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.

From the season-ticket holder to the avid supporter who lives far away, social media tools are helping sports franchises keep all fans engaged.

Last fall, when officials from the Phoenix Suns NBA franchise noticed that an imposter was posing as star center Shaquille O’Neal on Twitter, their response was what some might consider unorthodox.

They enlisted O’Neal, one of the NBA’s most popular and quotable players, to use the microblogging service himself, without monitoring by team officials.

As O’Neal has traveled the country with the Suns, he’s published more than 250 Twitter updates, and more than 34,000 users of the service have signed up to follow those updates.

O’Neal is one of the more than a dozen Suns employees who use Twitter to connect with fans and business contacts. Together, they’re bringing players to a more personal level, not an easy task for a team that is adored by thousands of fans at every home game, says Amy Martin, director of digital media and research for the Suns.

“The most effective part, really, is allowing fans to know the human side of the brand,” she says. “We have people on Twitter from the organization in all capacities… It’s about the connection with fan[s] and just giving them an inside glimpse.”

The team goes far beyond Twitter with its social media outreach program. The franchise, which boasts popular players O’Neal, Steve Nash, and Amare Stoudemire, also operates the team-specific social networking site PlanetOrange.net, a “virtual locker room,” and a team-run blog site.

Fan interaction
The franchise’s foray into social networking has shown real-world results. Last month, the team hosted its first “tweet up,” an in-person get-together of Suns fans who discuss games, stats, and players primarily via Twitter. The event was a chance for Suns officials to hear the likes and dislikes of fans directly, Martin adds.

“We did one for a Friday night game – this was the first official sports tweet up,” she says. “It’s very important for us to be engaging with the fans and make sure we are where the fans are.”

Sports fans gravitate toward social networking sites for the same reasons that they go to sports bars – to have camaraderie with other fans with whom they can discuss games, trades, or controversial moves. Social networking sites also serve as home-field advantages for fans who live a distance from their favorite teams, says Ian Hall, group director at Octagon, a marketing agency which specializes in sports and entertainment.

“Fans want to get engaged, have as much information as they can, and interact with other like-minded fans,” he adds. “[Social networking sites] are based in passion, interest, and loyalty to sport, team, and player. Teams were once considered local entities. That’s not the case anymore… [Web sites] really help to reach that displaced fan of say, the Dallas Cowboys, who can feel as close being in Portland, ME, as they would in a suburb of Dallas.”

However, the freewheeling nature of the Web also means that teams have to accept that many comments about their teams will be negative, Hall adds.

“If you censor or put strict parameters around how people can express themselves, that’s kind of counterintuitive or a conflict of interest with the nature of a social network,” he explains. “And you have to be OK with taking the good and the bad comment-wise. If you’re not, you probably shouldn’t be in that space.”

The Detroit Red Wings use MySpace and Facebook pages, as well as a Twitter account to keep fans across the US, and in hockey hot spots such as Canada, Russia, and Scandinavia, in check with the NHL team’s latest moves, says Steve Violetta, SVP of business affairs for the organization.

“I think as a franchise, we are in a unique position because of how far the brand extends,” he adds. “When we talk about (Detroit nickname) ‘Hockeytown,’ that’s about the guy in Phoenix or Nashville who wears his Red Wings jersey when he goes to a game there,” he says.

The team’s social networking efforts also allow it to reach a younger demographic, a key business goal because Red Wings tickets can be hard to get.

“We’ve been around since 1926… and for years, [the Red Wings have] been sold out,” explains Violetta. “[Social media] has been part of a strategy to connect with [people in their 20s]. The way to do that is not through running ads. The way to do that is digitally.”

Beyond sports
While blogging may be considered an “old-school” way to reach out to fans by social-media standards, some teams still find it an effective way to connect with fans, especially on a non-sports level. The Los Angeles Dodgers, for example, have found a bridge to baseball fans who also enjoy a meal out on the town via the “Dining with ‘Dre” blog on the MLBlogs network, penned by player Andre Ethier. The blog, which features restaurant reviews and photos by the outfielder, has helped him connect with a different fan base, says Josh Rawitch, the team’s VP of communications.

“It’s helped to make him the restaurant connoisseur of Major League Baseball… without a lot of promotion,” he notes. “It’s helped him cultivate a fan base that would not have been there otherwise. It’s been very positive. It humanizes him. You can see it from some of the comments, [such as] ‘I thought I saw you at a pizzeria.’”

Sports and social media

NBA Fan Voice

Though many of its franchises have entered the social networking world themselves, the NBA has its own social networking Web site called Fan Voice, which features player blogs, forums, and a buddy networking system for members

NHL Connect

The NHL’s social networking Web site boasts nearly 50,000 members, who can post profiles, photos, and fan blog entries to the site. The portal also features more than 84,000 photos and 1,500 videos, all posted by fans

Posting Up

The Detroit Pistons launched Posting Up, the team’s social networking Web site, last year. The team also operates a Twitter account, YouTube channel, and a news aggregation site as part of its digital outreach

Partnership Activation created a resource that captures “25 Ways Sports Organizations Can Utilize Twitter” in an effort to help guide sports marketers and their respective organizations in the social networking space.

If you have a moment, please check out the enclosed document and share it with colleagues and friends in the industry. It is time that your organization takes advantage of the Twitter movement!

Thanks to Brian Gainor @ www.partnershipactivation.com for this informative post!!!