Research Post #18

Pickering, B. (2013, April 15). Athletes and Social Media: Untapped Goldmine or PR Landmine?. The Huffington Post. Retrieved July 3, 2014, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-pickering/athletes-and-social-media_b_3082184.html

Right from the beginning there is an example of a famous athlete who wants to share his personal and raw experiences with his fans and they immediately react because they want to know what is going on in his life. Because there are so many followers with many athletes it affects also how much people tweet about them whether it be negative or positive. An athlete such as Shaq who has 7 million followers will get many responses to any of his tweets because so many people are viewing them. Rather an athlete who has 600 followers or friends they will have less of an impact on the twitter timeline or trending on Facebook because they are not on it frequently enough to make an impact on social media networks. I had no idea that professional teams restricted athletes from posting on social media before or after games but it does make sense. Either before or after games there is a lot of traffic on social media with people tweeting about being at a game, during the game and how the game ended and it gives the athletes a time where they could be heated after a game or really happy. To even out the playing field for all athletes the restrictions are a good idea. 

I don’t know if Steve Spurrier should ban twitter completely from his team because it is restricting them to use it for pleasure and enjoyment but it is also understandable because bad things can come from saying things on social media. In my earlier research blog posts like I have mentioned many times before, this article brings up there should be proper ways to utilize social media and give athletes the proper guidance on how to use it. While athletes are in college they should learn how to properly use social media and will then be prepared on how to use it if they decided to go into professional leagues. Those professional leagues and teams will not have to worry about the athletes that have already had their social media etiquette education. 

As Pickering has stated in his article, it is useful for the workforce as well after student-athletes graduate college and if they are restricted from using social media it is prohibiting them for knowing how to use it and when to properly use it as a professional athlete and person. As an athlete is building a brand for themselves, in the workforce companies use social media to build the brand of the company. If we want everyone who graduates college with a degree to know the simple fundamentals of using social media to broadcast their work and company, social media should not be restricted to anyone especially athletes. I feel as though athletes are given a stereotype that they only go to school for their sport and that’s it, but we want all students to be successful in school.  The same Catalyst Engagement Study was brought up in this article as well and seems to be fitting by being a prime example in the research that people have done on social media and the influence it has had on athletics. 

Research Post #17

Study: Athletes Drive Social Media Consumer Influence. (2011, July 4). Study: Athletes Drive Social Media Consumer Influence. Retrieved July 2, 2014, from http://www.holmesreport.com/news-info/10580/Study-Athletes-Drive-Social-Media-Consumer-Influence.aspx

I decided to keep with the concept of the brand and athlete being linked through social media for this blog post to be able to relate to the last one. I know that athletes have a huge influence on their fans but I had no idea that it was over 50%. Like in my last research post it does matter what athletes post about certain brands because they should be relatable in some sort of way with their sport. Depending on who the athlete is, when the fans of the athlete take what the athlete says they will use it as credibility to purchase whatever the athlete is endorsing. There are so many devices we have access to now that we are able to tweet, post and watch athletes online. Tablets, phones, and computers are used so frequently that it does not matter what we as a society use, we will have access to social networks anywhere. 

I actually thought twitter would be the most used social media outlet but as the Catalyst Engagement Fan Study found was actually Facebook was the most used but not the most impactful. Rather than Facebook having the most impact, I feel like twitter is what has the most impact because it the posts are so frequent there are immediate updates no matter what. When the Location services had become a big thing on social media I started to use it because I wanted my followers to know where I was when I was experiencing my sport endeavors. I can assume that that is why now when you click on a location on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook that you can see many posts with sports fans at for example: Joe Louis Arena where the Detroit Red Wings play and I am guessing you will see a lot of red and white on that page. 

Research Post #16

Kotlyar, B. (2013, September 20). Athletes in Social Media: An Untapped Marketing Resource. Experience Management Blog Athletes in Social Media An Untapped Marketing Resource Comments. Retrieved July 2, 2014, from http://www.sprinklr.com/social-scale-blog/athletes-in-social-media/

I thought this article brought up a great point that so many people skip over advertisements because there are so many of them on all social media, websites, TV and much more. Using athletes through their personal social networks is an efficient way to advertise for free besides having the endorsement contracts with the professional athletes. If it is a college team though having the partnerships with Nike or Adidas helps the athletes advertise how awesome their gear is. Sadly though as it says in the article, the athletes did not say anything about the brand they represent. I had no idea that Cristiano Ronaldo has almost 3x the amount of followers McDonalds, Starbucks and Coca-Cola has and what makes our technological advances so unique is that consumers relate the brand through the athletes. 

It fascinates me that technology is able to be measured by pretty much anything that someone does, for example: clicks generated. What I also find very interesting about our world today is the hashtag aspect of social media now and how important they are to marketing techniques and tactics.  Ensuring that athletes are linked with the right brand is also very important when marketing a certain brand. There needs to be a solid connection because if there is a gap in the brand and athlete the gap in their audience will increase and either decrease or stay the same for the ROI.

Research Post #15

Lariviere, D. (2014, May 1). High-Profile Athletes Need Social Media But Must Use It Wisely. Forbes. Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidlariviere/2014/05/01/high-profile-athletes-need-social-media-but-must-use-it-wisely/

Right away when I started reading this I thought about how the NHL playoffs just ended but even if I was unable to watch the game I was on twitter or even the ESPN app that I have on my phone to stay tuned with what was going. Even if I didn’t I had at least ten people that I could text, look up on twitter or go on Facebook to find out updates on the games because they are so excited and want their followers to be able to know what is going on. 

I do not find it indifferent that because of the many followers that LeBron James has that he also has the top-selling jersey in the NBA because he in my eyes has been the face of the NBA for quite some time and since he is a very highly-skilled player as well as a social member on social networks it makes him likable and easily relatable to like, tear down, but also to endorse in. There are many players like LeBron James who will post whatever is on their minds and not care about the repercussions that will come after posting what they are thinking to their followers and fans. Like it says though LeBron James has learned from his past mistakes and so have many other athletes and that is why in my earlier articles that I have posted that the correct training especially for college athletes should be taken seriously. If college athletes take social media training seriously and they end up in the professional leagues they will know how to handle social media already and not have to worry their managers, team owners that they will cause trouble in the organization. At the end of the day a professional team is looking for endorsements for their athletes, to win games and for their athletes to produce the best results for their business.

Research Post #14

Banks, A. (2012, May 7). NBA Decoed: Does Social Media Make Athletes Worse Role Models?. Black Enterprise. Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://www.blackenterprise.com/lifestyle/sportsbiz/nba-decoded-does-social-media-make-athletes-worse-role-models/

I had actually never even known that Charles Barkley said that he was not the role model and parents should be the role models for children. I really have not concentrated on how social media influences athletes on being a role model but thought it was important to be touched on. Just like it says in the article social media has come to being available to anyone at any time and are able to comment, like, post, reply, message and do almost anything instead of waiting for a conference or the news at night to find out updates on games, athletes, what and how they are doing. Like my last blog twitter is a very exclusive in writing because there is a limited amount of characters that are allowed for each person to post on their timeline or reply to someone’s tweet. 

I think it is interesting when the article says “A player may not be looking for trouble, but trouble will come looking for that player.” I especially believe that when athletes are very controversial or social on their networks. It even happens when players become injured as well that so many people comment on why they are being a baby and not toughening up or that it is good they are taking time off so other players are able to play and get in the spotlight.