I've got MLB draft night fever

In light of this evening's draft festivities, I just wanted to take a moment to share this awesome article/infographic, Top 100 Draft Flashback: What States Produce, published by Matt Eddy over at Baseball America. Being a Georgia boy, I obviously would like to draw attention to the production of the Southeastern states (most notably GA and FLA).

For marketers, content is king… Google+ is no exception.

Before delving into the Google+ as it relates to SEO, it is important to clear up certain misconceptions regarding Google+. When launched in 2011, Google+ was widely misinterpreted as simply an attempt to compete with existing social networks (and the ad revenue associated). However, what went largely unnoticed was the fact that the social aspect of Google+ was merely an offshoot of the big picture. In the grand scheme of things, Google+ created a massive data collection system wherein they could gather troves of online information from users (who were signed into their own accounts).

 In regards to inbound marketing (which essentially orbits around the idea of driving traffic to a specific website, be it through search engines, social networks, etc.), Google+ provided marketers with a central platform on which to more carefully mold/improve their own digital visibility, primarily through SEO.

One of the most elementary tools provided by Google+ is the +1 button, which can/should be embedded into any pertinent posting or piece of content published by the organization on their website/blog/etc. This simple tool allows visitors to share this content on their own Google+ pages, and is a simple way for any B2B marketer to increase the digital reach of a brand, while simultaneously improving search engine visibility.

While the +1 button is a powerful tool in its own right, perhaps the most fundamental requirement for any business looking to incorporate the power of Google+ into their digital marketing armory is the creation and verification of a Google+ business page. This page is the very groundwork on which any B2B marketer will lay the content to drive his/her inbound marketing strategy. The postings on this page should exhibit a consistent feel and theme, and not be used to shove products/services in the faces of potential customers. Rather, the content should be engaging and help to provide relief to customer pain points, all while maintaining a consistent brand presence. Depending on the marketing strategy, this content could consist of anything from blog postings to videos and photographs. The idea behind this content-centric strategy is that from an inbound marketing perspective, at its core, Google+ is about improving SEO and driving customers to your website… The only way to rise through all of the muck and gain this digital visibility is to use Google+ as it is designed… by drawing content views, +1’s, shares, likes, etc. How does a B2B marketer drive such action? The key is the creation of relevant and stimulating content.

End of semester reflections...

Graduation is rapidly approaching here at The University of Georgia, so as the schoolwork begins to wind down, I wanted to take a few minutes to reflect on the semester. It is safe to say that this semester has helped to provide me with the clearest picture of my career beyond the classroom. I would be remiss if I failed to mention the huge impact that my social media marketing class, and most notably my professor, Jennifer Osbon, has had on my career outlook post-graduation. 

While I already harbored a particular interest in social prior to this MARK 5000 class, the content, thought, real world application, and energy that Professor Osbon brings into the classroom and her lectures each day was hugely refreshing. Easily the best professor I have had here at the University of Georgia, her rookie year here has already begun to give the Terry College of Business a modern edge that it needs to continue improving its growth and sustainability well into the future. 

More than willing to help her students in regards to career aspirations, she never shies away from actively using her expansive network to put her students and The University of Georgia on the metaphorical digital marketing map. This is not to say that other professors here at The University of Georgia are unwilling to aid students in regards to career aspirations (actually, its is quite the opposite), merely that Professor Osbon has proven herself to be among the most proactive in this regard. Simply put: she is here for the students.

I'm quite confident that The Terry College of Business' "baptism" into the fray of digital/social marketing could be helmed by no one better.

To current students... register quickly before classes fill up! They promise to do so quickly.

My digital Masters weekend...

Here we are in mid-April, nearing the tail-end of Masters weekend, with the final round of the tournament shaping up to conclude dramatically (as usual). While probably oversimplifying things, it is safe to say the last 4 days has consisted primarily of eating, watching the Masters, and sleeping. 

Backtracking a bit... on Thursday, my social media marketing professor spent a sizable portion of class time discussing the emerging prominence of multi-screen audience engagement. How appropriate. Within a few hours I found myself camped out in front of my television, tuned into the Masters with the Golf Digest "Social Hub" loaded up on the laptop alongside a live-updating leaderboard. Up to this point, I had yet to realize the irony of the situation... until I made the decision to pull-out the iPad to view a few highlights. Here I was, sitting in the living room with 3 different screens loaded up, creating my own little digital world all situated around a single televised event.

Courtesy of my professor's lecture and dumb coincidence I came to realize just how penetrating and powerful digital media has become in regards to creating a broader, more engaging, event experience.

Building a Digital Ballpark Experience

In 2012, Major League Baseball launched the "At the Ballpark" application in an attempt to build a consolidated portable device-driven ballpark experience. With the explosion of mobile devices and social media, Major League Baseball saw an opportunity to amplify the digital experience of ball game attendance. The "At the Ballpark" application is this "opportunity" put to action. 

In general application allows attendees to:

• Access ballpark information/maps/etc.
• View schedule/ticketing information
• Access team statistics
• Order food/beverages (in select stadiums only)

Socially, attendees are able to upload/share photographs of their experiences at games, and participate in social media conversations with others in attendance/watching the game.

As a whole, the MLB "At the Ballpark" application does an exceptional job of creating a centralized digital experience for attendees, and has been positioned for continued success well into the future.

*Also worth noting is the fact that MiLB teams have begun making attempts to build a digital experience around ballgames. (See IronPigs Launch MiLB's First Social Media Hub).

Opening Night thoughts...

With the Houston Astros' 8-2 victory over the Texas Rangers here on 2013 Major League Baseball Opening Night, I wanted to take a few moments to post about production practices that could help ESPN promote/direct the Twitter chatter in regards to broadcast games. As time progresses, I fully expect ESPN to begin to embrace the social promotional practices of rival sports networks (i.e. FOX Sports, MLB Network, etc.).

An example from the 2012 Postseason of FOX Sports brick and mortar hashtag promotion

While the Twittersphere obviously does not require specific campaigns in order to create social buzz, the incorporation of specific hashtag campaigns helps to direct the conversation to a common digital arena, wherein sports networks are able to more easily engage with an audience that wants to be part of a larger conversation.

WBC Social Growth

With the conclusion of the 2013 World Baseball Classic on March 19th, publications are springing up online touting the outlandish social media statistics that persisted throughout the duration of the tournament. While posting eye-popping numbers in regards to viewership/television ratings internationally, the social media buzz around the event was equally remarkable. Moreover, credit is due to the minds behind the MLB Fan Cave social strategy who anticipated social growth of the event:

February 27th: "As baseball begins its third iteration of the WBC this Sunday, it’s going after its target youth demographic by utilizing tools that were less plentiful – or even nonexistent – during its last tournament four years ago." - (Tom Van Riper, "World Baseball Classic: The MLB Fan Cave Goes Global")

 The Fan Cave put together a contest with the objective of creating social buzz by selecting 16 individuals to watch, blog, and tweet about the event. While there no metrics available to measure the reach of the campaign as a whole, Major League Baseball did publish a press release announcing that the tournament (as a whole) "generated an unheard-of 600 million social media impressions." To put that into perspective, the 2012 World Series generated approximately 10.7 million social media comments - via (Record social media buzz for champion Giants). While the tournament boasts a much more expansive schedule in terms of games played, the near 60-fold advantage in social impressions belonging to the World Baseball Classic will serve as a constant reminder (over the next four years) as to the worldwide reach of the tournament (businesses take note).

MLB Social Media Policy: A Monumental Leap Forward

Two weeks ago I posted a piece on the value of social media as a tool in regards to building athlete commercial value. In conjunction with that post, I thought it appropriate to briefly comment on Major League Baseball's 2012 trip into uncharted waters to adopt a social media policy addressing social media use by employees and players.

The principle take-away from the 2012 MLB CBA policies implemented is that social governance is highly centralized. These very policies set forth by Major League Baseball are "law of the land." Meanwhile, ballclubs themselves are restricted from creating social policies in contradiction with MLB. Additionally, punishment can be lain on a player via the Commisioner Office directly OR by their respective baseball club (punishments may not be handed down by both organizations for a player's violation of policy... simply put, one or the other).

*Note: All 4 of the following policies can be found on page 254 of the 2012-2016 Major League Baseball Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Expanding upon the 2012 MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement, a memorandum released by Major League Baseball in March 2012 set forth greater detail regarding social media policy.

Craig Calcaterra of Hardball Talk does an exemplary job of summarizing the "don'ts" of this memorandum (2012 MLB Social Media Policy):

"The policy itself is more of a legal document, but it basically consists of a list of ten prohibitions:

• Players can’t make what can be construed as official club or league statements without permission;

• Players can’t use copyrighted team logos and stuff without permission or tweet confidential or private information about teams or players, their families, etc.;

• Players can’t link to any MLB website or platform from social media without permission;

• No tweets condoning or appearing to condone the use of substances on the MLB banned drug list (which is everything but booze, right?);

• No ripping umpires or questioning their integrity;

• No racial, sexist, homophobic, anti-religious, etc. etc. content;

• No harassment or threats of violence;

• Nothing sexually explicit;

• Nothing otherwise illegal."

While these control measures are fairly straightforward and common sense, the very fact that Major League Baseball has set guidelines to govern player social behavior represents an acceptance of "new media." Furthermore, it goes without saying that Major League Baseball recognizes the crucial role that social media plays in the lives of the young, a demographic that MLB must accommodate in order to remain sustainable and popular.

#EvoArmy: The EvoShield Social Model

A large percentage of organizations who set out with the goal of establishing a social media marketing strategy end up falling far short of their original intentions. However genuine in nature, these organizations often end up with a variation of an (online) marketing strategy... but with no semblance of "social." Typically, they wind up under-utilizing the social web, viewing it as an extension of traditional advertising (a one-way communication channel) to push their products, services, deals, etc. on followers/friends.

Why is it that companies fall short of a "social" strategy? Part may be innocent ignorance, part may be due to a lack of knowledge or experience working within social marketing, but in the case of many, the reason for failure originates from a lack of understanding in regards to the "social" potential of the web. The truth is, developing and maintaining a successful social marketing strategy can be laborious work. This stems from the fact that an organization cannot simply develop one persona and run with it indefinitely. Rather, the social strategy must evolve with the respective audience. 

For an exceptional example of social strategy within the sports industry, look no further than the Athens-born protective athletic gear company, EvoShield. Similar to brands of the past such as Under Armour, Mizuno, and Marucci, EvoShield has experienced explosive growth through the creation of a cult-like following among the athletic community.

Appropriately, EvoShield social marketing strategy has fueled the cult-like nature of the self-branded #EvoArmy (users of EvoShield products). The brains behind EvoShield social strategy understand the importance of two-way engagement, and (in the case of Twitter) have strategically embraced a series of widely recognized customer-bred hashtags such as: #EvoSwag, and my personal favorite, #EvoTan (a hashtag often coupled with a picture of a EvoShield Wrist Guard-resultant tan line). These hashtags have even wandered out of the digital world, and are now featured on a variety of EvoShield apparel (shirts, bags, etc.).

Very rarely does EvoShield use social platforms to push for direct sales. Instead, they rely on  #EvoArmy interaction and the aforementioned cult-following to drive their online social strategy. Based on their remarkable growth and following, the EvoShield social model is certainly worth monitoring and modeling.

Athlete Commercial Value (Beyond The Talent)

The 140 character, real-time talking space known as Twitter has revolutionarily bridged the communication gap between celebrities (politicians, movie/television stars, musical artists, athletes, etc.) and respective fans across the world. From expressing thoughts, to interacting with fans, to posting personal photographs/videos, Twitter has helped to cultivate a transparent online public sphere, humanizing celebs and establishing a sentiment of personal authenticity among fans. 

Moreover, Twitter has opened up endless opportunities for personal marketing and branding. While obvious that social branding for celebs/athletes is still enjoying its formative years, those who capitalize early place themselves in a position to reap the greatest benefits (a reality repeatedly illustrated as marketing mediums have evolved/emerged throughout time). Social opportunities exist for virtually all celebrities, but in keeping with the theme of my previous posts, I will focus on the athlete. 

The revolutionary nature of personal social branding has unsurprisingly inspired troves of articles/criticisms, so running a simple Google search of "athlete social branding" will generously provide you with a wide array of examples. However, among the related content littered across the web, one Wall Street Journal article by Daniel Barbarisi caught my eye:  Yankees' Swisher Takes Center Stage. Rather uniquely, the article delves into the nature of athlete social branding, highlighting the social presence of then-Yankees slugger Nick Swisher. While a GREAT read as a whole, the most interesting subject matter deals with the new-found social branding opportunities for the "mid-level"(not necessarily superstars) player: 

"This is the emerging norm—these [mid-level] athletes now have an ability to establish and build and then extend their brands, and break through a lot of the clutter. For many years, with traditional media, the top endorsers did well. They had a lot of notoriety and strong followings, and a lot of other athletes were relegated to the local supermarket openings, and cutting the ribbon at car dealerships." - David Carter, Money Games

Swisher, while fitting into this category of "mid-level" for his contributions on the baseball diamond, he is widely known for his energetic personality and sense of humor (need I say more?: KevJumba vs. NY Yankee Nick Swisher Ping Pong FaceOFF). Social outlets like Twitter give Mr. Swisher the opportunity to broadcast his personality... and with this strong social presence comes the money (courtesy of Mercedes, in the case of the above article). No longer are marketing dollars solely destined for the pockets of the superstars/celebs (i.e. Brad Pitt or Albert Pujols). Now, courtesy of social media, transparency allows the "mid-level" athletes/celebs to build their personal brands through: 

1) professional notoriety, AND
2) personality

Moving forward, expect more athletes and celebrities like Mr. Swisher to take advantage of the lucrative status/personality cocktail.

Major League Baseball Gets It...

My previous post focused on the social practices on the representation/ownership side of professional sports. This week I'll flip the script a bit to discuss the social media efforts on the other side of the table, those of  professional sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA, etc.). In this case, Major League Baseball and its 2011 brainchild, the MLB Fan Cave.

Just some brief background... the MLB Fan Cave is an annual program designed to give select fans the opportunity (or as they advertise it, "dream job") to watch each and every Major League Baseball game. In addition to couch potato duties, the contest winners, known as "cave dwellers," are tasked with recording their experience and inciting fan engagement/participation via various social media channels. Throughout each season, giveaways, promotions, as well as visits from celebrities and MLB's best players give fans a new avenue to connect with the game.

In contrast with my previous post (regarding sports agency social activity), Major League Baseball's social presence through the MLB Fan Cave program has been a massive success, and has driven huge engagement statistics. Most notably, the Cave has drawn massive social attention and participation numbers on a wide array of online communication channels, be it through Facebook 'Comments,' Twitter 'Mentions,' etc.

However:

"For the league, it was about more than just wanting to be in the conversation because social media is the big buzzword. Social media has provided the league a way to reach out to a younger audience. The average avid MLB fan is 45 years old. The average Fan Cave fan is 28. The endeavor also allowed MLB to reach out to a more casual fan without alienating die-hards." - Maria Burns Ortiz, ESPN.

Most importantly though, the effect of the Fan Cave goes far beyond Facebook 'Likes,' and Twitter 'Follows' (even though these counting stats are impressive in their own right)... The Fan Cave has revolutionized fan social participation by opening a two-way communication channel between cave dwellers (MLB) and the fans themselves, all the while giving fans a new-found personal connection with the game on and off the field.

Dicky Fox: Wise Beyond His Years

The use of social media marketing is common in today's expansive marketplace, as online strategic success is judged quantitatively by Facebook "Likes," Twitter/Pinterest "Follows," etc. Organizations have appropriately recognized the importance and potential benefits of building interactive relationships with customers via social media. However, not all industries have been as quick to bite... The sports agency industry is one such example.  

"The key to this business is personal relationships..." the infamous words of fictional sports agent Dicky Fox from the 1996 film Jerry Maguire. Cliche or not, I severely doubt professionals (young or old) in the sports agency industry would knock the validity of Mr. Fox's statement. 

From the release of the film in the mid-1990s through present day, it was Mr. Fox's intention to accurately speak to the correlation between strong intra-industry personal relationships to agency/financial success. As sports industry jobholders will affirm, the sports industry is often a surprisingly close-knit professional network.

In the age of social media, I believe the appropriateness of Mr. Fox's assertion has gained an even more expansive significance. The importance of personal relationships to a sports agent's success is no longer solely intra-industry, but also has grown to include social network participants, and to an even greater degree than generations past, fans. Increasingly, the barriers between fans and athletes' personal lives continue to fall (i.e. Twitter). Because of this new reality, agencies have an opportunity to create and capitalize on social media strategies to amplify the popularity and publicity of their clients, and in turn, grow revenue. Manufacturing social publicity and satisfying fan desire for interaction with an athlete's celebrity are two such opportunities to help positively build their client's personal brand online. The entertainment industry has repeatedly illustrated the potential for this positive branding to result in profit, be it direct or indirect. 

"If an agent is familiar with the various uses of Twitter, and actively searches for new endorsement opportunities, he will better be able to identify when a client could potentially use social media to earn off-the-field income." - Darren Heitner, Sports Agent Blog

Agency involvement in social is a relatively novel concept, as strategies and their perceived effectiveness are continually debated. Nonetheless, in a marketplace where the vast majority of industries have built extensive social presences, agency participation remains relatively limited, thus leaving a window of opportunity for a first-mover advantage.

Brief Introduction

I'm a senior marketing major at The University of Georgia and sports enthusiast.

My blog postings will speak to my passion regarding sports and the business/marketing behind them.