Today the Major League Soccer social media team announced this:
NEWS: @MLSinsider (this Twitter handle) is coming to an end. But, really, it’s just the beginning: http://t.co/RcHOTmxISO
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):
“We’re all insiders – fans, staff, and media alike. Everybody’s perspective brings something cool and different to the soccer experience. So today, we’re redefining what being an ‘MLS insider’ means.”
Whether or not you think the move is a good one, there are two, very simple (but important) reminders to us all:
- 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? - 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.
