Social Media and Sports Media Relations

Social media tools such as Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook are changing the way journalists, athletes, coaches, sports organizations and fans interact with each other. These interactions are re-shaping sports media on a daily basis. All this new media needs content and sports communications professionals to update. In addition, web expansion has signaled greater demand for professionals who can provide stories, videos, images, podcasts, etc. “When I say digital first mindset, I almost mean social first,” Tanner Lipsett, Associate Athletics Communications director, social media. “You always want to drive traffic back to your website, but you also want to stand out on someone’s timeline.”

“A generation ago, media relations and communications was solely the job of the sports information director’s office,” says Chris Yandle (@ChrisYandle), assistant athletic director of communications and public relations at Georgia Tech. “Now it’s everybody’s job. Everyone has ownership because it’s about branding and brand awareness and doing what’s right for your school and athletic department.”

What is posted varies by sport: At Purdue for example, the football and boilerball (men’s basketball) accounts have a dedicated two-person per each staff. Some smaller sports have the coaches, and marketing, and interns, all doing social media. What does well depends on the sport (even a difference between men’s and women’s of same sport), fan base, even time of day it’s posted. “Let’s just do everything, and fans will consume it” works for basketball and football but not smaller sports. “You have to be more intentional with other sports,” said Tanner Lipsett, Associate Athletics Communications Director for social media. There is no off-season anymore.

Sports communication professionals post content to social media sites to: Create a conversation around their organization Drive traffic back to organization’s website Get breaking news out much quicker and in a variety of formats Keep fans and media updated Give us a behind the scenes look Create positive rapport Help in recruitment

As a result: “I’m always trying to figure out how to make that tweet stand out from all the other teams tweets. How do I make it flashly? Will a GIF or a photo or a video make it stand out? Recruits follow a lot of teams. How do I make my tweet stand out from all the others on his feed?” TANNER LIPSETT, Purdue associate athletics communications director / social media.

Results in this:

“You’ll quickly be overwhelmed if you try to do it all,” Yandle says “You’ll quickly be overwhelmed if you try to do it all,” Yandle says. “You have to make a list of the things you want to accomplish and then develop a strategy around those.”

Journalists will be following your sites (team, players, coach) to keep up with breaking news, develop story ideas, get quotes for stories, etc. You also need to be following them.

Direct link to publics Social media more than ever allows teams and, more specifically athletes, the power to circumvent the sportswriter and get their message out. Live tweets of events Second screen experience: Most fans sit down to watch a game with a phone or computer open. Feed their need for stats, etc.

Directly talk to fans Acknowledge well-wishers Answer questions (parking, ticket information) Get them involved

Great way to reach a lot of people at once

You are thinking of posts that fans will want to view

Show them your appreciation

“Here we can fill a void left by the traditional media,” Another way to engage fans is through interactive content. At the University of Central Florida, the athletic department’s twitter feed includes fun activities that draw fans in by asking for their input. They’ll often run contests seeking funny captions to a picture or seeing who can complete a puzzle the quickest. Sometimes, they will offer a prize, but they have found it’s not really necessary. Arkansas' Freet sees plenty of potential for the app. “I’m sure our fan base would love to see a Periscope of a pre-game speech or the locker room celebration after a big win,” he says. “We’ve put video like that on our website in the past, but there’s demand to get information right away, and this can allow us to do that.” Source

At Georgia Tech, Yandle established a strategy by determining all the external messaging the department wanted to do, including social media, emails, website stories, press releases, feature stories, and so on. He held open-door brainstorming sessions for anyone to offer ideas and then laid out a schedule for when and how stories would be disseminated. “We listed all the information we want to relay and the stories we want to tell,” he says. “Then we tried to figure out what would fit best on the website and what was better for social media. “We also have a strategy for moving our content around so we’re not bombarding the same fans at the same time every day,” Yandle continues. “There are some stories that work better when posted on a Tuesday afternoon or a Wednesday morning, for example, than right after a game. Plus, a week or two later, we can make a few changes to that story, to give it a different feel, and repost it on another platform. That way, we reach a completely different audience that may have missed it the first time.”

Bad news Do you share bad news as well?

GoldandBlack twitter immediately after Knox injury in first half of spring game

Purdue Football, Purdue Athletics, no mention of the incident

So let’s look at this decision from both sides: Why didn’t Purdue mention it? What are the advantages/disadvantages to mentioning it?

“We haven’t figured out a great policy for the bad news,” Tom Schott. “I’ll try to get permission from the athlete first if possible,” Kenny Klein.

Day Penn State honored Paterno

No mention on social media