The Compete-At Blog

Just in case you’ve been napping for the past twenty years: the world of marketing has been undergoing a revolution. Only a few short decades ago, marketing was done mainly through print, TV, direct mail, signs and displays, and door-to-door sales. In today’s wired, interconnected world, those traditional marketing methods are quickly going the way of the slide-rule. Not only are they costly, but they fail to target your key demographics.

TV advertising, for example, is like fishing with a massive drift net. You throw it out to everyone, hoping to “catch” your desired audience somewhere within it. By contrast, online fishing methods are more like using a rod and reel with a specially designed lure. You decide exactly which fish you want to catch and you go after it with targeted precision. Today’s marketing is all about connecting, person to person.

One of the key tools you can use to make that connection is social media sites. That’s why when Procter & Gamble wanted to promote its line of feminine products to young women, it started beinggirl.com. According to Procter & Gamble, this site has been four times more effective than traditional marketing, at a fraction the cost. Leveraging social media is a hugely powerful tool for five reasons:
1. It allows you to target very specific demographics.
2. It allows you to start a conversation instead of just displaying a product.
3. It allows your target audience to contribute meaningfully to the conversation.
4. It allows you to create a trusting bond with your audience.
5. It allows you to share free content.

What exactly do we mean by “social media”? Well, Wikipedia (itself a shining example of the term) defines social media as “Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings.” In essence, all that is required to be considered a social medium is the online sharing of content by more than one person. With this broad understanding in mind, here are some of the main types of social media today:

Blogs and Micro-Blogs. Blogs are an online method of publishing fresh news, information and commentary. They are among the most popular social media technologies. In many sports markets, blogs provide the only real-time news. Hence, they are the first stop on the Internet every day for many athletic competitors. Some examples of sports blogs are: insidenikerunning.nike.com (running), sailinganarchy.com (sailing), curlnews.blogspot.com (curling) and chessninja.com (chess). Blogs provide a valuable service to competitors who crave up-to-the-minute information about the sport they love.

Micro-blogs are a little more interactive than blogs and allow for two-way conversations. Many companies are trying to leverage micro-blogs to build awareness, promote products, and create communities. Compete-At, for example, produces several micro-blogs on Twitter that provide the latest news and information to particular sports markets. Check out: twitter.com/RunningScoop, twitter.com/CurlingScoop, twitter.com/FishingScoop, and twitter.com/SailingScoop.

Social Network Sites (SNS). Social networks can be defined as online communities of people connected by shared interests, needs or activities. Most social networking sites provide concrete ways for users to interact and post content. Some have wide appeal like Facebook (facebook.com) and MySpace (myspace.com), while some focus on specific interests. SNS have become a dominant means of connecting to people in the 21st Century. The keys to evaluating a particular SNS for your purposes are to look at its size (more specifically, your target market’s size on the SNS) and its activity. Who uses it and what do they do when they’re on the site?

Facebook is currently the largest SNS on the Internet, with over 125 Million users and counting. Facebook, by its sheer size, is sure to cover a large portion of your target market. However, there are also some very active specialty-sport SNS. A well-groomed social network is a great way to both spread and gather news and information.

Internet Forums. Forums are one of the oldest forms of social media on the Internet and trace their roots back to the late ‘70s. Unlike blogs, forums are designed to facilitate conversations on specific topics between multiple people. A few examples of sports-driven forums are SportsForums.net, NX Sports, Sport Talk, NFL Smackdown, and RacingNascar.com.

Wikis. A wiki is a site that features user-provided and user-edited informational content. To make your own wiki successful, you must be able to attract a large community that will contribute content and editing. However your event might already be listed on existing wikis. For example the Transpacific Yacht Race has a Wikipedia entry at: wikipedia.org/wiki/Transpacific_Yacht_Race.

How do you use sites like Wikipedia to promote your event? The key is to know where your event is listed and to check the entry for accuracy. If it is not listed, try to get it listed. The more links pointing back to your event, the better! This will not only send you more visitors but will also improve your ranking in search engines such as Google and Yahoo.

Photo and Video Sharing. These sites provide ways for users to share, comment on, and display photos and videos. There are many photo sharing sites such as Flickr (flickr.com), Zoomr (zooomr.com), Photobucket (photobucket.com), and SmugMug (smugmug.com) to name just a few. There are also sites designed to share and stream video such as Vimeo (vimeo.com), Revver (revver.com/), and, of course, the phenomenally successful YouTube (youtube.com).

Not only can you use these sites to share event images and videos, but you can leverage them for resource-intensive activities like streaming video. You can embed content from these sites within your own site without incurring hosting and bandwidth costs.

The world of social media offers limitless creative opportunities for connecting with people who love your sport. If you are not using social media as a crucial part of your marketing strategy, then you are scheduling yourself for extinction. Join the 21st Century!

By David Ross
CEO Compete-At.com
Online Event Registration and Membership Management