Activ8Social » Athletes

Is LeBron James on Twitter the Right Move?

Anthony Caponiti — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 19:32:11 +0000

So the King has entered the Twitter building! I'm sure somewhere in San Francisco there was a company toast at Twitter HQ, but is the decision by LeBron James and his LRMR marketing team (headed up by Maverick Carter) to hop on the social media tool the right timing? More importantly, is LeBron's marketing team really prepared to handle all of his online PR during "The Decision" tonight on ESPN? The details behind this digital move are fuzzy. Will LeBron answer questions in real-time via Twitter during the 1 hour long ESPN special? Probably not. Will he simply answer a few carefully vetted questions post TV announcement? If the LRMR team really wanted to push the social media envelope, they could integrate Twitter live on the TV screen during the announcement. Of course, that’s way too risky considering the polarizing nature of “The Decision” (and not my recommendation).

The Power of Facebook: Betty White and SNL

Steve Cobb — Mon, 10 May 2010 14:12:16 +0000

This week’s Saturday Night Live episode hosted by former Golden Girls star, 88 year-old Betty White, claimed the highest ratings and largest audience since November 1, 2008 when John McCain and Sarah Palin appeared. And who do they have to thank? A fan and his Facebook Page. After White starred in a viral Super Bowl Snickers commercial, a 29-year old superfan named David Matthews took to the 450+ million user platform in an attempt to garner 5,000 fans before writing a letter to SNL producer Lorne Michaels. After being picked up by USA Today and Perez Hilton, Matthews says the Page jumped from 8,300 fans to over 22,000. According to AllFacebook, the Page went from 30,000 to 230,000 fans last week. The “Betty White to Host SNL (please?)!” Facebook Page now claims over half a million “likes” or “fans”, which is simply astonishing.

5 Reasons Pro Athletes Should Leverage Social Media

Anthony Caponiti — Mon, 03 May 2010 22:35:27 +0000

Let's get one thing straight upfront—social media is not as easy as "if you build it, they will come" for any athlete, team, league, or sponsor looking to establish or enhance brand equity. Social media marketing is no different than traditional off-line marketing in that it requires a well thought out strategy, devoted resources, and a budget targeted at a reaching a measurable goal for the individual or organization. With that said, social media's major advantages---the cost-to-creativity ratio and the ability to expand reach via an engaged audience (key word here is "engaged" but I'll explain more)---make this form of marketing so powerful that most athletes looking to enhance their salaries with fat endorsement checks should be asking their agency, management team, or friends and family why social media isn't a part of their overall marketing strategy.

Facebook Introduces “Suggested Pages” List

Steve Cobb — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 01:28:53 +0000

Facebook recently introduced an opt-in list of “Suggested Pages” as another step in the new user registration process. In stride with the recent decision to replace the “Become a Fan” button with “Like”, this appears to be an attempt by Facebook to encourage new users to express their interests and become active. The phrase, “Connect with your favorite celebrities, businesses and brands to hear the latest news from them”, is displayed above the list.

NFL Creates Social Experience for 2010 Draft

Steve Cobb — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 09:39:51 +0000

Yesterday’s 2010 NFL Draft was one of the most anticipated and hotly debated in recent history, both off- and online. Rightfully so, the NFL has made a concerted effort to facilitate and capture fan conversations that are taking place across social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and blogging networks. The key to the NFL’s online social media draft strategy was recognizing that “conversations are happening in a lot of different places,” NFL.com’s General Manager Laura Goldberg said. “We want to make sure we’re aggregating comments no matter where they are.”

Jimmy Rollins Looks to Crank Out Guinness World Record Breaking Home Run

Activ8Social — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 21:55:06 +0000

Jimmy "J-Roll" Rollins has always been known for his blazing speed and affinity for two-baggers. On Tuesday, April 13th, Rollins will look to add homerun king to an already impressive baseball resume. While his Philadelphia Phillies teammates are resting after their Citizens Bank Park home opener against the Washington Nationals, Rollins will spend his afternoon launching baseballs in excess of 550 feet over a closed-down Philadelphia highway in an attempt to break a Guinness World Record.

Top 30 Athletes on Facebook

Activ8Social — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:19:51 +0000

Who’s the top athlete on Facebook? Is it an international phenom like Cristiano Ronaldo or Roger Federer with millions of fans? Or maybe an engaging personality like Shaun White or Steve Nash with creative, authentic content? That’s a question Activ8Social set out to answer early in the new year and in the process, we decided to rank the Top 30 professional athlete Facebook Pages as of February 2010. Top caliber athletes from all over the world and from a variety of sports made the grade. Read our full blog entry for more details.

Top 30 Athletes On Facebook

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Facebook Fan Page Tips: New Page Setup

Steve Cobb — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:57:58 +0000

In the first installment of our "Facebook Fan Page Tips" series, we showed you how to create a new Page. Now I will walk you through steps to help set up your Page before publishing it to the world. In this post, I will be focusing on the basic settings, but keep in mind that these seemingly simple instructions are absolutely critical to the success of your Page. Remember you have to crawl before you can walk, and we'll have you sprinting like Usain Bolt in no time. Click for more to read a step-by-step breakdown of the process.

2010 Sports and Social Media Predictions: Revisited with Examples

Steve Cobb — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 05:55:11 +0000

A few weeks ago, I contributed to an e-book put together by fellow sports and social media enthusiast Jason Peck. The focus of my post was industry predictions for 2010 and given the nature of our work at Activ8Social, I decide to focus on individual athletes. I came up with three primary growth areas to keep an eye on: Promotions, Live Video, and Mobile. Over the past few weeks, I've noticed a few examples and decided to point them out to better demonstrate my predictions. Here's my original post, coupled with a recent example of each primary growth area. Drop me a line and let me know how you see sports and social media growing in 2010 (hopefully by leaps and bounds).

2010 Sports and Social Media Predictions

Activ8Social — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 02:04:40 +0000

Well-known sports and social media blogger, Jason Peck, released an ebook today that aggregates the opinions and predictions of 16 thought leaders in the sports and social media space. We are excited that Activ8Social Partner Steve Cobb was included in the first annual release of the compilation. You can find his predictions on pages 21-22. Sports Social Media Predictions 2010