Posts Tagged ‘Athletes’

1. Personality- Remember when Randy Johnson was visiting the New York Yankees to potentially sign a deal? He was approached by a member of the paparazzi who was constantly following him, bombarding him questions, and just wouldn’t leave him alone. Randy then got frustrated, pushed the camera out of the way, and said, “Get out of my face!” I had the privilege of meeting Randy Johnson in 2005 while rehabbing my shoulder. He was an amazing guy who gave me a lot of great tips and advice about my career. He was just an overall good guy. If I had never met him that day, I would have always judged him by what other athletes and people say about him. A fan page solves this issue before it ever happens. Randy could have bled his personality through his fan page so his fans get a true sense of his personality.

2. Reaching Your Fan Base- This is great for small businesses. When you have a new product, new service, or just want to share something of value to your fans, you have a great opportunity to use this platform to create click-throughs to your site, (Increase Traffic!!) and potentially generate more leads.

3. Updates in Real Time- Immediately after something happens in an athlete’s world, fans want to hear about it. Being able to connect with fans and followers at the click of a button, in real time, is priceless. It’s become so popular that they are now fining players of the NBA and NFL who make Twitter posts before, during, and immediately after their games. Not sure if league officials have caught on with the wave of Facebook yet though.

4. Make News Media Obsolete- Video. Video. Video. Personal video can easily be updated to fan pages. A quick self-interview, or an interview of a teammate from their iphone, can be placed on a fan page within minutes. Priceless. Small businesses can use these videos to enhance their brand in a creative and non-threatening environment.

5. Promote Non-Profits- Many athletes and businesses are involved with non-profit organizations. One post can significantly increase funds for a non-profit. This is especially true when an athlete or business has a huge following.

6. Promote Websites- Whether it’s your own, or that of a business acquaintance, you have a great platform to promote sites at the click of a button. Newly launched websites can instantly be thrown on the map. (Below is Jamie Varner posting for his fans to visit a friends site)

Hope you enjoyed this article. Please let me know your thoughts!! Be sure to follow us on Twitter @protegebranding and become a fan of ours on Facebook as well.

Till next time,

Chris Gruler

An athlete holds a valuable asset at their finger tips in which most do not utilize. There has always been a disconnect with Professional Athletes and how to quickly and precisely reach their fans in real time. Whether they have a web platform to interact with their fans on a regular basis, there is still a need for “real time” updates. Our athletes do this effectively through their personal blogs but there always seems to be a time lag in when athletes can actually post to their site.

Social Media can be simply defined as media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. [Wiki- Social Media]

Below are the Top Five ways (my opinion) for Professional Athletes to use Social Media:

1. Twitter: Twitter has became pretty popular among athletes within the past year and gives fans a real time advantage on knowing what their favorite athletes are up to. Shaquille O’Neal does this very well. He actually incites fans to meet him out pre-game and passes out tickets to the first person to touch him. And plus he pokes fun at people sometimes. Pretty innovative if you ask me. Props to him.

2. Facebook: Facebook has easily over taken the whole MySpace craze and actually has great “credibility” in athletes’ eyes. Not only can they have their own personal pages but now more athletes are jumping on the Fan Page bandwagon. The great thing about fan pages is that they are indexed by Google and will show up in a fans live feed every time their Fan Page is updated. Group pages on Facebook do not offer these options. Pretty powerful tool if you ask me.

3. Email: Email is NOT dead!! Let me say that again…Email is NOT dead!! We are just tired of reading text unless it is a subject we have sincere interest in, right!?!. The great thing about athletes is they don’t have this problem. Fans always want to hear what they say, good or bad. Now it’s different for businesses such as mine. I have to constantly find innovative ways to keep my following interested in what I have to say. Tough task for us, not so much for an athlete.

4. Video: LOVE, LOVE, LOVE using video. This probably will be number one within two months. The only reason it’s not is because we cant get video into the hands of fans as quickly as text (for now). There is Twit Vid and Protege Brandings’ athletes do utilize this but that’s only one platform. If an athlete shoots video through their iPhone they can upload it to their You Tube channel but who how long it will take a fan to find it? Every fan loves to see video. They love it even more because there is no reading involved. Here is an example of Jamie Varner discussing his upcoming fight (shot from his iPhone).

5. Blog: The only way this is successful in my opinion is using the blogs’ RSS feed. There are other effective ways to get information in front of fans through an athletes’ blog but it’s typically done through the methods listed above. Protege Brandings’ clients typically have a great following and fans will get updated through their feed once a new blog is posted. Plus, you complement this by posting through their other social networks to make sure a higher percentage of fans receive the notification.

The main component of keeping fans in the loop is constantly updating them with semi-personable doings in real time. Lets assume that the majority of athletes either own an iPhone or Blackberry, these phones allow athletes to update the majority of the avenues listed above in real time in a matter of seconds. The only one that is difficult is the email updates. You technically could send an email from your phone depending on the type of email marketing platform you use. It’s just not as time efficient as Twitter or Facebook postings. All of Protege Brandings’ athletes are using Word Press and can easily post to their blog from their phone using the Word Press Application. Jamie Varner is one of our clients that does this beautifully.

I would love to hear some feedback on this article as I am interested to hear what your thoughts are on the subject. I hope you enjoyed the read.

Till next time,

Chris Gruler

You are an amazing high school athlete, or you have a son/daughter with serious potential to get a scholarship in their respective sport. You have just started to do research regarding the best ways to get yourself or your son/daughter more visible to colleges. Whether you’re interested in recruiting services or actual sports camps at a prospective college, these are viable options which have shown to be successful in the past.

With internet technology and methods of recruitment continually changing, ProtegeBranding.com has developed a Player Profile Web site that enables athletes to be proactive in their careers and the recruiting process.

Let me explain the theory and model of our Player Profile Web sites….

While many online services are geared towards simply delivering scholarships (some are good, some are bad), we wanted to give you a “keys to the car” platform which enables you to send college coaches your Player Profile Web site with a simple click. The majority of the online services claim to have a database of thousands of college coaches and will regularly email “your” player page on your behalf. While this is technically true, do you know the conversion rate of how many coaches actually open these emails? It’s surprisingly minuscule.

Do you think our friend Pat Murphy at ASU has time to open an email, click on the player link, and then be forced to log in to the Web platform which privately hosts your recruiting site? No chance. In an effort to shamelessly add to their email database, other services will require a coach to create an account to actually be able to open up your profile page. Maybe you’ll get lucky and he does already have an account. Great, but unfortunately that means he has already seen at least one profile that is identical to yours.

Put yourself or your son/daughter in a position where Pat Murphy actually looks at your site and remembers it. With our Player Profile Web sites you will be able to send any coach a direct link to your personal site and he will immediately be able to see your videos, photos and other pertinent information. Coaches are inundated with bland profiles that require logins and sign ups – here is your chance to be unique and make a statement.

With Player Profiles you will have your own domain name, control what videos you post, and be able to blog whenever you want!

Click below to reserve your domain name!

Our intention is not to bash or belittle other recruiting sites and services. Some of them actually do a great job and are helpful in placing an athlete in front of the right college. However, it is extremely important for our clients and potential site owners to always have control over their online branding process. The majority of recruiting sites do not do that.

If you have any questions at all please leave me a comment below or email me at chris@protegebranding.com. I will be happy to answer you to the best of my ability.

Please visit a live version at: ChrisRGruler.com (Imagine if this was your site and you sent it to Pat Murphy!)

Or even better, take the first step in being proactive and purchase it here! ProtegeBranding.com can completely customize your Player Profile Web site however you choose. From logo creation, color schemes, to eCommerce capabilities, “no” is not an answer for your site. Just email me your thoughts and ideas and we will produce a quote for you ASAP. You can also check out our Customized Player Profile Web site.

Regards,

CG