggers and people who will reach out to fans online for them. The key here is to actually interact with fans–don’t just promote your own content. You wouldn’t go to a party where you don’t know anyone and start shouting, would you? I’m a little worried that social media will become such a buzz word that people will think it is a quick fix for everything. That’s not true, and it definitely takes time and resources to utilize these tools the right way.
This may be more of a wish than a prediction. Sports agencies haven’t caught up to agencies in the advertising and media world in sharing their ideas and being open/honest on their websites. Many agency websites are currently static and boring–not something that people want to come back to. Sports agencies seem to be more protective of their ideas than ad agenices. To those who are worried about giving away ideas, I offer this quote from Neil Patel: “Sooner or later others are going to know what you know, so you might as well be the one to tell them.” I think that with the rise of information-sharing communities such as Sports Marketing 2.0 and LinkedIn Groups for people in the sports industry, agencies will realize that blogging and being open can be extremely valuable in helping position themselves as experts.
A great case study here is Darren Heitner’s Sports Agent Blog, which does a great job at highlighting issues in the athlete representation business and discussing news relating to his agency, Dynasty Reps. Earlier this year, Darren left a comment here, saying, “If it were not for the creation of SportsAgentBlog.com, Dynasty Athlete Representation would probably not yet exist today.” That shows just how effective blogging can be in helping a business build a reputation, gain influence and get new clients.
I don’t like ending on a negative note but I think this should be said. Some people think that starting a sports community or social network is easy because there are X millions of sports fans out there who are passionate about their favorite sports, teams and players. The market is huge, right? This is much easier said than done. The bottom line is that there are already tons and tons of places for fans to interact online–message boards, team sites, fan blogs, and existing communties…plus sites like Facebook and MySpace, where there are tons of sports groups for fans to debate and interact. To be successful, a community must offer something besides the benefit of connecting–that can be exclusive content, videos, access to star players, etc. And then you still need to have partners who can drive traffic to your site. If you want a great example of how to build a community the right way, look no further than BallisLife.com, which is developing into a great community for basketball fans and players. I’ll write something up about them soon, but the bottom line is that when I want to talk about basketball, that’s where I go now. I don’t go to ESPN, or Sports Illustrated or Yahoo.
Those are a few of my predictions for this space in 2009. I’d love to hear what you think. If there are enough people interested, I’ll write a separate article with some of YOUR predictions. If you’d like to be included, leave a comment here or write a response on your own blog and I’ll try to include it in the article.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Hey Jason,
I think all of your points are valid. As I eluded to in my most recent post (http://www.beehivepr.biz/thebuzz/ or http://sportsmarketing20.com/profiles/blogs/yet-another-reason-to-play-in), with the structure of today’s leagues and the un-godly amount of money the product (athlete) generates, there is a natural disconnect with fans. Social media can be the answer to the connection sponsors, properties and athletes need to build loyalty to their specific brand. Shaq was a great example. Until I saw Shaq on Twitter yesterday, I could have cared less about Shaq. now it’s cool to see someone of his stature interacting on a consistent basis with the “common folk”. I think about his influence and brand appeal and what will/can/will happen when he mentions on Twitter that his favorite (enter product ,restaurant, etc. here) is and the impact that can have for a brand. It’s free publicity reaching 20,000 plus consumers.
As I continue to shake my head at the NHL and praise NASCAR, I believe there will be an ever growing need for access to the athletes if leagues and brands want to benefit from their product.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Jason
I definitely think we’ll see an increased adoption among both athletes and teams (and possibly agencies as well). I have had one recently approach me about ways to increase their visibility and the visibility of their athletes.
The big thing from my vantage point though is that sports are still behind. They’re still asking why and how, and not who. “Who” being the people that log all the man hours to make social media work. It’s not just post a community and watch it flourish. There’s a lot of nurturing and work that goes on behind the scenes to make successful communities, blogs, et al. thrive.
I was kind of surprised by the omission of measurement in your post, albeit it is tough to discuss. I think sports entities have to start asking questions about both measurement (it has to be about engagement, not # of hits) and about how social media is/will be different for sports; should it be?
Like you, I am interested in what sports communities pop up. Sure sports brands can go to where the fans are at, but they can also give them new avenues to communicate, share, and learn in new networks specific to a category, a team, etc.
I think sports has the ability to start closing the gap. Traditional media types still don’t “get it;” they don’t understand that it’s about intimacy and having genunie conversations. Maybe those conversations are easier to have when they’re surrounding sports? Maybe everyone needs to read Mike Veeck and apply his wisdom to social media. Now there’s an opportunity to build something for the fans that has the potential to be sustainable.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Thanks for your comments. Matt, I definitely agree with your Shaq statement. Ryan, I didn’t intentionally leave out measurement, just left it out due to time restraints…though you’re right that I should have included it. There are things you can measure, but of course, it depends on what you’re trying to achieve. My opinion is that while there may not be a perfect solution for measuring results with social media, that doesn’t mean businesses shouldn’t participate, or at least, experiment.
I agree with you that it’s about genuine conversations. People are talking about the good AND bad things re: teams and players. You’d think they’d want to at least listen and have a chance to join the conversation. Pretending that stuff isn’t there or not participating doesn’t make it go away. It just means that you lose the ability to make a difference, clear up a mistake, or win a new fan.
December 18th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Great article! I am definitely excited about the social media market in 2009. To add to some of the points stated above, I think that we are going to see tremendous growth in the realm of ‘niche’ social networking sites. Social networking empowers fans and I expect to see growth in sponsorship as tier one brands look to tap into the passion and loyalty demonstrated by sports fans powering grassroots online communities.
-Rafe Anderson, CEO TruMedia Networks
December 18th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Jason,
What a great post! I sent it to my friends as a “must read.”
As a challenge, I’m wondering what you think about these insights as they relate to women’s sports? Does that change your predictions?
Very interested in hearing your comments on that.
By the way, love your blog.
Megan
December 19th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Great post, as always. Thanks for the shout out. Happy Holidays to you and all your readers.
January 5th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Microcommunites. More athletes. More team organizations. Blogs as a monetizer. I agree with your analysis and prognostication however this economic climate is a rough one. I fear that it may slow down the effect to 2010 as marketing is one of the first budget items cut despite proven studies. I hope I’m wrong…HH@showoffsports.com
January 20th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Will professional teams turn their official sites into social networks first, stats-schedules-resources second? Seems like a huge gap in social networking right now. What better way to sell tickets, apparel and promote the brand itself than by making TorontoRaptors.com or whatever the go-to place for fan interaction?
January 29th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Some really great predictions here. I think the last one is especially good. In general, successful sites definitely need a niche or hook of some kind. I feel like there are a lot of professional sports news aggregators where the idea is for fans to debate amongst themselves. They just end up seeming generic and vanilla, so sites will need to get something that really gives them a leg up.
February 12th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Hey, Jason check out the social network we built for the Detroit Pistons called Posting Up below:
http://postingup.2dogs.com/home/index.php