Catgory: Digital

A Q&A With South Carolina’s CMO on Storytelling, Marketing & Their Latest Brand Campaign

By Guest On July 30, 2014 In College Athletics, Digital with 1 Comment

As football season gets into gear, athletics departments and teams are ramping up their social and digital efforts in order to drive anticipation for the upcoming season and ticket sales. As I’ve watched the content come across my screen, a particular campaign from South Carolina stuck out to me—Here. The campaign isn’t just about football and the gameday experience; it’s bigger than that. The campaign is about the culture of the school and town, a retreat from the grind, the commonality that ties all Gamecocks together and the passion of the team and fans. Instead of just selling football tickets, South Carolina told their story. Ah, emotion:

continue reading »

Social & Digital: Nike Doesn’t Just Do It. They Get It.

By Guest On July 3, 2014 In Best Practices, Digital, Lessons Learned, Social Media with 3 Comments

Nike has dominated the World Cup from a brand perspective. Period. If you think this happened by chance, think again. Nike is a company that understands digital through and through. Just last week Nike CEO Mark Parker made some powerful comments during their earning’s call that reinforced this belief:

“An ongoing two-way dialogue with consumers is also a critical element of our digital ecosystem. It provides us insights that drive innovation, strengthens consumer connections to our brands, and provides a platform for consumers to interact with each other. Through our social media platforms, we leverage the power and passion of sport to deepen our relationship with our consumers.”

Nike doesn’t just “do it” when it comes to social and digital. They get it. They understand what companies need to invest in in order to make social and digital successful.

continue reading »

Five Social Media / Digital Activations From the World Cup To Note

By Guest On June 16, 2014 In Digital, Social Media with 2 Comments

Major brands have come out in full force for the World Cup from a social media and digital perspective. After all, this is THE most social sporting event we have ever seen.  Below are five social / digital activations that have caught my eye so far (note: this is focused solely on social media activations and not the stellar content / video we have seen from brands):

1. US Soccer: Surprises & Delights

If you tweet at @USSoccer in support of the team (while using the hashtag #USMNT) there’s a good chance you’ll get your very own personalized jersey:

Screen Shot 2014-06-16 at 2.08.55 PM

This is probably my favorite social media activation from the World Cup so far because it’s simple, easy and thanks fans. US Soccer didn’t have to advertise this initiative and force it down fans throats for it to be successful. Their fans would already be tweeting in support of their team, with or without this campaign. Quite simply, this is a great way to say “thank you”.

continue reading »

World Cup Content: Stepping It Up

By Guest On April 26, 2014 In Digital with 9 Comments

The 2014 FIFA World Cup is more than a month away, but content is already ramping up in anticipation for the world stage.  We’re use to seeing brands come out in full force around major sporting events, but there’s been something special about what I’ve seen for the World Cup so far.

Powerade, Nike and ESPN have all launched videos surrounding the event.  And, all three of them have nailed it because they understand why things catch on.

I talk a lot about the power of emotion in social media and sport. I’m a big believer that emotion is the thread that ties fans and teams together. Whether or not you have played a sport, you understand the emotion– anticipation, excitement, anguish, pure joy, etc.– players’ experience.

Think about it: Emotion is what makes sports so relatable across the globe.  

All three videos tap into emotion, while telling stories, which studies have shown are keys to getting people to share (learn more about that here). Below are the three videos, along with some takeaways from the campaigns:

continue reading »

How Can I Create a Rockin’ Social Media Calendar?

By Guest On September 24, 2013 In Digital, Social Media, Twitter with 1 Comment

Creating a social media calendar makes the life of a social media / community manager so much easier. Yes, it takes a little grunt work in the beginning, but if you can bear and grin it you’ll find your workload to be a little bit more manageable.

I still think social media calendars are often undervalued. If we start them, we need to finish them. If we build them, we need to use them. If we use them, we need to evaluate them. It’s work that’s worth it.

If you’re going to take the time to create a social media calendar, you want to make sure you’re maximizing its value. Below are my tips for creating a great one:

continue reading »