Carrot Creative Blog

From building Infieldparking.com, a social networking site for NASCAR fans, to building David Ortiz’s fan page on Facebook, Carrot Creative understands that marketing strategies used in the corporate world can also be applied to sports. President and Creative Director, Mike Germano, talks with SLAM magazine about the business of social media and the benefit it provides to NBA players:

“Brands want to communicate with customers, and there’s an equation there that can be easily replicated with sports in that players want to interact with their fans to create a more loyal fan base. [In terms of the NBA] social media allows players to very easily transcend just being a basketball player. It allows any athlete to take that next step in communication with fans and make it personal.”

In a recent article from Silicon Alley Insider Mark Zuckerberg was euphemistically quoted saying Facebook allows people “to stay updated on what’s happening around them and share with the people in their lives.” Translation? People like to brag about the awesome crap they do via status updates and Tweets.

As a prolific status-updater I am in no way claiming innocence on this (my last status update was VIP at DMB with Carrot Creative, jealous yet?) But seriously, the reason I bring this to our attention is because as a creative agency, working with brands that consumers want to associate themselves with makes our jobs at Carrot a whole lot easier. We encourage “cool” brands to offer viral content users can share, blog, post, whatever you want to call it, giving the consumer more opportunity to “tag their brag.”

I think it’s safe to say the sports world is changing. Scratch that, IT IS safe to say. Just take a look at what’s happened in the NBA the past couple of weeks:

Whether it was Kevin Love breaking news or Shaq hearing he’d been traded on Twitter (and then singing about it), the fact is social media is changing this landscape. More and more NBA players are signing up for Twitter everyday, connecting with their fans and building actual relationships with them – no Traditional Media outlets involved.

I just returned from the Future of Media Panel hosted by I Want Media at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. If you missed it, check out the livestream here. It was interesting this year compared to last, which is a true testament to how things have changed in the media world.. Last year’s panelists included more of a traditional set including Michael Wolff from Vanity Fair, Erick Schonfeld from TechCrunch and David Carr from The New York Times. (There were others of course. Allen Stern’s CenterNetworks recap from last year can be read here if you want more.) The panel focused on a popular topic at the time “What is online killing/hurting?” Answers revolved around music, print, etc… you know the argument.

We’ve read about it all week. The uproar of Twitter users complaining publicly about the recent change by Twitter to replies. The public apology from Twitter. The questions. Yes We Get It.

But, what affects us here at >carrot creative the most—explaining this to the brands. The brands that we JUST signed up to jump into Twitter because frankly, tweeting their name is a great way to get exposure, share links, engage—you know the deal. We’ve signed them on because Twitter is viral. An easy place to let people know about their online presence. They get that and are excited.

PR and social media is a strong interest for Carrot Creative. We work with PR agencies all the time discussing social media strategy for some amazing clients. We realize that PR has completely shifted with social media.. Campaigns now include Facebook, YouTube & Flickr as line items. Pitching reporters on Twitter is not uncommon and blogging has become a necessity rather than an added item. Social Media Is the Responsibility of Public Relations.

As big supporters of engaging with brands in social media—you’ll probably be surprised by the next statement I make. Some people are not ready for social media yet and we should NOT go there.

In order to provide smart and strategic counsel, an all or nothing approach is not necessarily the right approach. The Pew Internet & American Life Project released recent survey findings regarding American’s use of microblogging sites like Twitter, Yammer (yes, it looks like people are still using it!) and others.

Some key results:

While many brands are scrambling to get online and in “social media” (we have the privilege of working with many of them–woot!) sometimes it’s good to just step back and cover the basics, do the little things first and then expand to something bigger based on event or launch timing, market need or announcement.

Last night The Grammys proved that the “little things” work with a simple social media campaign targeting Facebook and Twitter to update users in real time of red carpet photos and videos.