First of all, let me qualify this post by saying I am a huge believer in the "story"...the story behind the man, the brand, the reason, the cause, the action...the story is what connects the individual to the cause, the athlete, the event...One of the hardest parts of creating a successful marketing campaign is building an authentic story and finding organic ways of sharing/distributing it. It is one of the most critical elements in branding and building equity in a brand regardless of whether the brand is a product, service or person.It is also the one thing that is taken for granted or miss understood.
Done right, using social media to get the story out is a very powerful and useful tool. Done wrong can be a disastrous, just ask Congressman Wiener, for him, it just keeps getting worse. The viral nature of social media and the ease in which links and content can be shared gives it the ability to dwarf conventional media with the number of impressions it can receive in a short period of time. It can be the most powerful tool in taking a brand from accepted to iconic and beyond.
Being a fan of professional surfing, auto racing as well as other sports, I often find myself in conversations about the not so pretty side of things...Like what happens to the athlete after the last event, when a pro is done being a pro and is now just a guy. The challenge of creating social relevance for the athlete brand once you are on the "outside" of the game. Many athletes are fortunate to have invested in their future and leveraging their personal brand beyond sport is not an issue. Whether its family, businesses, job, coaching or other they find that flow to segue into the next phase of life unaffected by the change of identity. For others the "outside" is often is seen as a death sentence and they fear of the unknown leads to stupid decisions and in some cases catastrophic consequences. The increase in deaths of top tier athletes who a are on the backside of their careers is further evidence to this stress and fear.
Brands, whether personal or product oriented are living entities and need to be cultivated and cared for. Form an athletes perspective, its never to early to begin investing in, maintaining and cultivating your personal brand. This is one investment that will help to extend the length of your relevancy in the "game" and key in building value after the "game" ends for you. With the advancements and acceptance of soical media you now have one of the most powerful tool for brand building and value generation for personal brands at your finger tips. Use it well and look at ways to connect the world around you to build a foundation for the future.
I found this article the other day and was very impressed with the way the author summarized the value proposition of good social media in telling the story of an athlete and building lasting brand with it. Hopefully it is useful and beneficial to you...
5 Reasons an Athlete Should Leverage Social Media
By Anthony Caponiti
With that said, social media’s major advantages—the cost-to-creativity ratio and the ability to expand reach via an engaged audience (key word here is “engaged” but I’ll explain more)—make this form of marketing so powerful that most athletes looking to enhance their salaries with fat endorsement checks should be asking their agency, management team, or friends and family why social media isn’t a part of their overall marketing strategy.
How can you not look at Kevin Garnett and wonder why Dwight Howard is arguably more popular with fans and boasts more sponsors yet earns 25% as much salary as his older counterpart plus lacks an NBA championship ring.
One reason is that Howard is literally an authentic presence everywhere on the web in addition to print and TV. You better believe his sponsors and media partners love the added exposure (unique visits and status update impressions) his 525,000 fan Facebook Page offers. Notice his latest Men’s Health magazine appearance occupies both his Facebook and his 1.5 million follower Twitter profile pic.
So with the above example in mind, here are 5 reasons that professional athletes should leverage social media sooner than later:
1. Personal brand equity
Professional athletes are more frequently choosing to separate their representation for contract negotiations and marketing because of the complex multi-million dollar athlete endorsement arena. Traditionally, athlete reputation, fan popularity, and access to a major metropolitan market has determined who earns national endorsement deals.
Social media can play a critical role in the expedited development of an athlete’s personal brand by showcasing personality to fans and the media. If an athlete is well spoken and naturally gifted in front of the camera, platforms like YouTube and Ustream provide invaluable opportunities to demonstrate that a client can be an effective pitch person.
On the flip-side, if an athlete is thought to be soft-spoken or non-personable, platforms like Facebook and Twitter offer the chance to build an audience who might be willing to listen to what the client has to say and hopefully over time become ambassadors for the athlete’s personal brand. Contests and random giveaways related to both the athlete and the team enhance the likelihood that fans will engage. This can be done in repetition with little coordination.
The bottom line here is that a professional athlete can let the media, team, and league decide their personal brand or if the athlete is proactive, he or she can evaluate their strengths and weaknesses in personality and play up those strengths to the fans who can then in turn form their own opinion of the athlete rather than let the mainstream media paint a different picture. This can prove critical during a PR crisis.
2. Insights and analytics
What did sports marketers do before social media when determining what athletes would best represent their brand? Seriously … if there is one reason to leverage social media, it’s to reach critical mass on a Facebook Page. Unlike any other platform on the web, Facebook is the backbone of personal identity meaning that demographics such as age and race on a Facebook Page are highly accurate indicators of an athlete’s overall fan base.
Here’s where that key word “engagement” plays a critical role. If an athlete can build a Facebook Page with a sizable audience (say 100,000 fans) that hangs on every word, photo, and video posted, a smart sports marketing team can shop their athlete around and proactively seek one-off endorsement deals.
Imagine discovering a male athlete has a fan base this is predominantly female and now imagine how many brands would be interested in reaching the women of the household that drive the purchases of household goods, for example, male grooming products. It should also be noted that YouTube offers strong analytics and extremely effective Google advertising once a large enough audience is reached while Facebook’s analytics will be a key audience predictor leading into a YouTube viral campaign.
3. Sponsorship activation
The first two reasons lead to number reason number three which is the ability to leverage a social media network to effectively activate brand sponsors. It so simple to use social media to create authentic touch points between the athlete, brand, and consumer and arguably more effectively than a TV or print advertisement because social media affords the opportunity to connect the athlete’s lifestyle to the brand.
Don’t you think Mercedes-Benz would love for an athlete to broadcast himself or herself live on Ustream driving their new CL while Rolex could hardly argue with that same athlete wearing one of their watches in full view of the steering wheel? It’s real world and it’s the type of marketing that separates innovative and sustainable brands from their competitors.
Even less complicated are branded images and videos on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube. Not typically thought of as a social media platform for athletes, Flickr can offer tens of thousands of authentic views for the sponsor especially since it is integrated with Yahoo! image search. And because images are so highly searched, a well tagged and described Flickr photo gallery can continue to provide sponsor activation long after a campaign ends.
4. Charity and community
Although not every professional athlete is intimately involved with a charitable foundation or community effort, there are some who are truly connected to a cause. For these athletes, they should be using social media to increase awareness as well as for fundraising. Social media also humanizes the athlete which is critical in this day and age of TMZ Sports and off-the-field problems for many athletes.
Twitter and Facebook are extremely effective mediums for promoting a charitable event or that special story fans need to hear about. Social media platforms also present creative opportunities for fundraising like raffle giveaways with special prizes for fans that donate. Another example use would be the athlete giving away money when a specific fan or follower milestone is reached (e.g. Drew Carey donating $1 million dollars when gaining his 1 millionth Twitter follower).
5. Retirement
We all know that there is a limited shelf life on a professional sports career. For all the athletes that have their eye on a media or coaching career, social media helps to shape an on-screen personality and establish an expertise. Platforms like Ustream and YouTube can be used to increase comfort levels in front the camera and sharpen on-screen presence.
Especially for an aging athlete and perhaps arguably most important, social media affords an opportunity to keep an athlete relevant to a younger generation. Possessing a strong digital brand, can open the door to cameos or guest appearances on TV shows as well as prove that a older or retired athlete is still connected to pop culture. This should matter to TV networks searching for talent as well as colleges looking to boost recruiting.
Do you agree with us … what’s your sixth reason?
No comments:
Post a Comment