Sports Executives: 3 Recommendations to Better Grow Fan Engagement on Social Media

As sports continue to capture the attention of billions of fans worldwide, teams are shifting to social media outlets such as Twitter and Instagram to interact with their fans instantly in a more engaging way. As a sports marketing student at Northwestern University, I’ve found two articles that highlight the importance of making this type of connection.

Rick Maese of the Washington Post wrote an interesting article entitled "NBA Twitter: A sports bar that doesn’t close, where the stars pull up a seat next to you." In this article, he discusses how NBA fans immerse themselves in Twitter in order to stay up to date with the constant, essentially year-round, news cycle of professional basketball. According to Maese, this has essentially become a routine for many fans, and some even prefer to follow the games via their online Twitter communities rather than go to the game in person if they had the opportunity. This relate to the idea that team's usage of official social media accounts gives fans an outlet that they can follow and constantly engage with during live games. These official team accounts often times provide commentary, which can make online users feel as if they are watching alongside other fans of the team. For more insight, you can follow Rick on Twitter. 

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Anthony DiMoro on Forbes takes a deep dive into how this trend of social media quickly invaded the sports world, along with some examples of teams who are able to generate a great deal of fan engagement while strengthening a team's overall brand in an article titled "The Growing Impact of Social Media on Today's Culture." One example Dimoro gives is how often times, a sports league or team creates one common hashtag around a topic so that fans can see all related tweets and news in one, centralizes location (e.g. #BecauseItsTheCup for the NHL playoffs). As a result of these tactics, he claims that fan engagement and discussion online is at new levels that no one could have imagined several years ago. If you want to find more of Dimoro's work, you can follow him on Twitter or visit his official website to see his latest sports media ventures.

Based on these articles, along with my own personal experience helping run multiple verified team accounts for Northwestern Athletics, here are three recommendations for sports executives to better grow fan engagement on social media:

• Entertain Your Followers – Fans want to feel like they’re watching the game with the team, it’s up to you to engage and relate to your audience.

• Storytelling = Engagement – Recognize what is happening in the game and the implications/message behind every single word you are sending out and how it fits into a bigger picture.

• Stay Ahead of the Surge – The industry is constantly evolving, be ready to adapt to any changes or innovations in order to ensure you are putting out the best possible final product.

As a sports executive, it is more and more important that you make meaningful connections with your fans and people interested in your team using social media, and I hope these three action items will help you do that more effectively.

My name is Zach Wingrove and I am a senior at Northwestern University studying Journalism and Integrated Marketing Communications. I have worked closely with Northwestern's Athletic Department during my four years, assisting in media relations for almost all of Northwestern's 19 varsity programs at some point. During the 2018 MLB season, I worked on the Media Relations team for the Chicago Cubs. In the future, I want to continue working media relations in either professional or collegiate athletics. You can follow me on Twitter and on LinkedIn.

3 Ways to Better Integrate AI into Your Business Strategy

As a brand manager, incorporating AI into your business plans is important for brand recognition and growth. Using AI is essential for brand recognition growth and fast return on investments. As a graduate student at Northwestern University looking out for current developments in IMC, I have found two remarkable articles on how AI will affect future of marketing that you will find useful for your business decisions.  

Artificial intelligence (AI) And The Future Of Marketing: 6 Observations From Inbound 2016 by Gil Press is very fascinating and informative article that provides detailed overview of Inbound 2016 convention. It is one of most important conventions that brings together best sales and marketing professionals from around the globe. This convention reminds brand managers that AI will substitute all mechanical work in marketing, but will not bother creative and strategic processes. In 2017 the era of bots has begun, really soon AI will take over online customer support chats and bots will seamlessly communicate with consumers without them noticing that this is not a human being. Speakers reassured marketers concerns and confirmed the good part of the trend by saying “Marketers will not be replaced by AI and will be able to skip the boring stuff.”

Another article about AI written by Lisa Manthei - 5 ways AI marketing boosts campaign performance & ROI is describing 5 key ways how to boost marketing campaigns using AI. Lisa describes in detail how companies must understand the concepts of machine learning and big data. She talks about endless amount of data to analyze, and reminds marketers that AI is here and developing fast. Also she mentions that in today’s AI environment, brand managers need to react fast and start using the most powerful AI marketing tools now, as is the next big thing and competition is already taking action. This article is just confirming that marketers will not lose their jobs, just automation of mechanical processes will untie marketers hands to work on good strategies, content, and creative ideas.

Taking into consideration these two articles, my work experience and knowledge gained at Northwestern University, below three actions are required:

• First Movers = Most Profits - If you want to get into AI market, you need to be aggressive to your competition and take actions now
• AI is Here & Growing - You need to believe that this is the next big thing
• Think Big Data - Big data actually helps in developing AI and remodeling marketing solutions all over the world

Victor Yakovlev

Northwestern University, Medill Integrated Marketing Communications MS full-time student and customer-focused strategic marketer with 10 years of international experience. Worked as a branch manager for Unicore Overseas in Moscow from 2012  2015 and positioned European company on fast paced Russian market. 

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Retail Marketers: 3 Strategies to Thrive in the New Shopper Environment

As a retail marketer, one of the biggest challenges you can face is the change in shopper attitudes and behavior with the advancement of digital, mobile and sensor-related technology. As a graduate student in the Northwestern Medill IMC program with a keen interest in retail and shopper marketing, I have found the following two views on the potential effects of technology-driven Amazon Go on the retail industry.

Three Reasons Retailers Should Fear Amazon Go

In the Forbes article, Phil Lempert identifies the reasons why Amazon Go is revolutionizing the retail industry. He highlights Amazon’s simple and straightforward communication skills, their use of advanced technology and smart food marketing. Amazon Go has removed the need for checkout lines, creating a new experience where shoppers can “just walk out.”  Because of their ability to seamlessly merge technology into their retail stores and to know their consumers, Amazon Go could be seen as the future of food retailing.

Source: The Drum

Five Reasons Amazon Go isn’t Necessarily the Future of Shopping

On the other hand, Lisa Lacy of The Drum argues that this form of seamless shopping has been around for a while and that other retailers such as Starbucks and Apple also offer similar experiences. Furthermore, Amazon Go doesn’t completely remove all of the customer pain points and “won’t be dramatically moving the industry.” They still need to consider consumer privacy and in-store engagement. Ultimately, it is important for retailers to think differently when connecting with consumers and to reduce their pain points while shopping.

Based on my review of these two articles and relevant studies I have done in the Northwestern Medill IMC program, I have developed the following 3 action items to consider when preparing for the future of retail marketing:

• Integrate Omni-channel Retailing - With the rise of mobile technology, combine all of your retail channels to provide a holistic experience for your consumers.

• Incorporate Advanced Technology - Incorporating digital technology like computer vision, algorithm, sensors and machine learning into store can create a seamless shopping experience when done correctly.

• Enhance Consumer Experiences - Anticipate what your customers want and solve their problems before they are even encountered. 

As you develop your retail strategies, think about how to best understand what your shoppers need and know how to best deliver it in order to thrive in a new shopper environment.

Tasmina Chhugani is currently a graduate student studying Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University’s Medill School.

With over 6 years of international experience in branding in the CPG industry, I wish to pursue my interest in retail, brand and shopper marketing when I graduate in December 2017.

Feel free to connect with me on Twitter or LinkedIn.