Catgory: Twitter

Good Sportsmanship is in Style on Twitter

By Jessica Smith On June 18, 2015 In Social Media, Twitter

There’s uniqueness in Twitter that allows for conversation more so than any other platform. Part of it’s the public nature of profiles (typically), Twitter’s reply features and the real-time cadence of the platform. On Twitter it is easy to feel like everyone is anticonvulsants-info.com in the living room with you. That’s a pretty awesome thing.

And with a platform powered by conversation and real-time moments, some amazing things happen in the heat of the moment. GIF wars happen, teams recite holiday poems and snark unveils itself. It’s a lot of fun to watch things unfold on Twitter.

There is another trend on Twitter that lends itself well to the conversational nature of the platform. And, it stood out during the NBA and NHL championships: Sportsmanship. So many teams sent congratulatory tweets to the Blackhawks and/or Warriors when they won the NHL and NBA titles respectively. Some of the tweets are fun opponents and some are from other teams in the cities they call home. This is a great way to add a human touch to accounts. Here’s a look at some of the tweets sent:

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Fans seems to like their teams showing some sportsmanship during big moments based on the engagement from most of the congratulatory tweets.  And as mentioned before, it’s a great way to show a human side to accounts and also shows the team is listening. If you are considering jumping into a congratulatory conversation, here are three pieces of advice:

1st- Plan ahead. 
More than likely, you know the different outcomes that can happen. Think through the different scenarios and plan ahead as much as you can. Think through how you will approach it no matter the outcome.

2nd- Find your voice.
Do your best to avoid a generic “congrats” tweet. Instead, find your team’s voice within the conversation. Did your teams play this year, are you rivals, is there a funny connection, etc? Connect the dots as much as possible and the content will resonate with your fans even more.

3rd- Know your fans.
When sending out anything that has to do with another team, even if it’s congratulatory, it’s important to know the pulse of your fans. Is there a beef between the two fan bases that even sportsmanship can’t transcend? If so, it might be better to just walk away. Know your fans and know what resonates.

 

 

So, what do you think about this sportsmanship? Share your thoughts below.

Thanks for reading! 

10 Reasons Twitter + Sports Win

By Jessica Smith On June 18, 2015 In Twitter with 3 Comments

Twitter and sports make a perfect combination. It’s the platform where fans flock to watch games and commentary unfold. There’s something about the flow and fast cadence that make the two a natural fit. Twitter’s founders must have known this combination would work, after all, their precious little blue bird is called Larry (yes, after Larry Bird the basketball player).

The stats prove it’s the perfect combination. According to Navigate Research, sports fans are 67 percent more likely to use Twitter to enhance their viewing experience compared to non-sports fans. Additionally, sports comprise 1% of all total TV minutes, but 50% of all TV-related tweets (source: Nielsen).

Yes, there’s something special about watching sports unfold on Twitter. Below are just some reasons why the two are so magical together (with some really great moments):

 

No. 1- Twitter allows teams to react with fans in real time.

With the more public nature of profiles (typically) and easy search function, social media mangers can know the pulse of their fans in a split second. This allows teams to react with fans in the moment and not talk at them.

On Twitter, team personalities feel like they are sitting in the living room with fans. This real-time reaction with fans is a pretty cool thing.

 

No. 2- When appropriate, fans/teams get called out.

Sometimes, it’s okay to let someone feel the burn. These examples below are Twitter at its best.

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No. 3- The conversations are always golden.

Where else do you get to see epic conversations unfold like this? There is something about Twitter conversations that promote a little humor, snark or sass.

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No. 4- And sometimes, teams bust out a holiday jingle.

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View full recital here.

 

No. 5- Rain delays mean old-school games.

Because tic-tac-toe and rock-paper-scissors will never go out of style.

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No. 6- Hashtags help to rally.

Hashtags are a great way to foster community and conversation, and naturally, teams and leagues get excited when they (or relevant conversations) start trending. It’s like Twitter’s own badge of honor!

 

No. 7- Teams surprise and delight.

There’s something special about the power of active listening. Even the simplest gesture (like personalized content) lets a fan know the team cares. Twitter gives the ability for teams to listen and act easily.

https://twitter.com/activate/status/428968820149997568

 

No. 8- Sportsmanship is alive and well.

https://twitter.com/SalesiMaafu/status/467669783677534208

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No. 9- Athletes reward their biggest fans.

Thanks to Twitter, you can have a beer with Kevin Harvick or get tickets from your favorite player simply by asking. Amazing, right?

And yes, fans found their way to Harvick to enjoy a beer with him. Read about it here.

 

No. 10- And the @Cubs can have a little fun with the President.

When President Obama followed all Chicago sports teams but the Cubs, they had the perfect response. This tweet deserves a class of its own.

 

 

 

 

What moments in Twitter and sports have been some of your favorites? Share why you think the two are a great combination below.

Thanks for reading! 

Inside the #Select68 Concept for @MarchMadness

By Jessica Smith On March 11, 2015 In College Athletics, Twitter with 1 Comment

The NCAA DI Men’s Basketball Selections will have a different look on social media this year with the introduction of #Select68. On Wednesday, March 11 at 1 p.m. ET the selection committee will enter the selection room, the initial ballot will open and #Select68 will begin.Screen Shot 2015-03-10 at 1.07.37 PM

What is #Select68? It’s an opportunity make fans feel like they are inside the room with the committee. The @MarchMadness account, along with seven committee members and two NCAA staffers, will “enter the room” by turning their Twitter accounts private during the selections. Every tweet connected with the process will only be available to those that are in the “room” (i.e. following the accounts) up until the bracket release on Selection Sunday at 6 p.m. ET.

“In the age of social media, and given our transparency with how the selecting, seeding and bracketing process works, the interest level has only increased,” said David Worlock, the Director of Media Coordination and Statistics at the NCAA.  “The committee has embraced the idea of engaging with fans on social media platforms. We’re looking forward to integrating these strategies into the selection process.”

The NCAA digital and social media team developed the #Select68 campaign. They will be running the account during selections to provide a look behind-the-scenes at the process to the 262,000+ March Madness fans. The team will be on-site, along with embedded photographers, to capture the action and share content.

“The selection process that leads up to the release of the DI men’s basketball championship bracket has always been a difficult one to portray to casual fans,” said Nate Flannery, Director of Digital and Social Media, Marketing and Broadcast Alliances. “To combat that difficulty, we’ve created #Select68 to give the real-life selection process a social media equivalent.”

If you want to see how #Select68 unfolds, be sure to follow the accounts now. Below is a list of all the accounts participating in the #Select68 campaign:

Main Account
March Madness- @MarchMadnesss 

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Selection Committee
Peter Roby, Northeastern Athletics Director – @ADRoby
Mark Hollis, Michigan State Director of Athletics – @MSUAD
Janet Cone, UNC Asheville Director of Athletics – @ADCone
Joe Castiglione, Oklahoma Director of Athletics – @soonerad
Tom Holmoe, BYU Director of Athletics – @TomHolmoe
Bernard Muir, Stanford Director of Athletics – @Stanford_AD
Scott Barnes, Utah State Director- @USUADBarnes

NCAA Staff Members
David Worlock, Director of Media Coordination & Stats- @DavidWorlock
JoAnn Scott, Managing Director of Men’s Basketball Championship- @jls4

 

What do you think about the idea of brining fans in the room by going private? Share your thoughts below!

Thanks for reading! 

3 Simple Social Media Lessons from the @ATLHawks

By Jessica Smith On February 9, 2015 In Lessons Learned, Twitter with 2 Comments

If you follow the social media and sports landscape at all, there’s a good chance that the Hawks have been on your radar this season. As their social media team would say, their Twitter account has been on fire (insert fire emoji). The Hawks have defined a brand voice that is loud, unique and unapologetic. Their efforts are paying off.

Since last season alone, the Hawks have seen an increase in followers and attendance (winning never hurts) tenfold. According to the Hawks, fan engagement on social media in January 2015 was up exponentially from January 2014, including 14,000 new monthly followers on Twitter and 450,000 more daily impressions.

So what can you learn from their success? While the Hawks tactics and voice won’t work for everyone, their avodart-dutasteride.com approach to social media has takeaways for us all:

 

No. 1- Know your audience.

The Hawks have a unique voice on social media, and it’s clear they know their target audience.

I’m sure their loud Twitter account or Tinder night has alienated some, but their team knows and understands their goals/target. I admire the team for understanding their audience and staying the course. They’ve taken the time to define their audience and build a brand voice that resonates with them. The Hawks don’t have to appeal to the masses if they are appealing to their core fan. And based on their success, they are doing just that.

Knowing your audience is a huge key to social media success. It will help guide which platforms to activate on, how to define brand voice and direct content creation. Take the time to define and then understand your core audience. After all, it’s your job to think, talk and act like your fans.

 

No. 2- There is no box.

The Hawks haven’t played by any rules. Whether it’s platform best practices or Twitter name character limits, the Hawks do things their way and creatively. From adding all the “Ws” to their name to the Spotify playlist thank you letter, they continue to push the boundaries. All of us should take note of this.

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It’s easy to get caught up in what everyone else is doing since the social media industry is extremely public. The Hawks are a great reminder that in this industry there is no set box you have to play in. Own your brand and do things your way.

 

No. 3- Have fun.

At the end of the day, the Hawks social media team has fun. It shows in their work:

While your team/brand might not love emojis or GIFS as much as the Hawks, it’s always good to remember that this is simply social media. People watch sports to escape and be inspired. This isn’t about politics, religion or anything serious; relax and have some fun. Watch the sentiment of your fans and don’t be afraid to play along. It’s absolutely okay for your account to more human and evoke humor. As the success of the @ATLHawks Twitter account shows, fans will appreciate it.

So as you go about planning and tweaking your social media strategy, remember these quick and simple lessons from the Hawks: Know your audience, push boundaries and have some fun.

 

 

So, what lessons have you taken away from the @ATLHawks social media strategy this season? Be sure to share your thoughts below.

Thanks for reading!

Twitter Wins & Misses From Brands During the Super Bowl

By Jessica Smith On February 2, 2015 In Twitter with 7 Comments

The Super Bowl has become a sensory overload moment for me. Not only do I try to enjoy the game, but I also watch the commercials and second screen furiously. I know I’m not alone in this. The Big Game is not just about TV anymore; it’s also about the digital/social experience. This is for fans and advertisers alike.

This Super Bowl I kept a close eye out on all the social initiatives from brands, both those who had Super Bowl ads and those who hijacked the conversation. There were some good Twitter moments and some not-so-great moments. Here’s a look at my Twitter wins and misses from this year’s Super Bowl:

FOUR TWITTER WINS:

The wins included personalized content, ad integration, smart real-time marketing and strategic stunts.

No. 1- Personalized Content

Social media provides a unique platform for marketers: The opportunity to engage with consumers in a personal and more human way. Brands should take the time to engage with their consumer and create a unique and memorable experience. Personalized content is a great way to do this. And, this Super Bowl we saw several brands that took a more personal approach to content. It’s s a great way to thank your consumer and stand out from all the noise:

Budweiser
Budweiser was strategic with their personalized content, leveraging it to connect with influencers who tweeted about their commercial. Consumers still loved to see these responses from the brand, and it’s a great example of good social listening:

Seahawks
The Seahawks always make their fans a priority and find a way to have fun with their engagement. Here’s a look at how they interacted with fans at this year’s Super Bowl (and note how fans retweet these replies):

No. 2- Ad Integration

Too often we see advertisers putting money behind traditional ad campaigns without integrating it into social media. This year though, the brands that had spots during the Super Bowl put a little more thought behind it. This is crucial: Consumers see a commercial they like during the game today and they immediately go online to watch it again or engage with the brand. Take the time to integrate all your communication touch points; nothing should work in a silo. Bridging the gape between your traditional advertising and social is an opportunity to make a connection with your consumer.

Here’s a look at a some of the brands that integrated their ad concept into their social initiatives:

Budweiser
Ad integration was another win for Budweiser this Super Bowl. They created content inline with the story of their #BestBuds and Clydesdales, teasing it before and during the game.  When launching an ad campaign, I think it’s critical to figure out how you can also tell the story online. This is a good example:

Coca-Cola
Coke used their platform for social good, promoting a happier and nicer Internet. They ran a powerful and beautiful spot, then followed it up with great social integration that prompted action (which makes sense for a social good campaign). It would have looked tone deaf and not genuine if Coca-Cola had run that ad and walked away. They didn’t do that though: They took action to turn negativity into happiness. Here’s a look at what they did (I just wish it hadn’t been so automated):

Toyota
Playing off their Dad-theme spot, Toyota asked fans to honor their dads by tweeting pics with #OneBoldChoice. In return, consumers were surpised with a personalized video. This is not only great ad integration, but also a great example of personalized content:

Loctitite Glue
Because if you’re going to have a weird and wacky fanny pack commercial, you have to top it off with a GIF:

https://twitter.com/LoctiteGlue/status/562074033005817856

No. 3- Smart Real-Time Marketing

I’m a hard one to please when it comes to real-time marketing and planned social media content around holidays, stop-baldness.net events, etc. When executed the right way it can be a huge hit, but all too often it’s forced, stretched, gimmicky and phony (you get the point).

Here’s the thing with real-time marketing: The winning moments aren’t planned. Instead, winning moments happen when brands seize an on-brand opportunity that puts them into conversation genuinely. Here’s a look at a few brands that got real-time marketing right during the Super Bowl:

MGM Grand
In response to the lion Katy Perry rode on during the halftime show.

USATF and Jet Blue
In response to Always’ “Like a Girl” Campaign.

Cheerios
In response to the last play from the Seahawks.

On-Brand Stunt (Monster)

When I first saw the tweet below from Monster, I thought they had made a mistake. This tweet is a perfectly planned stunt that is right on brand . It pokes fun of the social media industry a bit, while plugging their product. Take a closer look at the bottom text:

This is a great example of how you can plan to jump in the conversation strategically. You don’t have to tweet a million misses; it takes just one strong tweet to skyrocket impressions. You have to be smart about it though.

FOUR TWITTER MISSES:

The misses included gimmicks, brand-on-brand interaction, disconnected content and real-time marketing noise.

No. 1- Gimmicks (McDonald’s)

McDonald’s recently rolled out strong creative, from their signs spot to their “Pay With Lovin’” campaign. I love their focus on community/customer and not the product. I was looking forward to seeing how they would carry over their emotional content on their social channels during the game. Unfortunately, they went the opposite way and resorted to a gimmick. McDonald’s did a “RT to win x” campaign for every brand that had a Super Bowl spot:

Everyone loves free stuff, so it’s no surprise that all of their tweets got good engagement. It’s easy to get thousands of retweets when you are giving away a free car; it’s another thing to get strong engagement that is relevant to your brand and campaign.

No. 2- Brand-on-Brand Interaction

Our industry is way too guilty of finding a tactic that works and overplaying it. Brand interaction is a great example of this. Apparently during the Super Bowl now, being an advertiser makes you a member of an elite club where all the brands have to converse with one another. Here’s a look at some of the examples from last night (and yes, Doritos took the charge on this one):

One of my golden rules in social media is to ask, “why would the consumer care”? And quite frankly, the consumer probably doesn’t care that all the brands with Super Bowl ads are having a conversation. They care about content that is funny, strikes a good, resonates, etc. Just like RTM, brand-on-brand interaction is a gimmick. Use it sparingly and strategically while remaining on brand. You will make a bigger splash then.

No. 3- Content That’s Completely Disconnected

Pepsi came out of left field with a kitten halftime show AFTER Katy Perry’s show. It would have been better for them to tweet this during halftime as fans were reacting to it. Instead, I have no idea where the kittens came from and why they decided to bring them out when they did. With the timing, it just seemed like a huge disconnect:

No. 4- Adding Noise

As mentioned earlier, I’m hard on real-time marketing because more often than not brands just add noise and not value.  Thanks to social media, every brand feels pressure to execute around big events and holidays whether it’s relevant to their product, values, etc. We try to make toilet paper, fast food, candy, soda and everything else on this planet pertinent to… well, everything. Brands are waving their hands in the Twittersphere begging to be relevant. This year’s Super Bowl was no different. Yes, FOMO is real in advertising:

Smart brands understand that real-time marketing is a potential opportunity, not a necessity. They’ll seize the moment when they see one (and remain on brand), and stay silent when needed. Let’s stop the madness of jumping into every conversation. Let’s get back to being strategic.

 

So there you have it: My social media wins and misses from the 2015 Super Bowl. Integrating social media into your ad campaign well is no easy feat, but it’s certainly worth the work if you want to make a bigger splash. It just takes a thoughtful and strategic approach.

So, what stood out to you on Twitter from brands during the Super Bowl? Share your thoughts below!

As always, thanks for reading.