Archive for the ‘Social Networking’ Category

How Online Newspapers Can Win

Monday, November 15th, 2010

The Australian featured an article today about the issue of paying for your print news online.

It’s a delicate discussion and one that I don’t have all the answers for. But I can at least provide some food for thought.

The big question newspapers want answered is: How do you get people to pay for something they already get for free?

The answer is, you can’t. That is unless you have exclusive content that none of your competitors have.

For years people watched TV for free and still do. But there was a day when the thought of paying for TV seemed ludicrous. Yet, cable television is now a global phenomena. Why? It has content no one else has and so people are happy to pay.

Can newspapers learn something from TV? Perhaps.

The question shouldn’t be “how do we get people to pay for our content?” Rather it should be “how do we make our content so exclusive that people have no choice but want to pay for it?”

Print is dying and re-emerging via apps on tablet computers. Therein lies a great opportunity to use amazing technology to enhance the readers experience.

Just like cable TV buys a hit show or sporting rights, online newspapers might think about buying great content. And content isn’t just words. It’s photos, video, games, social networking and other interactive entertainment.

I’m talking about unique B2B relationships that strengthen the appeal of an online newspaper. The kind of B2B relationships that give an online newspaper an advantage over news sites who only offer news.

Something to think about huh.

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Posted in Media, Social Networking, Sponsorship, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Smart Questions

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

How does a company decide whether they should be involved in social networking? Well, before you set up a Twitter or Facebook account, you need to consider a couple of things. cartoon

First you need to decide what your objective is? The objective must do one of two things. Increase revenue or decrease costs.

Next you need to decide what your role is.

Are you there just to listen and monitor what people are saying about your product or services?

Are you there to make a sale?

Are you there to promote your brand and market your message?

Are you there to provide customer support and feedback?

Or are you there to partner with other business (B2B)?

It can be a combination of these things but best to concentrate on one or two and do them extremely well.

Answering these questions will help you decide:

A) who you want to interact with (target market)
B) which social networking platform is best for you
C) and which is the best strategy to achieve your objective(s)

With today’s technology, you have a great opportunity to listen and interact with your customers, build loyalty and/or find new customers. You just need to discover the HOW part. The best way to do that is to ask yourself smart questions.

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Posted in Communication, Media, Social Networking, Strategy | 1 Comment »

Social Media Rights & Benefits

Friday, August 7th, 2009

I recently talked about moving with the times and the importance of keeping up to speed with technology. It’s a super fast crazy world we live in and only those that embrace change will succeed, the rest will get left behind.

So what does this have to do with sponsorship and managing athletes?

Well, when a sponsor signs an athlete, they sign for a list of rights and benefits. X number of appearances, X number of photo shoots, X number of TVC’s, sign X number of memorabilia etc. For years these rights and benefits have pretty much stayed the same.

However the landscape is changing and it’s been happening for the past five years. I’m talking about social media rights and benefits.

If your sponsorship proposal does not include anything about social media rights and benefits then fuggetaboutit.

Social media is influencing the way in which brands communicate with their customers. This communication to customers is the reason why brands sponsor an athlete in the first place.

TV commercials, print ads and billboards still play a huge role, particularly on a mass level, but a lot of that stuff is now being complemented with social media and in some cases, dominated by social media.

The point I’m making is that brands and their ad and PR agencies are dialled in on social media and how it fits into a marketing plan. However, sports managers are much slower on the uptake. And this hurts their ability to sell a client.

Imagine a brand that is engaged in social media receiving a sponsorship proposal that includes no mention of online rights and benefits and leveraging ideas!

Athlete manager’s that ‘move with times’ are always going to be step ahead.

If you’re not up to speed, ask someone who is.

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Posted in Communication, Media, Social Networking, Sponsorship, Strategy, advertising | No Comments »

Social Networking for Football Clubs

Friday, June 12th, 2009

I read with interest last week that the Sydney Roosters have become the first NRL club to get on Facebook.

Let’s just say I was astonished.

If you’re serious about connecting with your Gen Y fans, and want to add value to your sponsors, then every NRL club should be on Facebook!!

Let me break it down this way.

More and more people are relying on the web for their daily news and entertainment. But guess what? The web is an extremely cluttered medium. So you have apply the 80/20 rule.

That is, 80% of people visit 20% of the websites online. Facebook is in that top 20%. An NRL club website is not.

Let’s say I’m at a big house party with all my friends. We’re interacting and having a great time. But my footy team lives down the road. Do I leave the party to go visit them? No, I invite them to come to my party!

My footy team gets to talk to me directly at the party, I talk back, and I even introduce them to my mates. Next thing you know, my footy team wants to introduce me to someone (club sponsor), the party kicks on.

Having a Facebook fan page is permission marketing at its best. And its in real time. I get your message on my phone. You come to me, I don’t have to chase you.

Regarding club websites. These are important for attracting young fans, but even then, the website needs to be hugely interactive to compete with the Nickolodoeon’s of the world.

If you’re a football club, don’t waste all of your time, energy and money on your website. Put more emphasis on social networking. It will pay bigger dividends.

Visit this website for more information on how you can utilise social networking.

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Posted in Communication, Media, Rugby League, Social Networking, Sponsorship, Strategy | No Comments »

Social Networking for Athletes

Friday, April 3rd, 2009

In my previous post I talked about embracing new technology and ways of communication. I’ve also talked about the benefits of athletes using Twitter to better connect with fans and bring value to sponsors. But what about the dangers for high profile people online? Unlike you and me, their words, actions and photos are juicy material for the media.

As an athlete manager it’s your job to educate your clients of the dangers. If they’re already online, then sit down with them and explain the pitfalls and make sure they have the best security measures. (If you read my last post then you should naturally know all this information). If your athlete is not online, then don’t ignore them. Show them how social networking works, how quickly information is spread, how a public photo can be uploaded and shared with thousands of people in the matter of minutes. Let them grasp the power of the web and what this means for them as a high profile person.

Social networking can be great for your clients but it can also be a danger. You’re never going to win the battle of whether they should be on there or not. But what you can do is constantly educate them on best practises.

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Moving with the Times

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

We all know people who refuse to take up new technology. They don’t have an email address, or they hang on to outdated mobile phones, or maybe they are scared of the web, and they certainly don’t want to know about social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Nothing wrong with that, they can probably get by ok, for how long I don’t know, I’m just glad the majority of people aren’t like this.

Imagine if our ancestors refused to use the telephone, or the original fax machine or what if they turned their backs on the first television? Where do you think we would be today? I’m guessing we’d still be hunting for our food and travelling via horse and cart!

I’m not saying that all these new technologies we have today are great, in fact some can be time wasters, disruptive and uncomfortable to use but if you don’t embrace them and get involved you will be left behind. Today’s world is moving faster than ever which means you need to move fast to.

Forward this message to that person you know who refuses to embrace new technology (if they are not on email you can re-write this blog with a feather quill pen and delivery it via a horse drawn cart).

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Posted in Communication, Social Networking | 1 Comment »

Small Talk

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

What do you do when you meet someone for the first time? You quickly try and establish common ground right? Salespeople call this small talk.

Small talk eases the salesperson into the conversation and helps them make a connection with the person their trying to sell to which assists in developing rapport. A sales pitch won’t have the same punch without first establishing trust and rapport. Sometimes finding common ground is really easy, and you hit things off immediately. Other times it can be awkward, particular if the two people don’t share any interests, aren’t reading the same news or don’t share the same values.

So as salesperson, wouldn’t it be great if before you met a potential client, you knew a few things about that person? What if you knew their interests, passions, or what they’ve been up to lately? Wouldn’t this give you a huge advantage over the next sales guy?

Well with online social networking sites such as Twitter and personal blogs, now you can search for that information. I recently met with a sponsorship manager and before the meeting I checked if they were on Twitter. Turns out they were and I quickly discovered that we shared a passion for golf. Guess what, I just found common ground and I hadn’t even met the person yet!

Suffice to say the meeting went well. Our respective golf games dominated discussion for the early part which laid the platform for an extremely productive meeting.

You wouldn’t go to a job interview without first researching the company would you? So why wouldn’t you research the person you are meeting? In this day and age it’s possible so why not use the technology.

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Posted in Client Relationship, Communication, Social Networking | No Comments »

E-Sponsorship

Monday, March 16th, 2009

Harvey Norman, Ford, VB, Toyota and Coca Cola are all big sponsors of Australian sport, but what about online businesses such as Carsales.com, Ebay, RealEstate.Com, Stayz.com and CareerOne, why aren’t they big sponsors of Australian sport?

After all, the online world shares the same business objectives as the real world, both are about attracting and retaining a growing base of satisfied customers. Both face fierce competition in crowded marketplaces. And both involve individual brands that need to appeal and connect with people.

In this economy, a lot of traditional businesses (those that sponsor sport) are struggling. Yet this hasn’t stopped athlete managers pitching for sponsorship. And that means your sponsorship proposal is sitting on the desk with 100 other sponsorship proposals, for a brand with a limited budget.

But what about true online businesses and brands, those that are growing at a rapid rate in this economy (such as e-commerce)? No one thinks of selling to these guys. They probably don’t even know how to leverage a sponsorship! So why don’t you pitch to them and show them how your athlete / sporting club can benefit their business. With your athlete’s popularity and a host of free social media platforms to use, coming up with leveraging ideas shouldn’t be hard.

At least you won’t be competing with the masses.

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Posted in Social Networking, Sponsorship, Strategy | 1 Comment »

Twitter

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

twitter-birdMore and more celebrities are starting to take advantage of the social networking site Twitter. For those who don’t understand the platform watch this video or read this text. Now why should an athlete be on Twitter?

Firstly, let’s look at one of the basic reasons why brands sponsor athlete’s. Athlete’s help put a face and personality to a product or service, and that human element helps the brand CONNECT with their target market. Brands try to achieve this connection by way of athlete appearances, consumer promotions and above the line advertising etc. These are all great, but are often expensive and sometimes a scatter gun approach to actually REACHING key customers.

So how does Twitter reach key customers? To give you a rough example of the power of Twitter, let’s say you’re selling a product and want to make 2,000 sales. Using your ambassador you decide to put an ad in the sports section of the paper (hoping it hits some of your target market), it costs you $30,000. A small percentage of your target market reads the paper, an even smaller percentage see your ad, and a smaller percentage actually take action. You make the 2,000 sales but it cost you $30,000. Now, just imagine your ambassador has 10,000 followers on Twitter, but these aren’t any ordinary people, they are fans who are INTERESTED and PASSIONATE about your ambassador. The ambassador has built incredible trust with his/her followers through daily tweets about their lives. Now instead of spending $30,000 on a newspaper ad, you ask your ambassador to tweet about your product with a direct link to a page that allows consumers to purchase that product. How many of these passionate followers do you think will click on the link? A bloody big percentage and all of a sudden they are at the check out counter. You easily get 2,000 sales (probably more) and it cost you nothing.

Twitter isn’t for everyone, but for those athletes that want to better connect with their fans and add value to their sponsors then I don’t see a better platform.

Some quick rules. Please don’t use a PR person to Twitter on behalf of your athlete, fans see right through this which defeats the power of Twitter. What you put in is what you get out. And don’t let your athlete abuse the service by over promoting their sponsors, they need to interact first, then promote, then interact some more.

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Posted in Social Networking, Sponsorship | No Comments »

Caught in a web

Monday, January 12th, 2009

I’m often asked whether athletes should have their own websites. Well if you’ve got loads of cash and heaps of spare time then yes, otherwise no. Now don’t get me wrong, a website can be valuable tool but often the cost to build an official site and constantly manage the content to bring fans back is to big a burden for many athletes and their managers. These websites aren’t very profitable either. Attracting advertising is limited due to the relationships with the athlete’s existing sponsors and selling things online can be considered a money grab by many fans.

So is there another solution? Well the main objective to having an online presence is to connect and strengthen an athlete’s relationship with his/her core fans, and add value to existing sponsors and future potential sponsors. There are many online platforms that can achieve these objectives without the cost and headaches of managing a website. I’m talking about social networking websites for sports. A great example is Go211.com This website is an action sports community that lets fans connect with each other and their favourite action athletes. Athletes can post blogs, photos and video in a safe but cool environment that communicates directly with their core audience. The value to the athlete’s sponsors is enormous. Featured athletes can provide sponsor product photos and links, blog about consumer promotions and upload videos of sponsor activities. And the best thing is it doesn’t cost the athlete anything. In fact an athlete may even get paid by the website if they’re profile is large enough. It’s a win win for athletes, the sponsors and the Go211 community of fans. I expect more of these websites to pop up for mainstream Australian sports and associations.

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Posted in Social Networking, Sponsorship | No Comments »