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The Miami Heat Goes MIA

July 9, 2010

A few hours ago, I watched “The Decision” on ESPN and Lebron made his announcement. He’s Miami bound. So, I decided to click over to the Heat’s official Twitter page to see what they had to say and I discovered the unimaginable. They were speechless. Hadn’t tweeted a peep in over six hours.

Where were they I asked? How could they not show up to their own party? Did the NBA make them sit on their thumbs? Nope, because other NBA teams were active even though things didn’t net out as they’d hoped.

This was their time to shine. The spotlight doesn’t get much warmer than this. It was important for them to have a presence especially in the HEAT of their moment. The team just spent nearly $300 million on three people and the World was talking about them.

This was a land grab. Brand new eager fans and old fans with renewed hopes were ready to take a step up on their loyal fan ladder. They would have loved to hear from the official voice of the team. Instead, they heard an outdated message. The Heat’s Twitter page was still trying to recruit D. Wade who announced 48 hours prior that he was committed to their team along with Bosh.

What happened to the human behind the brand? Did the social media intern go on vacation? Thumb sprain perhaps? Maybe the Twitter password was misplaced? Nope, because Facebook was the same. I was expecting to see a virtual pep rally or live video of Will Smith performing “Welcome to Miami.” but instead I heard crickets.

Wouldn’t it have been nice to have Chris Bosh and D. Wade streaming live from the court? Maybe a little Miami Thrice music playing up and under? J. Lo could have popped in to do the happy dance with crowned Heat dancers? They could have RT’d all the celebs who were celebrating, or simply expose the emotion inside the office. The Miami Heat was the glue to make a production like this happen and tell the story . . .  virtually . . . live.

There were missed sponsorship opportunities as well. The Heat could have sold their twitter background, integrated marketing partners who are welcoming King James with open arms (and open checkbooks).

Then about an hour later, they arrived. Well, kinda. They shared the same quotes from their coach that we’re also live on TV. Fans want photos, exclusive video, things nobody else can hear, what insiders are saying, what it’s like to work in the front office right now . . . these are things that only the Heat could have provided. Nobody else on this planet had access like they did. Opportunity missed.

Lesson: This space is alive and it doesn’t turn off. You can’t disappear all of a sudden because fans will stop trusting you. Fans are GRADING you at all times.

And, the way Lebron and Dan Gilbert handled this is another post.

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Sports Networker Summit – #NYCSports

December 10, 2009

Monday, December 6, the Roger Smith Hotel in New York City played host to the Sports Networker Summit (#NYCSports) co-hosted by Digital Royalty and Sports Networker. The four-panel, half-day summit featured an all-star list of speakers representative of progressive brands using social media within the sports industry. The NY Knicks, Rangers and NHL were represented on various panels while reps from the MLB, NFL and NBA attended. In true social-savvy form, individuals not able to attend the summit were able to follow along in real-time via live stream at http://livestream.com/sportsnetworker.

The panels covered a variety of topics all of which centered around the underlying theme of social media. From sports sponsorship ROI to ticket sales, service and retention. Separate panels focused on the convergence of traditional media and social media, as well as social media marketing and measurement. A lively conversation revolved around Tiger Woods and his level of involvement with social media.

Key takeaways included case studies of fan loyalty and retention via social media, to the value and process of being credentialed for pillars in the journalism industry such as The New York Times, versus bloggers. Discussion also focused on the trend of geo-tagging and the potential use in the 2010 Winter Olympics.

After the summit wrapped, attendees snacked on hors d’oeuvres and mingled with speakers such as New York Times Sports Editor, Tom Jolly, Founder of The Cuban Revolution, Brian Cuban, and Founder of Invoke Media, Ryan Holmes.

Photo Credit (from left): Amy Martin (Founder of Digital Royalty), Jim Bankoff (SB Nation CEO), Brian Cuban (Founder of The Cuban Revolution) and Tom Jolly (Sports Editor of The New York Times).

Case Study: Shaquille O’Neal, Random Acts of Shaqness

November 23, 2009

Background: A fan had been tweeting under Shaquille O’Neal’s name on Twitter, yet because this was occurring prior to Twitter’s rollout of a verification process for celebrities, Shaquille O’Neal couldn’t publicly disprove the credibility of his impostor. Not only that, but if Shaquille O’Neal did create an account on Twitter, how would he humanize his mega-celebrity status in order to thrive in a social networking environment like Twitter?

Approach: Digital Royalty trained the basketball superstar, @The_Real_Shaq, how to tweet both strategically and tactically on his “ShaqBerry” (as he likes to call it) so that he could tweet himself; authentically. Most importantly, to turn followers of Shaquille into friends and brand loyalists, Digital Royalty developed the concept of Random Acts of Shaqness. The idea behind Random Acts of Shaqness was that not only would followers get to interact with a virtual friend in a tangible, real-world way, but followers of Shaquille would be rewarded for following Shaquille and for how closely they followed his tweets.

Results: Shaquille O’Neal is currently ranked among Twitter’s top 10 celebrity users according to WeFollow.com. In addition to having a well-established presence, 2.5 million followers strong, the threat of imposters have been abolished. Not only is Shaquille regarded as an early adopter, but his tweets often become news – a testament to his credibility in the space. Additionally, Shaquille is a groundbreaker for furthering the idea that celebrities on social networking sites can be active participants of a community—engaging, responding and meeting followers. And since pioneering Random Acts of Shaqness, the concept has been adopted by celebrities of all types on Twitter who include Ellen DeGeneres, UFC’s Dana White, Lenny Kravitz and Chad Ocho Cinco.

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