Google Wave: 1 Invite To Give Away

Published November 24, 2009 Google , Networking , Social Media , Uncategorized 1 Comment
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What is Google Wave? Click here to find out or here to watch a video.

What does Wave mean for social media, sponsorship and sports? I’m not sure yet – I need some more time to play with it. It is currently in a limited preview release, so I am looking forward to understanding it better and then posting an update.

To assist in that – I have sent invites out to some friends, family and contacts and have 1 invite remaining to give away.

If you want it – send me a message and let me know who you are and why Google Wave is important to you…

Where Do Sponsors Fit Into Social Media?

Published November 18, 2009 Marketing , Social Media , Sponsorship , Twitter Leave a Comment
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Which is better? Ads or Links?

Links – hands down. But there is a differing of opinion on a few factors. I’m going to focus on Twitter for this post as it is great at link sharing.

Here’s an article based on the idea that more followers = higher CTRs (Clickthrough Rates).

And here is one that goes against that idea.

Now these ideas in social media marketing are still kinda new and in the world of sports marketing, Twitter followers are generally over 10K. But what seems quite clear is that in social media spaces, providing information via links that your market cares about is a solid way to go.

Keep in mind – we are in the social media space here – when looking at sponsors, we need to position them as partners. Dropping any old corporate link into your Twitter stream may not sit well with your followers so you need to consider who or what your corporate partners offer that will best suit your base. These people can “unfollow” you very quickly, and will do so if they feel that what they are receiving is not of interest to them. They are there to follow your team – your product – so you need to build social media sponsorships in collaboration with your sponsors that will give them – and your followers, something they value.

Can Brands Be “Friends” on Facebook?

Published October 27, 2009 Branding , Facebook , Marketing , NHL , Social Media Leave a Comment
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fbookMy two cents – in a word, “No”.

Here’s why…

Let’s say you have a Pro Sports Team Facebook Fan Page – and a brand – one that is not currently a sponsor of yours – shows up and engages your brand on Facebook. The viral nature of Facebook makes this action visible to many, possibly thousands of other people. Is this kind of brand interaction “fair” to your other (paying) sponsors who are not actively engaging your brand on Facebook?

Perhaps fair is the wrong word, but you get the idea. Social media is a platform – and yes – it is a free one, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that brand interaction in this space does not have a price. In fact, I would counter that it does.

As teams and leagues begin to negotiate the social media space (check out the NHL’s new Fan Page that launched recently) these kinds of questions need to be asked and addressed. These are the kinds of answers and strategies that I build. More on just how to do that in a later post…

What do you think? Can brands be Friends?

Do the Penguins Defy Ordinary?

Published October 2, 2009 Branding , Facebook , Marketing , NHL , Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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Defy_OrdinaryA new video hit the Pittsburgh Penguins Facebook FanPage… click here to have a look (runs 2:22). It positions the marketing focus for the team’s 2009/2010 season.

This is not exactly what I expected to see, but it is always nice to be surprised. True to social media good form, the feedback from the fans has mixed reviews. Take a moment to review the comments and you’ll see some of the additional value that spaces like this provide organizations that are interested to gauage their market’s opinions and discussions.

What do you think of this alternative positioning – Does the organization or product defy the ordinary?

Networking and Sales

Published September 29, 2009 Business Development , Networking , Sales Tips 2 Comments
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networkYour network used to be the people you knew, the people who referred you, the people you had some degree of trust with. Then there was the rest of the world – your customers, your prospects and the people who will or would buy from you. These are the people you “followed up” with.

Communicating with the people you know = networking

Communicating with the people you don’t know = selling

This is old school thinking.

If there is one thing that most sellers are genuinely poor at – it is following up. Most follow up opening statements go something like this:

“Hi, it’s Carson from Direct Contact calling – it’s been a few months since we last spoke so I thought I would give you a call today.”

This kind of follow up has absolutely no value for the buyer. It is simply asking/stating that “It has been at least 3 months since you bought something or last said no to me – are you ready to buy something now?” All this kind of salesy talk does is reinforce stigmas and frustrate buyers.

In the paradigm of Sales2.0, this kind of separation no longer exists. Effective sellers do not follow up with but network with their prospects and customers. Who exactly is in your network today? Everybody is. Your customers, your prospects, your friends, your contacts… etc… Sellers are connecting with business people daily – surely there are referral opportunities between prospects and customers in your pipeline right now.

So how do you do that exactly?

Give people something they value – information.

There are a couple of very easy ways to do this. RSS feeds are a great example.If you don’t know what an RSS feed is – click here – and then come back to this post.

Using RSS (or Google Alerts) to collect information to share with your market is an effective way of staying in touch and providing value at the same time. Include the article link in an email with a brief statement such as:

“I came across this and thought of you today – hope things are going well. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you and keep in touch.”

Pretty simple. To the point, No selling allowed.

Stop following up and start networking.

NHL Teams on Facebook: FanPage Rankings

Published September 20, 2009 Facebook , NHL , Social Media 5 Comments
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fbook logoHere’s a list of the NHL club’s “official” (i.e. owned and operated by the club) Facebook FanPages ranked by total population – with some analysis to follow…

Montreal*: 491,271
Pittsburgh: 119,073
Vancouver: 94,714
Chicago: 75,806
Philadelphia: 73,366
Boston: 66,307
Washington: 47,881
Buffalo: 45,028
Minnesota: 32,463
NYR: 22,210
Colorado: 21,452
Dallas: 20,876
St. Louis: 20,066
Anaheim: 19,188
San Jose: 19,129
Carolina: 19,125
Ottawa: 18,542
Toronto: 18,494
Calgary: 16,526
Edmonton: 16,201
New Jersey: 13,014
NYI: 9,172
Nashville: 9,078
Florida: 5,981
Tampa: 4,808
Phoenix: 4,787
Los Angeles: 4,707
Atlanta: 2,381
Columbus: 933
*Montreal leverages a 3rd party app for their Facebook Fanpage.

Analysis

Montreal’s “official” page uses a WaterCooler app – I blogged about this in an earlier post. It works in a much different way… Pittsburgh’s 2nd place rank seems quite obvious as they possess some of the games’ brightest talents and stars and are the current Stanley Cup Champions.

Vancouver stands out here at #3. Without a Stanley Cup in its history, the primary reason that the Canucks rank so high is their positioning and focus on social media.

I am most surprised by Toronto – an original 6 team in a huge market with loads of history and success; Toronto’s numbers are not strong compared to their brand, profile, status in the league and widespread fan base.

What are your thoughts on this list?

Social Media Adoption: Slow Process for Teams

Published September 16, 2009 Leadership , Social Media , Sponsorship 2 Comments
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Last year, many teams and leagues recognized the potential and flat out requirement to be more involved in social media – but how far have they come in adopting these sites for fan engagement or integrating sponsorship opportunities?

This is the high season for sports – the kick-off of the NFL season, MLB playoff races, the NHL season is about to start and the NBA is just around the corner. There are more eyeballs on more teams and leagues than any other time of year. Right now.

But is this opportunity being leveraged?

For the most part – I would suggest the answer is no. Despite interest, there is a lot of tire ticking and/or reluctance. There are also teams who are looking to be leaders but are not willing to put up the investment in time or dollars without the classic ROI path in advance.

There are some teams who are fully engaged – nothing new for the Phoenix Suns – well regarded as thought leaders in the sports and social media field. And there are other teams out there I am in conversation with and aware of who are taking the steps now to organize and launch major social media initiatives and sponsorship integrations.

This is the exciting future path – this is where thought leaders are taking the industry, and this is where the others will follow in time.

Still Here…

Published September 2, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Just a quick note as I have not posted in awhile – thank you for checking in…

It’s been a busy summer relocating from Toronto to Vancouver. Lot’s of exciting things on the horizon and more information to share.

Stick with me and stay tuned!

Upcoming Social Media and Sports Webinar: Aug. 6th

Published August 4, 2009 Branding , Social Media , Sports Marketing 3 Comments
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zu

Check out the link for the webinar by clicking here. Hurry – it’s this Thursday, August 6th!

This great presentation comes from a contact of mine - Trevor Turnbull at zu. These are the folks who built StampsConnect which I posted about a few weeks ago. I received some great feedback on this site – this should be an informative webinar and I encourage you to join in and check it out.

I first met Trevor via Twitter during the Pens/Caps series of the NHL playoffs – since then we have traded lots of good ideas. Zu is working on some exciting stuff, so be sure to attend.

A Tale of Two Calgary’s

Published July 21, 2009 Facebook , NHL , Social Media , Sponsorship , Sports Marketing , Twitter 2 Comments
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calgarydomeThe other week, I posted about StampsConnect – a true social media aggregator site developed for the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL. Recently, Calgary’s other pro sports team – The Flames – came out with their social media package titled “The C of Red” via KickApps (now adopted by the NHL league wide).

So let’s compare and contrast what Calgary has on the go.

StampsConnect vs. C of Redcalgarystadium

First off – “The C of Red” hits a little too close to the “Red” brand/tag used by the Washington Capitals. (POST SCRIPT: Please review the comment by Rowan regarding other NHL teams use of “Red” as a tag or brand. My apologies to the Flames, I was wrong.)

KickApps is more of a “push” strategy, as opposed to a “pull” strategy employed by StampsConnect. In order to be a member of the C of Red, fans must sign up via the NHL in order to participate. With StampsConnect – users can simply view and leverage the social media content already out there on the Internet now. These same social media sites – namely Facebook and Twitter – are available to the C of Red as well, but exist completely outside of it.

StampsConnect succeeds because it is so simple – by leveraging the web tools and content that is already there, fans do not have to sign up for anything new, or “float” between platforms/logins to be part of the community.

Ultimately – these networks build loyalty and fan investment and will drive revenue indirectly as such. There is limited opportunity for sponsorship via KickApps itself as this would result in traditional web advertising possibilities. However, via true social media networks – sponsorship is much more dynamic and open to possibilities – not to mention the viral component of user visibility that provides a greater marketing footprint.

Summary

It remains to be seen how NHL teams will be using the KickApps platform – and what kind of engagement their fans provide vs. existing social media networks. I believe the goal is not to build isolated networks that borrow concepts of sharing and connection – but work with sites that are already doing this like Facebook and Twitter. Smart teams will be making the most of these opportunities and layering on sponsorship activation to provide a ROI in addition to fan loyalty and engagement.

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Carson McKee
Owner, Direct Contact
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