For the last update, we were focusing on the logistics of turning in and presenting the presentation. We were able to split up the presentation well and have been really coordinated on who has what responsibilities for turning in the presentation. One issue that arose was how we were going to be able to upload it to box and canvas. We found that creating a big folder in google drive made it easy to put all of our parts in one place so that anybody in our group could find something that they needed, if necessary. We are excited to present! #SM313

In the past few days, we have been able to collaborate on the video part of the assignment. Lauren did a great job editing the video and helping to create the script. Using photos and video from the Rec Sports program, we were able to give a great summary of all the opportunities that Rec Sports provides #SM313

Today we are dealing with what parts of the presentation we should focus on. Is there a part of the Rec Sports program that we should be focusing on more than others? Does Rec Sports want to focus on one job opportunity or the just the whole program in general? These are questions we could ask if we weren’t in the midst of this crisis. We will be taking a holistic approach it this point in time. #SM313

Today we are working on our script and finalizing who will be assigned to which part of the presentation. We believe we have a great summary of each of the jobs available through Rec Sports and it fits our theme of educating the student population for them to have increased awareness of what is available to them.

Our assignment to help the U-M Rec Sports program deals with the student employment side of Rec Sports. While only one member of our group has actual experience working in Rec Sports, we are excited to be able to create ways that the U-M program can increase their social media presence. A theme we are leading towards is “encouraging students to apply for Rec Sports positions through educating them on opportunities.” We believe more knowledge and education of job positions available to students can help increase the Rec Sports social media presence on campus. #UMRecSports

1.  How many posts on each platform (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) were sponsored?

Facebook: 88

Twitter: 213

Instagram: 8

2. What type of posts are sponsored? (e.g. Game preview, #TBT)

A lot of posts that were sponsored were highlights from the game by Rocket Fiber, game recaps by Flagstarbank, players of the game/post-game interviews were sponsored by Jeep. Pre-game “threads” or what the players walk in wearing to the arena were sponsored by Ebay. They would also have random sponsors for certain events throughout the year (charity events, birthdays)

3. How did engagement on these posts compare to other non-sponsored posts?

Unless it was in game highlights (sponsored by Rocket Fiber), sponsored posts did not nearly get as much engagement as other posts. It seemed as if there was a clear advertiser on the post, especially without a popular player’s face, it would not get as much engagement. Sponsorship posts that usually got a lot of engagement usually had small branding on the post itself.

4.If you were in charge of this team’s social media feed, what do you think is the most valuable content to sponsors?

Anything with the athletes on the team is the most valuable content. Behind the scenes footage, pre/post game interviews, off the court interviews, and anything that connects the athletes to the fans is the most valuable content. This helps create more fandom for the team because fans feel a personal connection with players when they are able to see what they do on a day to day basis, their background, or what makes them a special athlete.

5. What opportunities do you see for monetization of the social media feed?

Some pages are using memes to advertise now. Personally, I am not a huge fan of this kind advertising through memes, but there is potential for team brands to use. Even former presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg used meme advertising to reach a younger audience. (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/style/michael-bloomberg-memes-jerry-media.html) Instead of the classic “meme” format, I do think that teams can use their athletes to make viral videos. Although athletes don’t have much time, following viral challenges or trends on social media can be a good way to get engagement and can be pretty easy to get players to get on board with quick, funny videos that don’t take much of their time. I also believe the subtler the branding the better. When looking at the Detroit Pistons social, it became easy to tell which ones were sponsored just based on the format of the post and how big the sponsorship on the post would be. As a fan, I know I would be skipping over these posts because of the large branding.

I chose to to the New York Mets baseball team.

1. What five words would you use to describe the brand before looking at the social media accounts?

“Little Brother”, Underachieving, Queens, David Wright, Noah Syndergaard

2.Does the team have consistency, authenticity and personality across the platforms?

The Mets post their content on all of their platforms, with Twitter having more game updates. They are consistent in keeping fans up to date on players on the national stage (sports illustrated cover), and creating content that provides one on one access to current and past players. I wouldn’t say their branding across platforms is really unique, but they do do some cool creatives that I will highlight later. I would say the Mets personality focuses on its players and highlights each players achievements. They use the hashtag #LGM the most on all their platforms this season.

3. Does the team have unique/eye-catching creative to support their brand?

I think the Mets have both good and bad creative. Two examples of their good creative is their photos below. These photos are simple, clear and use a unique backdrop to highlight the players in each photo. I thought the use of the blue, cloudy sky and the fireworks photoshoot were awesome to show current players on the roster.

An example of the bad creative though is when they start to use graphic design. Personally, I think the design of this spring training theme is way too dark and takes away from the accomplishments of this player. The “miami vice” colors along with a dark backdrop make it look tacky. The next one I thought was ok, but pretty basic. I think their graphic design could use an update.

4. Does the team interact with fans/followers?

The team does not interact with fans much. The only platform where they do interact with fans is on Twitter. Even on Twitter, they are very basic replies to fans tweeting their kid’s picture wearing mets gear. The mets usually reply with a “he’ll be a star” or an emoji along with the hashtag #LGM. They could take their interaction to another level.

5. What five words would you use to describe the brand if you ONLY look at their social media accounts? Why would you choose these words? (Provide examples/screenshots)

Photogenic, Potential, History, Bad Design, New York.

Examples:

After reviewing posts from Instagram and Twitter, I came with the same conclusions that I stated earlier. I think the Mets do some good things and some bad things. I think their team has potential and I like how they are highlighting a variety of players, not just their stars like Pete Alonso and Syndergaard. I think their photography is fantastic, but I think their graphic design is sub-par. Their typography is lackluster and their color schemes could be improved in a lot of their posts. I also think that the Mets should be more interactive with fans, especially on Twitter.

48 Hour Social Media Tracking

Day 1:

12:00-12:30 AM – Late night surfing before bed, splitting time between twitter and instagram

10:30 AM – Between classes I spent about 20 minutes on Twitter to catch up on sporting news from the previous day

3:00 PM – After all my classes were over, I spent 10 minutes on Snapchat and another 10 minutes on instagram, surfing out of boredom.

8:00 PM – After I get home from work I spend another 20 minutes between Twitter and Instagram, catching up on football news from the day, looking at NFL/college rumors and new hires. Overall I spent about 1.5 hours on social media on day one.

Day 2:

12:00-12:45 AM – More surfing on Twitter but tonight I spent more time watching random Youtube videos, mostly comedic.

10:00 AM – Went on snapchat for 5 minutes waiting for coffee and spent another 10 on Twitter as I drank the coffee.

2:00 PM – 20 minutes looking at football updates, Michigan football news and college coaching news.

5:00 PM – Spent 15 minutes on Instagram after work looking at random sporting event news and memes.

8:00 PM Spent 30 minutes on Youtube looking at football videos. Overall I spent just under 2 hours on social media for day two.

So after two days of tracking, I spent 3.5 hours on social media

It was interesting to find out what kind of habits I have when it comes to social media usage. I use almost all the major platforms. I use Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Youtube. Twitter would be my most used platform because you kind find up to date information fast. Twitter also helps for the coaching profession. You can find information about other teams instantly, which can help in certain situations. I use Instagram the second most, but that is mostly to see what my friends are up to and to find funny videos. When I check social media, I would say 75% of the time is out of boredom. Usually it was after class, at the end of the day, or when I was in bed about to go to sleep. I use and like twitter the most but because I check out of boredom I find myself going on Instagram more that I thought I did. Instagram is really easy to get lost in because you can update it instantly and find 10 new posts that are usually funny videos that keep you locked on to the screen.

The biggest trend I found was that I tended to use it around the same times every day. The biggest shock to me was the amount of time I spent before bed on social media. I knew I spent a lot of time before bed but I didn’t know I spent 45 minutes on my phone before falling asleep. Besides that, I was surprised to see how little I spent on social media in the morning/early afternoon. But a lot of my time was spent in the evening and after work. I try to stay off my phone during class, so that explains why I am not on my phone during the day. But after work, when I am trying to to homework, I will definitely be on my phone more to distract myself from my school work. I am a procrastinator when it comes to homework and my phone becomes a perfect distraction late at night. At night it is super easy to spend 20 minutes on social media and then go back to my homework. But when I do this two or three times, this adds up and takes time out of what I should be doing.

I would have to say over half of my time on social media is spent dealing with sports or sports business. When I am on social media at work, a lot of the time it is to find out information for a coach or to find interesting stats about the team and our opponents. I follow a lot of sport media, sport culture and sport business accounts, so a lot of my feed is filled with sport related images/topics. Whether it is Bleacher Report, ESPN, Pro Football Focus, NFL Update, or my favorite sports teams, they are always posting multiple times a day with new information or behind the scenes videos that keeps me interested. I did not make any purchases on ads that I saw.