Episode 10 of the DSMSports Podcast: Thuzio, Sports and Social Media Marketing

Snippets from Episode 10 of the Digital
and Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 10 featured Marketing Manager at Thuzio,
Jake Duhaime.
Duhaime discussed best practices in social media,
monetizing social media, marketing to sports fans
with stories, and more.
What follows is a collection of snippets from the podcast. For the full
episode, visit DSMSports.net
@njh287 DSMSports.net

Jake's career path --> journalism major at Emerson College (in the Ron Burgundy
School of Communications)
- Worked with Stratton Island Resorts
- Interned w/ Boston Marathon + helped launch social initiatives
- Wrote for Inside Hockey,
- Worked at Winter Olympics, Comcast Network, and US Figure Skating
- Led Social Media and several digital initiatives with Detroit Red Wings
- Consulted with brands on social/digital strategy before becoming Marketing
Manager at Thuzio


- Jake kept in touch with people he met along the way and formed relationships
with them
- Inside Hockey blog allowed him to get inside press boxes while still a college
student and helped him put together strong content for a portfolio, building
credibility, and making contacts
- How he got to the Wings – Jake got to know a Red Wings intern in CR department
[who he met working media at the 2008-09 Stanley Cup Final] and got a good
reference from her when he went in for an interview with the Wings.


Job Advice From Jake:
“The light bulb goes off when you start talking about what your role can be
for someone as opposed to your past accomplishments.
“Coming in (to the Red Wings) with a game plan of what we were gonna do
and how we were gonna do it (helped). Don't just go in parading past
accomplishments. Be the solution.”


“(Social media) positions get created with the idea that you'll do not much
more than update the Facebook and Twitter accounts...It's so much
more than that. And when you throw revenue and opportunities to
engage corporate partners behind it...you have this natural, built-in
audience...and a great (engaged) community of fans [on several
platforms].
““We started to drive revenue from it (with the Red Wings).”


Monetizing social media and sports
“The goal is to create revenue from social by integrating with partnerships on a
team level.
“I befriended a lot of our corporate sales staff and started to teach them about the
ways social can make them money.”
“I was always very aggressive...I had the most important thing - access and news.
News that fans want [so much] to the point that we could dangle sponsorships.”
“Our news function can be profitable...A lot of teams are missing out on that. Some
have done it.”
-- specifically cites TV-viewing audience
- Amway case study: “Fan of the Game” generates millions of impressions


Thuzio: an online platform that connects fans and athletes to realize unique
experiences
-- The "Expedia" for finding athletes to work with
- Play flag football with ex-NFLer, see a game with a legend
“Our motto is anything is possible because anything really is possible. We have the
athletes to make it happen.”


With so many different athletes, you have so many different bases.
- example: You can swim with Janet Evans for $300/hour
Thuzio is able to leverage their connections to often make custom requests happen.
“Part of our job is to be an experience maker and regardless of budget and favorite
sport...everyone has a different definition of a successful experience and our job
is to make it happen.”


[Example of custom request fulfilled: US Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas meets a
fan before US Championships]
Thuzio's story:
Co-founder Tiki Barber saw the demand for these types of experiences, but didn't
see a platform before.
- previously one could reach out to agency or agent



“We deal with the agents, figure out the pricing, how logistics will
work...we bring everything together to create some kind of
transparency is pricing.
“There's money on the table for a lot of these former athletes and we
bring them together.”


This episode's Helpful Tool: Keyhole
- Keyhole.co for insight into hash tag usage overall and by user
segment/influencer, and more.


On Thuzio working with corporate partners:
“We're firm believers that you can activate 5-10 athletes instead of (a
busy star athlete in high demand, cites Russell Wilson as example) and
get better bang for your business buck.
“You can build up something sustainable short, medium, and long-term
because of numbers...”


“For the cost of one tweet by Shaq, I could probably bring ten members
of the US Women's hockey team to talk about a product...(widens
exposure).
“For Thuzio, it's efficiency, it's relationships and for brands that's
key...helping suggest athletes for brands, creating opportunities for
athletes and helping brands.
“It's far more of a corporate play than a consumer play. It combines
appearances, messages, (more)”


“We have looked at a season pass aimed at corporate clients to withdraw
a given amount to book appearances
It's perfect for someone who knows they may have a few events coming
up, but may not know who they want to book yet.
“We're seeing a lot of companies do unique things with athlete
activations and we're one of the companies that can help pull that
off.”


“Personalized video messages that athletes record for fans are a good
foray for Thuzio into a lower price point and it gets a lot of athletes
involved with our brand for the first time.”
“A lot of our great business to consumer plays are with coaching
sessions.” [Examples include: ex-NFLer Jamaal Anderson, Skater Sasha
Cohen]



Tiki Barber was the guinea pig for (how to price) a lot of our
experiences...(Athletes set their own prices for experiences; only video
messages have set price points)



“The possibilities are limitless...We're growing, we have a positive
success rate with our experiences, and we're continuing to build.”


On Thuzio working with teams when activating active athletes and
personnel:
Teams are cooperative cites example of working with Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle on a media
tour



This episode's Shareable Stat – There is a 98% average open rate for SMS
messages.


Coolest athlete Jake has ever met Before the 2010 (NHL) Winter Classic at Fenway Park, got to meet
(former Bruins stars) Bobby Orr and Cam Neely and skate and chat
with them


A searched athlete on Thuzio that may surprise listeners:
John Rocker
'This speaks to what we do being at a hyper-local level...He'll hit different
people in [his] part of the country. He has been fantastic to work
with.”


Most memorable athlete experience Thuzio has facilitated:
A company booked a bunch of New York (NFL) Giants and New York Jets
legends and played flag football under the lights with their staff.
“It was such a cool experience for those guys and for others watching...It
becomes a life highlight for someone.”


Best way to market to sports fans:
“Be genuine. Sports fans see past the BS. When it comes to their favorite
teams, they see past it (all), past the cliches.
The best way to market to sports fans is to be one yourself and come at
them with that approach...Be passionate about the game...Be genuine
and credible.”


The most effective medium for finding talent for your brand moving
forward could be Vine...going forward, you may be looking less and
less at the hyper-personal targeting of ads and instead going to Vine
and putting it in the hands of genuine people.”


“When we examine great social ideas for our clients, we focus on 'x'
athletes are best representatives of my product in the social space...
(the sports marketing/endorsement industry) may be going more to a
brand ambassador approach.”


The athlete doing the best job building their personal brand on social is:
McKayla Maroney
“If you go and look at the way she operates on social media, it's just liek
a watching Disney TV show...She has such a strong hold over her
audience, it's so impressive to watch her.
“She is the star of the show and the biggest name (US Gymnastics) has
and that is because of the way she uses social media.”


The social media platform to watch in 2014:
Vine and Instagram's video platforms
“If you're someone looking for a your next star from a brand perspective,
you're going to be looking on Vine and YouTube...It's playing American
Idol on your own and you're going to see it on Vine and Instagram.”


Biggest social media pet peeve:
People who are afraid to say things on social because they're afraid to
get a slap on the wrist.
“If you can't be yourself on social, you're not going to be yourself in real
life...You can't build a digital brand and not have your personal brand
(in line with it.”


Best story from Detroit Red Wings days:
Listen to the podcast for this one! It involves deceiving (and causing quite
an Internet ruckus) Red Wings (and all hockey) fans regarding the
retirement decision of Nick Lidstrom...!


Social Media All-Stars to follow:
@McKaylaMaroney (US Gymnastics)
Jennette McCurdy, @jennettemcCurdy (actress/singer, best known for
iCarly)


Social Media All-Stars to follow:
@McKaylaMaroney (US Gymnastics)
Jennette McCurdy, @jennettemcCurdy (actress/singer, best known for
iCarly)
“If you really want to learn what's going on in the space, think older not
younger...the best are paying attention to @OneDirection, to
@JustinBieber.”



Where to find Jake:
Follow @jakeduhaime on Twitter and Instagram and LinkedIn


Follow @Thuzio on all social platforms
*Tip: Thuzio utilizes Rebel Mouse to showcase their social media
presences in a visually pleasing way on their website
“There is so much we can do with our athletes...it's going to be a big
addition for us.”



Thanks so much to Jake Duhaime for sharing his time and knowledge on
the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast!
Listen to the podcast and get more info and content at DSMSports.net
(And subscribe in iTunes). You can also follow me on Twitter @njh287


Episode 10 of the DSMSports Podcast: Thuzio, Sports and Social Media Marketing

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