5 Ways Sports Media Can Successfully Utilize Social Media

Sports Media, a group that includes everything from ESPN and Sports Illustrated to Sports Blogs to Joe Sports Fan on Bleacher Report, are beginning to realize the power of social media. Here are 5 ways anyone in the world of sports media can and should utilize social media.

1. Push Stories
One of the most common uses of social media, regardless of industry, is to push information to a wide population. Those in the sports media world are effectively using Facebook and Twitter to spread their articles, opinions, and insights. It doesn’t matter if you’re ESPN or Joe Sports Fan, Social Media is a great platform to disseminate your work.

2. Find Out What People Want To Hear
This is especially useful for the low resource sports bloggers out there. Check out what people are talking about on Twitter. The Trending Topics is a great place to start. See what comes up often in your mini-feed on Facebook. Find out what people are interested in and write a piece on it. Then, refer to #1.

3. Get News From The Source
You don’t need a press pass or a connect to get you inside the locker room to get news directly from the source. With the popularity of Twitter amongst professional athletes, sometimes a great source of information can be found directly on the subject’s social media pages. This isn’t just for the small time bloggers either – the largest sports media outlets like ESPN, SI, Yahoo Sports, Pro Football Talk, and more are all sourcing Twitter in their stories.

4. Collaborate
The big (think ESPN) and the small (think bloggers) are all on an equal playing field in the social media realm. An interesting piece on a small blog can gain the momentum of RTs (Twitter), Likes (Facebook), and Comments (Blogs) and become a viral sensation. This could get the subject piece noticed by an ESPN or SI and just might become the next featured piece on SportsCenter later that week. With notable personalities like ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen and Sports Illustrated’s Peter King consistently replying to their follower’s tweets, this effect may become much more common.

5. Build A Following
Don’t ignore the social aspect of social media. Yes, Twitter and Facebook are great platforms for pushing your content, but they are even better for building relationships. Create a strong following and you won’t have to push your content as much – your fans/followers will do it for you. @MortReport is doing a great job of this and has built a strong social graph with tons of two-way interaction.