Why We Have To Stop Screaming “Buy Tickets”

By Jessica Smith On June 24, 2019 In Best Practices, Digital with 1 Comment

Digital marketing has come a long way from the early days. It’s no longer a platform to just push information. We can now reach consumers, engage them and ultimately get them to convert.

With the strides over the years in performance media, digital has become a powerful tool for brands to drive results quickly. The ability to map revenue back to the platforms has been a huge catalyst in leadership taking digital more seriously.

There’s a challenge to all this though. In the search for a better ROAS, we’ve become obsessed with data and quick results. We’ve become impatient as marketers often playing the short-game instead of the long-game. We’ve become flat and uninspired in our advertising often pushing people to the end of the funnel at all cost.

If we aren’t careful, we’re going to lose the true magic of what digital allows us to do. As marketers, we can’t be focused on brand marketing alone and we can’t only be focused on performance marketing alone. We have to do both and ensure they work together.

The rise of performance media has led to marketing that is often too transactional. There is a misconception that telling people to “buy tickets” and spending dollars broadcasting it across channels will drive “butts in seats”. The result is marketing that is generic, annoying to consumers and dilutes the brand foundation that’s been built.

Here’s the thing. It’s not enough just to sell. We have to sell well. This means getting consumers to buy through campaigns that feel authentic, relevant and engaging for consumers and celebrates the brand. It’s about building up brand equity, while also getting people to convert. Doing this requires a strong understanding of the brand, our consumer and what makes good creative.

Instead of treating performance marketing and brand marketing as separate entities, it’s time to treat them as partners. These two things must work together if we want to drive the strongest results possible and play the long-term game.

Nik Sharma, one of my favorite thought leaders in the space, coined the perfect term: It’s time to focus on performance branding.  Take the time to read his thread on it:


Performance branding is about driving a connection while also driving business results. It’s about building a nimble plan that puts the brand first, builds long-term affinity, leverages the right data with creative and sells tickets. It blends the magic of why people love sports (the emotion) with what we’re all hired to do (sell tickets and drive revenue).

If you are looking to adopt this mentality, here are a few things to keep in mind:


Fans don’t want to be sold too.

Fans don’t want to be sold too. They want to be entertained, engaged and delivered relevant information. If you work for a sports team there’s a good chance people already know that tickets are available. And because of that, screaming at people that tickets are on sale won’t do much except maybe close the loop on those who were probably going to buy one way or another. It’s not about saying “tickets are on sale now”. It’s about capturing fan attention.


Emotion over selling tickets.

Instead of selling tickets to fans, performance branding is about showing fans what the experience is all about. It’s about tapping into the emotion of why people love sports. The community, the camaraderie, the action, the excitement. Don’t tell people that tickets are on sale. Show them what they miss out on by not attending a game in person.

Emotion is the most powerful tools we have as marketers. Performance branding leverages the emotional connection fans have to the game versus a transactional tone. When we tap into emotion instead of transaction we pull consumers in instead of turning them off. And when we have their attention and capture their hearts, it’s more likely that they’ll convert. Sell the emotion, not the tickets.


Know what makes good creative.

For whatever reason, there tends to be a “check the box” mentality with creative in digital advertising. Too often teams have an extremely engaging presence on social, but a completely dry and boring approach to how their brand comes through digital advertising.

Brand creative and performance marketing creative should not be a separate thing. In fact, the overall brand creative should help drive and influence how creative comes to life across performance marketing. If creative feels completely disconnected from the brand values, the brand messaging and what makes the team/fan base unique, then something is amiss. The stronger the creative, the stronger the results.

At the end of the day, what works on organic is most likely going to work in your digital advertising efforts. It’s not about the sell with the content, but capturing attention, hearts and minds.


Not all consumers are created equal.

Too often there’s an approach with digital advertising to “spray and pray”. We have so much data today, yet so often we bombard our data lists with the same message, same creative, same frequency. If we don’t have a true understanding of our target consumers, then we’ll never have a true understanding of what they need from us.

It’s important to keep in mind that not all consumers are created equal. If your job is to sell tickets, then take the time to define and understand what your target audience looks like. Not everyone you are trying to reach is going to have the same reasons why they come to a game or cheer for a team. From diehard fans to social fans, their needs are different.

Do the hard work to understand your current and prospective fans. Know why they care and why they buy, then mold the message to them. More relevant messaging and products can go a long way in getting fans to convert.


Conversions can take time – that’s okay.

As mentioned, performance marketing has made us impatient as marketers. We look for the quick conversion instead of playing the long game. Not all conversions happen quickly though – but that does not take away from the important of building brand affinity, prospecting and warming up a lead. When teams invest in an approach that blends brand and performance, it allows them to still build equity with a fan or consumer that is not quite ready to buy.

Think about it. A consumer that is being retargeted from your site or cart abandoner is a completely different consumer than one that hasn’t even considered buying a ticket. Hitting up a less warm lead with a  “buy tickets now” message does not build any equity. But, hitting them up with an emotional ad that pulls them in and piques their interest helps build brand affinity. They might not convert today, but at least you got their attention and have them thinking about your brand.

Not all conversions are created equal. It’s important to remember that your investment in digital advertising does not have to be a “this or that” approach. You can build up fan affinity and brand equity, while also drive ticket sales. It’s the teams that invest in the long game and not just the short game that will win over time.

Here’s a really smart thread on why you should be invested in both brand and performance. It’s about DTC, but still extremely relevant:


Touchpoints matter.

The traditional consumer journey is changing drastically. Today, we need to think less about the sequence of messaging and more about the different touchpoints and the context/intent of the channel. Reaching a consumer through SEM is different than social; SEM is more lower-full, while social help makes a lead warmer.

So often though, we look at reporting through channel-based metrics. And, I don’t think it paints the full picture. Just because someone bought through SEM does not mean that the rest of the efforts did not play a part. We shouldn’t focus only on where people convert. It’s about the totality of our efforts and not one single ad.

We need to think about how we measure the totality efforts and look at attribution differently. It’s important to understand how all the touchpoints all work together to move consumer along to convert.


Touchpoints matter.

The traditional consumer journey is changing drastically. Today, we need to think less about the sequence of messaging and more about the different touchpoints and the context/intent of the channel. Reaching a consumer through SEM is different than social; one shows intent while one might help to warm up a lead. It’s doesn’t mean that one is less important than the other though.

So often though, we look at reporting through channel-based metrics and we invest in the areas where we see the most direct ROI. And, I don’t think it paints the full picture. Just because someone bought through SEM does not mean that the rest of the efforts did not play a part. We shouldn’t focus only on where people convert. It’s about the totality of our efforts and not one single ad.

We need to think about how we measure the totality efforts and look at attribution differently. It’s important to understand how all the touchpoints all work together to move consumer along to buy.


Be nimble.

One of the beauties in digital advertising is it allows us to be nimble. Unlike traditional marketing channels, we can test, try and tweak daily. If something isn’t working, then change the approach.

A campaign should never be pushed live and walked away from. The best results are driven through daily monitoring, making changes and keeping creative fresh.

Specific to sports teams, it’s also important to make sure your digital advertising efforts have a pulse on the team and fan sentiment. Creative should not be tone deaf to what’s happening on the field. Be nimble and tailor your creative accordingly.


At the end of the day, performance media and brand should go hand-in-hand. As marketers, we need to close the gap and make sure that we’re driving both fan affinity and ticket sales for long-term growth. Performance branding is the ultimate sweet spot that allows us to tap into why our fans love our teams while also driving business results.

Looking for a few examples of strong creative focused selling the experience, emotion or engaging content versus transaction? A few examples below:

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Social Is Not A Silo

By Jessica Smith On June 13, 2019 In Uncategorized with 1 Comment

Once upon a time social media was a new tool that companies knew they needed to take advantage of but didn’t know why and how. As a result, the recent college grad in the office got the keys and had to figure it out.

Ten years ago, I was handed those keys right out of college. This was a time in the industry before Instagram was a thing and algorithms controlled the news feed. Facebook and Twitter were the core of social. Content meant text posts that drove people to a blog (big gasp). Social media was “free” (eyes roll).

In my first few roles, I had a lot of freedom to do what I wanted and make those decisions alone. The organizations I worked for had strong visions and strategies in place, but social was still such a grey area. We needed to be there, but did not really know the business case. Hence, the free reign.

The early days of social are long gone now. We no longer need to try without understanding why. Social media has grown up, matured and proved its business case. It’s the front door to brands today. It drives brand affinity and also revenue. And as a result, social media roles need to evolve from what they were “way back when” and stop treating them like a silo. There are two big keys that need to be addressed with this:


First, social is a marketing tool.

At the start of my career, I had very little marketing foundation. I wasn’t thinking about the brand, voice, big ideas and integrated planning. Everyday was a tactical playground where I posted and tweeted without a larger understanding of the why.

I have to guess that I’m not the only young social hire who did not quite understand what building a strong brand foundation means. And in the endless playground that is social, it’s easy to get distracted in the things that (quite frankly) don’t move the needle.

After years in this industry, one of the biggest frustrations I have is that people who work in social are too often put in a corner. Social media managers aren’t “just social” people. They are marketers who happen to specialize/work in a channel. And, they should be embedded in the larger marketing vision.

If someone works in social, it’s not their job to understand the platforms alone. It’s their job to understand marketing, brand and creative. Period.

People who work in social should not be disconnected from the overall marketing picture. This is true in how we hire, train and set people up for growth.

If you hire a new college graduate for a social media role, expose them to projects beyond social. They need to know more than the platforms. They need to grasp marketing as a whole and how their work maps back to the larger goals. Give them that foundation.

If you hire a more senior leader for social, make sure they have a seat at the marketing table. Understand that they have more to offer than their knowledge of the platforms.

And, for anyone that works in social, they should be encouraged to expand their scope. This means leading projects beyond the platforms and providing a path for growth that does not pigeonhole them to the platforms.

Social is part of the larger marketing vision. Employees should be adept in the brand vision, strategy and plan. They should be able to translate that vision and the brand to the channels.

Long story short, stop putting social in a corner.


Second, social is a collective effort.

In a similar vein, the voice and tone of how the brand comes to life on social media should not be the sole job of one or two people. Companies would never let one person dictate a brand campaign, so why should one person dictate the entire presence of a brand?

Yes, there will always be someone who plays gatekeeper on the channels. I believe in defining lanes, having gatekeepers and knowing who ultimately is the final decision maker. But the “big picture” of the presence should never be dictated by one or two people. It’s imperative to make sure there’s a team that contributes to the collective strategy – a strategy that starts with the brand and larger vision.

When one person dictates the entire presence, too often it becomes about personal preference. Social media is not about the person behind the account. It’s about the brand, the brand, the brand.

Just like social media is part of marketing, social media should be a collective effort within the marketing function. Breakdown the silos, open up the doors and make sure the work is mapping back to what everyone is driving towards. When a team contributes to the channel it becomes about the bigger picture and helps leave egos at the door.


The old ways of social being a role that lives in a silo should be long gone. Yes, organizations need people who are experts and gatekeepers of the platforms, but it should still be a collective effort.

At the end of the day social is part of the larger marketing ecosystem. It’s time to structure how we hire and work in that way.

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What Sports Teams Can Learn From Nike

By Jessica Smith On June 12, 2019 In Lessons Learned with 1 Comment

You’ve probably noticed, but Nike has been giving us all a masterclass in advertising lately. From their latest ad for the USWNT to their show them what crazy dreams can do, spot after spot they have nailed it.

https://twitter.com/Nike/status/1134821857905991680
https://twitter.com/Nike/status/1099723184369152001

The strong work recently comes as no surprise. Nike is a brand that was built by marketing. More than just the products they sell, Nike represents the power of sports as a vehicle to inspire human potential. There are very few brands who have built such a platform.

Here’s the thing. Nike doesn’t “just do it” when it comes to marketing and advertising. They get it. They get what it means to define your brand, understand your consumer, sell on emotion and play the long-game not the short-game. There is so much to be admired. Sports teams, it’s time to take notice.

Yes, I know. Sports franchises will never have the budget of Nike. Still, though, there are fundamental marketing philosophies that teams would benefit from adopting. And they don’t require a billion-dollar marketing budget. Here are three of them that stand out to me:  


Define your brand beyond the product.

Nike is defined by more than their tangible products. They are defined by their mission, their values and what their brand represents to the consumer. Instead of selling shoes, Nike sells the idea that if you have a body, you are an athlete. Their mission is to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.

Throughout the years Nike has consistently created ads that celebrate athletes of all levels. Whether they’re featuring Serena Williams or representing the average consumer, every ad is about people finding their greatness.

What teams can take away:

Too often sports franchises focus solely on the product they put on the field. Marketing and content is centered around the team, the scores and big moments. While that’s obviously a major piece of the puzzle, team performance alone will not take a franchise and turn it into a brand.

Sports are a platform to bring people, communities and cities together. More than the scores, they connect people us, serve as a vehicle for hope and a distraction from the daily grind. It’s the emotional connection people have with teams that needs to be tapped into.

Every sports team needs to take the time to define their why. Every team has scores. Every team has ups and downs. What does your brand stand for? Why do fans gravitate to your team? What’s the emotional connection? What’s the unique story you have to tell? It’s the emotional connection beyond the field that separates teams.

Defining what a team offers beyond the score takes a franchise or program and turns it into a brand. It’s those defining characteristics that draw people in and keep them there through the highs and lows year after year. This type of thinking is key for teams. Take that page from Nike.


Keep it simple & consistent.

Since landing on their sharp positioning and “Just Do It” slogan back in the late 80’s, Nike has kept their message simple and consistent. They don’t have a new tagline every year. They haven’t created a million variations of their logo. They’ve built incredible brand equity by finding the thing that works and staying consistent.

Nike’s brand positioning has stood the test of time. Why? Because it’s multi-dimensional and broad-reaching enough to evolve with the narrative of Nike over the years. It’s about a long game, not the flavor of the day.

What teams can take away:

Once teams have defined their brand, they need to land on their messaging and positioning. Sharp messaging and a consistent rallying point (slogan) have the ability to provide more purpose and focus to a team’s content and creative. They help tie a bow around the story. They can rally a community.

The key is to find messaging that is simple and  has more depth than “just a tagline”.  Taglines must be rooted in insight, strategy and a concept that is multifaceted and can evolve. And, that concept needs to be brought to life across multiple channels and executions – like Nike does.

Great brands aren’t built overnight. They’re built by a sharp POV and consistency – and a simple concept people can easily get. Teams need to find their brand platform that is evergreen, broad-reaching and malleable enough to drive the narrative year after year.

Remember, we as marketers get tired of our work and messaging long before the consumer does. Find your thing and stick to it. Consistency matters.


Make your consumer the hero & muse.

Early on, Nike made the decision to broaden their reach.  The market share for active people vs high performers was much larger so their brand needed to be more inclusive of anyone looking to get active.

The perspective that “if you have a body you are an athlete” broadened the scope of how they approach certain campaigns. Yes, they still feature elite athletes and superstars, but they also appeal to the average person. Take a look at these spots from over the years:

https://twitter.com/Nike/status/1127574455494987777

Nike has a way of making creative that speaks to the consumer, not above them. When you watch one of their ads is easy to feel part of the story. Their ads aren’t meant to just lift up the superstars or people in them; they’re meant to lift up and inspire anyone who comes across their spots.

What teams can take away:

Too often in sports it feels like we’re talking to ourselves. Score after score, highlight after highlight. When you work in the industry, it’s easy to forget the magic consumers feel for teams. When we forget the connection well beyond the field, the brand (and creative) losses its magic.

Sports teams could benefit from putting their consumer at the heart of everything they do. It’s our jobs to understand why people gravitate to sports and how we can inspire and celebrate that well beyond the scores. The passion people feel for teams and the game should serve as inspiration for how teams talk about their brand and the experience of gameday.

Make your fans the hero and muse of your creative and magic will unfold. It’s their emotions – and why they gravitate towards your franchise – that are the key to unlocking something really special. Stop talking to them, and instead, bring them into the story and part of the journey.

Below are a few examples of teams that have put their consumer at the center of their creative — but we need more of it and more consistently:



Obviously Nike’s marketing budget is far and beyond what most organization’s will ever see, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find inspiration in how they approach their work. At the end of the day the best thing any team can do is make an investment in their brand and the relationship with their fans. It’s about a long play, not just short gains.

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Social Requires Building Blocks

By Jessica Smith On May 28, 2019 In Social Media with 1 Comment

One of the biggest challenges in social media today is content for the sake of content. Teams, brands and leagues are creating at an incredibly high quality — and volume — but often without a true understanding of why. In too many instances voice, tone and creative depends on the flavor of the day.

Social should not operate in the wild, wild west though. It’s the front door to brands today. As a result, the voice, tone, messaging and content should be connected to the brand’s DNA. It’s important to resist the pressure to resort to gimmicks for vanity metrics. In the end, social without purpose will never get its due or move the needle.

In order for social media to truly map back to organizational goals, the strategy requires building blocks. The first couple of chapters of your plan should be platform agnostic: What does our brand stand for? Who is our audience? What are our goals? Why does it matter?

Once you have the foundation in place, then you can mold the creative and tactics to each platform. This should only happen once you have defined the larger picture.

At the end of the day, you can’t have a social strategy if you don’t have a content strategy and you can’t have a content strategy if you don’t have a brand strategy.

To build out a plan that maps back to organization goals, what are the building blocks required? Here’s a high-level look:

The brand.

This the foundational work that will separate your social presence from the rest. What does your brand stand for and what values do you need to bring to life? What is the “it” factor that makes your brand unique?

Your brand foundation is more evergreen; while the content and social strategy will pivot and change (sometimes drastically over time), your brand should foundation is something that will never do a complete 180.

This is where you start with any social or digital strategy. Your brand foundation should be the North Star for everything you do. Period.


The audience.

Who are you trying to reach? If you don’t know your target audience, then how can you create content that will resonate with them?

It’s important to outline target audiences, psychographic and demographic information and understanding what they need to hear from their brand. If you define your audience and what they care about you’ll create stronger and more effective content.


The content.

Platforms will come and go, but the need to reach consumers online is here to stay. And, that’s why content comes before platforms and tactics.

This is where you start digging into your content approach. Define your approach to content, the themed buckets that map back to the brand and then the actual ideas. Once you have defined your content series, ideas, etc. then you mold the creative execution to the platform.


The distribution & tactics.

This is where you get into platform tactics and specifics. What platforms will you have a presence on, how will content be molded to each platform and how will you distribute for maximized reach?

The platform tactics should cascade off the larger brand goals and content priorities defined. A platform strategy is less about the actual content ideas and more about how to get the most exposure/reach and build a community.



A (very) rough example.

To help with the visualization of how you can start to tackle the building blocks, I’ve created a very rough draft of how to approach building them. Please note this important disclaimer on the deck below:

None of the sections are fully built out at all so I’ve included a slide at the end of each on other things that can be included in the plan. This is simply to show how you build, while starting with the brand.

I’ve used my Alma Mater Auburn because it’s a brand I’m extremely familiar with, but please keep in mind this was created quickly during a long car ride of travel. There has been little research done, no attention to detail and not a ton of thought beyond the basics (maybe I shouldn’t admit that, but this is just a side passion project).

There are major holes in this deck, not everything is going to make complete sense, it needs more big picture ideas and should have a much heavier hand in how to drive business results.

All that to say this is merely a very, very rough framework to show how and why the brand comes first.


Note, if you prefer, you can actually view this in Google Docs here.

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Insight Into The Royals’ Social/Digital Approach

By Jessica Smith On May 9, 2019 In Uncategorized

The Royals have stepped up their content game this season . Since the launch of their Always Royal campaign in February, it’s clear that their team has a strong vision and creative arm power to support it.

Not only do the Royals have a strong brand identity, but they also experiment and diversify their content. Their ability to create engaging content for the platforms — that still feels right for their brand — has made their creative shine this season. Here are a few things that stand out about their approach:

Consistent & Cohesive Campaign

The Royals rolled out their “Always Royal” campaign in February and it works for a couple different reasons.

First, the messaging works well because it’s easy to understand and multifaceted. Always Royal can be molded to many different scenarios, whether the team is on a roll or going through a downtime. As seen in the video below, it’s easy to make this messaging “always on”.

Second, their look and feel is incredibly strong. All of their creative and content ladders up to their season campaign with consistent font, textures and visual branding. They’ve done a good job defining their box to play in so all the content looks cohesive, but also unique enough to capture attention.


Built For Social & Always Diverse

The Royals have been building a team of digital content creators and it shows. It’s clear their hires live and breathe the platforms and understand the nuances of what makes digital content different from traditional formats. Their content has been fun, fresh, diverse and built with the platforms in mind. Below are a few highlights:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxCzteVHteV/


Full Experience Outside Of Baseball

And finally, the Royals don’t focus just on baseball. They do a really good job showcasing the full experience. Their accounts give fans a feel for what the gameday experience is like well beyond the scores and highlights.

When you work in sports it’s easy to take simple moments for granted, but it’s so important to be the eyes and ears of your fans. Whether it’s a moment between a young fan and player or the calm of the stadium before the game begins, teams need to think about capturing content well beyond the game and provide something beyond what people see on a broadcast.


Feeling inspired by the Royals content? Well, there’s more! Erin Sleddens, the Senior Director of Digital & Social, was kind enough to answer a few questions on their team and philosophy.

1. First, can you just give a little background about yourself and your role at the Royals?

Joined the Royals in 2006 as the Manager-Community Outreach. Then quickly shifted roles to become the Manager-Online Marketing and oversee the club’s digital properties at the time (website/email). As digital evolved, my role expanded to include all strategic new media planning for the club including social, mobile, digital advertising, web/email, market research etc. I’ve led the Royals digital department for the past nine years (13th season overall with the club) and this is my third year as the Senior Director-Digital and Social Media.


2. What does your digital team look like at the Royals? And, how has the team changed and evolved over the past several years (hires you have added)?

I currently oversee a team of five including Manager-Digital & Social, Digital & Social Intern, Manager-Content. Content Producer-Real Time Specialist, Content Producer, Editor and Animation. The digital video team (Content Manager and two Content Producers) were brought on this season. In 2018, we had a single contracted position to assist with video but knew that we needed to evolve the digital team even further to assist with content capture and storytelling.


3. At a high level, what’s the Royals’ overall philosophy on social media? I would love to hear a brief overview on what you all are looking to accomplish and your approach.

Our overall goal is to tell the story of the Royals brand in an engaging, relatable, fun way while keeping it family friendly to correspond with the core values of the Royals organization. We’ve been through the ups and downs with team performance during the rise of social media and understand the storylines may change season to season but we have not strayed from this club being a place that welcomes everyone and truly values the dedication of our fans.


4. Your team’s work has always been really strong, but this year the creative and video content has been taking to another level.

Can you talk about how your content strategy at high level and how you all have built up your creative arm to support it?

Thank you! We have a very strong creative team that supports our digital team. It is a collaborative effort between both groups within the marketing department to consistently produce engaging relevant content that stays on brand. We hold weekly content meetings to update on projects and brainstorm upcoming content. We also have a space to share any on the fly ideas anyone may have. We keep an eye on the industry but also look at the content we, as fans ourselves, like to consume.


5. In a similar vein, what are the three biggest things you and the team have learned about creating content specific to digital?


1) It’s easy to get lost in the clutter these days. The rule use to be to make sure you utilized a piece of creative with every post, now each piece needs to be carefully created to make sure it will capture the most eyeballs and resonate with the most people while also remaining cognizant of the time and effort it will take to produce it.

2) Buy-in is extremely important to the success or failure of a content team. You can have amazing resources but lack the access that you need to create that content. Getting everyone on the same page with the importance of storytelling and connecting fans to your brand is not always easy, but it’s definitely necessary.

3) We all want to make content that goes viral, however, we’re also here to sell tickets. There is a way to accomplish both but not necessarily every promotion has the capacity to make that kind of a splash. Tempering the want/need to make only viral content with the necessity of some of the sales responsibilities is a learning process for everyone.


6. One thing that has really impressed me about your team’s creative work is how consistent and cohesive everything is. Your look is distinct. Your voice feels consistent. And you all do a great job laddering back to “always royal”.

Can you talk about why this consistency is important to your team and any secrets to success for executing so well on the vision?

We spend nearly six months working on campaign theme ideas for the upcoming season. We talk through every scenario including how the concepts will live on social throughout the season before determining a final theme. We also rely heavily on the expertise of our Creative Services team to make sure all of the creative aligns throughout no matter who is working on the project. The consistent voice goes back to sticking with the core values of the organization and making sure everyone is on the same page with those expectations.


7. You all did some hiring this off season, and I imagine those hires have planned a role in the creative/content part. For those looking to get buy-in from leadership to hire more creator/content roles, what advice do you have?

Yes, we hired three full-time associates to build the new digital video team within the digital department. We spent several months gathering data to present to executive leadership to showcase the importance of storytelling, how our fans connect with the club on a day to day basis and how video would impact the bottom line through ticket sales and most notably sponsorship revenue.


8. Finally, what do you think is the next big thing in the social media and sports industry?

I see digital roles expanding or shifting even more towards assisting players with their content strategies. We’re seeing a little bit of that now but I can see that becoming a full-time role for someone within a team to help players build their brands through their social media channels. It will be interesting to see how teams navigate assisting players while also making sure their team channels continue to engage using player content as well.


If you are looking for inspiration in your work, I hope the examples above and Erin’s insight will prompt you to give the Royals a follow. Not only do they have a strong vision, but they have an incredible creative team that is cranking out fun and different content daily.

A big thank you to Erin Sleddens for taking the time to answer the questions. You can follow her on Twitter here: @esleddens

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