This Saturday (Feb 20, 2010), the 15th edition of the Nissan Verbier Xtreme by Swatch (full name), the final stage of the Freeride World Tour, will take place in the eponymous internationally-renowned Swiss Alps resort. I plan to attend, as it is just an hour’s drive away from my place -- and is usually very spectacular. If you wonder what the fuss is all about, check out the video below.
As I was checking the event’s website (link above) and listening to radio ads promoting it, I asked myself how well the event organisers, sponsors and venue were leveraging social media.
So here’s my totally subjective “Social Media Scorecard” for the 2010 Verbier Xtreme.
Event’s website interactivity: auto-play videos + video gallery; decent image gallery; small “news” and “community” sections; no real visibility of/interactivity with sponsors >> 7/10
Facebook fan page: only for the Freeride World Tour (FWT); few fans, little activity; also Facebook group, only for the FWT; many more group members; frequent/interesting group posts; no customisation of design; little interactivity (discussions) >> 7/10
Dedicated YouTube channel: only for the FWT (FreerideWorldTourTV); customised channel design, comprehensive video footage, sizeable subscribers Nr>> 9/10
Dedicated Twitter account: only for the FWT; no custom design of Twitter profile; account only tweets out info.s, no interactivity>> 6/10
Title sponsor-specific promotions/buzz: production of a few sponsor-themed TV shows; otherwise just banner ads on website’s homepage + at the end of videos >> 5/10
Overall score: 6/10
What do you think? Which other criteria would you take into account? Shae your suggestions and impressions in the comments !
Jason Peck (if you haven’t done so yet, subscribe to his excellent blog, www.jasonfpeck.com) has put together an inspiring compendium on “Sports and Social Media Projections, 2010″, in which a dozen US-based contributors provide a brief summary of their perspective on how the sports sector will leverage social media in 2010.
Here’s a short (highly subjective) list of my favorite quotes from the compendium:
“The keywords for 2010 will be adoption, convergence and usage. ” (Dan Beeman, Sponsorship Insights)
“If 2009 taught us anything, it’s that social media is not a fad, rather, it is an essential part of a marketing and communications strategy.” (Trevor Turnbull, Sport-Fan Connect)
“Sports and social media are a perfect match.” (Darren Heitner, Dynasyt Athlete Representation)
“Share… Stop self-promoting and start listening.” (Espree Devora, ZexSports)
“If those in sports are not continuing or starting to invest in social media by next year, they are missing out on opportunities to grow.” (Lewis Howes, Sports Networker)
“2010 could very well be the year in which we see some teams moving social media from the periphery to the centre of their marketing strategies.” (Pat Coyle, Sports Marketing 2.0)
“Controlling the message means active participation and some level of transparency to allow deeper, more sustainable audience engagement.” (Rob Katz, iAudience)
“Mobile is the future of social media and sports media consumption.” (Steve Cobb, Activ8Social)
Regardless of the accuracy of the predictions, Jason and his fellow contributors have made it very clear that sports cannot ignore social media – in Europe as much as in the US.
Have you read Jason’s compendium ? What do you think ? Share your comments with the readers of the Sports Management Blog !
I thought I’d kick-start this blog with a few thoughts about why it could be interesting to write about sports management and social media.
First, I have a feeling that sports management itself is not necessarily a topic which is widely or appropriately covered on the ‘Net. Sure, there are commercial organisations active in this field which try to increase or maintain their visibility by touting their wares or value proposition on their website or blog. But I have yet to come across a forum for unbiased, non-commercially oriented exchanges on what are the key factors for a sports organisation to be managed for success.
Second, while social media is all about encouraging self-designated membership of chosen “communities of interest”, and about offering those members a way to produce & share user-generated content (think Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, or microblogging pioneer Twitter), these functionalities of social media do not seem to me to have made sufficient strides in the field of sports management – which is puzzling, since sportspeople typically think of themselves as dedicated members of a community of interest (triathletes, inline skaters, runners, you name them – they are all much more than part of a club, a Federation or a sports organisation, they feel they are part of a community).
Finally, there seem to be very few attempts out there to bring these 2 fields together, at least in the open-discussion form of a blog – with a few notable exceptions. Jason Peck’s Take A Peck blog provides very valuable insights specifically on sports and social media, with a US perspective; Lewis Howes’ Sports Networker blog also puts social media front-and-center in his dicsussions on sports, giving contributors in his very wide network a chance to share their expertise; Russell Scibetti, a regular contributor to the Business of Sport blog, is also extremely knowledgeable on the topic of technology in sports. All are excellent, and I encourage you to subscribe to their feed – as well as follow them on Twitter, at @jasonpeck, @sportsnetworker and @rscibetti, respectively. (I will provide in a later post more Twitter handles of users I find interesting in this space).
In this blog, I will therefore try to start what will hopefully become a lively exchange on the ways in which social media functionalities can and should be introduced into the management of sports organisations and/or events.
Since my background is in consulting, and more specifically on financial budgeting & controlling, I will also post the occasional article on the financial management of sports organisations – from a budgeting as well as an expense-monitoring perspective.
Do you also think that the sports business could do a better use of social media? Do you know of any good blog which covers sports management and social media? Share your views & tips in the comments below!
My consulting practice’s website, Mangano Management Consulting & Coaching, has more information on what we can do for you in the area of sports management and social media (provided you are based in Europe).
Gabriel Mangano defines himself (on Twitter) as an "entrepreneur, social-media fanatic, consultant, coach, sportsman, sports manager - all rolled into one."
