Each month, we take a look back at the month that was in online sports marketing and recap eight of the most tweetable stories.
1. Survey: When Athletes Tweet, Sports Fans Play, Participate, Purchase
The 2011 Catalyst Fan Engagement Study reveals that fans are 55% more likely to purchase a brand if an athlete that they follow mentions the brand on Twitter or Facebook. The managing partner of Catalyst Public Relations points to the authenticity of the messages on social media as a factor leading to this improved engagement.
2. Leveraging Star Power in Social Media for the 2018 Olympic Bid
Bid cities for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games have taken their appeals to the International Olympic Committee to Facebook and Twitter. The article offers interesting analytics comparing several of the bid cities’ performance in social media and talks about how some athletes are lending a hand to their home countries by sharing their own social media clout.
3. Times Internet ties up with NBA; to target high-income group
Looking to further expand their global popularity, the NBA partners with Times Internet Ltd to launch a dedicated NBA section at the Times of India. The NBA’s Senior Director of Business Development, Akash Jain, says that the NBA saw a 40% year over year traffic growth from India last year.
4. Sports and Social Media: How leagues like the NBA and UFC are staying connected
CBS News blog contributer, Stuart Flatt, had the opportunity to Skype interview Amy Martin of Digital Royalty. Amy is quoted as predicting that social media will become the main part of athletes’ media diets, if it hasn’t already, and the story provides insight into how the NBA and UFC are early leaders in the space.
5. Yeovil Town boss Terry Skiverton hails first ‘twansfer’
From across the pond, an English association football club manager uses suggestions from Twitter to sign the team’s newest striker. The event is noteworthy because smaller teams in the hundreds of soccer pyramids around the world often do not have the budget for scouting departments. This is the first known example of a team relying on their supporters’ opinions to make a personnel change.
6. Mobile Ads Come of Age in Cannes With Heineken Soccer Feature
This story from Business Week shares some of the cutting edge mobile apps sports brands are implementing around the world. Examples include a Nike app that uses a global positioning system to track a runner’s progress on the iPhone and Facebook and an app sponsored by Heineken that allows soccer fans to connect live during European Champions League matches.
7. Bread URL Shortener Now Publicly Available
If you are an online sports marketer, you have to check out Bread. Bread is the newest and most innovative URL shortening tool available, and it just became available to the public this month. What makes Bread different are the five-second “toasts” (custom-designed advertisements) delivered to your site visitors while they wait for their page to load.
8. No football, no problem!
Rick Reilly of ESPN provides a fun look at some alternatives to fantasy football in case there is no NFL season this year. The truth is, fantasy football is real business, and fantasy football platforms such as Yahoo! and ESPN are already suffering in the pocketbook by having this valuable revenue stream drying up during the NFL lockout.
So what do you think? If we missed something or you have a story you would like to share, please feel free to leave it in the comments below.
Signed,
Ryan Sleeper+, Online Sports Marketing Guy