As I’ve been saying for the past few years, sports and social media are a perfect match. Why? People are passionate about sports, and social media enables them to express their passion for sports and connect with others who share their passion.

Over the next month, I’m going to do a series on social media, sports and why we should care. While it may be obvious to many of you why people in sports should care, it’s still not obvious to everyone.

The “Why Should We Care” Series will look at social media and sports from a variety of perspectives and stakeholders. I’d like to cover:

• why fans should care
• why teams should care
• why athletes should care
• why agents should care
• why coaches should care
• why colleges should care
• why agencies should care
• why properties should care
• why sponsors should care
• and any other suggestions/ideas you have on who should care

I’d really like to involve anyone who wants to be a part of this series. Drop me a line here or send me a message (jpeck at hwy24 dot com) if you’d like to offer your perspective or would like to contribute your thoughts to any part of this series. Or, if you have any ideas on what you’d like to learn or see covered in this series, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Social Media is not magic.

You can’t assume it will work wonders for you. Being on Twitter will not automatically increase your sales. Starting a Facebook page is not a strategy. Just being involved is not enough; it’s about what you do with it and why you’re doing it.

It takes commitment, creativity,  and strategery. And, as Cody Swann pointed out, it takes patience.

But some brands and people will still get it wrong. Avoid the tactics below or else you’ll also see how it feels to strike out with social media.

Not setting goals – Brands and people need to figure out what they’re trying to achieve by being involved with social media. Not setting or having goals is a sure fire way to strike out.

Not listening – Not listening to what people are saying about you before/during participating in conversations and creating new programs will land you a seat at the end of the bench. Not reading/listening to bloggers before pitching them stories is another great way to fail. Please remember that different communities and websites each have their own culture and jargon. Pay attention to details.

Trying to exert too much control – People will think/say/blog/tweet what they want. Brands can influence the conversation and direct it, but trying to exert too much control will earn you a one-way ticket to the minor leagues. Nestle, unfortunately, gives us a good example of what not to do (trying to cover-up/delete negative comments).

Being Fake – Authenticity is a key fundamental of social media. Pretending to be someone you’re not or hiring someone to act as you is a great way to fail. Dishonesty=disaster. Remember the Walmart FAIL from 2006?

Not balancing participation and promotion – When you’re engaging people, you need to focus on being helpful and participating the right way more than promoting your own products and services. If you’re only there to promote yourself, people will notice right away and you’ll be destined to strikeout in social media until you change your ways.

Not committing adequate resources - Depending on your goals, you’ll need to invest time, employees, education and money into being successful. Not dedicating proper resources will hurt any chance you may have at success.

What other tactics for social media strikeouts would you add to this list?

Next time, I’ll share some tactics for social media home runs. If you want to share a few sentences/tips for this next post, send me an email (jpeck at hwy24 dot com) and I’ll make sure to include your ideas. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

*image credit – artolog on Flickr

You can see some of my notes here and here. Also, you should check out a series of video interviews I did with 10 really smart people talking about their visions of a killer mobile+social app. If you still can’t get enough of my face, you can watch a short video of me being interviewed by Lewis Howes, a star speaker, entrepreneur and author.

I learned a ton and met some awesome people at BlogWorld. It was hard to narrow down my thoughts to just three main takeaways but here’s my attempt:

1) Go To More Good Events

I’ve always enjoyed going to some of the local events in Raleigh but lately have started going to other events outside NC. I’ve been fortunate to meet some awesome people at these events. No matter how much things are moving online, there is no substitute for meeting people face-to-face. It was great to be able to put faces to names and hang out with some people who I’ve “known” for awhile online, but hadn’t ever met in real life. As many have said before, one goal of online interactions is to create real-world relationships, and going to good events is one way to move things along. It was great to be able to meet people like Beth Harte (community manager for MarketingProfs-even if it was just for 2 minutes), Suhkjit Ghag (social media evangelist at Sony) and David Spinks (community manager for Scribnia).

Hopefully, I’ll be able to continue going to amazing events and meeting great people. I should have done this more in the past.

2) Focus More

Amber Naslund said in her panel on time management strategies for social media, “sometimes you have to kill your babies.”

She was referring to projects that have stalled or that you’re not passionate about.

I’ve had a variety of websites and projects since I started blogging in 2006. If success is defined as them making money, then yes, some have been and are successful. But I realized there are some projects I have that I’m not that passionate about. They’re taking time away from things I am passionate about, such as sports and social media and online communities. I need to focus on things I’m passionate about and phase out of the other stuff.

3) Give Back More

If you look at some of the most successful people in life and online, the common denominator is that they give. A lot.

They give their time and ideas. They give others a platform to speak and be heard. And they give opportunities for other people to shine.

I’ll be honest. I’ve done a crappy job at this lately. I could make excuses and say I’ve been busy with work, but ultimately, excuses suck. I really need to step up my game.

This has kind of been in the back of my mind for a while. Meeting Lewis Howes in person turned this into something I can’t ignore.

If you don’t know who Lewis Howes is, you should get to know him. In the last year, he’s developed one of the best resources on sports and new media (SportsNetworker.com), co-written a book on how to master LinkedIn, and become an awesome speaker.

While I’ve been too “busy” to blog or collaborate or shine the spotlight on others, Lewis has been doing just that and has become a force in the sports industry.

I feel lucky to have the privilege to know you, Lewis, and hopefully collaborate on some things in the future. Thanks for being so awesome and making me realize that I need to do a better job at giving back more-my time, attention, thanks and ideas.

Thanks to everyone for reading, and have a good night.

• Market research
• Product development
• Customer service
• Sales and marketing
• Employee hiring

A few businesses and teams get this, but overall we’re still not there yet. Many teams are getting involved, but not always with a purpose or clear strategy. A Facebook page that has 100k people on it is worthless, without the proper strategy behind it. If you’re a team, you don’t really want Facebook fans, you want ticket buyers.

The video below describes some ideas for ways that teams can use social media the right way and what benefits they (and their fans) can get from this.

The last idea in the video is one I look forward to exploring more, and would love your thoughts on. It’s one thing to do some basic videos occasionally and make them exclusive to Twitter or YouTube to drive awareness and engagement. But hardcore fans are always willing to consume more, in my opinion. Why aren’t teams capitalizing on this?

More and more fans now want to participate, be involved in the creation of ticket packages, get exclusive, behind-the-scenes videos, articles and real-time updates, get personalized merchandise, vote on ideas for sponsor promotions, etc.  Clearly people want content in new forms as indicated by the explosion of sites like Twitter. Why aren’t more teams taking some of these concepts, creating new content areas and fan clubs and charging fans for access to drive revenue?

If you’re a die-hard Lakers fan, wouldn’t you pay for the right to see Kobe’s real-time updates right after the game, before the press get a crack at him? Wouldn’t you pay to have access to short, 30 second videos from Phil Jackson before and after practice? Wouldn’t you pay for a chance to ask a member of the Lakers staff or ownership any question you wanted once a month? I know I would.

I think teams may need to rethink a lot of the things they’re doing online. There should be a balance between using these free social media tools to expand an audience and keep a pulse on what fans want/think vs. charging people for access to really cool content and opportunities. Some of the things teams and players are doing on outside sites could be moved in-house (and on team communities, so they have a better value proposition) so they can be better monetized and packaged for hardcore fans. I think this is the only way teams will see a good ROI from their efforts and will be able to justify spending money on new opportunities that serve to engage fans in more ways.

I’m always interested in hearing what you think. Thanks for watching/reading and I look forward to your thoughts on this.

Here’s an interesting picture taken from Compete.com:

According to Compete.com (probably not 100% accurate, but usually pretty close), both sites attracted roughly the same amount of unique visitors last month as they did in July of 2008. Here are the numbers:

• Planet Orange – 1,767 unique visitors in July (1,413 uniques in July 2008)
• MyColts.net – 8,290 unique visitors in July (8,137 uniques in July 2008)

Unique visitors is only one indicator of growth, and I didn’t look at other important metrics such as number of active members, time spent on site, revenue generated from community members, etc. But according to Compete.com, the communities haven’t grown much in terms of unique visitors over the past year. Why haven’t these sites grown more?

I can’t say for sure, but my guess is that it’s a combination of things:

• Lack of promotion
• Lack of integration with existing marketing efforts
• No clear value proposition stated on the home page
• Not enough unique/exclusive content and access
• More focus on fans on existing social media sites (Facebook, MySpace, etc)

But those are just a few guesses. I really have no idea why these two communities appear to have stagnated in growth. I wonder if other team communities have also stagnated. What do you think?

Are official online team communities a good idea? I still say yes (when executed properly), but would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks to Tim for having me on the call yesterday and thanks to everyone else for taking time out of your day to listen. I hope it was beneficial and please feel free to contact me with any more questions you may have. If you’re from one of the organizations from the call, thanks for checking out my blog. For everyone else. here are some points I shared today about social media marketing and six main principles.

What Is Social Media Marketing?

Social Media marketing is a huge buzz word these days, but what does it really mean? I think it really boils down to this (and I’m definitely not the only one who has said this before): Social media marketing is when companies take a human approach to marketing by participating in conversations with their audiences. It’s about engaging audiences in an authentic way to provide helpful information, solve problems and build relationships to achieve business goals and gain a leg up on the competition. In the past this was difficult (and it’s still not easy), but the tools and platforms that are available now have made this a more viable option…and a necessity in many cases, depending on your audience and goals.

6 Principles

Here are 6 principles of social media marketing that I shared with the group. These weren’t meant to be how-tos or steps to take to create a strategy, so measurement and setting goals weren’t included (though I did include those pieces in another part of the presentation). These principles are more about the actions that an organization’s audience will notice and appreciate.

1) Listen

It’s been said before but I will say it again. Research your audience first.  Figure out where they are and what they’re saying about you, your category and your competitors before attempting to insert yourself in conversations online. Spend a month and make notes of the types of conversations about you and what percentage are positive and negative. Listen. Learn the various unspoken rules, guideines and dos and don’ts of the communities you’re thinking about joining. When you do start participating, listen to your audience and figure out what they like. Involve them in idea generation and product creation. Use social media platforms and tools to provide customer service on steroids. It’s about them, not you.

2) Engage

This has a dual-meaning. Part of social media marketing is engaging your audience on their own turf. Your goal may be to get people to come to your website, but what really should matter is engaging people (they way they want to be reached) to build relationships. The other part of this is providing and creating content that is engaging. If it’s not interesting or helpful or entertaining, people aren’t going to care or pay attention to your efforts. Put yourself in your audience’s shoes. Is whatever content you’re producing something that is interesting and good enough to share? If not, then you should re-evaluate your efforts.

3) Enable

Based on your research and listening, you can probably identify some people who are already talking about your organization. These people are great to involve in your efforts, so you should empower them and give them the tools and content to become an even bigger advocate for you. This also includes enabling people to share your content with their friends on various websites, and maybe letting people take your content and create new content from it in the form of remixes, mashups, and videos. Give people ways to feel ownership of your brand and they’ll get closer to it. Lastly, empower and enable your employees to get involved in your efforts.

4) Share

Share interesting articles, pictures, videos, links about you and your industry. Give to get. Give some more. Give and share your time, attention, expertise, questions and insight with your audience. The more you do this, the more relationships and trust you will build. Your audience will appreciate this, and that’s good for business.

5) Reward

If people are taking the time to interact with you online, why not reward them (and in some cases, you may have to reward them). Reward your loyal and passionate fans and followers with exclusive content, access, discounts and promotions. There’s also an opportunity to involve sponsors in this piece to give your fans something of value.

6) Participate

Participate, don’t promote. If all you do is say, “Look how great I am, look how awesome my product is” people will get tired of it really quickly and stop listening. The whole point of social media marketing is to participate in conversations with your audience, not just talk at them. You don’t have to start with a huge splash; this invites a lot more scrutiny and criticism from people who might not like what you’re doing. If you start slow, there are still a lot of things you can do and learn from. Participation is the key.

Thoughts?

Photo credits:

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/niclindh/1389750548/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/wooandy/220929743/

Check out the video below for some of my thoughts about participation marketing-what it is, why it matters and how teams can utilize social media to follow some of these principles. Some of these ideas are things that a lot pro teams are already doing, though I think there are some ways they can improve things.

Thanks for watching. I’d love to hear what your thoughts are for ways teams can get to know fans better, involve them in creating ticket packages/promotions  and make them feel like they have a stake in their success.

Legacy Direct

1 – How did you become the guy to lead Legacy Direct into social media?

I was brought onto the Legacy Direct team as an intern in July of 2008, doing mostly research and administrative work. Within the first few months, I realized how significant the social media marketplace was becoming and wanted to create a blog to reflect the messaging of our company.

2 – Can you give an example of one of your your clients who has utilized social media to enhance his/her brand and connect with fans?

Sure. A great example is Natalie Gulbis, a LPGA Tour golfer, who has just recently began using Twitter to engage with fans and show them what she is all about.

**Take A Note: In less than two months, Natalie has over 2,000 followers–people who are interested in seeing updates from her about golf/life/whatever. Using Twitter is a GREAT way for athletes to show their human/personal side and connect directly with their fans.**

3 -We connected on Twitter. What about it made you want to bring Legacy into the community there?

I wanted to bring Legacy into the twitter community to strengthen the reach of our social media initiatives. I soon realized how valuable Twitter can be in the way of networking and building a brand.

4 – What is your favorite professional sports team and how do you currently get your news/updates about them?

My favorite professional sports team is the New York Mets. I currently get my news/updates about them by going directly to the team’s website or by reading blogs written by Mets’ fans.

5 -Have they ever tried to connect with you personally on social media sites (that you’re aware of)?

No, the Mets organization has not tried to do that. However, there are lots of Mets’ fans who operate blogs and are more than happy to connect if it means increased readership for their site.

6 – How would you like them to connect with you online and what kind of information would you want to receive from them?

I think it would be nice if the Mets had an “official” twitter account, where I could receive daily updates. A good example of a successful fan integration and public relations movement by a professional sports team is the Phoenix Suns, who have done a great job connecting with fans on twitter.

7 – Let’s say they wanted to connect with you and other fans but were unsure about the consequences/potential drawbacks. What advice would you have for them?

I would say, “Look at what the Phoenix Suns are doing with all of their social media initiatives and how they are staying on top of the latest technology. If you (the team) don’t start to embrace some of these new technologies, you will fall behind in terms of fan engagement and interaction.

——

Thanks, Andy. I think we’ll see more and more teams and athletes taking note of these new technologies to increase engagement with fans.

Are you or your team interested in learning more about how to use Twitter to connect with your fans? Contact me and let’s talk.

1 -Let’s briefly talk about your experiences with marketing your company online. You’re active on sites such as Twitter, Facebook and StumbleUpon. How did you decide to jump into social media and start participating?

I first got started with SM (social media) through a friend of mine who was trying to convince me that blogging would help my business to grow. For the first few months, it became an addiction and I had to learn to pick the SM sites that I most enjoyed, and that I felt would most benefit me on a business aspect. Being in the construction industry, it was hard to find people to connect with (within the construction industries) so I went for locals (triangle and NC in general). I am noticing more people in my industry blogging and micro-blogging now, and hope that continues to grow. Oddly enough, the main reason was to promote my business, but I now rarely do that on twitter, plurk or Facebook. It is more about connecting and networking with people.

2 – How has your involvement with social media affected your business and sales?

I would have to say that social media has given me great satisfaction in growing my business. My blog and the SM I participate in is the ONLY advertising I do. I have had articles written about me, been recognized as someone bringing high tech ideas to a low tech industry by people such as Darren Rowse, Wayne Sutton, and others who have noticed me on twitter and found my blog. The internet is how people find the products they need, there is no need to avoid that, instead we should embrace it.

3 – What is the #1 thing you’ve gotten out of your involvement in social media?

Probably the invaluable plethora of information I have discovered through the people I have met, both online and in person at tweet-ups and events like BloggerBash. The information I am talking about (what I was looking for) has to do with wordpress, blogging, SEO and other things which have helped me bring my website to the front page on most of the searches I wanted to be on. I also have become involved in a community that I didn’t even know existed a year ago.

4 – We are both big fans of the Tar Heels. Where do you currently get your news and information about UNC sports?

Currently, I get my info from ACC.com, espn.com, and only recently did I discover InsideCarolina.com.

5 – To your knowledge, has anyone from the athletics department at UNC ever tried to connect with you via social media online?

No not that I am aware of, but if they did, I would certainly enjoy it.

6 – How would you like to be connected with them online (if at all)? What kind of information would you be interested in receiving from them?

Any of the sites I use (twitter, plurk, facebook, friendfeed, etc…) would be great. I like updates mainly on anything basketball ie: scouting reports, injury reports, scores (I do miss the games sometimes) stats, upcoming game schedules etc..

7 – Do you think an athletics department like UNC should have a single presence on social media sites for all sports, or should it be broken down by sport?

I would prefer it to be broken down. But if that isn’t possible, having them all together may get me more interested in all things Carolina Blue!

8 – As it stands, TarHeelBlue.com is a very informative site, but InsideCarolina is where most of the conversations about UNC Sports take place. Would you be interested if UNC turned tarheelblue.com into more of a community site, with features such as forums, comments, ability to connect with other fans etc?

Wouldn’t that be great! I would certainly participate in anything like that.

9 – Many sports brands (and brands in general) are hesitant about getting involved with social media. I’m sure you also probably had some uncertainties when you brought your business into this space. What would you tell UNC if they were wavering or unsure about whether they should start using social media to connect with their fans?

All I can say is, no matter what the uncertainties are… it is viral! Next thing you know there would be Carolina Blue TweetUps and other fan get-togethers based on the communities created around social media. I think people are scared to hear what others may not like about the brands that turn to social media, but what they don’t understand is that these people are the ones that USE those brands! You should be listening!

———–

Thanks, Keith! I’m very interested in how people would like their favorite teams to connect with them online. I know how I feel about this, but am always curious about what other people think. How would YOU like your favorite team to engage you online?

Please Take A Peck at this survey and let me know what you think.