Social Media and Sports – A Perfect Team

By: Kasey Skala, guest blogger

 

Sports fans are some of the most passionate and vocal people. Never ones to be shy about how they feel their team should be operating, every sports fan has an opinion. Prior to Web 2.0, if a team or organization wanted to spread their message, their options were fairly limited. You had radio, press conferences or an interview with a sports journalist. While informative, the organization held complete control. Fans were stuck with a few message boards and their friends. My how the times have changed.

 

With the traditional model becoming a dying breed, the Web has become a great and promising tool for sports fans to connect and voice their opinions. While blogs and message boards have been around for quite some time, most sports fans didn’t have direct access to their favorite team or athlete. Social media has changed that.

 

The landscape has taken a complete 180 and now a lot of the control lies in the hands of fans. Suddenly, sports has landed that key free-agent and its name is Social Media.

 

Why social media and sports make sense:

 

1.  Direct interaction with desired community – Social media allows teams and organizations to have instant and direct interaction with their community. Teams can receive immediate feedback, they can monitor public opinion and can cut a potential crisis off at its roots.

 

2.   Athletes can become more human – Suddenly that role model, that idol, that athlete you wish you were becomes, well, more like you. Who would have thought that I could have a conversation with @kaj33 (Kareem Addul-Jabbar) or that @cardinal_brian (NBA player Brian Cardinal) would be asking for restaurant recommendations. As corny as it may seem, suddenly you realize that athletes are just like any other human being – only with more money, fame and a sweet job.

 

3.  Increased reach/awareness – I’m a big fan of sports, but it’s impossible for me to watch every event. Social media allows you to broadcast your sport/event to a mass audience that may not otherwise be able to watch. @PGATour is a prime example. A lot of the smaller tournaments aren’t on t.v. @PGATour does a great job with updates, stats and other news about golf. So even though I’m not physically watching, I have access. A lot of NBA teams have Twitter accounts and broadcast as well. We all lead busy lives and in this economy we may not have the funds to attend an event in person, social media allows an organization to remain top-of-mind.

 

4.  True two-way communication – Isn’t two-way communication what PR is all about? Social media (if done properly) is about building relationships with your community. Blogs are are a great tool for two-way communication. There’s a reason why content is going online and news papers are becoming more strategic to run (I delivered news papers as a kid and originally wanted to be a sports journalist, so it pains me too).

 

5.  Increased control over message – Social media allows for two-communication, but it also allows an athlete or team to control the message. Social media allows an organization to immediately address negative and/or incorrect information, thus, avoiding potential loss of reputation (i.e. Dominos). I follow professional wrestling (don’t laugh) and a lot of wrestlers, as well as MMA fighters & boxers, use Facebook to address the rumors that are reported on various blogs.

 

6.  Improve your brand – Like actors and musicians, part of being a professional athlete is branding yourself. Social media allows you get personal and increase your personal brand. Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, is using Twitter to give back to his fans through product give-a-ways. While he’s probably doing this without a hidden agenda, this is a brilliant move for his personal brand.

 

7.  Allows you to become an influencer – In the old traditional model, mass media outlets were where we looked for credibility. Social media has changed that model and now stories break on blogs. TrueHoop started as your average blog, had great content, and was eventually bought by ESPN. It’s a prime example of how great content builds credibility. Remember folks, content is still king.

 

There are a lot of other teams/organizations/athletes out there utilizing other social media platforms, it just happens that, in my opinion, Twitter provides the most use.

 

The landscape of how we get our information is rapidly changing. While the traditional mediums will still exist in some form, social media allows an organization, a team, an athlete to integrate another tool to reach their audience.

 

We’re in a society where creating lasting relationships is an increasingly important trend and those organizations that can humanize their brand, will be the ones to reap the benefits.

 

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Kasey Skala is “the most awesomeness person in the world. He can leap tall buildings, walk on water and never had to rest on the seventh day!” Well, that and he has his B.A from Drake University in Public Relations and is a current Master’s candidate at the University of St. Thomas. His expeirence includes work in finance, non-profit work, promotions and he is a former sports journalist. He also maintains a blog on public relations and social media.

 

 Copyright © 2009 Sasha H. Muradali. All Rights Reserved.