The New Sports Community

Using Social Media to Increase Awareness, Drive Traffic and

Generate Coverage

Introduction

Born: Lawton, Oklahoma 1970First Computer: Fairfax, Virginia 1983Stumbled Upon Internet: 1992Built First Web Site: IBM 1996Started TEKGROUP: 1998

Works with using social media and social networks to generate presscoverage, drive traffic to web sites,and help increase the awareness ofboth small and large organizations.

Steve MomorellaTEKGROUP International

Is this Social Media? Yes.

But this is also social media…

And yes, this too…

People are:Talking about the Pawtucket Red Sox on Facebook.

Talking about the Durham Bulls on Twitter.

Talking about the Philadelphia Phillies on Digg.

Sharing tailgating photos from a World Series game on Flickr.

Actively liking (or disliking) draft picks or trades.

Looking for things to do on the weekend.

Watching YouTube videos of their favorite players

Searching blogs for the best deals on tickets and merchandise.

Using Twitter to keep up with managerial and player moves.

Why social media is important to your brand

The Scouting Report

• Facebook Users• Twitter Account Followers by League• Tweets During NBA Finals vs. World Cup• Twitter Activity By MLB Team• YouTube Videos• News on Digg, Reddit and other outlets

The Scouting Report

500,000,000

500,000,000 Facebook Users60,000,000 update their status every single day

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

0

50,000,000

100,000,000

150,000,000

200,000,000

250,000,000

300,000,000

350,000,000

400,000,000

450,000,000

500,000,000

2,124,124

1,025,886

1,778,152

2,124,124

450,148

MLB

NFL

NBA

NHL

Number of Followers on Twitter for Major Sports Leagues

3,283

Data visualization of the volume of tweets during World Cup 2010 matches. The recordfor number of tweets per second was set at 3,283. Tweets per second. Worldwide.

Four days later that record was broken during the Lakers/Celtics championship game.

An average day on Twitter is 750 tweets per second.

548

MLB Team Twitter Accounts

Baltimore Orio

les

Chicago

White

Sox

Detroit T

igers

Los A

ngeles A

ngels

New York Yanke

es

Seattle M

ariners

Texas R

angers

Arizona Diamondbacks

Chicago

Cubs

Colorado Rockies

Houston Astr

os

Milwauke

e Brewers

Philadelphia Philli

es

San Diego

Padres

St. Lo

uis Card

inals0

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

Fan outreach / contest

Minor League news

Community

Key influencer

People are watching 2 billion videos a day on YouTube

DIGG gets more than 6,000,000 visitors per month reading and voting on news.

Reddit gets nearly 2,000,000 visitors per month reading and voting on news.

Today’s Lineup

Increase Awareness

Drive Traffic

Generate Coverage

What’s On Deck

Increase Awareness

• Brand recognition• Share of voice• Creating network of localized content• Engage fans & youth players• Content, content, content• Community based programs & outreach

Increase Awareness

• Your organization is your brand• Consistency of social media message• Cross promote offline & online campaigns• Picture worth 1000 words; Video worth 10,000

GOOD BETTER BEST

Increase Awareness: Brand Recognition

• Who are your competitors? – Other events going on locally– Teams in fringe cities where fans have choices

• Percentage that your brand makes up of the overall set of news and messages online

• Increased Share of Voice = Increased Awareness

Increase Awareness: Share of Voice

• Offer a network of local content • Automate news feeds from your farm system

Sponsored by Your Team

newsevents

bars/dining

concerts

movies

other sports (farm)

Increase Awareness: Localized Content Offering

art/theater

• Leverage existing fans and brand enthusiasts• Create brand evangelists• 15-25 year olds are very active in social media

Increase Awareness: Engage with Fans & Youth

• More & Better Content = More Awareness• Create content channels from within your

organization from top to bottom• Repurpose existing content• Establish editorial calendar outside of games– Contests, polls, Top 10 plays, videos, voting

Increase Awareness: Content, Content, Content

• Promote off field activities in the community• Keep awareness high during off-season• Create online community programs

Increase Awareness: Community Outreach

• Web Site• Online Newsroom• Store & Ticket Sales• Other Social Media Sites

Drive Traffic

• Identify “landing pages” on your web site • Create special hyperlinks that are trackable• Use social media to drive traffic

Drive Traffic: Web Site

• Create automated feeds of your press releases and media content

• Journalists use Twitter to search for stories• Promote your news content

Drive Traffic: Online Newsroom

• Identify all products and specials that are running in your online store

• Create trackable hyperlink• Social media promotions for coupons

Drive Traffic: Store & Ticket Sales

• Cross promote between various social media channels

• Relevant links between sites helps with SEO

Drive Traffic: Other Social Media Sites

• Blogs• Traditional Media • Social Media Outlets• Monitoring

Generate Coverage

Inquirer (S/S) Inquirer (M-F) Twitter Facebook0

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

700,000

800,000

Reach

Generate Coverage: Reach

• Build relationships with key bloggers in your city (both sports and non-sports related)

• Create your own blog to offer story ideas and to provide insight into your organization (behind the scenes)

• Create ongoing blog editorial calendar that syncs with existing communications messages

Generate Coverage: Blogs

• Most print, TV, and radio outlets also are on social media – follow and friend them

• Provide links to your social media channels in all traditional press outreach (email, fax, mail)

• Make your use of social media the story

Generate Coverage: Traditional Media

• Treat social media outlets as legitimate news outlets (Twitter, Facebook, Digg)

• Breaking news (good and bad) on social media will spread quicker and also stay relevant longer

• Create relationships with key social media influencers in your city

Generate Coverage: Social Media Mentions

• It is no longer enough to just monitor traditional media outlets

• Setup a social media dashboard that shows you metrics from your efforts

• Many free packages exist that allow you to track online mentions

• Monitor your competition

Generate Coverage: Monitoring

• Evaluate Where You Are

• Social Media Strategy

• Determine goals

• Centralize content

• Dashboard

• Mobile

What’s On Deck

• Create quick list of social media outlets that you currently have and baseline numbers

• Who in your organization is responsible for social media?

• Do you have a social media policy?• What are your competitors doing in social

media?

What’s On Deck: Current Evaluation

• Start with an organization wide policy• State your intended goals• Create a plan and editorial content calendar• Monitor and measure successes

What’s On Deck: Social Media Strategy

• Traffic• Coverage• Sales• Attendance• Awareness• Share of Voice• Mentions• Follower Base• Cost/Time Savings

What’s On Deck: Determine Goals

• Create a centralized online newsroom• Repurpose existing content into news channel• Categorize content (community, players, team)• Use email alerts and social media distribution

What’s On Deck: Centralized Content

Online Newsroom

• Based on goals, determine the appropriate measurement criteria and metrics that you want to track

• Make the dashboard available within your organization

• Update with new tools and techniques• Create dashboards for your competitors to

monitor their use of social media

What’s On Deck: Internal Dashboard

• Significant amount of social media usage is done on iPhone, Blackberry

• Ensure that your messages are readable in mobile formats

• Engage with people 24x7

• Offer exclusives and incentives only to social media and mobile users

What’s On Deck: Mobile

Extra Innings• Athletes & Social Media Case Study: 49ers' Takeo Spikes

• The NBA and Social Media - A case study

• Blackhawks Tweet Their Way to Success in NHL Marketing Lesson ...

• Case Study: NBA Social Media Strategy & Tactics

• Social Media Turns Good Sports Fans Into Great Ones

• The Technology Behind the World Series

Extra Innings

Steve Momorella734-945-7790

steve@tekgroup.comhttp://www.twitter.com/tekgroup

http://www.facebook.com/stevemomorella