The Sports Info Business

File this post under you never know who you will meet.
Earlier this week I received an email from Tyrone Brooks of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
We had not met but as it usally turns out n sports knew a few of the same people. Tyrone is the director of Baseball Operations for the Pittsburgh Pirates. There are still a few old friends who are working for the organization since my Dodger days and it quickly became a small world.

How I came to meet Tyrone is directly related to social networking and in this case via LinkedIn. Tyrone saw that I used to work for the Dodgers and Angels and invited me to join his group.
About six months ago, Tyler started a LinkedIn group for people that worked inside professional baseball. This group includes major league staff, minor league employees, vendors associated with the game — really it is targeted to anyone working or wanting to work in baseball.
He has seen the list balloon during the six months to more than 3,800 members.
For the most part Tyrone believes people want to learn and network with others with the same interests. Obviously, by the sheer number of people interested on his list, his intuition was correct.
Tyrone says he just wants to give back and help others. He is a person who says he is thankful to be in a great position and since we has provided with opportunity, wants to do the same for others.  Here is a  bit of background from our conversation.

Tyrone began his career with the camera. As a student at the University of Maryland he took pictures of the college’s sports teams for five years.

“I wanted to stay close to sports,” he admits during our conversation.

Right before graduation he learned of am internship program with the Atlanta Braves. He applied and was accepted.
Within a year, Tyrone was made a full-time employee, an admin assistant as he calls it.

That opportunity turned into jobs that included area scout, assistant player personnel to Director of Player Personnel all with the Braves.
Tyrone also enjoyed am opportunity with the Cleveland Indians before landing in his current position with the Pirates.
Now, he assists Pirates GM with the day to day baseball operations and has the ultimate goal one day of being a General Manager in baseball.

As for his growing LinkedIn list, he says, “I have always enjoyed meeting other people in our game and this is a way for me to give back.”

I enjoyed meeting him too, Tyrone, and I am joining your list today.

This week, I had a discussion with an executive recruiter who attended the National Sports Forum in Baltimore earlier this week.  This person told me the hot topic of the conference was all about Social Media. The review of the presentations were mixed but the information obviously generated a buzz.  It was the hot topic.

Here is the challenge.  Many sports team owners and executives come from the “old school.”  In baseball terms, this is the pre-Moneyball era.  They operate like they always have.   Annual events like the traditional Select-A-Seat have not changed with the times.  They try communicating the same way and market just like they always have.  The sports world remains well behind progressive companies outside of sports that are using social media for listening, testing, engaging and providing a more transparent operation for fans, sponsors and media.

All this new age stuff folks, takes work.  Call it an investment if you will.

Here is the comment I have heard more than once from a sports executive — If we cannot show a measurable ROI, then management is not interested.  Worse yet, there is just silence from the top down when the subject comes up.  Not every team can will a Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup or NBA championship every year, but I will tell you nearly every team will go through some sort of crisis sooner than later.  This is just one example why every sports team and organization needs to be trained and staffed for this here-to-stay communication method.  Don’t believe me? Facebook just announced on its sixth anniversary that it has passed more than 400 MILLION USERS. No typo there. 400 MILLION

The question in terms of social media is, will the team, organization or league have invested enough resources to help them get through the troubled waters.

Let’s take Toyota, which is currently having its reputation tested with multiple recalls.  I wanted to know what the company was doing to listen, quiet the storm and deliver key messages.

Here is what I have seen in the last few days:

1) Big media TV interviews starting on February 1, 2010 in places like the Today Show.

2) Full Page Ads in The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times.

3) A strategic button for recall information on the home page of company’s web site

4) Video and messaging points from the company on the media section of the company web site.

5) President and CEO Jim Lentz apologizing for problems in all media outlets.

These are the tactics I would certainly expect during a time of potential upheaval.

What it also did was to jump out in front on the social media front and in a coordinated effort, Toyota also launched an information and engagement campaign in various outlets including Facebook and YouTube.

On February 1, the same day he appeared on the Today show, this video on the Toyota Facebook page also appeared.

The well-time coordinated plan helped Toyota reach people in many different areas.  In the online social media world, they remembered to do the following, quickly.

1) Provide updated information

2) Answer questions

3) Deal directly with the consider

Here’s a photo of Toyota’s You Tube Channel

The next stop stop was Facebook fan page for Toyota’s Prius.  With nearly 50,000 “fans” they have a decent base to work with people interested in the product

Here are a few of the comments since the photo might be hard to read (you can clickon it to see the site directly)

Kevin Anderson “I’m very satisfied with my 2007 Prius. I hope all goes well with the recall and that future generations of the vehicle will be better for it.”

Sarah Smock “As a 17 year old girl most don’t expect me in this car but I love my Prius, It is perfect for my lifestyle!”

Celine Lopez “These recalls happen with ALL cars. I think the American media is beating this into the ground just so they can get people to buy crappy American cars.”

***

True, not every comment is going to be positive, but three of the first four were and more importantly, Toyota has engaged its consumers.  I found them not just shoving promotional materials and messages down their throat.  That add value to the conversation and this has won trust and loyalty from their consumers.

Are you listening team executives?

Stop posting only the latest ticket program, news release or community project to your fans.  Start and add value to conversations.  Listen and respond to people that care about your product.  Before your team gets recalled by its fans.  It is not too late.

————————

Additional Background.

This is a longer post than most, but an important one I hope you re-tweet, email or post for others to read.

Here are two additonal things Toyota did which was smart.

They also attacked the online community with a Digg Q&A session

and they hoped for the some goodwill with the 15,000 plus people that follow them on Twitter.

There are many reasons for using social media.  Helping generate conversation from those loyal to you and your product or team is just one reason.

Yesterday, we tackled the NFL and today we feature the National Basketball Association and how its teams use social media.

Let me just begin by saying, if you did not see yesterday’s article on the NFL, you can easily click on it here. Overall, I applaud teams for entering into the next stage of sports marketing and that is using social media to listen, brand and communicate with fans via different platforms.  However, just because they develop a site does not mean the team is using best practices.

Today, we begin with Twitter.  I put together a brief chart on the top five teams using Twitter. based on the number of followers each organization has listed over the weekend.

Okay, it has been a while between normal posts.

It is not that I have been ignoring my blog.  Rather, my business Coast 2 Coast Experts, has kept me very busy of late.  We have been assisting companies launch email marketing programs, develop company-wide social media guidelines, pitching and placing clients on the front pages of magazine as well as other strategic marketing initiatives.

Currently, I am preparing to assist a professional sports team and began doing research in how the top four sports organizations (NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL) are using Facebook and Twitter.  I know that there are dozens of social media tools, but based on current understanding, critical mass and immediate impact, I chose these two platforms for today’s discussion.

On January 23, 2010, I surveyed each individual team in the National Football League as well as the National Basketball Association for their activities in Twitter and Facebook.  I started by looking on the league sites and then, I went to each individual team to see the following:

1) Were the actively participating?

2) Were they/How were they marketing the tools?

3) What were they saying?

THE NFL

For all but two teams, the 2009 NFL season is over.  The upstart Jets’ season came to a premature conclusion last night when the Peyton Manning and the Colts figured out New York’s defense and is returning to the Super Bowl.  The second game between the Saints and Vikings proved to be a thriller and the Saints are now scheduling their first visit to the Super Bowl in franchise history.

Before the games were played however, I wanted to see  how every team in the league was tackling these two social media platforms.  First, some stats to digest.

Team                             Facebook Fans

1. Pittsburgh Steelers 458,252

2. Minnesota Vikings 323,197

3. Indianapolis Colts 242,032

4. Green Bay Packers 218, 232

5. Washington Redskins 210,037

Now, if you click on any of the teams listed above in red, you will find that the numbers of fans do not match the numbers I am reporting.  Why?  Because I did a survey over the weekend of every team around the same time.  As with any social media tool, the numbers will fluctuate n a real time manner.

I know what you are saying as you read this, of course the Colts and the Vikings are on the list, they were playing for the Super Bowl.  If that is so, then why are the Redskins, Green Bay Packers and Steelters on the list then?  Some of it is winning no doubt, but some of it is applying the social media tools and marketing them tot he fans correctly.  Why weren’t the aints or the Jets there?  The Saints have one of the lowest facebook fan followings with a but more than 42,000 folks adding them to their accounts.  And the Jets?  They were ranked 13th with nearly 87,000 fans.

On to Twitter….

The Micro-blogging tool turned up these top teams in the number of followers.

1. New England Patriots 33,401 followers

2, San Diego Chargers 31,857 followers

3, New York Jets 20,971 followers

4 Oakland Raiders 20,687 followers

5, San Francisco 49ers 20,535 followers

All of these numbers are fine and dandy if we were doing a straight popularity contest, but here is the thing.  Just about every sports team is getting it wrong, including some of the teams listed in these two charts.  First of all, they are not taking a strategic approach, second of all they are not marketing and reaching fans in the correct manner, yet most of them know they need a presence.

I would be willing to bet dollars to donuts that fewer than 10% have an actual social media policy.  Even fewer still have had key executives trained on these communication tools.

I would call it opportunity missed.

Giving current employees additional duties or putting an intern in charge of communication is not the right business decision.  There are a few leading companies that do get it and they have developed or appointed someone or a team devoted to digital strategy.  The world is changing and sports teams need to change with it.  Now.

Tomorrow, I tackle what the NBA’s teams and numbers look like from the weekend.

————————

Notes:  I could not locate official Facebook fan sites for the following teams:  Dallas Cowboys, NY Giants, Carolina Panthers, St. Louis Rams.  As for Twitter, the following teams, according to my research, are not using the tool:  New Orleans Saints, Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers.  If they are and I have missed something, please help me locate their sites.  Not only are they missing an important communications strategy, they are letting others control their name and message.

The numbers are from my own research.  One of the issues sports teams as well s businesses have is sites like Twitter have not created a tool to verify business sites.  So, there is a chance that some of these sites might not be the “official site of” — Another job for someone at the league offices.

I have another first to share with you today. After posting an interview with Arizona Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall earlier this week and the story about Byron Scott yesterday, I was searching for a better way to develop blogs. When I am not in front of the office computer screen I needed to find a better way to share my thoughts.

I learned that WordPress had developed an app for Apple’s iphone for this need.  It is called exactly what you would expect — WordPress for iphone I have downloaded it and am using it for the first time today in this blog.

It is a free app, easy to install and in less than five minutes I have been typing away from my iPhone. Even the picture below was taken from my iPhone and easily inserted into today’s blog.

Here are a few functionality components about this app to note. There are slots that you can easily add a Title of the blog, tags for SEO purposes, the categories you want the blog listed as well as status of the blog.

In addition to writing, I can see comments about this entry, photos (either take one or use one from blog roll already in the iPhone data base). You can also preview what it will look like and adjust settings.

If you want to understand the specs of the app, I took a photo from the iphone store (on my computer, while I was editing today’s entry).  Here is a peek so you can look at the specs.

A rew other notes.  This release of WordPress 2 was made to the public on Octoer 29th, just a few weeks ago.  Also the rating by users is a 4+ so I am not the only one who is enjoying the this mobile App and of course it is free.

Overall I like it. It is easy to use and a good first attempt by the folks at Wordpress.

A few things are missing however. When I blogging from the road or even at home, I need a spellchecker and I did not find one here. Also you canny embed any links within the blog so they will either need to be added later or not entered at all. Finally, while there is a way to add photos, I did not see a way to add videos from the app.

This kind of functionality can now turn every sports fan into a journalist.  Press Box not included.

Once in a while I post a few videos I find interesting.  while most of my social media blogging has been moved to my corporate site at www.coast2coastexperts.com but I thought you should see this one.  For those of you that spend anytime on YouTube, you may have seen Oprah’s season opening special with a flash mob video to begin her 24th season.  The Black Eyed Peas performed live outside in Chicago and 20,000 people all were bouncing around to the same choreographed moves.  Here is how it looked.

Not o be overshadowed, I recently discovered a new viral video to the same song.  This music video was produced by students at the University of Quebec.  The amazing part about the video is that it was all done in one take.  172 students with no edits for a song that lasted five minutes.  A pretty cool production.  Watch how much ground they cover during the filming of the video.

Finally, these home-made videos are getting all sorts of coverage.  It has always been and always will be about the content.  If you have not figured that out, wake up.  Content is king.

Here CNN coverage deals with both videos, but mostly concentrates on the college students.

Today, anyone can develop their own brand.  You do not need a multi-million dollar campaign and athletes know it.  Many have taken to social media and Twitter has been one of their favorites.  A strong suggestion for any team that interacts with its fans is to a social media strategy for front offices employees as well as players and coaches.  People need to be trained.  We do this for clients (see www.coast2coastexperts.com) but some players have not yet received the training of the message.

Let’s take for example rookie Washington Redskins linebacker Robert Henson. The former standout from Texas Christian University (TCU) has keyboard in mouth syndrome after using Twitter to do a little too much of his talking for him.  Let’s take a closer look at a few of his Tweets from Sunday.

First off, athletes need to realize that speaking on Twitter is the same thing as speaking into a microphone.  Let me repeat it Twitter=Microphone.  The second point is, these comments live on the Internet FOREVER. Point #1 So Mr. Henson, when you call fans that support the team and indirectly pay your salary Dim Wits, you are alienating yourself. Point #2 — Athletes are already perceived as making much more money than the average guy and when you focus on this not only are you now alone and you have further isolated yourself.

Point #3 — So what if the guy or gal works at McDonalds? These folks are working and providing a service.  DO NOT make yourself to appear more important than others.  Because of all of this No one will want to get near you.  The comments might cost you money in future endorsements.  Your brand, I am talking of you the person and your marketability, for the short term could be ruined.  It seems by the last point, someone had gotten to Mr. Henson, but the damage has been done.

If you read his Twitter stream he is now spending more time than he wants back pedaling and having to answer “fan” comments.  Please, front office administrators, make your players and staff read this blog and learn from the lessons.  Players should all be required to take a few deep breaths and count to 100 before running to Twitter to voice their feelings.  It is a powerful tool, which can also get you into hot water quickly.  Don’t get burned.

If you’d like to follow other football players who are using the Social Media tool, here are a few names to consider.

** Running Back Reggie Bush Twitter page, New Orleans Saints

** Wide Receiver Terrell Owens Twitter Page, Buffalo Bills

** Wide Receiver Chad Ocho Cinco Twitter Page, Cincinnati Bengals

** Linebacker Shawne Merriman Twitter Page, San Diego Chargers

** Wide Receiver Larry Fitzgerald Twitter Page, Arizona Cardinals

I know all of these accounts belong to the athletes since Twitter has begun verifying accounts.  You can see this in the top portion of each athlete’s page.

Remember folks.  Twitter = Microphone

While the ratings show a majority of sports fans tuned into college and NFL football over the weekend, a different kind of highlight is making thew rounds on the Internet today.

Video is everywhere these days and captures just about everything.  A Serena Williams outburst video wasn’t captured on a random iPhone.  This was front and center during a semi finals single match at the 2009 US Open on Saturday.  In the heat of a match Serena Williams learned the hard way how closely people watch you when a TV camera captured an outburst on video which has spread through the Internet like wildfire.

The scene was posted on YouTube for everyone to see and has become the number one Google trend topics search topic this morning.

While the microphone blocked out some of the profanity by Serena Williams during the outburst video, fans at home got the message.  As a direct result of the outburst, the eight time Grand Slam champion and number two seeded Williams lost to Kim Clijsters 6-4, 7-5.

Not only did she lose the match but Serena’s image is sure to take a hit from this outburst.  Much like Obama heckler Republican Congressman Joe Wilson learned as well as Kanye West’s outburst against Taylor Swift, athletes, policial officals and music stars are forced to backtrack even quicker these days.  There is a price to pay for acting out in front of others.  Reputations are quickly ruined.

As for Williams, media outlets are reporting she has been fined $10,000 for her comments.  Only time will tell if her sponsors react to this event.

I desperately needed a new cell phone.  The old Verizon phone worked okay but had been abused by years of bad hands and visiting the asphalt up close and personal.  While I was happy with the reception I got from Verizon, it was tough to respond to text messages.  I think each short message I responded to took about five minutes to complete.

My wife once again took matters into her own hands and surprised me with an Apple iPhone.  Like everything else I have come to expect from Apple, I was surprised by its functionality, light weight and plethora of gadgets.

Ah, yes, the gadgets.

It did not take long to get hooked on all of the gadgets that have been created for this mobile device.  Here I will review some of the free and paid sports applications.

Top 10 Paid Sports Apps according to Apple

According to statistics on the iPhone, Madden NFL 2010 is the top grossing app currently listed.  It costs $9.99 but fans rated it 4/5 stars out of five so they must know what they are talking about.  If you click on the photo to the left, iPhone provides the top 10 paid sports apps.  It is not a surprise that the leader in this category is Fantasy Football 2009.  A related app, ESPN Fantasy Football, at $4.99, is rated fourth on the list of top 25 top grossing apps (there is a difference in categories) and Golf shot GPS, with a $29.99 price tag is listed in the number nine slot.

I have not tried any of these applications nor been invited to test or write about them so I cannot tell you how good they are.  If you look down to the right, I have also provided a picture of the top 10 free apps which again is a Fantasy Football app from Yahoo!

I have started to download a few items, both sports and non sports related, so I can review and speak to these a bit.  The ESPN app is a cool and allows you to find the scores of major sports very fast.  The value of apps is that information is pushed directly to you, extremely fast.  The need for visiting a web site to receive specific information like sports scores is over.  I have loaded the ESPN app MLB scores, NFL scores, NBA scores, men’s and women’s tesnnis singles scores and NHL scores as well as PGA tour updates.

Top 10 Free Sports Apps according to Apple

MLB.com has a free app called At Bat Lite. It willl give you the line score of the games and you can easily move to the standings and the latest baseball video.

Nike teamed with iPod to offer a great application for anyone that likes to work out.  The app will sync with selected music you have and play the exact song you need when the time is right.  The program offers categoeis which include a basic mode (open ended workout), timed, distance and a calorie counter.  I am ashamed to say I have not tried it out yet.

This review is just trying to give you a taste of what is out there.  When I went to iTunes and then to the sports section of the apps available, there more 109 pages of apps.  Each NFL team for example, has a free app which lists the 2009-10 regular season football schedule.  The apps are endless and I must say a bit mind boggling.

While these apps are sports related, I have also reviewed other non sports related applications on my business blog.  It includes things you would expect like facebook, LinkedIn and Skpye but also some that you may or may not know about like Bump and Shazam.

You can see this review by going to www.coast2coastexperts.com and clicking on the link to the blog section, which is located at the top of the page.  These apps are more practical for every day life.  If you don’t have an Apple iPhone, some of this might seem a bit foreign to you.  Just to give you a taste, here is a link to a video on one of the Bump app.  Enjoy.

According to a report this morning in the San Francisco Business Times, The National Football League (NFL) has restricted use of the social media tool Twitter and other similar services by its players, coaches and other employees of teams on game days.  The enforcement policy includes stopping all postings representing the player or coach (aka agent or public relations person) starting 90 minutes before a game and continuing until its end.

NFL referees and other officials are banned from using Twitter at all.

In a related story, Florida-based TV station WPTV.com and reporter Adam Kuperstein filed a story last month claiming that the Miami Dolphins had restricted Twitter.

“If I had Tweeted during the non-open tweeting period, I would have been shot and I would not have been able to do this interview with you,” Ethan Skolnick of the Sun-Sentintel was quoted as saying in the story.

News to me.  The Dolphins have a tweeting period?  A little too much control, no?

Someone needs to educate the administrators that social media is designed to open the lines of communication between fans and the product (teams, the league etc)  It is the way of the world and where things are moving.  I understand wanting to try and control events during the games, but if you want to restrict insight, get the sidelined reporters interviewing athletes and coaches at halftime out of there.  Also, let the baseball managers do their job and not have to provide interviews from the dugout during games.  TV pays the bug bucks for access.  I get it and this is part of the reason why I am guessing the NFL came out with this policy.

If you’d like to read more about the NFL’s policy and their take,

Here is a link to the full social media press release by the NFL

This has also become a hot topic in college football as well.  The SEC recently set is own social media policy which caused an uproar in online blogs and the social media space.  Obviously, everyone is learning as this new technology moves forward.  Restricting the use of Twitter however, will only fuel the fire of those demanding openness and transparency for companies, including those in the sports world.