Mis-Tweeting Weakens, Rather Than Strengthens Brand

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.

CoSIDA and PRSA Experiences Mutually Beneficial for SIDs

An important theme that has been prevalent throughout CoSIDA this year has been the importance of the communications professional “having a seat at the table” in the world of intercollegiate athletics.

That theme was best demonstrated by the convention's keynote speaker Kevin Sullivan, former White House Director of Communications, this past June in San Antonio.

Perhaps the most significant stride our organization has made this year towards that end is teaming with the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics to, as the press release announcing the partnership states, allow "members to interact at one common site and discuss issues and share ideas that may not have previously been discussed by both sides on a national level."

At the time, then-CoSIDA President Nick Joos said “This partnership will afford all CoSIDA members tremendous professional development opportunities while at the same time enhancing CoSIDA’s visibility and brand within the intercollegiate athletics community."

I completely agree and think that all CoSIDA members should applaud and take advantage of this partnership. I will discuss how I think CoSIDA members can and should expand their networks and skill sets through this partnership in a later post.

But, I think there are two main "tables" that athletics communications professionals need a seat at in order to best benefit our organizations and our own professional development.

Certainly the emphasis on public relations as a management function within athletics departments is of extreme importance. However, we also need to have a seat, a voice and influence within the main organization of all communications professionals - the Public Relations Society of America.

Very few SIDs are members of PRSA - a self-defined "community of more than 21,000 public relations and communications professionals across the United States, from recent college graduates to the leaders of the world’s largest multinational firms." But, SIDs themselves are adhering to the principles of PRSA on a daily basis. In fact, most of the principles in the new CoSIDA Strategic Plan, developed by Executive Director John Humenik and others, have been based on PRSA's own principles.

How do we as SIDs shed the misinformed image that we are just stat guys, just sports fans or just press-release writers? I think joining and participating in the activities of PRSA would go a long way in achieving this goal. What I'm saying is, let's not just focus on ourselves as communicators in the athletics world, but as strategic communicators in general.

Not only can you join the national PRSA organization, but also (and maybe more important), I encourage SIDs to get involved with their local PRSA chapters for regular meetings, opportunities to network, professional development and the ability to participate in the APR process.

Perhaps there is no greater professional development accomplishment for a communications professional than the Accredited in Public Relations credential. According to the description on PRSA.org, "Accredited professionals contribute to greater understanding of public relations as a vital management function, and undermine those who would refer to our craft as spin, our professionals as flacks, and our currency as misrepresentation and disinformation." Isn't that what we want as SIDs, too?

I would also argue that CoSIDA should develop a process for accreditation of SIDs. We have Registered Nurses, certified court reporters, certified computer programmers, but no distinction for SIDs that we are trained and have the skill set to excel in our craft.

That is another post for another day.

For now, I strongly suggest that sports communicators involve themselves in their local PRSA chapter, join the PRSA national organization, participate in the free on-demand Webinars and, if you have the experience and are willing to put in the time, invest in APR certification. There is a lot of carry-over from corporate/agency PR to collegiate athletics and I think, if we all work together, the experience can be mutually beneficial.

From the perspective of a SID department head, I would encourage your employees to participate in PRSA. The sharper the skill set and the better "globally" informed your employees are, the more they will be able to bring to your organization, which in turn will benefit as a whole.