Welcome back, again, to Sports Geek’s #BODSW. After a hefty break over the summer months while I was following in Sean’s footsteps,
Excuse the hat, but wouldn't you be wearing it in minus-16 degree weather?!
conducting my own #sportsgeektrip in the USA, including watching Green Bay’s Matt Flynn throw 6 touchdowns in minus-16 degree weather, the (at the time) 2-12 Washington Wizards upset the 12-2 OKC Thunder, and catching a Knicks game before all the #Linsanity, we are back and better than ever, as this week we have a look at the social media impact in Indianapolis during Super Bowl XLVI, the growing popularity of Pinterest (along with a quick review), and athletes and social media. Along with this, we’ll have a look at who gets best on ground this week for excellence in combining sports and social media. So sit back and enjoy 2012′s first #bodsw and remember to keep an eye out on my Pinterest site for photos of my very own #sportsgeektrip across America.
Social Media at #SuperBowl XLVI
We know who won Super Bowl XLVI, with the New York Giants’ Eli Manning again being a thorn in Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots’ side, but who won the social media battle from Super Bowl 46? To get an idea of the link between social media and sport, check out this cool info graphic and story on the big dance in Indianapolis earlier this month, which included an unfathomable 5.6 million Super Bowl-related tweets!
Pinterest: Have you started pinning?
Arguably the fastest growing new social media platform on the internet, Pinterest is gaining more users seemingly by the second. With comScore estimating the website gains over 10 million unique viewers monthly, the online pinboard needs to be investigated to see how sporting organisations can incorporate it into their digital marketing strategies. If you aren’t sure what Pinterest is, check out New York Times’ tech columnist David Pogue‘s review on the revolution.
Be sure to check out Sports Geek’s Pinterest page, as well as Sean’s own page for some great sports-related pins. And remember, Pinners, images are the key to pinning items, so find some great images and get pinning.
In case you missed it, Sean was on ABC Grandstand last week with Francis Leach and Amanda Shalala, discussing the growth of Pinterest, and remember to tune into ABC Grandstand at 7:45am to hear the latest news from the digital sports world.
How not to use Twitter
With Twitter such a huge part of our lives now, including our sporting lives, the US state of Maryland has taken a somewhat radical approach to their student-athletes and Twitter; banning it. Towson University football coach Rob Ambrose has banned his players from tweeting after one of his players tweeted a racial slur before a football game. Check out this list of schools in Maryland, created by WBALTV.com, that have some interesting policies on social media access for athletes.
On the other side of the AFL/Telstra deal, rival telecommunications giant Optus is seeking legal action against Andrew Demetriou and the AFL over comments made by the AFL CEO during an interview with the Sunday Herald Sun. Be sure to keep an eye on how this one pans out.
Best on Ground
The first best on ground for 2012 goes to Sports Illustrated for their March Madness Cover Challenge, where readers can enter a competition to get their own picture on the cover of the March 19 edition of the long-running sports magazine. It’s an excellent initiative by an iconic sporting magazine, and one that is sure to excite it’s fans worldwide. Check out Sports Illustrated’s cover challenge on it’s Facebook page now. Entries close March 5th, 2012.
Video of the Week
By now, you’ve probably heard all about Jeremy Lin and all the terrible puns (Linsanity, Lincredible, Super Lintendo, etc.) that have crept into the vocabulary of NBA fans worldwide. If you haven’t heard about the young Harvard graduate who took the road less travelled to the NBA, then check out this video of his game-winner against the Toronto Raptors that sent the Madison Square Garden crowd into a frenzy. Be sure to check out how Sports Geek linked the New York Knicks with a New York-based info graphic artist - all the way from Melbourne. Enjoy!
#BODSW – Best of Digital Sports World compiled with the help of @Dion_Bennett
Just a quick post to understand the importance of branding your events. With so many channels available sometimes fundamentals of event branding can get lost.
Effective use of team’s logos and colour is crucial to your event. Your fans display their affiliation and pride in your team by wearing your logos & merchandise. BUILD ON THAT!
Any venue can quickly become “home-ground territory” which your fans will love to soak up.
Additionally connect your event with your online fans using hashtags like #jetsrally. Extending your event branding to your online platforms helps your fans to show support for your event. What you will find is fans will be engaged online both at the event and away from the event (at home or on the move).
Take a look what the NY Jets did on a very large scale with their Jets Championship Rally held in Times Square before their big game against the Chargers earlier this year when I was in New York on #SportsGeekTrip. Not only were the fans excited about the upcoming game (which they lost unfortunately) but when all the billboards started to change to Jets green the energy in Times Square was magnified. You could say the fans loved the branding of the event as they tore down the sponsor signs (as pictured above) and walked back to the subway with them, then again that may be Jets fans
What have been the non-game sports events you’ve been to? What made them special?
For more photos of #sportsgeektrip become a fan of Sports Geek on Facebook
Contact Sports Geek to learn more about what works in US sports.
The AFL has launched it’s “official” iPhone application from the social media chatter we’ve monitored footy fans are not happy with the pricing of the app at a recurring $6 every 30 days. Unfortunately for the AFL there is already iPhone applications that provide similar functionality for free (Footy Lite sponsored by Triple M, Aussie Rules Live 2010 sponsored by CarSales.com.au).
The subscription-based iPhone application is relatively new concept as Apple has opened up the ability for in-app purchases. In-app purchases allow upgrades inside the application rather than purchasing a new application in the App Store, a good example of this is extra levels or upgrades in a game. As a contrast to the subscription model the MLB delivers one of world’s finest sports iPhone application MLB At Bat at a premium one-off price of $17.99 which has been a big hit with baseball fans despite the higher than standard price.
As sports fans what do you think? Have the AFL price this app correctly?
Do you think more iPhone apps will follow a subscription model?
Last night I presented to club presidents at the Southern Football League about the impact social media can have on local sports.
It was great to see the passion for the game at grassroots and it will be great creating a strong social media strategy for these clubs.
Social media can allow sporting clubs to become an online community hub for sports, families & local business if executed correctly in the same way they have been an “offline” community hub for many years.
And because the Slideshare – YouTube embed seems to playing up here is the video I played, an oldie but a goodie for people who are not quite understanding the impact social media is having on the world.
Sports Geek Social Media Workshop comes in 2 forms:
Social Media Heavy Hitters – Comprehensive workshop targeted to leagues, franchises & facilities who want to grow and manage their social media presence.
Small Sports Big Opportunities – Sports Geek gives back to local clubs & leagues to help them find new sponsorship opportunities via social media.
The issue of athlete identity theft hit the papers again this week regarding fake athlete (AFL) accounts on Twitter. Last time I spoke about this issue on SEN’s The Run Home regarding identity theft on Facebook. If you want Sports Geek’s take on how athletes can handle the problem of online impersonators then check out my post – Fake sports stars can damage a personal brand. Kudos to Collingwood’s Harry O’Brien extending his social media work from Twitter to Facebook to Harry’s World website and taking control of his online brand.
What about the general public – how do you know who to follow & who to listen to? Who is real?
Sports Geek’s Twitter Quick Follow Guide
What is their username?
Is it a real person or a real brand? It may be nickname or an online name but if the name looks suspect don’t bother following.
What is their Twitter avatar?
Same question – is it a real person or logo? Admittedly some people use cartoon avatars or non-descript pictures but they maybe just shy.
Some fakes use the same avatar on multiple accounts if you see the avatar repeated in may be a fake or an automated account.
What is their bio say?
Gives you some insight into what they will tweet about and how that might interest you to follow back.
How many followers do they have?
This one is more subjective as some people relate follower numbers with influence & expertise. This is where you look at the follower to following ratio. High following numbers can be automated via tools to automatically follow people on keywords. Twitter tries to restrict this by implementing rules & guidelines but they can be exploited by third-party follower tools. How can you spot an inflated follower count? They are following as many people as they have following them – maintaining the Twitter 1:1 ratio. However many of those accounts may be automatically following back to increase their follower counts as well. These accounts use technology that works on following people & unfollowing them 24 hours later if they haven’t followed back, churning through the Twitterverse looking for accounts that automatically follow back.
Sports Geek Tip: High follower numbers does not automatically equal expertise or influence.
What do they tweet about?
This is the main criteria I use to decide whether I follow back.
What are they tweeting about? Is it topics of interest to you?
Who do they tweet with? Do other people you know tweet with them?
If they just broadcast and never engage in discussion, will it provide value to me?
Now that might seem like too much to check, yet it only takes 10-15 seconds and allows you to have a stream of quality tweets in your field of interest.
Fake accounts crave attention and followers if you don’t follow them you don’t have to worry about them.
If you want to follow me please do so @seancallanan (I talk about sports & tech funnily enough) or for article & blog posts from @_sportsgeek_.
If you work in the ever changing world of sports communications you maybe:
wondering “what’s all the fuss social media about?”
starting to use Twitter but not sure what to tweet or why to tweet or when to tweet?
the administrator for a Facebook Fan looking for strategies to grow your fan base?
aware of some social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube), heard of others (Foursquare, LinkedIn) but wondering how to tackle them all with an integrated approach.
Social media usage in USA garnered through recent Sports Geek Trip
How the New York Knicks integrated their “I Declare” campaign with social media
Sports Geek Social Media Workshop comes in 2 forms:
Social Media Heavy Hitters – Comprehensive workshop targeted to leagues, franchises & facilities who want to grow and manage their social media presence.
Small Sports Big Opportunities – Sports Geek gives back to local clubs & leagues to help them find new sponsorship opportunities via social media.
As blogged previously by Sports Geek slowly teams & media are sitting up and taking notice.
Monitoring of your brand is mandatory to hear what your fans are saying but in some cases also your players. Conversely, athletes also need to be aware of the impact a tweet or picture on Facebook may have on their image and their club’s image. Most athlete’s “get it” but for those who don’t there needs to be sports executives monitoring the digital space to protecting the team & league’s brand.
This from Sports Illustrated saying the tweets shared by NBA players may be crucial in monitoring the big free agent class of 2010.
Social networking will influence the free-agent market this summer. So promises a league insider with an extended background in college basketball.
“In the old days, teams used to control players,” he said. “Now the teams have lost that control, to the point that the NBA had to put in rules that players are not allowed to use Twitter at halftime. The thing with these players, their lifestyles revolve around technology. They want instant information.
“You’re now dealing with kids who think that anything you do or say is public. To them it is public, because they all communicate with each other.”
This week, the Celtics dealt with a half-day of speculation that Pierce was out for the year after teammate Shelden Williams posted a Twitter message that suggested bad news was on the way. As a result, the Celtics rushed out a news release late at night diagnosing Pierce as day-to-day with a sprained foot. “They don’t think about the rules or privacy when they use Twitter,” the league insider said. “The Celtics don’t want the opposition to know if Pierce is injured, but Williams didn’t think about what he was doing to the Celtics; he just did it.
“Twitter has become a broadcasting network for athletes. Around July 1, there is going to be so much tweeting among the free agents, and all of these guys will be communicating with each other, and if you don’t think they’re going to be telling each other about the offers they’re getting, then you’re crazy. It’s going to be the summer of instant information, and it’s going to change the whole market, because everybody will know what kind of money is out there and what each team is trying to do.
“If I were a GM, I’d hire two or three kids from college and have them scour the Internet every day to find out what’s being said by who. If you want to know what’s going on, that’s how you can find out.”
If you want to see what athletes are tweeting then follow our list – Athletes Who Tweet. Are we missing your fave athlete who tweets? Let us know at @_SportsGeek_.
Big news from the 
