Posts Tagged ‘calgary stampeders’
Calgary Twitter community unites to help Haiti earthquake victims
Posted by tturnbull in Social Media - Sports on January 19th, 2010
It continues to amaze me when I see how much social media is impacting the world that we live in. The devastating earthquake that recently hit Haiti has once again thrown social media into the spotlight for it’s ability to rally the masses when disaster strikes. There have been many amazing news stories about how new media (Twitter, Facebook & Mobile in particular) have played a major role in fundraising efforts. Here are a few of these stories:
- Twitter Grows Up in Wake of Aftermath of Haiti Earthquake - The Twitter account for the Red Cross, which on average had been adding roughly 50-100 followers a day before the Haiti quake, has gained more than 10,000 followers since.
- Haiti Earthquake: Twitter Photos Sweep Across the Web - Photos taken by journalist @CarelPedre on his mobile phone are providing a glimpse into the devastation that has slammed the Caribbean nation. Another Twitter user, @MarvinAdy, shared those pictures through TwitPic (), resulting in tens of thousands of views and countless retweets.
- Twitter Used to Help Land Plane With Aid for Haiti Earthquake Victims - Twitter, the messaging service often used by the self-absorbed to update the world on their breakfast choices, may have actually saved lives in Haiti Sunday.
YYC4Haiti Fundraiser
Closer to home, the effect of social media can be seen in the overwhelming support that has been shown for YYC4Haiti, a Calgary fundraiser for the Canadian Red Cross Haiti Relief (organized by @alex_ruiz @C_DIG & @that_angela and supported by a number of great volunteers). The event, which will be held on Thursday, January 28th at Flames Central has mobilized the city’s social-media and business community to raise funds for the victims of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. (Check out the official press release) All of the Calgary sports teams, including the Flames, Stampeders, Roughnecks and Hitmen have shown their support through donations to the silent auction and many businesses have also stepped up for a good cause.
To hear more about the event from one of the organizers, listen to Camilla Di Giuseppe’s recent interview w/ Rob Breakenridge on AM770 Radio:
YYC4Haiti interview on AM770 Radio
I can’t remember where I heard this term, but “One person may not be able to help a thousand people, but, thousands of people can help one person each!” We are all fortunate to live in a great country like Canada, so, let’s all do what we can to give back a little!
How You Can Help
Follow the official YYC4Haiti Twitter account: http://twitter.com/yyc4haiti/
Add a Twibbon to your Twitter profile: http://twibbon.com/join/YYC4Haiti
Join the official YYC4Haiti Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/YYC4Haiti/405051695230
Donate to the cause on Facebook: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/433271
RSVP for the YYC4Haiti Event @FlamesCentral: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=294505628046&ref=mf
And, if you are attending the event, keep an eye on Alex Ruiz…..rumor is she’s got her eye on the PEZ basket: http://twitter.com/alex_ruiz/statuses/7966276701
Sports & Social Media - NHL TweetUp
Posted by tturnbull in Social Media - Sports on April 13th, 2009
In my role as a Account Executive with zu (www.zu.com), I am responsible for staying up to date on the latest trends in website development, social media and mobile application development and work to implement strategies that will benefit my clients. Over the past few months, I have been focusing most of my efforts on working with sports teams and am fortunate to have a great working relationship with one of our clients, the Calgary Stampeders. We are currently working on a number of social media initiatives with them and I look forward to sharing these initiatives with all of you in the near future.
So, all that being said, I’ve finally got around to starting my blogging about the good, bad and the ugly in social media as it relates to individuals, corporations and sports teams. As social media marketing is slowly being integrated into sports teams marketing mix, I believe the early adopters will benefit the most as they will be trailblazers in bringing the fans closer to the team and it’s players and in turn, will retain fans through tough economic times. Although the thought of joining the conversation is intimidating for many Marketing and PR professionals, the reality is, people are already talking about their team……and until they join the conversation, they won’t be able to react to any of it. I look forward to sharing my ideas on how teams can join the conversation using social media, how they can sell tickets in tough times and how they can retain fans in good times.
NHL Tweetup
To kick off the greatest time of the year (NHL Playoff time!), Michael DiLorenzo (Director of Social Media Marketing with the NHL) and Schuyler Baehman (NHL PR) helped organized the first official “NHL Tweetup” in celebration and anticipation of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. @dani3boyz and @goaliegirl were the brainchild for this idea and contributed greatly to the success of this initiative. The Tweetup event took place in 24 cities in the US and Canada. The event went down at 7pm EST on April 15th in Anaheim, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Denver, Detroit, Edmonton, Hartford, Montreal, Nashville, New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Regina (Sask.), San Jose, St. John (NB), Toronto, Vancouver and Washington DC.
I am kicking myself right now because this would have been a great event to coordinate here in Saskatoon. As some of you might know, Saskatoon, Sk, Canada will be home to the 2010 World Junior Hockey Championships this coming December. zu will be assisting the planning committee with social media initiatives leading up to the event and a Tweetup is definitely on the list of things to do. We look forward to joining in on the next Tweetup (which I have heard is going to be scheduled around the NHL draft). If you are interested in keeping up to date on news leading up to the event in Saskatoon, you can become a fan at the official Facebook Fan page and offer your opinions and join the conversation on Twitter.
I’d like to give praise to Michael, Schuyler, @dani3boyz and @goaliegirl and all the other hard working volunteers for putting on a great event. The NHL (along with the NBA) seem to be taking the lead when it comes to connecting with fans through the use of technology. I came across an article on Shannon Paul’s Very Official Blog where she interviewed Michael DiLorenzo about what he has learned thus far through social media engagement and what he plans to do with what he’s learned. Michael made a number of great points in his interview, but here is a summary of the key points I took from his interview.
- “There’s a temptation to use these emerging platforms as just another way to speak *at* the public, not *with* the public.”
- “Both individuals and businesses are learning as they go. I don’t think that’s a great crime, as long as they follow a few simple rules: listen, engage, be authentic and be (reasonably) transparent.”
- “I thought some fans might appreciate a direct line into the League office. What I’ve learned on this point is that I have to be vigilant in responding to fans that contact me. They’re all important to listen to and acknowledge.”
All great points………….and it is refreshing to see that someone like Michael is humble enough to admit that he is still “learning as he goes” as well. There are many people out there that claim to be experts in social media when the reality is, it takes years of experience, making mistakes and learning from those mistakes to become an expert. I look forward to future posts on Michael’s blog (www.fromtheblueseats.com) about his experience with the first official NHL Tweetup event. I’m sure the next one will be an even bigger success and I, for one, am looking forward to participating in a future TweetUp event in Saskatoon.
Showcase Of Beautiful Sports Websites
Posted by tturnbull in Social Media - Sports on April 9th, 2009
By Steven Snell, April 4th, 2009 in Design Showcase | 79 Comments | Forum
We recently showcased beautiful websites from the fashion industry, and in response to reader requests, we’ll do the same thing here for sports websites. This article showcases the most beautiful website designs from the North American sports industry, including ones for news, teams and leagues, sports apparel and more.
Trends In Sports Websites
As in any industry, sports websites have their own trends, as you will see below. However, because the websites showcased here fall into a number of different categories and serve different purposes, not all of the trends we discuss will be relevant or applicable to all types of sports websites.
1. Large Photos
Many of the best sports websites include a lot of images and photos, and many use large photos in the background or a featured area. News websites obviously include a lot of smaller photos to accompany current stories, but team websites and sports apparel websites in particular often rely on large photos as a prominent part of their design.
2. Colorful
Naturally, team and league websites are typically very colorful and highlight their official colors. Apparel and product websites are also frequently colorful.
3. News Area
Even websites that aren’t news-focused, such as team and league websites and those of individual athletes, typically contain recent news items on the home page. As more sports fans turn to websites to get their news and stay up to date on their favorite players and teams, news and blog sections provide an opportunity for easy communication with few barriers.
4. Featured Content Area
News websites of course have certain sections in their layout for headline news, but even team and league websites now provide content in feature areas of the website. In many cases, this featured content area works in conjunction with the news headlines mentioned in the previous point. Most of the featured content sections have a slider or similar effect that moves readers from one featured item to the next. Most also allow the user to override the slideshow effect and control what content is shown in the featured area.
5. Network
Many of the leading sports news websites are part of larger networks. You will see many of them pointed out in the news section. Sometimes the sports section of the network is on its own domain, other times it is part of the main news website’s domain.
To see the full article with screenshots of some great sports websites, check out http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/04/04/showcase-of-beautiful-sports-websites/
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Not on the list…….but definitely worth a mention is a sports website designed and developed by the company I work for…… zu.com communications. zu collaborated with the Calgary Stampeders to launch a new website that features a sleek design and extensive video and audio capabilities. A continuously updating flash header introduces Stamps fans to the team with current season images taken from the field.
The site also features news, an Insider blog, a Locker-Room blog, extensive player interviews, profiles, statistics and video and audio material updated daily from games and practices. The team dedicated significant resources to offer their fans fresh content that is unparalleled in the CFL.
