Social Networks Changing How Teams Market

Facebook, Twitter have suddenly become must haves

By Josh Leventhal
March 10, 2010


Advances in technology haven't only changed how Matt DeMargel markets the Durham Bulls since he joined the team in 2001. They have changed how he does his job since the end of last season.

Social media have become the performance-enhancers of teams' marketing campaigns, except instead of being frowned upon, social networking is becoming accepted as the best and fastest way to get a message to your fans. Direct mailing campaigns are being replaced by Facebook and Twitter pages, where fans can actually interact with the team. Streaming video gives fans more access than a basic Website or message board ever did.

"Back (in 2001), we were looking at our Websites and trying to figure out how they worked," said DeMargel, the Bulls' director of media relations and promotions. "The (development of) social media is going so fast, just in the time since the Winter Meetings.

"We're still using Facebook and Twitter, but now we're also figuring out how we are going to use our Ustream channel to stream events going on at the ballpark. Now we are landing in people's laps instantly. The Internet was about how people would come to us. Now we are going instantly to them."

The increased Tweets and Facebook Friends have not necessarily resulted in a profit for teams. Not yet.

This season will mark the first full year that the Bulls have used social media as a marketing tool, and the team has spent the offseason building up an online fanbase—a plan it hopes will pay dividends in the long run.

"We are using it to inform and gain followers," DeMargel said. "It's like how athletes will have a winter training plan to get ready for their season. We are in that winter training plan right now with our social media.

"We will have Facebook-only promotions. There will be video announcements that will break only on Ustream. Twitter will have up-to-the-second updates."

Be Your Own Fan

Exploring how teams use social media and technology will be a frequent subject of our business coverage this season.

Among the offseason innovators is the Goldklang Group, the owners of four minor league teams that unveiled its own Web series of roundtable discussions with people from all realms of the baseball industry. 

Be Your Own Fan is the Goldklang's Group new motto (replacing their longtime mantra of Fun Is Good). Among their goals is "empowering our fans and sponsors to actively participate in the customization of their experience," said Tyler Tumminia, vice president of marketing and operations for the Goldklang Group.

At the heart of their new marketing plan is Be Your Own Fan TV (BYOFTV), an idea spawned by fans from their short-season Hudson Valley affiliate who suggested the staff do "webisodes" to provide a glimpse into the operations of a baseball team.

The Goldklang Group has taken that idea a step further by interviewing key movers-and-shakers from all walks of baseball. Tumminia, who doubles as the host of BYOFTV, has interviewed the likes of White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo, New York Post columnist Joel Sherman, Mets public relations guru Jay Horwitz, and Goldklang Group executives Marv and Jeff Goldklang.

"Be Your Own Fan TV is the ownership groups' way of elevating the fans' experience to include the 'untouchables' in the game, spanning MLB owners, GMs, media influencers, executives and managers, and approaching them from a unique and fan-centric angle which would create accessibility to our fans," Tumminia said. "It helps connect what we do on a local level with our national reach within the sport. Almost all minor league baseball fans are major league baseball fans as well. And BYOFTV is a direct way for us to marry those two 'fandoms.'"

The Goldklang Group has also unveiled an iPhone application that each of its four teams will be able to use as a marketing tool to communicate with fans in and out of the ballpark. The application's geo-tracking device will recognize when a fan is at the ballpark, and offer scannable coupons for deals at concession stands. It will also provide features such as real-time statistics, roster changes and other "inside the clubhouse information."