Tag: twitter

Friday Finds: 06.28.2013

By Guest On June 28, 2013 In College Athletics, Digital, Social Media, Twitter

In our industry, there is always something to learn. In fact, that’s one of the reasons why I started this blog– it helps me keep up with industry trends, know what others are doing in the space and think through applications.

Every week I stumble upon share-worthy pieces of content, digital packages, social media campaigns, etc. from teams, leagues and others in the industry.  But ecause there are so many great examples out there , and I can’t add commentary to everything, really good work (small or large) often goes unshared here.

Industry examples are a great way to get your creative thinking going though, so I thought I would start a regular column on Friday to highlight great digital pieces, social media campaigns and content from the past week. The column won’t be filled with a lot of commentary, but will serve as more of an inspiration board.  I hope you find it useful in some form or fashion.

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Thanks for the Small Reminders, MLS

By Guest On June 26, 2013 In Digital, Social Media

Today the Major League Soccer social media team announced this:

Basically, they decided to merge their @MLSinsider account and content with @MLS. Here’s a snippet of the reasoning (you can read their full release here):

Whether or not you think the move is a good one, there are two, very simple (but important) reminders to us all:

      1. We Need to Evaluate, Evaluate & Evaluate
        We live in a communications world that is constant evolving. In my opinion, that’s one of the things that makes working in this industry so exciting and challenging. But, because the tides are constantly changing, we have to constantly evaluate.We all know that community shifts, new platforms emerge and what works today might not work three months from now. It’s up to us, as social media / digital professionals, to take the time every couple months (or whatever that timeframe looks like) to evaluate what we’re doing. What’s working well? What’s not working?

         

      2. It’s Okay To Make Changes (even drastic)
        If you’re going to crunch data, analyze statistics and evaluate, then you need to be willing [and empowered] to make changes. Social media is all about trying new things. If you try a new platform, and then realize you don’t have an audience there, you can remove your presence and it’s going to be okay.  If something isn’t working, change it. You should never do something in social media / digital “because you’ve always done it that way.” That’s the beauty of the space we play in.  We try, we evaluate, we tweak.

I say kudos to the MLS social media team for evaluating their work and making the changes they felt were best for their brand. In a fast-paced world it’s often hard to sit back and ask, “why are we doing this, is this still working?”  The truth is though, there’s never been a greater need to ask those kind of questions as the communication world keeps on changing.

Fighting the Social Media Stigma

By Guest On May 22, 2013 In Social Media

Often when I tell people that I work in social media, the response I get is: “I would love to play on Facebook and Twitter all day for a living.”  Can you hear my sigh through your computer?

Yes, sometimes working in social media pigeon holds us to the platforms. People who work in social media have a specific communication style and skill set that goes beyond people able to craft a post and a tweet.

First of all, social media professionals have a unique way of communicating—they can cut through the company-jargon to speak to the heart of consumers, fans, etc. They know how to make the complicated, simpler; they know how to make the ordinary, interesting. Social media strategists understand what it takes to make brands more relevant, timely and human.

In addition, working in social media helps you understand what it means to have an integrated communication plan. After all, social media is only a small piece of a larger puzzle.

I could go on, and on and on.

This is the bottom line: Those who work in social media should bring more to the table than hitting “post” or “tweet”.

It’s our responsibility as social media professionals to communicate our skill sets— in addition knowledge of the platforms—to those who don’t work in the industry so they see value beyond a post or a tweet (we need big-picture thinking).  After all, what we do will long outlive the latest platform fad… it will just take shape in different forms and fashions.

Agree, disagree?


Four Quick Reminders After the Hacking of @FifaWorldCup’s Twitter Account

By Guest On April 22, 2013 In Lessons Learned, Twitter

Many of us watched earlier today as the @SeppBlatter & @fifaworldcup went array on Twitter.  Yes, in case you missed, they got hacked. Here’s a recap of the action here.

Unfortunately, it is not the first time we’ve seen a brand get hacked on Twitter and it won’t be the last. For those of us who work in social media and the communications world, it’s extremely painful to watch these types of scenarios unfold. Today I kept thinking… what can we all learn from this? So, here are four simple takeaways from the @SeppBlatter & @fifaworldcup account hacks today (or from any hack for that matter):

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Four Perks of Student-Athlete Generated Content

By Guest On March 3, 2013 In Social Media

We all talk about the idea of using fan-generated content to help tell our story, but what about using student-athlete generated content to help tell the story of teams, athletic departments, etc.? I think it has leverage. Here’s why:

1. Humanizes
If anyone can capture the personality of the teams, it’s student-athletes themselves.

With the rise of social media, there is a greater demand for content beyond the stats, wins and losses.  Social media isn’t about spitting off stats or the next game time; it’s about giving fans an inside look into the athletic department, the teams and what it’s like to be a student-athlete. Social media is about the people; it’s about humanizing your brand.

Student-athletes can tell an athletic department story better than anyone else. It’s time to empower them to share a story idea, give them an outlet to blog or allow them to submit photos from practice, on the road, etc. to be shared on social platforms.

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