Over the past year, Twitter has proven its worth to the athletics communications world many times over. From reporting scores, to connecting head coaches with fans, to linking news releases, to advertise upcoming promotions and much more, Twitter has established itself as a critical communications platform for collegiate SIDs.
The thing about Twitter, however, is that it's only effective when it's done right. Those professionals who are, what I will call "mis-tweeting," are actually weakening their brand and its credibility instead of strengthening that brand.
In terms of branding, Twitter can be a great tool. It's PERSONAL, it's a way to connect with the fan base and it's a way to allow your fans (& follwers) to get to know about your brand, your university and your head coach (if he/she tweets).
The credibility of tweeting comes back to a philosophy that I believe to be a staple of effective communications. The fact is this: only the truth sounds like the truth.
That's indesputable. How many so-called "spin-doctors" try to pretend like something never happened or try to tone down the extent of what actually happened, when the media and fans ALREADY know what really happened? It NEVER works. Actually, it's worse. That potentially negative story doesn't just make news for one day, it is dragged out over however long it takes for the principal subject to say what really happened. In the mean time, rumors swirl and this negative publicity begins to haunt your organization for an extended period of time.
I'd like to identify below two main instances where mis-tweeting can occur (and should not) in the athletics communications industry.
Is That Really Coach Such-And-Such?
If your fans question whether that is really your head coach, you might as well shut down the Twitter account immediately. You have lost all credibility.
Just like "only the truth sounds like the truth," only your head coach sounds like your head coach. Twitter is too personal. If you, as the athletics communications professional (or your team's director of operations), are tweeting while pretending to be your (assumedly high profile) head coach, STOP now. Shut down the account.
Your head coach needs to send out his/her own tweets. By all means, help them. Especially if they are not technologically saavy. If need be, they can call you and let you know what their tweet is and you can post it, but try to avoid this if you can. It's going to be more personal and more sincere if they type it in.
What can you do to help? Load TwitterBerry or some similar program on their BlackBerrys to allow them to update at any time from any location. Show them examples of what other coaches are doing and provide guidance on what fans are looking for from your coach in terms of their tweets. Help upload their TwitPics and anything that can save them time. But, make sure it comes from them.
To give a personal example, one of my main responsibilities is to serve as the communications director for the University of Florida volleyball team. I approached head coach Mary Wise (pictured tweeting above) early last spring about the benefits of Twitter. She already had set up a Twitter account (@GatorMary), but we talked about the importance of updating on a regular basis and attracting new followers. A master at promoting her own program and the sport of collegiate volleyball, she was immediately on board.
Coach Wise handles all of her own Twitter posts. As her SID, I don't even have her Twitter password. She updates from her BlackBerry whenever she has a free minute. For example, Coach usually updates her Twitter following practices while waiting for the team to finish its stretching regiment, while waiting to board a flight in the airport, before turning off her office computer for the night and when riding the team bus. It takes only a minute, but it also takes your coach buying into the benefit of Twitter - how it allows your coach to connect with your fan base and allow them to communicate the great things about your program.
An SID's news updates on Twitter are great, and needed, but your fans want to hear from your head coach.
To Twitterfeed or Not To Twitterfeed?
Twitterfeed is an RSS-based program that athletics communications professionals use to disseminate their news releases via Twitter.
Essentially, it uses that RSS feed to pull your headline and link to the corresponding press release and sends it out as a tweet from your Twitter account. This can be beneficial for your operation, but most of the time it, again, hurts your brand through Twitter.
Why is Twitterfeed beneficial? If you update your Twitter account manually throughout your game or match (you should), you're also going to want to link your press release / game recap once the contest is over. But, you know as well as I do, that post-game is your busiest time. Especially if you're on the road, the likelihood that you have the time to send out your release, post it on the Web, shorten your URL and send out a Tweet (all before getting on the bus) is pretty slim.
That's where Twitterfeed comes in. Once you post your release on your Web site, Twitterfeed will automatically generate a tweet. That's a link that your fans will want to access and it will save you time.
Why is Twitterfeed a hinderance? A lot of athletics departments feel like they need to have a Twitter account because "everyone else does." So, they go about it the wrong way. They set up an account completely generated by Twitterfeed to "promote" their programs. It doesn't work.
A Twitter account generated completely by Twitterfeed looks more like spam coming through your Twitter application. It's like that e-mail account you've had forever on which you get about 100 spam messages per day, none of which are legitimate. Yes, it's nice to have a link to your post-game recap for followers who want to read it on their computers, or take the time to pull it up on their phone.
But, the majority of Twitter followers to do on their cell phones. They want quick updates that are meaningful and tells them something at a quick glance. That can only be done with the human touch. The other thing to remember - GameTracker, the live statistics program, only has a mobile version for football and that doesn't work on all mobile phones. If you are manually updating your Twitter with score and time updates, fans can keep up with your event, no matter the sport, from anywhere with their phones. Even if they only have a simple cell phone, they can receive those tweets via text message. They don't want a list of tweeted links.
Even worse is when a head coach's account is Twitterfeed driven. Talk about a loss of credibility. How many coaches do you know that would (or, more importantly) have the time to) go to the athletics Web site, copy the link to the release, shorten the URL, recap the headline and post the TinyURL link? That's what I thought. Only your head coach, sounds like your head coach.
Your manual post to Twitterfeed ratio should be somewhere about 4:1 on your SID news account and non-existant on your head coach's account.
In Summary
Remember that Twitter can be a powerful communications tool, but only when it's done properly. Only the truth sounds like the truth and only your head coach sounds like your head coach.
If you, as the communications professional, don't have a head coach willing to Twitter or you aren't willing to put in the time to tweet yourself, then just don't do it. It doesn't mean you aren't great at your job because you don't Twitter. It just means you don't want to Twitter. We all have our different strengths and aspects of our job we enjoy. Make sure if you decide to embark on Twitter, that you fully commit to it and make it your passion.
Credibility, genuinity, personality. That makes a great athletics communications Twitter account and it makes a great addition to your brand.
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