By Ryan Sleeper+

Update 4/14/2013: Thank you to everybody who voted during the Elite 8 Contest. I am thrilled to announce that this visualization was voted the champion and Online Sports Marketing Guy will be participating in the Iron Viz contest in Washington D.C. later this year.

Mavs finding ways to include sponsors in social media

Our first review from January comes to us from the Dallas Mavericks. One of the more challenging aspects of working in digital and social media in any business is not only finding ways to incorporate sponsors and therefore sell more inventory, but also to analyze those results. Whether your method of analysis includes impressions, reach, or any other social metric, they hopefully tie that back to dollars generated. The Mavs are trying. Here we see a simple example taking what some see as an antiquated advertising process of the “presenting sponsor” and transferring it to a digital asset. Teams and leagues are looking for ways to incorporate more sponsors and sell more advertising space online. These teams are looking internally to their sales and marketing teams as well as outward to digital marketing agencies. Finding new and perhaps more creative ways to include sponsor names and logos into digital creative will be something the more advanced organizations continue to press forward.

Teams upgrade their hubs

Teams, such as the Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Lightning, and more are starting to round-up their social media efforts and display them in visually appealing, informative manners that suit the social fans looking to intake loads of information very quickly. The Seahawks have done a terrific job of visually linking their fans to their team through the use of Twitter and Instagram tags. Crowd sourcing contests have been a key for marketers for the past several years and technology is making it easier than ever to source this data. Teams like the Lightning have taken a similar approach, but visually displayed the data a bit differently. They have included the sourced data but have made it a point to share the hashtags they wish the fans to use. They have also leveraged this space to inform the fans of any teammates on Twitter, including their prospects and “personalities.” Currently, many of these hub spaces are clean and free of sponsorship but how long will this last? Once hubs like these start to pick up viewership traction, I expect these to be prime real-estate. Until then, teams will have to “monitor the monitoring” of their team and wait for the day that more people are visiting their site, and not Twitter or Instagram, to find their team’s social media  activity.

For more examples, check out this great article by Bob McKamey.

The tablet world of sports

How long until the back of each stadium seat has a connector to charge our tablets for us while we watch the game? We all know it is the future. You’re at Cowboys Stadium watching the Cowboys play the Giants while also watching your fantasy team, making adjustments, catching up on all of the games going on around the league, Tweeting, Instagraming, Vine’ing, and whatever else is next. Until those days come, check out this article from Samantha Murphy detailing the connection between sports owners and tablets.

Leave a comment below or tweet @OSMGuy and let us know if you watch sports with your tablet, or even with your cell phone glued to your hands while checking stats and news.

Brands analyzing data LIVE

During this month’s X Games, ESPN debuted their “Hype Meter”, measuring social media interactions during the live events. With social media strategy at the forefront of many marketers’ minds (say that five times fast), we try to get our fans to “talk” about us while also letting us know that they are talking about us. ESPN’s live Hype Meter and corresponding graph was a cool way to capture that data and utilize it in a graphic way we as fans can understand. It was a very basic display, but effective nonetheless. This is one area I expect to see teams and brands continue to innovate and move forward.

The video explosion of January 2013

January was an exciting time for video. Twitter, in this case, has seen quite an infusion of video technology within its platform. First, video streaming platform Ooyala announced it will offer support for video display and embed within Twitter and as Tom Cheredar writes in this Venture Beat article, the integration will be a win-win for all. This technology will ultimately get fans to stay within the Twitter client even longer to view video material instead of leaving the site to view the source data externally. Then Twitter announced in late January the arrival of Vine. The “video version” of Twitter is still in its infancy, yet already is catching on. While we Droid users are forced to wait for the compatible application, iPhone users can now share short videos in a similar form to Tweeting short messages. 2012 saw somewhat of an explosion of .gif formatted images, showing exciting highlight plays and memes, but 2013 will be the year of video. Teams finding advanced ways to use the new features and applications will benefit quickly.

OSMGuy.com has another question for you: How would you use Vine for your organization? Tweet us @OSMGuy and @MatthewVinson and share your thoughts!

The Must-Follow for January 2013

This month’s must follow is someone I’d like to call a virtual friend. J.W. Cannon is one of the #Sportsbiz’ best friends. Aside from sharing great stories, not only in social media, sponsorships, and sports business in general, J.W. has a great sense of humor. Follow @CannonJW and every so often you’ll see his commentary on some of the world’s “finest” offerings from magazines such as SkyMall and more. J.W. is business savvy and is not a guy you will regret following.

Please share your thoughts with us in the comments below, Tweet @OSMGuy, and share your thoughts with me personally by Tweeting @MatthewVinson. Thank you for all the support, and until next time, stay social!

Matt Vinson+

Fortunately, social media has forced corporations, big and small, to let down their guards a little bit. Among many other low-cost benefits, social media provides online sports marketers a glimpse behind competitive curtains and can answer questions such as:

• Which team has the most Facebook fans or Twitter followers?
• How is the social growth of our competitors trending this week, this month, this quarter?
• Where does our company and our competitors rank relative to the rest of the brand pages on Facebook and Twitter?
• Are our similar competitors receiving significantly more Facebook check-ins than we are? What tactics are they using to gain this valuable exposure?

In our first in a series of social media how-tos, we share a couple of social media measurement tools that will simplify your competitive analysis and provide insights that can be used to improve your own social media marketing efforts.

To be the first to know about newly published social media how-tos, social media in sports reviews, and unique sports data visualizations, subscribe to the free Online Sports Marketing Guy mailing list.

1. Wildfire Social Media Monitor

Wildfire Social Media Monitor is a free tool from the long-time Facebook app maker. Wildfire has a full suite of paid social marketing products, but the Monitor tool is one gem that has always been free – and continues to be free even after they were acquired by Google last year. One small catch that came with the Google acquisition is that you now have to fill out a sign-up form in order to use the service. I have yet to receive a sales call or email in the several months they have owned by email address, so signing up is a very small price to pay for the value that the tool provides.

Tip: When you receive the confirmation email pictured below, keep it handy. You will need to click the “here” link to access the tool in the future. Using “here” as anchor text is a lesson for another day, but I digress….

Once you are into the tool, it is very intuitive, allowing you to type in up to three Facebook pages and/or Twitter handles from the home screen to get started. After you have generated your first report by clicking the compare button, you can add or delete competitors from the line charts.

Tip: If you are attempting to track pages with a small following or that have never been tracked before, Wildfire may not be able to plot the brand on the line chart. Fortunately, in the case of the larger brands that have never been tracked before, your attempt to find them will ping the tool to begin tracking them, and data should be available within seven days. You can even sign up for an email notification to access the report when they have enough data.

Here is a report tracking the likes of the three teams with the highest Facebook engagement rates in the world: FC Barcelona (orange), Real Madrid (blue), and Manchester United (green):

As you can see, all three teams had nearly identical followings around March 2011, but FC Barcelona widened the gap throughout 2012. Note that you can also plot Facebook likes or Twitter follows as a daily or running total, look at likes or checkins on Facebook, shorten the date range for a more granular look, and display seven-day, one-month, or three-month trends.

One more feature I love about Wildfire Monitor is the leaderboard report. I always find it fascinating how far down the list you have to go in order to find the first sports property. As of this writing, you have to go down to number thirteen, before you see soccer-star Cristiano Ronaldo representing the sports world – behind the likes of Shakira and Harry Potter, and just ahead of Justin Bieber and Katy Perry. The top-ranked team, FC Barcelona, is ranked 30^th.

Hopefully you are seeing how a tool like this can provide valuable insight into your competitors’ performance. One way I like to use the service is to track how many fans our brands’ competitors had on the last day of each month. I keep this data in an Excel spreadsheet to determine if there are any seasonal trends or spikes that may indicate a Facebook ad spend. This type of data, which can also be used in conjunction with our next tool, can help tell you not only how your competitors are performing – but more importantly – why they are performing that way.

2. PageLever Now

PageLever sets the standard for Facebook measurement tools. They are a Facebook Preferred Marketing Developer, which allows them to connect directly to the Facebook API. They use the traditional Facebook Insights data you are accustomed to seeing, but slice it and dice it in additional ways and deliver it in a nice, shiny interface.

PageLever is a paid service, charging upwards of $95 to track each Facebook page per month, but in my opinion, the service is worth it if you are looking for ways to take your social marketing to the next level. A relatively new addition to the PageLever reporting suite is a tool called PageLever Now. PageLever Now allows you to add your own and competitive Facebook pages to track social streams in real-time. Of course this type of competitive analysis can be done manually by going to each competitor’s Facebook stream and auditing their walls, but PageLever Now combines everything you are looking at in one place.

This information can help you determine:

• What kind of content is working best on Facebook?
• Are there topics trending or conversations happening that our company should join?
• Did a popular Facebook story lead to a spike in fan growth for our or our competitor’s brand?

In our next social media how-to, we will discuss ways these analyses can be used to impact business outcomes like revenue, organic growth, and content consumptions.

Signed,
Ryan Sleeper+, Online Sports Marketing Guy

With that said, I want to bring you a little “year in review” for some great social media ideas you may have missed.  Some of these I have covered in the past, others are new to OSMGuy.com. Here are 10 of my favorite social media ideas from this past year (give or take) in no particular order. Enjoy!

Photo taken by Brad Keselowski during 2012 Daytona 500. Source: Twitter

Brad Keselowski Tweets Live during the Daytona 500

Brad Keselowski had one hell of a ride this year (yes, pun intended). Before he was competing for NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Championship, Brad was watching, as millions of fans around the world were, as a blaze lit up the night sky in Daytona, Florida. Only Brad had a front row view.  Using his unique position and the power of 140 characters, Brad went to the World Wide Web with his thoughts and even a picture, bringing NASCAR as close to riding alongside a driver as possible, without physically being there. Gaining over 100,000 followers in one night, Brad showed us early on in 2012 the power of connecting with your fans by giving them something they crave, exclusive content they can get nowhere else.

Facebook Introduces the Timeline

Perhaps of the biggest change this year from social media juggernaut Facebook was the introduction and rollout of their new viewing platform, the Timeline. With the change came the introduction of cover photos, organization history timelines, and relocation of Facebook tabs (aka apps). These new assets challenged sports teams and organizations to come up with creative graphic design and fan integration to continue to increase brand engagement. As the year has rolled on, teams are beginning to find their footing of how they plan to use and incorporate these new assets into their social media strategy. Teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning have continued to focus their cover photos on their fans by utilizing this area to harp on their “Be the Thunder” slogan as well as integrating space into the photo to direct fans into more engaging areas, i.e. Intstagram.  Whatever your strategy, I urge you to utilize these “new” features wisely to increase the effectiveness of whatever message you are looking to get across to your fans.

Jay Z and Bing Take Activation to the Next Level

Although this story is not so much about sports as some of the others, at least Jay Z is tied to the Nets (throw me a bone here). This story is too good to leave off this list. Jay Z and Bing got together to create one of the year’s great activation projects that physically brought people together to use clues and find each and every page of Jay Z’s autobiography. Fans that found these pages could then get together and post these online so that everyone could put the book together for themselves. The great thing about this activation is that the pages were hidden everywhere through New York, and in meaningful places that represented parts of Jay Z’s life. Have a look for yourself in this video:

Red Bull Introduces some of Their Sponsored Athletes in an Unusual Way

Leave it to Red Bull to take Rube Goldberg machines to the extreme level. Red Bull’s “Kluge” video did just this. By leveraging a unique video, Red Bull introduced several of its athletes to viewers around the world in a “cool” way.  Imagine doing the same to introduce the starting five of your NBA team, or even better, host a contest to include the fans in a Rube Goldberg of your own and introduce that new superstar you acquired in a trade or free agency.  Either way, the idea is simple, the execution is tremendous, and the creativity was excellent!

Hanging out with the Rookies

The NFL developed a partnership with Google+ to include the use of Google’s new video chat feature, the Hangout.  To rollout this partnership, the NFL put on a promotion using two of its future stars, Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III. For the first time, fans were interacting with the hopeful saviors of their respective franchises. The integration of Google+ into Google’s arsenal of technology continues to help build some steam for the smaller social network, one that should continue in 2013.  Marketers are now using the Hangouts in a similar fashion, giving brand advocates the chance to meet and talk virtually to their favorite celebrity, a company CEO, and more. The integration of Hangouts, and Google+ overall could be a key strategy hit point for sports teams in the upcoming year.

Projection Mapping Catches On

No, projection mapping wasn’t created per say in 2012, but teams sure did utilize the cool technology more this past year. The next logical step is to figure out how to bring a sponsor on board to help offset the cost of utilization. The Hawks brought their idea to include the state lottery in for a great visual halftime show. So where do teams take the idea from here? Time will tell. But for now, here are my beliefs.  Projection Mapping lends itself a great deal towards fan interaction, if promoted right. Imagine the great visuals of a game based projection where fans on opposite ends of the stadium tweet a hashtag, or even better yet, utilize the team’s mobile app to complete some function. As the fans interact, they are engaged with the team, the brand sponsoring the promotion, and each other, all while enjoying themselves at a time when fans typically take a break.  Projection Mapping could be next years “download our exclusive mobile app” craze. The only thing holding it back is cost and time.

Red Bull Goes Guerilla

Ambush marketing still brings an effect to those that witness the promotion that is at times indescribable.  Even “planned” takeovers generate enough buzz to bring a crowd. Red Bull does a great job of this through their series of small event takeovers that bring extreme sports into not-so-extreme locations. Just one example is the video below, where Red Bull put a BMX park in a Madrid subway station.  Although more well known in “action” sports such as skateboarding and BMX, takeovers are what I believe are unexplored territory for sports teams and leagues. Imagine walking into a downtown mall or outdoor park and the New York Knicks have put together a makeshift court and the players are playing 2 on 2 pickup games, or Josh Hamilton is in downtown LA putting on a spontaneous home run derby exhibition on an urban ballpark.  The spontaneity of the event is what creates the engagement and the buzz is what brings the attention to the brand. Events such as the underground BMX park are few and far in between, and a potential area for expansion, especially during off-seasons.

The Social Media Day

While again, not brought about this year, 2012 surely was the year where just about every organization hosted at least one social media day at the game. These days illustrate the opportunity for organizations to bring together like-minded fans and give them a chance to interact, make new friends, and share their experience with the world through the multiple mediums (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram).  It’s that last part that is key to the success and growth of social media nights. These fans that respond and want to attend these select nights likely blog or tweet about their enjoyment (or lack-there-of) of the night overall and aren’t afraid to voice their opinion.  Teams such as the Magic have even sold the sponsorship of their social media nights to create a new source of revenue. Others have taken it a step forward by giving away select suite tickets via a promotion to their top “digital” fans in the hopes that their social media influence (judged by sources such as Klout) will be enough to bring in new audiences listening to their opinions. What’s the next step in this progression? Perhaps it’s letting fans take over the team’s Twitter account for a specified time? Only time will tell. One thing however is certain, and that is social media nights are here to stay. If your team hasn’t thrown one yet, you’re already behind the curve.

Shoes Tweet in Real Time

Adidas made a one-off specialty item that I see as a potential gold mine for bringing fan interaction to that next level. Adidas embedded a small LED screen in some cool sneakers and used that screen, along with blue-tooth capabilities, to display live Tweets on the shoes. With the capability of bendable fabric LED screens, is it only a matter of time before employee uniforms, a coaches blazer, and dare I say an athlete’s jersey is embedded with the capability to display live Tweets pregame, during a timeout, and postgame? Perhaps that is a bit far-fetched, but the idea is on target. I’m not sure where this one goes, but somebody out there will surely come up with something creative, useful, and non-destructive enough to become a reality. Will that idea be yours?

Interactive Old Spice Video

Old Spice released one of the coolest campaigns of 2012 when they brought out this interactive jam video. Fans visited, engaged with the video, and enjoyed playing along with Terry Crews’ shirtless muscles to make music. The video itself was short, the directions were clear, and the interaction and sounds of the play-along part were spot on in the demographic Old Spice is targeting. Think for a second of what this technology does for teams and brands around the world. The simple video play becomes useless as the fan now can actually take action and remain active for a longer set of time than with the typical video.  That increased exposure could lead to several distinct possibilities when that all-mighty purchase time approaches.  Which organizations will utilize this technology in their next set of videos? Who knows exactly? What we do know is that this could be a media game changer.

[BONUS] Interactive Billboard

TNT put together an interesting interactive billboard for their show Perception. While taking a look at the video, try to visualize a sponsored interactive ad at the entrance of your team’s arena.  You’ll start their experience off on the right foot with a cool digital tool that is already engaging them with your team or a sponsored brand, something each sponsor tries desperately to do. Have a look for yourself.

12 Must Follow People to Begin 2013

@AmyJoMartin – Founder of Digital Royalty, “social media queen”, and all around cool person.

@Tariq_Ahmad – Social media researcher, founder of #smsports, hosts a great #smsportschat on Thursday nights, and a very personable friend.

@Mahoney – Carolina Panthers Sponsorships Sales, friend to the Twittersphere who always brings great social media stories together.

@Activ8Social – Creative agency representing some of total’s best athletes and brands in social media, also the authors of #Sports, a great daily resource for the social media connoisseur.

@Srabe – Bryan Srabe, the “social media guy” of the San Francisco Giants, one of the more creative and successful professional teams in connecting fans with brands via social media.

@DarrenRovell – ESPN’s sports business reporter who usually brings about fantastic facts in an entertaining way

@StephenCurry30 – Golden State Warrior’s guard Stephen Curry is a tremendous example of the power of social media in connecting to your fans and growing an engaging fan base through an athletes true personality.

@BleacherReport – The not so “underground” source of sports news and information. Up-to-the-minute breaking information from just about every sport (including WWE, for those of us still pretending to be kids sometimes).

@TBLightning – My favorite example of a team excelling in the different social media platforms. (Due to my personal bias towards Florida sports teams, I have included a few others teams I believe are pretty good examples of “doing it right” in social media: @Suns – Phoenix Suns, @SFGiants – San Francisco Giants, @NYKnicks – New York Knicks, and @Orlando_Magic – Ok, I had to throw that one in, you were begging for it.

@Nike – The athletic lifestyle company has taken social media to the next level with product introductions, behind the scenes access, hashtag campaigns, and even releasing hard to get shoes to those on Twitter first. Learn a thing or two from following this giant.

@BrianGainor – Founder of Partnership Activation.com, a quarterly newsletter that rounds up some of the sports industry’s greatest activation ideas and shares them with the world. Brian is always willing to help  those who are genuine and ask nicely!

And of course our final must follow (or follows in this case):

@OSMGuy and @MatthewVinson – Follow the OSMGuy blog and myself as we bring you reviews and orgignal content such as the MLB Cost Per Win standings, AFC vs NFC Records by Year, and more. We also give you the inside look into our personal lives, that being a few guys working inside the industry of digital marketing, and including a few day-to-day thoughts and opinions on how we view sports.

That’s about it for the Social Media Year in Review. I hoped you enjoyed this past year as much as we did and we hope you’ll continue to come along, learn with us, and share your feedback and advice on what your eyes and ears see happening in sports and social media. Thank you again, and until next time, stay social!

Signed,
Matt Vinson+

NFL salaries and cap space are not always straightforward calculations as teams can manipulate these, and in some cases, are paying for former GMs, etc. I have trusted USA Today, the NFL, and salary cap space vs. salary calculations to provide the most reasonable NFL cost per win numbers as possible.

You may also be interested in reviewing the 2012 NFL Salaries by Team and 2011 NFL Cost Per Win infographic.

This year, we have made the NFL payrolls per win data fully interactive. To use (1) Select a season from 2008-2012 at the top and (2) Click a team name once to see five year trends and their performance against NFL benchmarks.

NFL Payrolls Per Win 2008-2012

By Ryan Sleeper+.

Posted by Ryan Sleeper+

2012 NCAA College Football Cost Per Win

My key insights:

• The average wins in college football this year was 6.33 and the average pay was $1.6 Million. Fourteen of 104 schools in the analysis (13.5%) were above the average in wins while paying their coaches less than the NCAA average. Eighteen of 104 (17.3%) were on the opposite end of that spectrum, underperforming the averages in both categories.
• SEC schools earned the best wins average at 7.46 games each, 17.88% above the NCAA benchmark. Excluding Army, the lone independent school in the analysis, Conference USA had the worst wins average at 4.63, nearly 27% below the college football average.
• The MAC was the most cost-efficient conference in college football this year paying $61,600 per win in 2012 – 75% better than average. The MAC can also boast the highest number of schools, six, that won more games than average while paying less than average, including Ball State, Bowling Green, Kent State, Northern Illinois, Ohio, and Toledo. The Big 12 had the worst cost per win average at $420,132, which was 71% worse than average. This number was certainly pulled down by Kansas, who paid more than ten times the NCAA average per win this season.

At least it’s officially basketball season,
Ryan Sleeper+, Online Sports Marketing Guy

2012 MLS Payrolls by Team

Team   |   Payroll
Chicago Fire   |   $3,375,214
Chivas USA   |   $3,047,728
Columbus Crew   |   $3,111,134
Colorado Rapids   |   $3,111,124
FC Dallas   |   $4,865,549
DC United   |   $3,453,679
Houston Dynamo   |   $2,901,166
Sporting Kansas City   |   $2,893,657
LA Galaxy   |   $10,825,821
Montreal Impact   |   $3,453,853
New England Revolution   |   $2,284,906
New York Red Bulls   |   $15,814,369
Philadelphia Union   |   $2,861,006
Portland Timbers   |   $3,776,116
Real Salt Lake   |   $3,206,785
Seattle Sounders   |   $3,789,781
San Jose Earthquakes   |   $3,424,178
Toronto FC   |   $5,829,467
Vancouver Whitecaps   |   $4,676,670

< click to enlarge >

Posted by Ryan Sleeper+