Five Reasons Why I Should Be Your Next Social Media Coordinator

1. Experience
I have six years of hands-on experience with PR and social media. I’ve been the lead on social media campaigns for clients like the New Britain Rock Cats, the AA affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, and for non-sports clients including luxury home builders and property management companies and have consulted numerous Internet and traditional marketing professionals.

2. Published
I am the co-author of Sports Marketing in Social Media, a textbook on social media marketing for the sports industry to be published in early 2012 by Holcomb Hathaway Publishers, a major collegiate textbook publisher. The textbook examines social media, public relations and marketing best practices and their application to organizations both within and outside of the sports industry. The book also includes real world case studies and business applications.

3. Research
My knowledge includes both the research I’ve done for the textbook and also extensive field research for my Sportsin140.com website. I’ve assimilated two years’ worth of social media best practices and practical application experience from interviews with executives at the San Francisco Giants, New York Knicks, Cleveland Indians, National Football League and PGA Tour among others.

4. Sports Marketing and Business to Consumer Experience
I worked in Minor League Baseball for four years prior to launching Sportsin140.com. I know the sports industry and have the work ethic necessary for a long, grueling sports season. The lessons I learned in Minor League Baseball and the work ethic I honed during those summers are applicable to any business in any industry.

5. Personal Branding Success
I built Sportsin140.com up from a concept to a nationally recognized resource on social media use in the sports industry in about a year. My work on the site has been featured on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” and in the Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Seattle Times and Toronto Globe and Mail as well as Sports Illustrated’s website. The site was a labor of love more than a job but it taught me how to develop and implement a social media campaign to market a new product.

Testimonials

I want to give my recommendation to Brendan Wilhide, a rising star in the world of sports marketing and new media.  Brendan has done an amazing job of connecting with high level executives using new media networks, connecting via interviews and posting the results in his blog.  To me, this exemplifies someone who truly embraces social media and recognizes a way to standout.  If I was looking for someone who was intelligent, ambitious and could stand out from the competition, Brendan would be at the top of my list.  As someone who lives in the social media world 24/7, you realize the amazing opportunity it presents, yet so few people can actually accomplish social media’s full potential. Brendan is not only the exception, but soon to be leader in this area.
- Bryan Srabian, Social Media Coordinator, San Francisco Giants

Brendan Wilhide is my trusted source when it comes to social marketing, mobile apps and online communication. He’s the first person I call on to share ideas on strategy and execution. He would be a credit to any respected sports organization looking to bolster fan engagement to drive business goals. 
- Peter Robert Casey, Social Media Manager, Five Star Basketball and former Social Media Specialist, New York Knicks

I have had the pleasure of co-authoring a sports and social media text book with Brendan. He certainly knows the new media world and understands how social media plays a very important role in marketing.
- Charles Harris, President, Coast 2 Coast Experts and former Assistant Director of PR, Los Angeles Dodgers

Brendan showed incredible initiative and hard work by launching Sportsin140.com, and in the process, he became an invaluable resource for the sports and social media community. He would be a valuable asset for any organization.
- Russell Scibetti, Senior Manager of Database Marketing, New York Jets

Brendan understands social media and the opportunities it can unlock for brands who utilize it properly. He could step into an organization and make an impact right away.
- Jason Peck, Social Media Coordinator, eWay Direct

Brendan Wilhide has shown himself ahead of the social media curve. In Sportsin140.com Brendan has created an invaluable resource for both sports enthusiasts and marketers alike.
- Matt Owen, Community Manager, Liverpool FC

Brendan Wilhide has written iPhone app reviews for Macworld.com since 2009. I turn to Brendan again and again because I know I’m going to wind up with a good finished product.
- Philip Michaels, Executive Editor, Macworld.com

This week the New Jersey Devils launched “Mission Control,” a first-of-its-kind monitoring center for the team’s online social media presence. While other teams like the Cleveland Indians have made room for social media savvy fans at games, the Devils are the first organization to dedicate office space exclusively to monitoring social media in real-time.

But what’s most interesting about the Devils’ new social media initiative is the people behind it: the Devils have hired 25 diehard, social media savvy fans to man Mission Control, fans the organization calls “Devils Army Generals.” These “Generals” will monitor and engage fans through social media from nine computer monitors, 10 Apple iPads and two HDTVs, ensuring that the organization keeps its pulse firmly on social media at all times. By hiring the “Generals,” the Devils organization has crowdsourced its social media efforts in an ingenious way at a time when most other organizations have yet to hire even a single person dedicated entirely to social media.

Click through to watch a video tour of Mission Control and view photos from the launch event. Mission Control puts the New Jersey Devils at the forefront of social media in the NHL. It’s only a matter of time until other organizations follow the Devils’ lead in embracing social media.

Thank you to everyone that attended my free webinar on sports marketing in social media. To download a copy of the webinar in PDF format, please right-click on the image below and choose “save as” or “save link as.” Simply clicking the image will allow you to view the presentation but not save it. Feel free to share the presentation with your colleagues in the industry. Thanks!

Current TrinityOne CEO and Boston College Sport Management Professor Lou Imbriano (@LouImbriano) knows a thing or two about the sports industry. He was Chief Marketing Officer of the New England Patriots and Chief Operating Officer of the New England Revolution for close to a decade. He now teaches Sport Management and Marketing at Boston College. He blogs about his experiences in the sports industry on Trinity1.com, where he has also written a free e-book on marketing.

As a sports business veteran and current college professor, what has your experience with social media been like?

Prior to working for the Patriots and Revolution, I was in television and radio for a decade.  I think when you put all of that together, sports and social media is a natural fit for me.  I think social media is just a new term put on an interaction and engagement that has been occurring for a long time, just with varying and ever-changing technological vehicles.

The biggest difference with the current forms of social media today is the number of folks you can interact with and  the distance you can cover.  It makes it all that much more powerful.  Social media has become very useful in business and has come close to eliminating the the need for the new business process of cold calling in certain areas and industries.

The one thing I would stress is that a blog is a great way to bring all of your social media efforts together.  It allows you to go much deeper into your philosophies and experiences than Twitter and Facebook. I believe that Quora also allows you to show your deeper beliefs as well as giving you the ability to show some range and insight on topics outside of what you’re looked to for advice.

What’s the biggest mistake you’ve seen teams and leagues make in social media? What’s the thing they’ve done best?

Just using it to “broadcast” is totally missing the point and opportunity. When teams, leagues, owners, [and executives] truly engage and embrace social media, now we are talking.

Many analysts are predicting that geolocation and “deal sites” will be the biggest things in the sports industry in 2011. Do you agree? Why or why not? Do you have any predictions for the sports industry in 2011?

I think both are losing steam because they are cool in theory but no one seems to have a grasp of how to utilize them in a manner that drives traffic but also provides an exceptional customer experience while creating a reason for follow up spending.  I believe that sports teams and stadiums would benefit once the appropriate mechanisms to use these technologies are created.  The biggest problem is that most sports organizations have so much going on that they are not dedicating the resources (or hiring additional) to focus on these technologies and concepts.

Recently many executives have predicted that the position of social media coordinator will be the newest sports business job in 2011. Do you agree? In what ways does a social media coordinator integrate into an existing marketing department?

Sure, there will definitely be a need for folks to be working on the social media efforts of a team. I’m not sure if teams will create new positions or just handle it internally and assign it to a current employee(s).  Now I am generalizing but I doubt that position will be lucrative and, knowing teams, I doubt they will set up the group the right way.  The thing I am curious about is will teams centralize their social media efforts or will it fall under PR, Marketing or another department?  I think the structure of the team’s business group is crucial to how this ends up and how successful it will be. My philosophy is that social media should be a part of the marketing group of an organization because it’s more about engaging and building relationships and less about broadcasting a message and telling folks how they should think.

In the last month you’ve tweeted about a rise in so called “pretenders” who are leading students, recent graduates and entry level job seekers astray with poor advice and job search tips. How do you identify these “pretenders?” What should current students and job seekers know about the sports industry?

There is good and bad with everything.  Social Media is no exception. People search out leadership and experience and in the absence of it will migrate to folks who are making definitive statements about a topic or industry, not know if they are right or wrong.  These folks are looked to as experts only because what these posers state may appear to be insightful.  Just because certain people make statements like they know something doesn’t mean they actually do.  The key to flushing these folks out is experience and track record.  If someone is in the field for 10 years and has done exceptional work and made great achievements then there’s a solid chance that person is a trusted source in his or her particular field.  If someone has never worked in an industry and has just read a couple of books and picked up some jargon, I would be leery of their advice. Those are to easy examples to discover.  The hard part is unearthing those in the middle.  That’s why it’s important for folks with real experience and track records to assist those new to a particular industry.

What’s the single best thing a job seeker can do to make themselves stand out in a crowded job market?

Be the best coffee fetcher possible.

I’m hosting a free webinar on social media specifically geared toward minor league teams (of all sports) on Monday, January 31 at noon EST. Please click here to sign up for the webinar. The webinar will cover the following topics:

• What is social media?
• Why is social media important in sports and especially to minor league sports teams?
• Which sites should every minor league team be on and why?
• What are some best practices for each site?
• How can a team sell tickets and merchandise via social media?
• Whose responsibility is it to run the team’s social media presence on a daily basis?

I will talk for about 30-45 minutes on the topics above and open up the floor for questions at the end. Please let me know if there are any additional topics you’d like me to cover during the webinar. Thanks and I look forward to seeing you there!