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.

They chatted about why the Stampeders got involved in social media, the StampsConnect social media aggregated website, concerns they had when first starting, how they manage all of their online assets, contests and promotions they have ran to encourage participation and provide value for sponsors and future plans for their social media efforts.

StampsConnect

In June 2009, the Stampeders launched a website called StampsConnect (http://stampsconnect.com) that pulls in content from popular social websites including YouTube, Twitter, Flickr based on “keywords” “tags” and “hashtags”.  The website also incorporates Facebook Connect to allow fans to comment on and share their favorite videos and photos with their Facebook friends.

Mike explained that they pursued development of the StampsConnect website to enhance the fan experience and to provide a platform which fans could contribute to its success.  At first, there were concerns that the website might not be received well, but Mike explained that the site has been a tremendous success and will continue to be a big part of their marketing efforts in years to come.

Social Media Strategy (Management)

Mike also shared some insight on how they manage their main website (http://stampeders.com), the StampsConnect website and all of their social accounts.  Again, I have to commend Mike for his foresight in crafting a “Social Media Flowchart” (see below) to assist his staff in understanding how all of their marketing efforts tie together. Of course, every team, league or organization would require their own unique “Social Media Strategy”, but the diagram attached below gives you a visual representation of how the Calgary Stampeders currently manage their online assets.

Mike (and one other person) currently oversee the management of all of their social media accounts.  However, there is a team of people that are responsible for the collection, editing and distribution of content including videos, photos and blog articles.  Even though the premise of the site is to leverage user (fan) generated content, the Stampeders have made a point to upload current, behind the scenes content so that there is always new, engaging content on the site to keep people coming back and to encourage participation.

So, to summarize how this chart works, the Calgary Stampeders main website (http://stampeders.com) is (and always will be) the main source of detailed information for Stampeders fans.  StampsConnect, is focused on providing everything else a fan would want from their team including behind the scenes videos, photos and tweets.  And, of course, since StampsConnect pulls properly tagged content from YouTube, Flickr and Twitter, it is also a great source of information from the “Fans” perspective.

As Mike mentions in the video, the StampsConnect website has not caused a whole lot more work with regards to time commitment for him and his staff.  The reason for this is that many of the features listed on this flowchart have been automated.  For example, when they update their News & Blogs section on Stampeders.com, it automatically updates on StampsConnect.  And, when they upload a new video to YouTube, the video is also posted to their Facebook Fan Page and tweeted out from their official “CalStampeders” Twitter account.

I believe many teams are unaware that this type of automation can be setup and, of course, there are new FREE tools being developed every day to make social media account management easier and more effective.

Online Contests & Sponsorship

The last thing Mike discussed in the video is the way they have incorporated contests and sponsorship activation through StampsConnect and their social accounts.  In particular, the Stampeders have ran weekly contests this season encouraging fans to submit their content to be entered to win a Sirius Radio.

Photo Contest

During home games, they have asked fans to email their photos to a unique email address (stampsconnect@stampeders.com) that is setup to automatically send the photos to their Flickr account.  This Flickr account, has been setup to automatically pull into StampsConnect, so, it is an easy way for everyone to participate in the contest (after all……just about every cellphone out there has the ability to take photos and send email).

Twitter Contest

During away games, the Stampeders have asked fans to follow and participate in their Twitter conversation on StampsConnect.  In this case, fans are asked to retweet any of their many exclusive live game updates (from their live play by play tweets from @calstampeders) as well as posting their own unique tweets.  This contest encourages fans to engage in the conversation about the Stampeders on Twitter and in turn, drives traffic to StampsConnect.

Both are great examples of ways teams can tie in their social media efforts to their live game day promotions. And, because they are engaging fans and asking them to participate, they are providing much more value to their sponsor (Sirius Radio) than they could through a static advertisement in their game program or on a sideline sign.

Conclusion

In summary, the Calgary Stampeders are continuing to lead the way when it comes to experimenting with social media.  Mike and his team are continuously coming up with new creative ways to engage their fans and provide value for their sponsors.  There are a number of great ideas planned for the offseason and next years football season involving more “real time” content delivered thru StampsConnect, Stampeders.com and their social accounts.

The biggest thing that other teams and leagues can learn from the Stampeders is that participation in social media does not have to come at a huge expense, but properly crafting a “Social Media Strategy” will provide much more value to everyone involved. As Kathleen Hessert (President – Sports Media Challenge) says “Experience does not equate to Expertise”. So, by first becoming educated on the benefits of social media, then participating in the conversations online, teams will be in a position to take advantage of the value social media can provided.  Engaging fans and leveraging the fact that key influencers online can help build their brand, teams can see the real “ROI” that they are after including more tickets being sold, more merchandise being bought and new sources of revenue generated.

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

Considering that the focus of our tour is to profile the connection between Sports and their Fans, I don’t believe we could have found a better example of this than the connection between the NY Jets football team, Fireman Ed and the faithful NY Jets fans.  Fireman Ed went from being a loyal fan like many of the other fans in the parking lot that day, to an icon that truly represents the connection between the team and their fans.

In fact, just a few days earlier on September 25th, Fireman Ed was presented the game ball on behalf of the NY Jets fans for their win over their division rival, the New England Patriots. The NY Jets head coach, Rex Ryan was quoted as saying:

“He wasn’t the only fan you would notice, but I don’t know the names of everybody else,” Ryan said. “I’m sure there was Fireman Joe and everybody else out there. It was great because they’re our fans and we decided it was a little token of our appreciation to give him a game ball.”

Ryan said Fireman Ed was “all fired up” during their meeting.

“He’s expecting a lot of wins, as are our fans, and he said this is only the start and our guys understand that,” Ryan said.

Referring to the rest of the team’s fans in an interview with the team’s web site, Fireman Ed said, “Their passion is as great as mine is. There’s no difference. I’m just blessed to be able to lead the orchestra, to get them crazy.”

Video footage of Coach Rex Ryan placing the game ball into their training facility display case can be seen here: http://www.facebook.com/Jets?v=app_2392950137#/video/video.php?v=103010843046316

It truly is a refereshing site to see how the New York Jets have acknowledged their fans as a major contributing factor to their success.  The idea that an average (although passionate) fan can essentially become a part of the team brand and exemplify the connection between the team and it’s fans is an amazing story.

The connection between Fireman Ed and the NY Jets has also been portrayed in promotional videos by the NFL on CBS and in a commercial for Budweiser.

We were fortunate to be two vehicles down from Fireman Ed in our pre-game and post-game celebrations and captured a very cool video of Fireman Ed and his friend leading the charge with one more J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets.  3 AND 0 BABY!!!!

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/

Washington Capitals vs Chicago Blackhawks

As with all of the games we are attending, our objective is to observe and analyze the In-Game experience and make note of how teams are using social media in their Marketing mix to engage with their fans.  Being that this was a pre-season game, the Capitals are saving most of their new initiatives for the regular season, so we do not have alot to share regarding the In-Game experience.  (We will definitely have alot more to share following the Washington Capitals home opener vs the Toronto MapleLeafs on CBC Hockey Night in Canada next Saturday).

I’d just like to start by saying that the Capitals were very accomodating to our project by allowing us access to a number of team executives that were more than willing chat.  And, of course, considering the recent news article about the Washington Capitals players fake Twitter accounts (written by Tarik El Bashir – Washington Post), it was an logical topic to chat about this with their key communications people. (As a side note, while we were up in the Press Box, we noticed that a number of the sports reporters had their computers open to their Twitter accounts during the game…..including Tarik)

Washington Capitals & Twitter accounts

For those of you that are not familiar with the recent news story, a number of the Washington Capitals players had fake Twitter accounts registered in their names that they were completely unaware of including Jeff Shultz, Brooks Laich, José Theodore and Alexander Semin.  Most of the tweet were harmless, funny and candid and therefor something that the players and Media Relations staff were not too concerned with.  However, one of the tweets from Brooks Laich’s (the Capitals NHL Players Association rep) account caught their attention and made them take action.  The tweet read as follows:

“Yes I fired [NHLPA executive director] Paul Kelly and yes I’m voting for a lockout.”

Brooks comment to the fake tweet was “I hope those people who are following it know it’s not me.”.  I think the biggest thing to take away from this is that prior to the Capitals and Brooks addressing the fake account, it was likely that his Twitter followers did believe they were hearing from the real Brooks Laich.  The account has since been taken down, but it did make the Capitals staff and players take note of the power of social media.

Washington Capitals – Fake Twitter Accounts

We had a great chat with Nate while hanging in the Press Box at the game about his take on Twitter and social media in general.  Nate and the Capitals are not strangers to Twitter as he currently manages his own account (@nateewell) the Washington Capitals official Twitter account (@WashCaps) and Nate made the headlines back in February when he worked with Alexander Ovechkin to setup and tweet from his own personal Twitter account (@ovi8).  Ovi told him what to write and Nate made it happen. The account is still active, but has not been contributed to for a number of months now.

I asked Nate what he thought about the fake player Twitter accounts.  He responded by saying that it was a bit of an eye opener, but it was something that they didn’t want to take lightly. In fact, they are going to make a point of speaking with the players over the coming weeks about social media with regards to what they can’t say on Twitter and what they would like them to say. This is a great first step towards understanding and using social media as a means to engage with their fans. Without a doubt, it will lead to the Capitals implementing a social media strategy for their team and players.

Washington Capitals – Real Twitter Accounts

The team account (@WashCaps) is currently managed by members of the Capitals Media Relations staff, Nate and Paul Rovnak (@paulrovnak).  They are using the account to both broadcast messages (videos, blogs, news articles on www.washingtoncapitals.com) as well as to engage with fans and run promotions.  Paul recently ran a very cool contest through his own personal account where he offered up 2 tickets to the game that night to the a fan that could come up with the best nickname for a new Capitals forward line (Gordon – Gordon – Laing).  Here’s what he tweeted:

paulrovnak: Most creative name for Laing-Gordon-Gordon line gets my tickets for Wed vs CHI. 1st row upper deck. Have at it Tweeple. Be creative and RT.

And here were some of the responses he received:

Hooks_Orpik: Double G-Q
ahwahoo2006: Obviously LG-squared or Ladies Choice line
ahwahoo2006: How about 3 guys, 2 spleens?
itallfallsdwn: Gordos Never Quint
inch_gladdy: The Newhart Line. My name is Laing, this is my brother Gordon and my other brother Gordon. (WINNER)
lindseydc: LGG is always going to make me think “Lego Line” for some reason. Insert witty comment about team building blocks here.
sweetestofdekes: Obviously, Laing-Gordon-Gordon is the Highland Line.

This is a great example of how the team is using social media to engage with their fan base in unique and creative ways.  And, of course, this was done from Paul’s personal account, however, the point is they are at least experimenting and open to the idea that there is much to learn in how social media can become an integral part of their future communications plan.

One thing that quickly became obvious was how many people have cameras. Of course you might be thinking that was obvious already, and it was, but when you are there to recognize opportunity and trends, it becomes so even more.

So how can sports and fans alike be benefiting all of the photos that are being taken. Often the photos are uploaded directly to the internet now, with Twitter, Flickr and other Mobile Blogging services and video goes right to YouTube on some video cameras.

What I realized is that I would like to be able to access the photos that the crowd is taking, while they are taking them. When this play happened, I would have loved to have seen an “instant replay” by fan generated images, accessible by my iPhone or any other smart-phone. Who took the most interesting shot of that event? Was there an angle that was unique and tells the story a little differently?

And besides, it isn’t just the game events I am interested in. In fact, it might be that “Random Acts” (see this post) during the game that are even more interesting and would likely be not only better told by the fans camera, but also would not likely have been caught otherwise. This could mean a game could essentially be broadcast by the fans via social networks like Facebook, Twitter and more. You could watch all the action of the game from outside the arena. This is emerging now, and some services have features like that, but in time we will see it accelerate into a more consumable game experience

What do you think? Do you think all those cameras provide opportunity for an interesting in-game experience or does it cause problems for the privacy concerns of the fans and the copyright of the teams?

I visited this ballpark back in February…and to be honest…was not impressed. However, it was the offseason and I didn’t get a chance to walk around. Now that I have attended a game, my opinion has changed. Even though the Nationals don’t have a long history, they’ve done a great job of branding the stadium and creating a fun atmosphere for baseball.

Much thanks goes out to Chris Gargani (VP of Sales & Marketing) for accomodating us and to Christina Miller ( Communication Assistant) for helping us out.

We will be posting more photos and insights into the InGame promotions the Nationals are running soon.