Micro-transactions and Future Revenues from the Social Space
July 13, 2010 at 10:10 am | Posted in Facebook, Micro-transactions, Social Media | 1 CommentTags: Facebook, Gifts, Micro-transactions, Social Gaming
Last week, Facebook announced that it was discontinuing its Gifts feature as of August 1, 2010.
I have previously blogged about important Facebook changes, but you can only come up with eye-catching titles like “Facebook Changes You Need to Know About” so many times… it is pretty clear that Facebook is a constantly shifting space and you need to stay on top of it both tactically as well as strategically.
Discontinuing the Gift Feature
In past posts, I had presented the idea of micro-transactions – small dollar value ($1 or $2) transactions – as a possible revenue stream for the social space. Conveniently, Facebook did a very good job of facilitating and sharing Gifts – small icons that users could buy (with $ or credits) and display on their own profiles or give to friends. This seemed straightforward enough, and a strong fit for sports marketers to leverage a team logo, a player or other aspect of their sport.
Micro-transactions could generate some fairly high numbers (once the initial outlay was built and in place) for strong sports brands with tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of fans. For example, a .5% conversion on $1 from 500,000 fans = $2,500.
Perhaps it was a good idea, but also a bit late. Gifting across Facebook was certainly more popular in 2005-2007/08 – add the recent economic downturn and it results in the closing of the gift store today.
Of course, teams can still continue with gifts on their own – but it seems that the gift/revenue legitimacy is now over; however, the concept of micro-transactions is still a powerful one and will have an increasing role in online revenue and also from the social and mobile space as well.
Micro-transactions
A familiar example of a micro-transaction is iTunes – $1 per song. Pretty easy to execute, and some serious revenues follow as a result.
Micro-transactions have been very successful in “free-to-play” online games represented by both the purchase of virtual items as well as in-game progression. Recent years have seen rapid growth in the popularity of micro-transactions in social gaming (consider famous titles such as “Farmville” or “Mafia Wars” on Facebook).
So how can sports marketers benefit?
For one, I am confident that social platforms will increase their focus social gaming. Sports games make very good sense and offer a wide appeal. While some of these opportunities will exist at the league level, imagine a social game in which you are able to manage “your team” as a GM. There could be integrated sponsor opportunities to give your players more energy by providing them with Gatorade for a micro-transactional fee…
As DVRs (or PVRs in Canada) continue to erode effective messaging opportunities on TV via traditional advertising, product integration will increasingly show up in spaces where consumers spend their time or draw their attention. Similarly, consumers are spending more time on their smart phones and social networking platforms. This is not a “better or worse” type of situation or evaluation, but it is clear that things are changing (fairly quickly) and marketers need to adapt, not to mention, innovate.
2 Quick Thoughts
July 1, 2010 at 1:54 am | Posted in Facebook, NHL, Social Media, Twitter | 1 CommentTags: Facebook, NHL, Twitter
1. A follow up on my NHL Draft on Twitter post
There was a ton of info and images pushed out from teams at the draft – at least on the first round. I believe that all in all there was a great deal of good content that gave followers a sense of what was happening on the floor and around the arena.
Highlight of the event: Sponsored tweets from @NHL and Enterprise Rent-a-Car for each of the 30 draft announcements. An innovative activation in this space, and a few promo codes were provided for followers as well.
2. Facebook and Twitter Integration
You have always been able to coordinate your Facebook status update with your Twitter feed – which in my opinion is not a good idea. They are two separate platforms with different capabilities and benefits. Making them redundant is not a good idea – why would someone follow your team on Twitter if the Facebook status update was the same? But that’s not the point here…
The point is – Facebook now lets you see which of your Friends have a Twitter profile as well. This is a big step and should help to increase team Twitter populations and the overall Twittersphere in general. Unfortunately, we have seen more of the FailWhale as well.
This integration deserves a longer separate post – stay tuned for ideas on that.
Interview with the NHL’s Director of Social Media, Mike DiLorenzo
April 29, 2010 at 10:44 am | Posted in Business Tips, Facebook, Marketing, NHL, Social Media, Tools, Twitter | Leave a commentTags: Facebook, NHL, Social Media, Twitter
I first “met” Mike via Twitter during last year’s Penguins and Capitals playoff series. Since then, we’ve had a great dialogue about social media and the NHL.
Mike manages the NHL Fan Page on Facebook as well as the NHL on Twitter… and you can find him on LinkedIn as well.
I recently asked Mike some questions and will share those along with his answers below:
1. What’s in your social media tool kit (desktop clients or Bberry/iPhone apps)?
I am a social media simpleton. I use CoTweet and OpenBeak for Twitter, and Facebook for Blackberry. On the analytics side, I subscribe to a service called ViralHeat.
2. How did you get here/how did this job come about from the NHL?
This is my third season at the NHL, and I started as director of corporate communications. Our senior VP of digital media, Perry Cooper, appointed me to lead a newly formed social media department at the start of the 2009-10 season. I had been running point on social media stuff prior to that, so it was a natural transition to doing it full time.
3. Most rewarding moment you had over the past season from your perspective?
I was interviewed on behalf of the NHL by Josh Bernoff, who is writing a sequel to Groundswell. I may wallpaper my bathroom with the pages from the new book that mention the NHL.
4. Where is the NHL going with social media? What are your/the NHL’s long term goals/ideas?
We are building windows into the NHL on 3rd-party sites, so we can expose fans to the game and capture a share of their minds when their not necessarily on NHL.com or watching a game. Our long term goal is to become more pervasive in the hearts and minds of fans in North America and beyond, and to give them many more reasons to spend time, energy and emotion with us.
5. Your blog, “From the blue seats“… where is this for you now?
I need to water it and put it in the sun before it shrivels up and dies! I am hopeful that I will have more time to dedicate to it this summer and all of next season. What I’d like to focus on is social trends in sports, and occasionally some opinion pieces on the game itself. I am all ears if people have ideas.
6. Are you currently incorporating any league sponsors into your social media spaces, if so – how?
We promote all of our partner activations on our social media. It’s an area that we’re becoming smarter and more sophisticated with, and are developing business models around. Currently, we’re really excited about the Bud Light Canada Facebook app that’s out there right now.
7. The NHL has more followers on Twitter than Facebook fans – why is this?
When we were named to the “recommended user” list by Twitter, we were seeing very strong weekly growth rates. Once Twitter changed the mechanics of the recommended list, our growth rate slowed. Now, with the integration of the Like button on NHL.com, we’re seeing hypergrowth on our Facebook page. I don’t think it’s a referendum on the technographics of our fans, or our success/failures on one platform or another. To me, it’s circumstantial.
8. How do you stay current on new tools and trends? What are you reading (online or otherwise) or who do you listen to?
I love to read Fast Company, and Lauren Goode’s stuff in the Wall Street Journal. She is a terrific reporter. Of course, MediaPost, Mashable and TechCrunch are must-reads, and I also try to stay current on industry analyst reports. I also learn a fair amount from Gary Vaynerchuk, who has been an adviser to the NHL this season. My favorite bloggers are Shannon Paul and Guy Kawasaki. Truly, I wish I had more time to dedicate to reading up on Trends.
Facebook… Like It
April 22, 2010 at 4:42 pm | Posted in Branding, Facebook, Marketing, NHL, Social Media, Sports Marketing | Leave a commentTags: Alex Ovechkin, Facebook, Fan Page, NHL, Social Plugins, Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
Facebook launched some potent new tools yesterday and I will start to break down what it means for sports marketers…
You may have heard/seen that recently Facebook changed the term “Fans” from its Pages to simply, “Like”. So now, your Page doesn’t have fans, but people who like it (too bad – “Fans” was a perfect fit for sports teams). Now, the idea of “Like”ing something gets a whole lot more engaged.
Social Plugins
If you are familiar with Facebook, the ability to “Like” something is not new. But through the use of social plugins - check them out here – the “Like” button can show up anywhere, on any website – even your own.
Here’s an example from NHL.com with Alex Ovechkin.
What this means is that now, Facebook can be pretty much anywhere. The web is increasingly semantic and social. Furthermore, “Like”s can dynamically alter a Facebook users profile, and the act of “Like”ing something can create a long-term communication between the user and NHL.com. Whenever there is an update on Ovechkin from NHL.com, the “Like” will update the user on the Facebook platform. Pretty neat stuff.
Ok – Now What?
So now that you have an idea of what technology is in place – here’s what to start doing with it.
- Every team site has a roster page – get some Like buttons up there for the players (like the NHL.com model) and tell your fans to get clicking
- The viral nature of all this “Like”ing should help grow your Page population as well, be ready to track this
- NHL.com integration increased the NHL Facebook Page by 3.2% (>9000 Fans) overnight after this launch
- Consider partner/sponsor brand synergy – what kinds of sponsors would be a good fit for social plugins?
I will be thinking/blogging more about the last bullet – in the meantime, more to come on Facebook’s new tools and how to best put them to use.
If you have some ideas or some other great examples/models to look at, please leave a comment and let us all know…
The Mobile Web is the Future of the Internet
April 19, 2010 at 10:04 am | Posted in Business Development, Facebook, Mobile, Sales Tips, Social Media, Sports Marketing | Leave a commentTags: Blackberry, Facebook, iPhone, Mobile Web
Mobile Market Forecast
A report compiled by Morgan Stanley (broken down here by Mashable) predicts that mobile web usage will outpace desktop internet usage by 2015. Now is the time to focus sales efforts on this space. Having said, that consider the following stats:
- Video accounts for 69% of mobile data traffic
- Facebook is the single largest repository for user-generated content such as pics, videos, links and comments
- The overlap between mobile users and social web users continues to grow; more and more users are accessing the social web from a mobile device
- Games are bigger than any other app category — both for the social web and for mobile devices
- Online ad sales are growing, but virtual goods, premium content and other models are big business, especially for the mobile web
- The average iPhone user only spends 45% of on-device time making voice calls
What Does This Mean?
This is an important place to be – and you need to be there with your social media strategy fully optimized. There are a number of social network and real-time elements inherent to the sports industry that make the mobile market a wide open opportunity for sales teams.
Now go sell it!
NHL Teams on Facebook: Where are they now?
April 14, 2010 at 10:36 am | Posted in Facebook, Marketing, NHL, Social Media, Sports Marketing | 1 CommentTags: Facebook, NHL
Last October, I profiled the 30 NHL teams and ranked them according to population size on Facebook. As the 2009/2010 regular season has ended, here is a look at where these teams currently sit…
The Century Club
1. Pittsburgh: 187,985 (+58%)
2. Chicago: 168,441 (+122%)
3. Detroit: 157,510 (+77%)
4. Vancouver: 140,443 (+50%)
5. Philadelphia: 129,291 (+76%)
6. Boston: 127, 592 (+92%)
7. Washington: 122,750 (+156%)
Note strong increases across the board – the Pens still lead the pack… the Canucks lead all Canadian teams by a sizable margin (see below)… with relative on-ice success, both the Boston and Philly are strong hockey markets in large cities.
50K – 100K Club
8. Buffalo: 78,356 (+74%)
9. Colorado: 74,992 (+249%)
10. Toronto: 69,116 (+273%)
11. Carolina: 59,507 (+211%)
12. NYR: 54,942 (+147%)
13. Minnesota: 51,906 (+60%)
14. San Jose: 50,461 (+164%)
Note the steep drop from #7 to #8 position… very strong % increases from the Leafs, Avalanche and Hurricanes here. Still huge potential for NYR and the Leafs considering their market size and fan base.
30K – 50K Club
15. St. Louis: 47,311 (+136%)
16. Edmonton: 40,966 (+153%)
17. New Jersey: 39,674 (+205%)
18. Calgary: 33,385 (+102%)
19. Ottawa: 31,827 (+72%)
20. Dallas: 30,523 (+46%)
21. Anaheim: 30,105 (+57%)
These teams see strong % increases as well – Note Edmonton’s #16 position proving that a winning product isn’t everything (but it certainly doesn’t hurt).
Under 20K Club
22. Nashville: 16,911 (+86%)
23. Tampa Bay: 15,877 (+230%)
24. New York Islanders: 14,796 (+61%)
25. Phoenix: 12,641 (+164%)
26. Florida: 12,551 (+110%)
27. Columbus: 10,786 (+1056%)
28. Los Angeles: 7,293 (+55%)
29. Atlanta: 5,825 (+145%)
Despite some significant % increases across this group (note Columbus up from 933 fans at the beginning of the season), Phoenix, Nashville and LA provide similarly to Edmonton that winning isn’t everything…
* Montreal: Official Facebook Community is a Watercooler App and not a Facebook Fan Page – current fan total: 498,673
Social Media and the Rise of “Fanscots”
March 30, 2010 at 4:26 pm | Posted in Facebook, Social Media | 2 CommentsTags: Facebook, Mascots, Social Media, YouTube
First off – “What is a Fanscot?” you are asking…
In an effort to coin a term, I am inventing the word FANSCOT. A Fanscot is a sports fan who has also become a mascot. Famous fans have been around for decades – people like Morganna the Kissing Bandit, The FanMan or Rainbow Wig Guy, but these fans were not really mascots. They were fans (per say) but not really tied to a particular team.
Every arena or stadium has had their share of the “Superfan“, which is basically an individual who attends the event (often, all of them) dressed in a crazy way, with lights, signs, horns – you name it…
Now, there is a new breed of fan, the Fanscot. These Fanscots are really like an un-official mascot. A fan who takes it to the next level and creates a character and attends the game as a character. For example:
In the background, these fans are well enjoyed by all during the games but now have a life of their own on Social Media platforms. Capstronaut has over 600 fans of his own on Facebook, and the Green Men currently have over 27,000 (more than some NHL teams themselves).
What’s the point? Look at the power social media can have – anyone can leverage these tools and create a buzz. Imagine what can happen when Marketing embraces social media…
Know of another Fanscot? Let me know!
(Thanks to @trevorturnbull for the inspiration for this post!)
7 Tips for Social Media ROI
March 22, 2010 at 5:45 pm | Posted in Business Development, Facebook, How To..., Marketing, Sales Tips, Social Media, Sponsorship, Sports Marketing, Twitter | 2 CommentsTags: Facebook, ROI, Social Media, Sponsorship, Sports Marketing, Twitter
Where is the ROI from social media? From a sports marketing perspective – here is where you find the money:
- Grow your Fan and Follower populations – more eyeballs, more traffic to drive back to your website
- Bigger pops allows you to sell the social space itself too (see #2)
- Custom tabs on Facebook: You can build and sell these spaces to sponsors
- Sponsored contests for engagement
- Don’t just drop sponsored links, give fans a reason to click
- Sell your Twitter background space
- Get a sponsor for your Facebook page
- Engage with sponsors on Facebook and Twitter
- As part of a marketing strategy, brand synergy is important
- Sponsored player Twitter account
7 tips to get your social media strategy integrated into your marketing mix and draw an ROI as well.
Have you tried any of these?
Custom Tabs on Facebook: A Quick How To…
December 23, 2009 at 5:40 am | Posted in Facebook, How To..., Social Media, Sponsorship, Sports Marketing, Uncategorized | 1 CommentTags: Custom Tabs, Facebook, Social Media, Sports Marketing
Got your Twitter account and several thousand followers? CHECK.
Got your Facebook Fan Page with several thousand Fans? CHECK.
Great – you’re taking advantage of social media platforms to engage your fans. And now you have a presence that is EXACTLY the same as every other team in your league or market. You need to do something different for two important reasons:
- To monetize the space
- To differentiate
After establishing and earning your fans and followers, its time to take the next step and make this place your own. Custom tabs allow you to do this. Here’s how:
- Use the search on Facebook to find “FBML”. This is an app that will allow you to add a custom tab and fill it with any HTML you like… FBML stands for Facebook Markup Language. You will find the first result is “Static FBML” and has about 10M+ users. Click on it.
- Click on “Add to my Page” under the FBML logo.
- It will ask what Page you want to add it to (as you may have more than 1 page), so simply choose the Page you want to add your custom tab to.
- Go to your Fan Page.
- Click on “Edit Page”.
- Find the FBML app on your list – Click on “Edit”.
- Give your new Tab a title – you can come back and change it any time/as often as you like.
- In the FBML field, you can enter any HTML you want to make your custom tab.
- Click on Save.
- Add your new Tab by clicking on the “+” at the end of your Tab row from the Wall.
A couple of tips and things you should know:
- You’ve only got room for so many tabs, so Facebook will/may bump one to accommodate your new Tab. You can click on each Tab to delete (and bring it back later if you like with the “+”).
- You can change the order of your Tabs by dragging and dropping them.
- I suggest you build a dummy profile and a dummy Page to test things out before to start playing around with your real Fan Page. Get it right and then update/enhance your Page for real.
You can use your new Tab for sponsors, promotions, contests, you name it…
Want to see some examples? Click on the following…
- Here’s the Carolina Hurricane’s “Promotions” Tab
- Here’s the Vancouver Canucks “Contests” Tab
- And the NHL’s custom Tab
- And the Chicago Blackhawks “Mobile” Tab
Good luck! Got some other interesting or innovative custom Tabs? Please let me know…
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Carson McKee
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