We have all heard stories of how professional sports teams are using social media to build their fan base, promote events and create new revenue opportunities. And, you might be asking yourself “Can an amateur or semi-professional sports team benefit from social media?”. After all, these professional sports teams already have a large loyal fan base and a marketing budget to put towards their efforts, right?

The fact is, social media does not require a big budget and you don’t need millions of fans to see a positive return from your social media efforts. If you could put a few more people in the stands at your games or sell more merchandise at your team store without it costing you anything, wouldn’t that be worth your time?

Every team has fans. Some are more loyal and engaging than others, but every team has a fan base that wants to see your program succeed. What social media does is give you the tools to engage with your fan base and turn them into advocates that will help you achieve your goals. The only thing you have to do is provide value. And, yes, value can be defined in a number of ways. It doesn’t mean you have to give away something that costs a lot of money. Value can simply be providing your fan base with something that they normally wouldn’t experience such as access to behind the scenes action, exclusive offers on tickets and merchandise and creative online contests that encourage participation.

The same tools that professional sports teams are using to engage with their fans are also available to amateur and semi-pro sports teams. The challenge is knowing which ones to focus your efforts on and how to use the tools in a way that provides value for your fans. For many teams, the first step is knowing where to begin. Here’s a good place to start:

1. Own Your Name
It’s likely that most amateur and semi-professional teams have some presence online in the form of a website. If not, you need to secure your team domain name now! And, for only a few hundred dollars (hosting and domain cost), you can setup a simple WordPress blog, display all of your social accounts on your blog and push content out to your social accounts using simple tools.

A service that I recommend is Dreamhost. With Dreamhost, you can easily register a domain, sign up for a hosting account and install your website using WordPress with only a few clicks.

2. Create a Facebook Fan Page

There are over 400 Million people on Facebook. Now, of course, they are not all going to be fans of your amateur or semi-professional team, but I guarantee that many of your fans are already on Facebook. These fans would happily “Fan” your team on Facebook if you ask them. One of the many benefits of a Facebook Fan Page is that it provides you with a platform that encourages “sharing” and “liking” of your content, which can make your message can spread very quickly through Facebook.

3. Create a Twitter account
Although the number of people on Twitter is nowhere close to those on Facebook, it is still a tool that can’t be ignored. It is more of an instant communication tool that allows you to provide up to the minute information about your team as well as engage in direct conversations with your fans. At the very least, you should be on Twitter to follow other sports teams to see how they are using the tool to engage with their fans.

A good place to start to follow other teams on Twitter is at http://www.sportsin140.com/

4. Create a YouTube channel
Many people do not know that YouTube is the #2 search engine behind Google. By creating video content, you can give your fans a perspective that can’t be communicated through text or photos. YouTube is also a great platform to run simple contests that encourage fans to voice their loyalty to your team.

5. Create a Flickr account
Flickr is a photo sharing website that allows you to tag your photos and create albums that can be pulled into your website. Flickr is also a great way to share photos with people that blog about your team? By providing high quality photos to your fans that have the appropriate Creative Commons licensing, you will generate goodwill with the bloggers that will then hopefully link back to your website and help you promote your team.

Case Studies

Here are a couple of real life examples of how amateur and semi-professional sports teams are using social media.

Iowa State Cyclones

The Iowa State Cyclones are a college hockey team that competes in the American Collegiate Hockey Association. The program is completely funded by donations, fund-raising and revenues generated through advertising, merchandise and ticket sales. Iowa is a mid-western state that is predominantly known for it’s football, basketball and wrestling programs. So, it goes without saying that hockey is not an easy sell in this market.

The team first began using social media back in July 2009 prior to the 2009-2010 season. They wanted to figure out ways to generate more interest in the team in order to put more people in the stands, sell more merchandise and create more interest in their fund-raising efforts.

Cyclones Social Accounts

Facebook Fan Page – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cyclone-Hockey/121262733317?ref=ts

• Started August 2009
• October 16, 2009 – 710 Fans
• March 30, 2009 – 1420 Fans

Twitter – http://twitter.com/CycloneHockey
YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/ISUCycloneHockey
Flickr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/CycloneHockey
Player Blog – http://cyclonehockey.wordpress.com/

For more information on how the Iowa State Cyclones use social media, check out the ongoing case study on Sport Fan Connect (http://sportfanconnect.com/category/case-studies/iowa-state-cyclone-hockey/social-accounts)

South Carolina Stingrays

The South Carolina Stingrays are a semi-professional hockey team in the East Coast Hockey League. Located in the deep southern US, hockey is a tough sell in this market. However, despite that fact, the South Carolina Stingrays continue to excel as a premier team in the ECHL and we’re crowned the Kelly Cup Champions in the 2008-2009 season.

The Stingrays dove into social media back in September 2009 when their newly hired “Media Specialist”, Joseph Zakrzewski, wanted to find ways to further engage with the Stingrays fan base.

Stingrays Social Accounts

Facebook Fan Page – http://www.facebook.com/SCStingraysHockey

• Started September 2009
• October 16, 2009 – 1368 Fans
• March 30, 2010 – 5414 Fans

Twitter – http://twitter.com/scstingrays
YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/SCStingraysHockey

For more information on how the South Carolina Stingrays use social media, check out a series of interviews on the Sport Fan Connect YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/sportfanconnect#p/u/21/uyPcJCnKrMk)

Sports Media Challenge Interview

Check out my interview with Kathleen Hessert (President – Sports Media Challenge) as she talks about how and why amateur and semi-professional teams should use social media. Kathleen’s company works with many professional, semi-professional and collegiate programs in helping them understand how to use social media effectively.

“The Grey Cup has a long history and there have been many memorable moments over the years,” says Sheldon Lachambre – 2009 Grey Cup Festival – Director of Marketing and Media Relations “Some people have been coming to the Grey Cup Festival religiously for 20+ years, and every CFL fan has a Grey Cup game memory that is special to them!”

“These Grey Cup memories and the connection CFL fans have with each other is what makes the Grey Cup Festival such a special event. Therefore we felt it was important to implement a social media strategy and to showcase how the 2009 Grey Cup Festival connects CFL fans from East to West.”

Check out the 2009 Grey Cup Festival website to view the official press release: http://2009greycupfestival.com/news/34.html

2009 Grey Cup Festival, CFL Playoffs & CFL Fans = Excitement!!!

While at the game, I took time to chat with some CFL fans about the Grey Cup Festival.  Virtually everyone I speak with about this topic says the same things.

1. The Grey Cup Festival connects people from across Canada
2. The Grey Cup game is the pinnacle of the Festival, but all the events leading up to the game are what make the Festival special
3. Many people make the Grey Cup Festival an annual event and have made lifelong friends that are all connected by the Grey Cup Festival.

The two videos below communicate these points from two perspectives…….a Lions fan and an Eskimos fan.  Traditionally, they are football rivals, but when it comes to the Grey Cup Festival, it’s all about having fun, connecting with old friends and making new friends!

Edmonton Eskimos Fans – Grey Cup Festival Highlights (a 17 yr veteran!)

BC Lions Fan – Grey Cup Festival Highlights

The three of them visited all 30 MLB ballparks over 90 days this summer using social media (blog, Twitter, Facebook) along the way to connect with the league (MLB), teams and other fans.

Their story is an amazing one and, best of all, was all done to raise money for a local charity. They have some great stories to share including why they did it, how they did it, all the new friends they made along the way and the impact that social media had on making all these new connections.

Make sure to check out their blog for updates on the family after the trip of a lifetime: http://30ballparksandababy.blogspot.com/

For details on their upcoming auction starting October 29, 2009, check out: http://30ballparksandababy.com

We met them the night before the Washington Capitals home opener at the Baltimore Orioles game after finding them using the “Nearby” feature on Tweetie (Twitter iPhone application).  Their story was the perfect example of how social media can connect fans with their favorite leagues, teams and other fans.

In this video, we show how we found them at the Orioles game using Twitter which eventually led to an interview at Camden Yards.  We then chatted the following day in front of Capital Hill in Washington, DC to award them the Washington Capitals tickets.  Finally, we put together a short piece that shows the excitement around the Washington Capitals home opener and wrap things up with a conversation at the game with our winners. Needless to say, the Washington Capitals and the NHL have inherited 3 new fans thanks to the power of social media!!

Stay tuned for another video where we talk about their amazing tour in more detail and they tell us a bit about their upcoming charity auction on October 28, 2009. You can check out their website for details on the items available for auction at http://30ballparksandababy.com

Dania Jai-Alai

The event we attended was at one of the few Jai-Alai arena in the United States – Danai Jai-Alai.  You could tell that the building itself was probably the “place to be” at one point, but as interest in the sport has declined over the years, I would imagine there has not been alot of money to throw around at improvements.  The building itself is very worn down and is now best described as a gamblers paradise.  There is gambling everywhere with Jai-Alai going on in the main arena, horse races on multiple TV screens in the lobby and a poker room upstairs.  Apparently, there is some big money to be made on betting on Jai-Alai, but when you don’t know the rules…..I think your money would better spent on the Roulette table.  Needless to say, my $2 bet could be considered a donation to the future of Jai-Alai! However, I can’t complain too much since it was $0.99 Wednesdays (HotDogs, Chicken Wings and Beers for a buck!!…how can you beat that!!! ha).  If you are interested in checking this sport out….but can’t make it down to Florida, you can visit http://betdania.com and watch the live streaming games over the internet (no, seriously!!)

Jai-Alai – The Sport

Jai alai promotes itself as “the fastest sport in the world” because of the balls’ speed, although Badminton and Golf have actually seen faster speeds. A 125g–140g ball covered with goatskin can travel up to 302 km/h (188mph). I don’t even know where to begin to explain the rules of this sport (mostly because I don’t have a clue how they score the games…..even after watching 2 hrs of Jai-Alai last night!) I found this video on YouTube that helps explain a bit of the history behind Jai-Alai (warning – it’s a bit dated

Jai-Alai Documentary

Jai-Alai and Social Media?

As I was watching this new found sports, I couldn’t help but wonder if social media was impacting this sport……and if it isn’t, could it?  So, I did a bit of digging around to see what I could find:

Facebook

I did a quick search for “Jai-Alai Facebook” and found the following:

Jai-Alai Facebook Group – There are currently 126 members in this group.  The rules of the game are explained here and there are a couple of links to news articles

Jai-Alai Facebook Fan Page – There are over 660 member of this Fan Page (which is amazing because there is literally nothing on the Fan Page.  There is a “Just Fans” wall that has some conversation happening, but it doesn’t appear anyone has engaged in the page for a couple months now).  A link to http://www.jai-alai.info/ can be found in the “Info” section.  I have to assume that they are the ones that built this Facebook Fan Page??

Twitter

Ironically, I used the “search” feature on my Tweetie iPhone application and saw that there were people at the event last night talking about the Jai-Alai match. Here’s a link to the tweet posted by a Twitter user at the Danai Jai-Alai event last: http://twitter.com/radiodanshow/statuses/4852566047.  Unfortunately, I didn’t check it last night or I would have taken the time to track this person down to discuss their interest in the game.

I also discovered, to my amazement, when using http://search.twitter.com that there are a number of other people talking about the sport on Twitter: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=jai-alai

I also did a quick search for “Jai-Alai Twitter” using Google and came across an official Dania Jai-Alai Twitter account.  There are only a handful of followers of the account (23 to be exact) and they are using it mostly to promote upcoming events (like the $0.99 Wednesday, Horse Races and Poker Tournaments)

YouTube

There are a number of clips on YouTube profiling the sport of Jai-Alai (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jai+alai&search_type=&aq=f) But, the one that stood out the most for me was during an episode of Jackass where Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O take shots from some professional Jai-Alai players. I think the real Jai-Alai ball would potentially kill them…..so, in this case, they used oranges. Haha…enjoy!

Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O (Jackass) – Jai Alai

Conclusion

I certainly don’t think that the sport of Jai-Alai will ever reach the popularity of other major sports in the world (soccer, football, baseball, basketball, hockey, etc), but considering what I have seen in my research, there is definitely room for improvement. The great part about social media is that you can target your messaging to your target audience and reach out to those that are already engaged with the sports.  After all, there is no better promotion (with regards to impact vs cost) than word of mouth.  And by leveraging the voice of advocates for the sport, the sport could benefit from their influence and messaging.

I can’t say that I found an “official” Jai-Alai Association that oversees the sport internationally, but there are a number of Jai-Alai groups out there that would all benefit from a collective effort in promoting the game using social media. Social networks (like this one created on Ning), would be a good place to start in finding those Jai-Alai advocates

By far, one of the highlights of our Sport Fan Connection Tour was the September 27th NFL game between the NY Jets and Tennessee Titans. The day began early as we made our way to the wet parking lot to partake in some pre-game tailgaiting.  We ran into a great group of guys from New Jersey that welcomed us under their canopy for some good eats and drinks.

NY Jets – Post-Game Tailgaiting

As per NFL rules, we were unable to take video footage within the stadium, but we did capture manage to capture some great footage in the parking lot after the game.  NY Jets fans are a passionate group and I am always overwhelmed with how friendly and inviting New Yorkers are.  In this video footage, we captured the thoughts of some NY Jets fans on Mobile applications (Blackberry, iPhone and Web Apps), online streaming video and Fireman Ed stopped by for some of New Jersey’s finest sausage and bread!

NY Jets & Social Media

We chatted with the Marketing and Communication department prior to our trip and had an overwhelming response to our project.  The NY Jets organization is really leading the charge among NFL teams when it comes to embracing social media. They have prominently displayed links on www.newyorkjets.com that help drive their fans to their Facebook Fan Page and Twitter Page.

Here are some examples of how the NY Jets are using social media:

Facebook Fan Page

The official New York Jets Facebook Fan page is a great example of how teams can use popular social networks to engage in a two way conversation with fans.  The Jets have created a “Welcome” page that helps inform fans of all the ways to connect with the team.  There is a quick opening video where current players Kerry Rhodes, Dustin Keller and D’Brickashaw Ferguson welcome fans to the Facebook Page. There are also quick links included that help direct fans to the videos and photo sections and an open invite to “write on the wall”.

The official NY Jets Facebook Fan page has just over 32,000 fans and it is evident that a number of them are quite active on the site contributing to the “Wall” conversations, participation in polls, uploading fan generated videos and photos.

The Jets also use their Facebook Fan page as a means to promote their team schedule, tickets sales, the “Jets Flight Crew” cheerleaders and upcoming events.

NY Jets Players on Twitter

One of the things that really stood out to me on the Facebook Fan Page was that they have a section promoting their players on Twitter.  This is a very proactive approach to embracing social media as a number of teams, leagues and conferences have outright banned their players from using Twitter.  The Jets are doing the exact opposite by embracing the fact that their players are an extension of their brand and are a major contributing factor to the overall success of the team – both on and off the field.  The NY Jets players profiled on Twitter include:

• Mark Sanchez
• Kerry Rhodes
• Nick Mangold
• Derrelle Reves
• Dustin Keller
• Bart Scott
• Braylon Edwards
• Jeff Feely
• James Ihedigbo
• D’Brickashaw Ferguson
• Damien Woody

NY Jets on Twitter

Official NY Jets Twitter Page

The Jets organization does a great job of using Twitter in a very open and engaging way.  They understand that the fans are not always going to be happy with the team.  After all, it’s pro-sports…..and you can’t win every game.

One thing that really stand out for me is the fact that the Jets do an exceptional job of responding to fan comments and questions. I constantly hear the question of whether or not a person/team with a large number of followers should follow all of those people back.  The NY Jets currently have almost 14000 followers and are following back 1600 of them.  I’m assuming they have chosen to engage with those fans that are providing quality comments and feedback as I don’t believe it is feasible to converse with 14000 fans.

The Jets also use their Twitter account to keep fans updated on game highlights with regular posting during Jets games.  Each contributor to their Twitter page uses their initials to keep fans informed on who is broadcasting the message.

You can truly see the passion that Kathleen has in working with her clients and helping them understand and implement social media education, training, monitoring and strategies.  Kathleen is constantly on the road, so, if you want to get in touch with her over the next few months, you can find her at the Blog World Expo in Las Vegas from Oct 15 – 17, the 140 Characters Conference in LA on Oct 27 – 28, the 140 Character Conference in London, England on Nov 17.  Or, you can follow her and all the great products and services that Sports Media Challenge has to offer their clients at the following addresses:

Twitter: @kathleenhessert
Website: http://sportsmediachallenge.com
Blog: http://buzzmanagerblog.blogspot.com/