The World Series of Social
Interactive Channels Connecting fans the World Over
The 2011 MLB world Series kicks off this Wednesday with the Texas Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals squaring off in baseball’s fall classic. Should make for some stellar viewing.
The concept of baseball as a fan attraction has evolved significantly, and it’s not because of the recent hoopla surrounding steroid use. With a combined 2 million fans following the Rangers and Cardinals on Facebook and Twitter, (and another 2 million following the MLB itself), “America’s Pastime” has evolved into a bona fide social media drawcard.
Why does this matter? By its multi-faceted nature, baseball fans can be broadly grouped into two categories. While some view the sport as a charming dose of Americana and a great excuse to sit in the sun and drink beer, there are large communities who analyze the game as if it were a science, critiquing and extrapolating every base hit or sacrifice fly with a zealot’s fervor. Depending on your personal preference, social media provides a veritable smorgasbord of discussion topics to satisfy your appetite specific to your interest.
This changes the paradigm through how we view traditional fandom. In the old days, casual fans and hard core enthusiasts alike had to physically congregate together to watch and critique games. These communities were constrained by geography and personal networks, which before the Internet, would largely consist of people they met at the games or a local sports bar.
Social media, has changed this entirely. Twitter in particular creates an open forum where like-minded people can connect and discuss things, despite never having met in real life. Diehards can discuss what they love about the game, what drives them crazy and how their team could be improved. Casual fans can talk smack about which star has hit a game winner, choked in a clutch situation, or how the front office needs to make wholesale changes to the team roster.
So you're probably wondering, "How does this apply to the world of interactive marketing?" It’s human nature to discuss what we’re interested in, social media just provides a convenient conduit with which to do so. Home renovations your thing? What about finding cheap vacation packages? Brands like the Home Depot and Virgin America are showing how being active in the social sphere adds value to your brand. More specifically, it’s an environment where brands are brought in closer proximity to the interests and preferences of their customers, allowing them to adjust and refine their product or service offerings. Not to mention being a channel where people can connect and discuss what interests them, share tips and advice, in the process raise visibility and ranking of your brand at the Google search page.
Whether your selling baseball, airline tickets or home improvements, conversations between like-minded individuals beget a community. The MLB and other brands have realized this and add value beyond the product they sell by by connecting fans the world over, regardless of their addresses.
Skeptics of social media often like to pose a question which could elicit any number of responses. “What’s the ROI (Return on Investment) of social media”? Perhaps a more appropriate ROI question is, as former CMO of Kodak Jeffrey Hayzlett puts it, “What’s the 'Return on Ignoring'?”
Not a whole lot it seems.
Why does this matter? By its multi-faceted nature, baseball fans can be broadly grouped into two categories. While some view the sport as a charming dose of Americana and a great excuse to sit in the sun and drink beer, there are large communities who analyze the game as if it were a science, critiquing and extrapolating every base hit or sacrifice fly with a zealot’s fervor. Depending on your personal preference, social media provides a veritable smorgasbord of discussion topics to satisfy your appetite specific to your interest.
This changes the paradigm through how we view traditional fandom. In the old days, casual fans and hard core enthusiasts alike had to physically congregate together to watch and critique games. These communities were constrained by geography and personal networks, which before the Internet, would largely consist of people they met at the games or a local sports bar.
Social media, has changed this entirely. Twitter in particular creates an open forum where like-minded people can connect and discuss things, despite never having met in real life. Diehards can discuss what they love about the game, what drives them crazy and how their team could be improved. Casual fans can talk smack about which star has hit a game winner, choked in a clutch situation, or how the front office needs to make wholesale changes to the team roster.
So you're probably wondering, "How does this apply to the world of interactive marketing?" It’s human nature to discuss what we’re interested in, social media just provides a convenient conduit with which to do so. Home renovations your thing? What about finding cheap vacation packages? Brands like the Home Depot and Virgin America are showing how being active in the social sphere adds value to your brand. More specifically, it’s an environment where brands are brought in closer proximity to the interests and preferences of their customers, allowing them to adjust and refine their product or service offerings. Not to mention being a channel where people can connect and discuss what interests them, share tips and advice, in the process raise visibility and ranking of your brand at the Google search page.
Whether your selling baseball, airline tickets or home improvements, conversations between like-minded individuals beget a community. The MLB and other brands have realized this and add value beyond the product they sell by by connecting fans the world over, regardless of their addresses.
Skeptics of social media often like to pose a question which could elicit any number of responses. “What’s the ROI (Return on Investment) of social media”? Perhaps a more appropriate ROI question is, as former CMO of Kodak Jeffrey Hayzlett puts it, “What’s the 'Return on Ignoring'?”
Not a whole lot it seems.