OUTSIDE-IN

Create An Exprosion!

noreply@blogger.com (Majocha) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 16:50:00 +0000

No, I did not accidently misspell expression or explosion. If professional athletes want to truly interact with their fans, they need to create an “exprosion”, or expression explosion for those of you who are hesitant to adopt a simple consolidation…but I digress. Athletes need to be humanized. They need to be brought down to the level of their viewers. An athlete or celebrity who embraces their status to the point where they act as if they are above their fans are obviously creating a barrier that distances themselves from their fans. Successful athletes/celebrities like Shaquille O’Neil have learned that a dose of humility can go a long way.

Where some become discouraged from further interaction with the first sign of heckling fans, people like Shaq accept this type of commentary, appropriately respond with a little humor and channel it into a successful exprosion. When Shaq jokes around with his fans he is no longer a distant figure in the spotlight. Shaq becomes a human being that just so happens to be an extraordinary employee with an extraordinary profession.

Everyone sees celebrities in the media all the time but they do not connect with them. However, people do connect with and cherish the notoriety that comes along with knowing the hometown hero who became a professional athlete or A-list actor. Granted, someone like Shaq is not from everyone’s hometown and did not grow up with all of his fans. However, he creates the essence of that sacred relationship by constantly expressing who he really is, which creates an explosion of followers and interaction. A perfect example of a successful exprosion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K0cBOFf268

Effective Branding Using Social Media

noreply@blogger.com (Majocha) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 20:00:00 +0000

Last time we left off with a bunch of rambling about all the things everyone has already told you. “Get online”, “Social networking matters”, “You don’t exist if you’re not on Facebook”, etc. It’s one thing having an account/profile on various social medias so you can finally let it be known to the world that “…some movies are so bad that they become awesome? Mean Girls 2 is not that kind of bad. It's just awful.” (pulled that off Facebook 1 minute ago). Using social media effectively enough to gain leverage in a crowded marketplace and grow your business is something totally different. We’ll start off here with a few tips for effectively branding yourself or your company on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Hopefully as the future head of a Professional Athlete Branding company, getting out to athletes, agents and the fans in this day in age could not be done without marketing through these social medias.

We’ll start off with Twitter, the baby of the bunch in terms of how long it has been around. Let’s face it. Twitter does not give you detailed information about a person or company. Twitter is meant to give people brief updates about yourself or your company. You have to become a master of hooking your “followers” with one-liners. At first I was skeptical about this site. I thought it was a waste of time to blurt out random updates about your life. I was naïve. Many companies have figured out a way to use this site to their advantage. What I like about Twitter is that you can focus your followers on important news you or your company would like to advertise. Be selective in using links. On other social media sites it is sometimes difficult to find updates on a page if you don’t know you’re supposed to be looking for them. With Twitter, if you have a new YouTube video, Facebook group, an addition to your resume or job postings on LinkedIn, let people know through Twitter. Here is where you make good use of a one-liner like “Check out the new video [YouTube link]”, “Join this cool group [Facebook link]” or “New position available! [LinkedIn link]”.

Are you with me so far? On Twitter, get good at one-liners and selective-linking. Lastly, Twitter is great for quickly putting out a spreading fire, correcting last minute mistakes and creating interest from a guerilla marketing approach. For example, if you catch on to any bad press directed towards you or your company, you can post your full response to the matter on another social media site like Facebook, but send the link out through Twitter. “____ is only a rumor… here’s the real story [link]”. The quicker you smother the fire, the easier it is to repair the damage. Also, if there is a change in plans in regard to your schedule or location or if you simply want to create a buzz, Tweet something like “Jake’s Pizza Shop in 1hr. First 20 people eat free!”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyIlxE0m7dw

Ahhh, and now we discuss the mighty Facebook. You don’t exist if you’re not on Facebook, yet there are so many people on the site you probably won’t be missed if you’re not on it. Any person, company and apparently even goldfish and dogs can have profiles. How is anyone ever going to find you or your company on this massive site? You’re going to have to put in the legwork to get noticed. First, make your profile and make it interactive. Add pictures, videos and music, discuss interesting topics, etc. Next, create “groups”, “events” and “fan pages” and let your friends/customers know about them. Gain new friends/customers by joining similar or related groups, events and fan pages. How do we do this more efficiently? When you join a group that is made up of people who are discussing similar topics that are also being discussed on your page or in the group(s) you created, leave captivating comments followed by a link to your page. It is very easy to gain new friends/customers from groups with similar interests.

Also, along the lines of goldfish and dogs having their own pages, you have the ability to create fake profiles/avatars. It’s often called “Stealth Marketing”. Facebook’s entire advertising campaign is focused around the idea that people are more likely to buy into a product if a friend instead of the company’s advertisement recommends it. Take the time to create a few fake avatar profiles. Have them all join these different groups, fan pages, events, etc. They can all leave unique comments in one discussion with each of them leaving a link or recommendation for people to check out your page/group. If 5 fake avatars in a discussion with 25 actual people leave a trail back to your page, there’s a very good chance that a few of those 25 people will believe there is something interesting at your page that they are missing out on. When using Facebook, create an interesting profile, join/create various groups, fan pages and events, and make a few fake avatars to secretly market yourself or your company.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7LTEFCH54g

LinkedIn. If you are a college student nearing graduation like myself, this is the place you absolutely need to be… unless of course you have your dream job already waiting for you when you walk across the stage. My recommendation, even if you have a job lined up, it never hurts to keep an open mind or have more than one option available at your fingertips. LinkedIn isn’t designed to get your message out to the masses like Facebook and Twitter. However, LinkedIn is extremely effective in making sure that your message is getting out to the right people. Since LinkedIn is the professional version of the social media platforms, you can bypass the profiles for people’s pets and the ridiculous deconstruction of the English language to get to the real professionals. First, make your profile your resume. It is already laid out there for you in the profile template.

Make yourself look as professional as possible on this site. Your writing should be grammatically correct and in complete sentences. You’re not setting out to be cool here, you’re setting out to sell yourself as a professional. LinkedIn has groups too. Join them. Because the site is meant for professionals, you have plenty of successful businessmen who believe they are experts on various subjects (and in many cases they are). If you have a cool business idea (protect it first obviously), post in on a group page and ask, “Is this a good idea?”. The feedback, depending on the group, may be overwhelming.

There was recently a group I came across with a post made by a marketing employee for the Dallas Stars. The organization was looking for suggestions to help fill 5,000 empty seats per game. The conversation is still going on and there are hundreds of creative marketing ideas on that one topic. There is so much priceless advice just sitting there free for everyone’s viewing from very successful people. Take advantage of it. Also, whether you are looking for a job yourself or posting jobs you need filled, LinkedIn is the new hot spot for career searching. As I mentioned in my first blog post, more than 80% of company’s these days look for candidates on LinkedIn. Where other sites make it very easy to befriend other members, LinkedIn is a bit trickier. You need to know the email for some members, and with others you need to be introduced through another member who is already friends with the person you are trying to connect with. When you’re out shaking hands in the real world, take down names and emails and find them on LinkedIn when you get home. It’s also worth your while when you connect with someone on LinkedIn to look through their connections (if they show them) and see if there’s someone else they could potentially introduce you to. For LinkedIn, make your profile a professional resume, join and comment on group discussions, look for/post jobs, and have your connections introduce you to other connections.

"Success always comes when preparation meets opportunity"

noreply@blogger.com (Majocha) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 05:02:00 +0000

Hello, and welcome. Here, an ambitious college student will share his exciting journey into the world of entertainment and sports media, starting from the OUTSIDE-IN.
Let’s first talk about how one goes about getting “IN”. Henry Hartman said, “Success always comes when preparation meets opportunity”. Simple right? Ok, so we now know that success is a direct result of preparation and opportunity converging. Preparation is only a matter of paying your dues. It’s an essential step and it makes perfect sense. The entertainment and sports media industries are unbelievably competitive, which means first impressions are everything. Research and understand your industry, learn and take in as much as you can, practice your craft as often as possible and build up a strong portfolio so that your work speaks for itself. Overwhelmed yet? Ok, well here’s the other half… and it’s not going to be any easier.

Like preparation, opportunity takes most of us a decent amount of time and effort before it presents itself to us in a way that starts paying off. I emphasize “most of us” knowing we’ve all heard a dozen different cases of miraculous overnight fairy tail success stories. For the “most of us” I’m referring to however, it’s a process, an absolutely imperative process in this day in age if success is your ultimate goal. I’m a self-proclaimed entrepreneur. I have a Bachelors degree in Recording Arts and I am currently at the tail end of an Entertainment Business Masters degree with a sidetrack in Sports Management. At my school, Full Sail University, I intern as the Project Manager for Sports Sponsorships. I currently handle an account for both an NBA and NHL team.

Fortunately, my internship consists of exactly what I want to do when I graduate. With Full Sail University being focused on entertainment and sports degrees, my job is to create new ideas and ways in which Full Sail students are able to work on real world projects for or in conjunction with these organizations. Not only am I able to build my portfolio as a Producer with this opportunity, I can also network with talented production students in addition to key personnel from these two NBA and NHL teams. Yes, a little bit of luck was involved in terms of being in the right place at the right time. However, it is professional networking paying off that lead to my internship. Professional networking leads to opportunities, which leads to more people, who lead to more opportunities and so on. It’s a cycle that keeps on going as long as you’re willing to put the work into it and maintain professional integrity.

My advice, shake as many hands as possible. Go to seminars, events and conferences. Have lunch with these people. Get to know professionals in your industry. If you go to school or work in a place that focuses on your industry, introduce yourself to your classmates, your teachers, students and teachers from other degrees, etc. Once you’ve done that… or should I say, while doing that… we must go online.

Creating a unique and alluring web-presence is probably the only way you can keep up with your competition these days. First, back to getting to know people in your industry. Create accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and other popular networking sites specific to your industry. Not only do you have a place to store all the new industry contacts you just met (who conveniently have your resume directly in front of them every time they see your profile), but it is so easy to meet new people through those your are already “friends”/connected with as well as through various “groups”/associations you can access on these sites.

I’ve heard that if Facebook were a country it would be the 3^rd largest in the world. I’ve heard that somewhere over 80% of employers search for new candidates on LinkedIn. Use social networking. Meet people, join groups, meet more people, etc. More on the web presence in general, if you are planning on generating content as an artist, an actor or a producer like myself, you must showcase your work for people to see it. Create a website, get on YouTube, get on iTunes, make your content so easily accessible, that even if you were skipped over 5 or 6 times before, eventually people will be curious as to what you’ve got going on. Again, first impressions are everything.

The first trick is to get them to see your work and the second trick is to hook them to make them want more. If you can gain large followings on these sites, there’s a good chance you can be discovered by talent agents scouring for the next big thing. That’s right, that’s how many talent agents are finding a lot of their new acts. They are looking at numbers of YouTube hits and iTunes downloads with positive feedback. That’s just one more reason why you need to be online.

After school, I plan to take a number of very talented friends with me to start a production company specific to professional athlete branding. Networking in-person with a professor lead to my internship. Social media allowed me to keep in touch with friends from other degrees who I later asked to be part of one of the production teams I created as part of my job. Professional deliverables, creative concepts and the ability to work under tight deadlines has gained us a number of contacts and a foot in the door to start making a living off of our passion right when we graduate.  It's not a bad feeling knowing that you have all the connections and resources you will need in order to run your own business the moment you get out of college. Might I add the fullfillment I will have since this business combines my two lifelong passions of entertainment and sports?

How will we promote ourselves?  We will have a website, extensive portfolios of our works, digital marketing campaigns, RSS feeds, social networking and videos on sites like YouTube, Hulu and Facebook with links to those videos spread through sites like Twitter and perhaps even this blog. It’s a cutthroat world out there. It’s about both what you know and who you know. That’s how time spent in preparation eventually leads to the people with the opportunities you seek. That’s how you achieve success from the OUTSIDE-IN.