Yesterday, I had the pleasure of doing a presentation on Social Media and Sport at the Sport Events Congress in Toronto. It was a brief presentation to a pack room of sport tourism destinations and sport organizations professionals. I must apologize for the fact that we barely had time for questions at the end, but I think delegates were pleased with the content of my presentation. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, everyone in the audience was familiar and/or active with Facebook and Twitter. However, it was also clear that as Dr. Ian Fenwick (author of DigiMarketing) has said before, quoting William Gibson, the future is here it's just not evenly distributed. Most organizations and individuals know about Social Media, but the level of involvement and understanding of it is all over the map. But sports and social media are a natural fit, so it's incumbent upon those organizations involved to take the most advantage of what social media can offer. I am not talking about the large entities like professional sports like the NBA or the NHL. The NBA is making the most of it. Fans - or should I say likers - or the NBA and NBA teams on Facebook surpass 17 million people. I am talking of smaller organizations like the WTF Tae Kwon Do Canada or Soft Ball Canada or destinations like Tourism Abbotsford, Tourism Burnaby, The City of Kingston, Tourism Kamloops, etc.
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Many destinations want to attract sport events to their communities and the sport organizations who are events rights holders want to find the best places to hold their events. Conferences like the Sport Events Congress are excellent for these organizations to make connections. The SEC holds a business to business Sport Events Exchange where rights holders and destinations can meet in person. Social Media will never replace the value of face-to-face contact, especially in business. But before you get to that meeting, if you want to raise the profile of your destination and your venues, and you want to generate excitement and support from your community, social media is your best vehicle today. Conversely, if you want to raise the profile of your sport to attract new practitioners and spectators using social media well is your best bet.
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So whether you are a large or a small destination or a large or small sport association, take the time to devise a social media strategy and, depending on the size of your organization, work on and write down a social media policy as well.
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Jaime
www.cactusrock.com
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