Tag: social media and sports

A Creative Use of Twitter’s Multiple Photos

By Guest On December 3, 2014 In Lessons Learned, Twitter
The other week I saw a cool use of the multiple-photos feature on Twitter thanks to a great hat tip from @WExline. The example is from @SportsCenter, who decided to use the Twitter’s multiple photos as a quiz function. Here’s the example:
Screen Shot 2014-12-03 at 9.52.16 PM

Click to guess?! How simple and brilliant. This content from @SportsCenter is a great example of pushing a platform’s boundaries with out-of-the-box thinking. This is also something others in the sports industry can replicate with little time or money.

The example got me thinking: How else can teams, leagues and others in the sports industry leverage Twitter’s multiple photos? Here are some thought starters for you:

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#SMSports Trends Winning on Twitter Right Now

By Guest On February 25, 2015 In Twitter, Uncategorized with 4 Comments

We all know that Twitter + sports make a great combination. During peak game times, there’s a good chance you’ll find sports dominating the trending topics. The platform is perfect for our industry.

Even though Twitter and sports are a match made in heaven, it’s great to take a step back and look at ways to improve platform use. I’ve spent time looking at the latest trends working for teams and leagues, and I compiled a list of the ones winning right now. Many of them translate across platform. If you are looking for new ways to dominate Twitter, here are some ideas:

Simple graphics and copy.

Sometimes simple is better. We live in a world filled with limited attention spans. If you make it hard for fans to digest and understand content, you’ll lose them before they think about engaging, sharing, etc. I love the trend of keeping things simple in both copy and graphics:

[graphics]

[copy]

Don’t overthink your content. As the examples prove above, complicated and overstated isn’t always the way to go.

 

Starting lineup graphics.

Michigan and Washington have found ways to spruce up starting lineup announcements through graphics. Michigan is using player cards that have an old school look and feel; Washington’s graphics are crisp, sharp and clean. Both are great ways to make content more visual and interesting:

 

GIFS.

In case you didn’t know, the NBA is all about the GIFS. You can view an awesome Twitter timeline with examples here (courtesy of @JuliePhayer).

While I think GIFS are often overplayed, it’s hard to deny their popularity. They’re a great way to show humor and humanize teams when used the right way. With GIFS, I think it’s important to highlight players and personnel as much as possible and not force pop culture just for the sake of it. Instead, use pop culture references strategically and sparingly to make a bigger splash. Here are some great examples:

 

Emojis.

A couple weeks ago, I asked people on Twitter what they thought about brands using emojis. The answers were quite diverse and interesting. And whatever your thoughts about them are, there’s one thing for certain: There’s an emoji craze going on.

Much like GIFS, emojis are often abused and overused. When used at just the right time and moments tough, emojis can help make a statement and make a team account more human. The key (again) is to use them strategically and sparingly. Here are some good examples:

 

Telling it in a screen shot.

You can’t always rely on people to click through, so you need to prioritize. Do you want to get the message out or drive people to your website? Lately I’ve seen a few examples of schools, leagues, etc. opting to post a screen grab instead of linking to more. If the message is important enough, then I think it’s a good move:

 

Use of multiple photos.

I love the multiple-photos feature from Twitter because it’s a great tool for teams and leagues to paint a full picture in one tweet. Instead of cluttering your timeline with a ton of tweets, see if there’s an opportunity to put together a statement / story in one tweet:

 

Look and feel based on the uniforms.

Since the start of basketball season, I’ve been swooning over the @Lakers’ score graphics. The colors change up based on the uniforms they’re wearing that game, but they still keeping a consistent look and feel. They are using gold at home, purple on the road and Sunday white / black. The concept is a great way to integrate gameday initiatives into a team’s social presence:

 

Video call to action.

Twitter has an awesome new CTA feature on their hosted video card: The ability to let users watch a video on the bottom right, while browsing other ones. It’s a great way to keep fans engaged longer:

 

 

 

Now it’s your turn to sound off: What trends have you seen lately on Twitter that have stood out to you? Be sure to share them below!

Thanks for reading! 

10 Great Examples of Teams Using Exposure

By Guest On February 11, 2015 In Best Practices

I first laid eyes on exposure.co in January of 2014 when Purdue Athletics used it to document what gameday is like at Mackey Arena. For me, it was love at first sight. If you aren’t familiar with Exposure, the platform lets you tell a story through stunning photo narratives. The end product has a “wow” factor that’s hard to resist. Here’s their pitch:

You’ve got tons of photos and stories. Don’t they deserve better than hashtags and slideshows? With Exposure, you can easily create beautiful photo narratives that look amazing on computers, tablets, and mobile phones. Exposure is also a community of passionate photographers and storytellers just like you.

Thankfully, there are quite a few teams in the sports industry that have caught on to this beautiful storytelling platform. Here’s why I love that it’s catching on:

It focuses on the story. Between the busy world of social media and website clutter, we rarely just let pictures and strong copy tell the story. Minimalist design interacts with pictures in a powerful way. Exposure challenges users to put their best content foot forward. Without strong copy and pictures, the package will fall flat. You have to focus on telling great story… period.

If you like Exposure, but don’t know where to get started, I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorite sports-related pieces. I think you’ll see that there are many, many ways to leverage it:
Student-Athlete Perspective

Student-Athlete Perspective

My favorite use of Exposure has been the stories that lift up student-athletes or offer their voice / perspective. There are some stellar examples too:

Clemson: Thank You, K.J.

Oklahoma Sooners: Poll Position (this one might be my favorite, so take the time to click) continue reading »

What About the Fan’s Perspective?

By Guest On November 13, 2014 In Lessons Learned, Video Content with 1 Comment

One of the great things about working in social media and sports is that there are so many different angles you can cover. The hardest part isn’t finding content, but getting out of the go, go, go mentality to take time to reflect. If you can take a step back though, you’ll see there’s a lot of extraordinary in your ordinary workday.

I’m always looking for social media and sports initiatives that take a different approach to the same ‘ole same ‘ole. I love those moments that offer a different and unique perspective.

In the past week, I saw initiatives from the Utah Jazz and Ipswich Town that did just that. They offered the fan’s perspective; something we don’t see a lot of. Here’s what they did:

Utah Jazz: Fan View #CLEatUTA

After Gordon Hayward’s game-winning shot against Cleveland, the Jazz’s social media manager had an idea: Why not curate fan videos from Instagram? And that he did (amazing to think that all these people had their phones out filming). The idea is simple and easy to replicate, but a great way to highlight fan content, reactions and action:

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