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Chloe Sladden, VP-media at Twitter
See article: Twitter and Nielsen to Rate TV Shows by New Measure
In the realm of cool things I never knew existed, the Peace Corps keeps a digital photo library of projects from across the globe.
Photos are searchable by subject area and location. Incredible stuff - click here to check it out.
Content archiving is a fascinating area of digital media. In the past, I’ve collaborated with Indiana University to digitize and create an internally searchable archive of Indianapolis 500 photos and no matter how many photos I looked through, I always felt compelled to know more about the story behind it. I loved working with our photo staff along the way and always hoped to someday see the project become external-facing.
Hard not to be excited about stumbling across an equally interesting undertaking by the Peace Corps to capture U.S. Citizens doing good work around the world. This might even top my love of the Library of Congress’ Flickr stream…
Click above to check out an web and social sponsor activation I did with Cholula Hot Sauce at the 2011 Indianapolis 500. Great use of visual content, multiple platforms - our Twitter, their Facebook, our blog - and overall fun for fans.
Visual, co-branded graphic + fan photos + cool prize + co-promoted on social = Indy 500 win.
It was only a few weeks ago that I was tweeting back and forth with legal sports commentator Alicia Jessop (@RulingSports) over content on the NFL site. There we were, at the cusp of the playoffs, and NFL.com was running a feature on what Tim Tebow’s babies would look like with different celebrity moms. Riveting stuff, but fact is, lifestyle content is important, no matter where you’re at in the season, and the Super Bowl defines pop culture this time of year.
Take a look across your roster and identify connections to the game, to the host city, to the celebrities, or even to the advertising and consider what aspects relate best to your organization. Are your players rooting for a favorite team? Is a celebrity sitting on the 50-yard line that once dated a player on your roster? Is there a video clip of your team playing a pick up football game as a warmup? How can you develop content regarding your brand and organization that catches eyes trained to seek Super Bowl mentions, images, and so on?
One of the biggest stories on NHL.com coming out of the All-Star break was indicative of this growth towards lifestyle features. No, it wasn’t Team Chara’s win stealing headlines, it was platinum-selling rapper Drake. Drake in the locker rooms meeting players, NHL stars sneaking out onto the ice to catch Drake’s performance, and images of Drake on stage sporting an NHL jersey.
A hit out of the park, a Canadian rapper in a Canadian host city with youth-ties to Canada’s game. Of course their site visitors would bite on that content and yours will too once you begin to tie your content strategy more closely to the lifestyle aspects of major sporting events.
After eight years in sports, I’ve evolved from game day staff, to game day intern, to seasonal intern, to full-time intern, to entry-level, to manager and over the years, I’ve been fortunate to sit through a number of customer service training sessions aimed at developing exceptional customer experiences from a variety of perspectives.
In many of these sessions, specialists are quick to point out the key factors that attract and retain customers and convert season ticket members. Without fail, they mention that guest service staff are the first line of contact between the front office and the fans.
Along the way, I’ve transformed these front-line values into web and digital experiences because now, the first line of contact for fans is truly an organization’s website.
Here are five lessons to consider when looking to transform the experience of your fans/customers online:
1.) Provide quick, simple information in an easy-to-navigate manner
It is easy to forget, when sitting on the other side of the computer and brainstorming unique, creative content that the fans will love, that the primary point for the website is to provide accurate information for customers to make decisions upon. This means that they come to your site on most occasions to buy tickets, see the schedule, find parking information, find suite information, find contact information, and so on… Customers want a complete transaction on your site, but prioritizing fluff content and even news at times, can add a roadblock to this transaction.
GAMEDAY CUSTOMER SERVICE TRANSLATION: This is similar to providing directions with concourse signage and reference points OR walking a lost fan to the area they’re seeking.
2.) Invest in the right people
Press releases, roster moves, rumors… they came in all shapes and sizes and, most importantly, they come at different times. Simply put, it takes a certain kind of enthusiasm to pull out a laptop at 9:00 PM to post breaking news to ensure fans have it. The people behind a website are evolving into the first line of contact for fans interested in attending a game or becoming season ticket holders. They need to analyze everything from traffic patterns to page hits to optimize when visitors are looking for certain information, and then turn around and figure out how to best present that information.
In short - the people behind your website are the people charged with delivering smart, timely, and accurate information in a simple manner to fans. Does the internet ever stop? No. Well, then they’re enthusiasm for the fan experience really stop either.
GAMEDAY CUSTOMER SERVICE TRANSLATION: People whom genuinely enjoy the game atmosphere and helping fans get the best experience. They tend to smile and never expect recognition for going above and beyond, it’s just what they do.
3.) Go above and beyond to delight
Web, digital, mobile, and social mechanisms provide exciting, limitless ways to engage more fans, with more content, through more platforms and devices. In today’s world, fans will choose how and when they want to engage with your team, which makes it even more poignant to execute at a high-level in any avenue that you assess and deem appropriate and worth the time and resources for your brand, as well as to continue seeking the next best thing for the fan experience.
Take a moment to consider fan response to the last “cool” digital project your team took on. As many times as I have seen the Lightning’s microchip jersey’s in use, season ticket member’s are still enthusiastically impressed and delighted by this organizational investment in the fan experience.
Leverage technology in a way that benefits fans or anticipates their needs.
GAMEDAY CUSTOMER SERVICE TRANSLATION: You know those stories where an usher hears it’s a little kid’s first game and brings an autographed baseball down to his seat, making a fan for life…
4.) Create a forum for feedback and open conversation for improvements
I love the customer service numbers that demonstrate a higher value to fans willing to complain - they love the team enough to say when something’s wrong. Fix it, and they’ll come back. The fans that do not complain, however, will quietly walk away and never return.
Online, websites have evolved from a one-way speech into a two-way conversation. A web presence - including social media should be optimized to receive and process fan inquiries, develop user-generated content and encourage fans to take an active role in steering both content and strategy.
Front Offices need to “listen” online and give fans the opportunity to “talk” to them and share what they want, just like a customer service staffer does on gamedays.
GAMEDAY CUSTOMER SERVICE TRANSLATION: Suggestion box, “catch an employee going above and beyond” recognition programs, customer service kiosks
5.) Emphasize front office team work
In many customer service trainings, there’s the advice to work together as a team to point out an unkempt appearance or inaccurate venue information, and in some ways, we’re quick to look at game day staff and assume that they are a high-risk customer service entity. Look inside, however, and many staffers are unaware of what’s going on in other departments, let alone with your sports team. It takes the entire front office to effectively manage a team’s website - learn to rely on each other to produce the best, most-accurate and timely information for fans.
Encourage your front office to actively reading and promote your website. Not only do they need to be informed of the team and organization in order to effectively engage with the fans they’re selling too, but they are a valuable resource towards improving the customer experience online.
GAMEDAY CUSTOMER SERVICE TRANSLATION: Four people toss the t-shirts, two people roll the t-shirts, one person explains the promotion to all six people. That person orders the t-shirts because one person sells the promotional sponsorship and explains a company’s brand marketing objectives to the person whom orders the t-shirts. But fans only see four people having a great time throwing t-shirts at the game - not the work and additional people behind each promotion.
