The Importance and Application of Social Media in Collegiate Athletics

Marina Barrett MALS

Summer, 2013

Review of the Literature – Key Points

•  History of Digital Marketing –  Current marketing is shifting

to a digital platform and the the change in how media is produced and consumed

•  Social Media in Society

–  Digital media is changing the nature of our social connection, personal communication means, and creating the ability to exchange messages without being physically co-present.

•  Appropriate Resources –  Constant need for continuous

education and research and transitioning a marketing team into a research team

•  Importance and Application –  Web Analytics

Results – What I found

•  Marketing concepts must change. –  The 4 P’s vs. the 4 C’s & E’s (see page 2 in Synopsis/PPT notes)

•  Mobility and interactivity is key and social media provides that. (see pages 3-7 in Synopsis/PPT notes)

•  Increasing conversion rate by 1% can quadruple

your return on investment. (see page 8 in Synopsis/PPT notes)

The 4P’s to the 4 E’s and C’s of Marketing The 4 E’s • Product to EXPERIENCE

o Discover and map out the full Customer Journey of your own brand – in your own country. Ask these questions to determine your Customer’s Journey.

• Place to EVERYPLACE o Develop your knowledge of new media and channels the

way a chef masters new ingredients. Try new things – do something that doesn’t start with TV or print.

• Price to EXCHANGE o Appreciate the value of things, not just the cost. Start by

calculating the value of your customers – and what their attention, engagement and permission are worth to you.

• Promotion to EVANGELISM o Find the passion and emotion in your brand. Inspire your

customers and employees with your passion. What makes evangelism so powerful today is how it marries the oldest form of persuasion – word of mouth – and the newest – social networking and Web 2.0.

The 4 C’s • Product becomes what the CUSTOMER wants and needs.

o If organizations listen to what their customers are saying (their wants and needs), they can develop better products and services for them. Sport organizations can collect information about the customers and follow-up using a variety of digital mediums.

• Price becomes the COST TO SATISFY the want or need. o The consumer’s cost to satisfy takes into account a number

of other variables such as time, distance, or other activities consumers could be doing instead of buying the product or service.

• Place becomes CONVENIENCE of buying. o Place implies a fixed location where consumers go to

purchase or consume goods and/or services. Convenience focuses on the consumers’ involvement in a product or service. How can we make it more convenient for them to purchase or use our product? Can we make our sport product more available to consumers at home?

• Promotion becomes COMMUNICATION. o Communication is now interactive, giving consumers a

way to voice their thoughts, both good and bad. Promotions and communication is now a two-way communication channel.

Mobility

Cell phone usage by different ages (2011) Based on adult cell owners 18-29 (n=321) 30-49 (n=535) 50-64 (n=572) 65+ (n=430) Send or receive text messages 95%*** 85%** 58%* 24% Take a picture 91*** 81** 60* 37 Access the internet 64*** 54** 26* 10 Send a photo or video to someone 72** 65** 40* 16 Send or receive email 51** 46** 26* 10 Download an app 49*** 37** 17* 7 Play a game 53*** 44** 18* 7 Play music 58*** 39** 16* 4 Record a video 53*** 42** 19* 3 Access a social networking site 50*** 36** 13* 2 Watch a video 44*** 32** 10* 3 Post a photo or video online 37*** 26** 9* 5 Check your bank balance or do any online banking 29** 22** 10 6 Participate in a video call or video chat 14*** 5** 2 2 Mean (out of 14) 7.6 6.2 3.2 1.4 Source: The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, April 26 – May 22, 2011 Spring Tracking Survey. n=2,277 adult internet users ages 18 and older, including 755 cell phone interviews. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. ***significant difference compared with all other age groups **significant difference with 50-64 and 65+ *significant difference with 65+. Due to sample size limitations, Twitter use is not included in this analysis.

p e w i n t er n e t .o r g 5

Demographics of internet users in 2000 and 2011 % of each group of American adults who use the internet. For instance, 76% of women use the internet as of August 2011.

% of adults who use the internet

June 2000 August 2011

All adults (age 18+) 47% 78%

Men 50 80

Women 45 76

Race/ethnicity

White, Non-Hispanic 49 80

Black, Non-Hispanic 35 71

Hispanic^ 40 68

Age

18-29 61 94

30-49 57 87

50-64 41 74

65+ 12 41

Household income

Less than $30,000/yr 28 62

$30,000-$49,999 50 83

$50,000-$74,999 67 90

$75,000+ 79 97

Educational attainment

No high school diploma 16 43

High school grad 33 71

Some College 62 88

College + 76 94

^ Note: In the 2000 survey, this included only English-speaking Hispanics. In the 2011 survey, this included both English- and Spanish-speaking Hispanics.

All differences are statistically significant except for those between blacks and Hispanics in 2011.

Sources: The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project’s May 2000 Tracking Survey conducted May 19-June 21, 2000. N=2,117adults age 18 and older. Interviews were conducted in English. // The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project’s August Tracking Survey conducted July 25-August 26, 2011. N=2,260 adults age 18 and older, including 916 interviews conducted by cell phone. Interviews were conducted in both English and Spanish.

More: http://pewinternet.org/Static-Pages/Trend-Data/Whos-Online.aspx

p e w i n t er n e t .o r g 13

Other groups that are particularly likely to use social networking sites are adults with at least some

college experience (who have not yet graduated) and parents with minor children living at home. There

are currently no major differences in overall social networking site usage by gender, race, or household

income.

Online activities, by demographics % of internet users age 18+ within each group who do the following activities online

Search Email

Buy a product

Use social network

sites Bank online

Date of survey May 2011 Aug 2011 May 2011 Aug 2011 May 2011

All adults 92% 91% 71% 64% 61%

Men 93 89 69 63 65

Women 91 93 74 66 57

Race/ethnicity

White, Non-Hispanic 93 92 73 63 62

Black, Non-Hispanic 91 88 74 70 67

Hispanic (English- and Spanish-speaking)

87 86 59 67 52

Age

18-29 96 91 70 87 61

30-49 91 93 73 68 68

50-64 91 90 76 49 59

65+ 87 86 56 29 44

Household income

Less than $30,000/yr 90 85 51 68 42

$30,000-$49,999 91 93 77 65 65

$50,000-$74,999 93 94 80 61 74

$75,000+ 98 97 90 66 80

Educational attainment

No high school diploma 81 69 33 63 32

High school grad 88 87 59 60 47

Some College 94 95 74 73 66

College + 96 97 87 63 74

Sources: The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project Tracking Surveys, May & August 2011. Interviews were conducted by landline and cell phone, in both English and Spanish.

p e w i n t er n e t .o r g 14

The power of mobile

Currently, 88% of American adults age 18 and older have a cell phone, 57% have a laptop, 19% own an

e-book reader, and 19% have a tablet computer; about six in ten adults (63%) go online wirelessly with

one of those devices. Gadget ownership is generally correlated with age, education, and household

income, although some devices—notably e-book readers and tablets20—are as popular or even more

popular with adults ages 30-49 than those under 30.

Adult gadget ownership over time (2006-2012) % of American adults age 18+ who own each device

Source: Pew Internet surveys, 2006-2012.

As our research has documented the rise of mobile internet use, we have also noticed a “mobile

difference”: Once someone has a wireless device, she becomes much more active in how she uses the

internet–not just with wireless connectivity, but also with wired devices. The same holds true for the

impact of wireless connections and people’s interest in using the internet to connect with others. These

20

http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/E-readers-and-tablets.aspx

73% 75% 78%

85% 84% 82% 85%

83% 84% 87% 88%

68% 65% 64% 62% 62%

59% 57%

55%

30%

37%

39% 47% 47%

55% 52% 56%

57%

20%

34% 37%

45%

47%

44%

41% 37%

42%

2% 3% 4% 5%

12% 9%

19%

3%

4% 8% 10%

19%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Cell phone

Desktop computer

Laptop computer

mp3 player

Game console

e-Book reader

Tablet computer

p e w i n t er n e t .o r g 15

mobile users go online not just to find information but to share what they find and even create new

content much more than they did before.21

Mobile internet use, by demographics % of American adults age 18+ within each group who go online wirelessly with a laptop or cell phone, as of August 2011

% who go online

wirelessly

All adults (age 18+) 63%

Men 67

Women 59

Age

18-29 88

30-49 76

50-64 53

65+ 21

Race/ethnicity

White, Non-Hispanic 63*

Black, Non-Hispanic 62*

Hispanic (English- and Spanish-speaking) 63*

Household income

Less than $30,000/yr 50

$30,000-$49,999 64

$50,000-$74,999 75

$75,000+ 86

Educational attainment

No high school diploma 36

High school grad 53

Some College 72

College + 82

* All differences are statistically significant except for those between the rows designated with an asterisk.

Source: The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project’s August Tracking Survey conducted July 25-August 26, 2011. N=2,260 adults age 18 and older, including 916 interviews conducted by cell phone. Interviews were conducted in both English and Spanish.

21

See: “The Mobile Difference” (2009) http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/5-The-Mobile-Difference--Typology.aspx

The table below “demonstrates a before-and-after example of what making use of web analytics data can achieve. In this theoretical case, the target was to grow the online conversion rate by 1 percent, using an understanding of visitor acquisition and onsite factors such as checkout funnel analysis, exit points, bounce rates, and engagement metrics. By achieving this increase, the value of total profit, P, and ROI, R, shown in the last two rows of the table, put the analysis into context – that is, profit will rise by $37,500 and return on investment will quadruple to 50 percent. Note that this is achieved solely by improving the conversion rate of the site – visitor acquisition costs remain the same. (Clifton, 2010, p. 12).

Table 1.2: The economic effect of a 1% increase in conversion rate Measure Symbol Calculation Before After

Visitors v 100,000 100,000 Cost per visit c 1.00 1.00 Cost of all visits cT v x c $100,000 $100,000 Conversion rate r 3.0% 4.0% Conversions C r x v 3,000 4,000 Revenue per conversion V $75 $75 Total revenue T V x C $225,000 $300,000 Non-marketing profit margin m 50% 50% Non-marketing costs n m x T $112,500 $150,000 Marketing costs cT v x c $100,000 $100,000 Total profit P T – (n + cT) $12,500 $50,000 Total marketing ROI R P / cT 13% 50%

Social Media Rewards Program True Blue Socialites

#TBSocialites

Introduction •  Concept – to promote engagement at U of M

athletic events through out social media networks among current students/faculty, alumni, and the community.

•  The True Blue Socialites Rewards Program will

utilize social media networks such as; Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Pinterest, Vine, and Instagram, to promote engagement among University of Memphis fans and Tiger Athletics.

How It Works •  A contract between the University of Memphis Athletic Department

and Row27 will be established, and they will provide the program FanMaker which will be the host of the social media rewards platform.

FanMaker - Overview •  Track every Touch Point

–  Social Networks –  Sponsor Visitation –  Ticket Purchasing –  Attendance –  Per-Cap Spending

•  Lead Sourcing/Scoring •  Background information on Fans

•  Grow Casual Fans to Fanatics

Participate •  Current students/faculty, alumni, and fans in the community will

receive points by attending different sporting events, checking in, tweeting, posting, tagging, etc. on the variety of social media networks.

Amount Limit Activity 2,000   NA   Swipe your Student ID Card at University of Memphis Games  

500   1 / day   Post the Twitter Message of the Day from your Profile  

500   3 / day   Retweet one of our official twitter accounts  

250   1 / day   Use Foursquare to Check-in to an official event  

250   3 / day   Submit an accepted photo to CroudCameo during Tiger home games  

100   3 / day   Post a tweet with an approved Hashtag (see page 9 in Synopsis/PPT notes)  

100   10 / day   Invite a friend to earn points when they sign up  

100   3 / day   Share a video on Vine and tag Memphis official vine account  

50   10 / day   Re-pin content from Memphis official Pinterest account.  

Monitor Participants Engagement

Prizes •  Merchandise

–  Hats –  T-shirts –  Sweatshirts –  Jerseys

•  Coupons from Sponsors –  Sonic –  Half Shell

•  Hang with the athletes –  Tigers Basketball Bench –  Dugout at Softball or Baseball

games –  Field Pass for Football Games

•  Sit in Presidents Box at a Football or Basketball game

•  Sit in the Press Box

•  Autographed posters

•  Tour of Athletic Facilities

•  Gift Card to Book Store

•  Tiger Dining Dollars

U of M Marketing •  Three separate target markets will be established

in order to gain as much participation as possible.

Community •  Billboards •  Media promotions •  Sponsors •  U of M Website

Students and Faculty •  Promote on campus •  Through email •  In Daily Helmsmen •  Memphis Mobile App •  U of M Website

Alumni •  Mail outs •  Alumni website •  Sponsors •  U of M Website

Discussion – Key Conclusions •  Implementation (see pages 10-11 in Synopsis/PPT notes)

–  Cost to use FanMaker - $15,000/yr. –  Hire a salaried position to monitor and track the program along with

other social media networks –  Develop in-game promotions to advertise the program

•  Analyze –  Utilize the dashboard and data provided by FanMaker to determine:

•  How the program will be evaluated •  Where changes need to be made •  Report total engagement and engagement among three target markets

•  Determine future of the program –  New prices –  Implement new social media platforms into social media/marketing

strategy –  Determine if contract with Row 27 / FanMaker be renewed?

Integration with Coursework

Sports Marketing, Media 2.0, Communication in the Internet, and Strategic Management of Sport Commerce Organizations

• Academic Research • History / timeline of society becoming avid users of digital technology for communication • Research provided insight to individuals desires to engage via social media networks

Marketing in a Digital Environment

• Utilized peer research to uncover current and future trends in the social and digital world • Showcased the importance of web analytics and how understanding the data can truly transform how an organization can be successful in social media marketing strategies

Web Publishing

• Hands on experience in building websites and how to intergrade Google Analytics.

Comments What went well: •  Research from past courses. •  Contact with representatives from Row27. What didn’t: •  Lack of opportunity to implement a trial run or

survey students to gain their thoughts and perspective.

What I would do differently: •  Take course during the Spring or Fall semester to

allow for more time to get students input and create a marketing plan for the program.