sponsorship - Online Sports Marketing Guy Blog

Social Media In Sports Review: January 2013

Posted by Matt Vinson
/ February 14, 2013

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....
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8 Simple Rules for Tweeting Your Favorite Athletes

Posted by Devan Dignan
/ January 18, 2012

For sports fans, Twitter has grown into an online community where we can interact with fellow fans; a news source capable of keeping up with the 24 hour news cycle; and a medium we can use to engage our favorite teams, reporters, and athletes.

We live in a time where reaching out to professional athletes is as simple as sending a text message. Ever since Lou Gehrig appeared on a Wheaties Box in 1934, athlete endorsement has been an effective way to increase the popularity of a product or service. Given that today connecting with athletes is easier than ever, it seems absurd to not even attempt to leverage that opportunity to expand your online brand.

Last Friday, in an attempt to grow the Twitter following for my sports blog Can of Corn, I decided to reach out to dozens of current/former professional athletes to raise awareness of my own brand.

Since Friday morning, I have received tweets from six current/former professional athletes, 3 former college athletes, 1 NFL team, and 2 well-known sports reporters. These responses have resulted in a 27.2% increase in the number of followers I have over the last four days.

I was successful in my endeavors and by following my 8 simple rules you can increase your response rate from professional athletes and effectively grow your brand....
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8 Most Tweetable Online Sports Marketing Stories May 2011

Posted by OSM Guy
/ June 2, 2011

Each month, we take a look back at the month that was in online sports marketing and recap eight of the most tweetable stories. This month's stories include Converse's Facebook dominance, Google's first sports sponsorship, UFC paying bonuses to fighters for tweeting, and more....
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Champions League Final Sponsorship Review

Posted by Ryan Sleeper
/ June 1, 2011

Last year, the UEFA Champions League final passed the Super Bowl as the most watched sporting event worldwide. While the ratings for this year’s Champions League final were less than spectacular here in the United States, this global poll position garners a closer look at their approach to sports sponsorship.

One of my favorite things about the sport of soccer is their clean style in regards to sponsorship, both from the teams and the networks that broadcast matches. As the ball is almost constantly in play, most of their lack of advertisements is forced by the nature of the game, but they could always opt to go NASCAR on us and bury us in a pitch full of logos....
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Google’s First Sports Sponsorship

Posted by Ryan Sleeper
/ May 24, 2011

At a current market cap of $167 Billion, Google doesn’t exactly need help advertising their brand. It is not surprising then, that Google has been absent from the sports sponsorship scene since they went public in 2004. All that changed tonight, however, when Sporting KC unveiled LIVESTRONG Sporting Park to its season ticket members for the first time, and with it, Google’s first foray into sports sponsorship.

Earlier this month, we provided a digital sneak peak of LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, but it was quite unexpected to see the Google logo (positioned in line with a Budweiser ad, no less) next to the stadium’s flagship HD videoboard (pictured). I attempted to Google (no pun intended) any previous Google sports sponsorship examples, and could not find a single story or image....
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