Professional sports have become one of the most powerful influencers and storytellers in the modern day with their global reach in audience thanks to the popularity of the sports and athletes but also because of their online and social media presence. And it is no coincidence that these sports social media pages look similar in style yet there are those that stand above the rest in conversation. In an upcoming essay I will be combing my knowledge of visual storytelling that I have acquired from the past few weeks along with my findings from research that I will be conducting on visual storytelling in sports social media through PR and Marketing. Below is an ignite presentation detailing my outline and goals for the essay.
Bret Schneider
Film, TV, and Media Artist
Bret,
Your presentation on visual storytelling via social media was interesting. I think that it could benefit from a couple of statistics of the heavy use of social media and time people spend on it, as well as the difference of marketing on each social media platform. This means, how do posts differ form say Facebook or Twitter to Snapchat or Instagram. Similarly, you mention how the selection of a picture can impact the feeling of the viewer. It could be helpful to point out some information about color theory and how teams need to stay on brand via color so that they can instill that cognitive association in viewers. You make an excellent point of showing that text and numbers work for statistics because that’s just what they are, but having an actual human on the page drastically changes the narrative and makes it more relatable for the viewer. Good job!
Hi, Bret;
As someone who doesn’t follow sports at all, I’m always curious about what it is people find so fascinating about following teams or rooting for favorite athletes. I wouldn’t think about storytelling and media and marketing for professional sports, so your presentation was both intriguing and educational for me.
Your question about what appears on social media—is it fan service or a real representation of a brand; I think that’s true of any brand on social media! There’s a little bit of what the brand wants to share, and what current and future customers and followers may find interesting. I hadn’t thought to equate that to sports.
I can see why picture choice is vital after a win or loss; it’s telling a story of a team, a family, not just a game. It gets people connected and involved, and that’s pretty awesome.
As far as being an ignite presentation, I found it refreshingly articulate, and you obviously understand your topic. I appreciate that you ended by talking about what you wanted to expand on in your final project. You covered a lot of information here in your ignite, but you know that you left something you want to dig further into.
I look forward to reading your final presentation.
Bret,
At the beginning of your presentation, you said the main focus is on how visual storytelling is used in sports social media through PR and marketing, but at the end, you state that you want to look farther into the difference in content between a team’s page and a sport’s news outlet. I am curious as to which subject you will be investigating for your paper.
One of the questions you brought up is whether the content is made to fulfill the expectations of what fans want or if the teams control what goes on the page? I am curious as to what a fan’s expectation for content may be. Personally, I think marketing content is purposely made for its audience or else no one would bother to follow them on social media. Bringing a sports fan through a player’s journey before a game, used in the example of the Steelers, allows fans to feel part of the team.
An interesting thing I found was that not many of the posts you used in your presentation had many likes on Instagram, which surprises me due to the large following football has. For example, the Bill’s photograph of the baby only has 6,000 likes. I wonder why these posts don’t get as many likes as other types of photos on Instagram. Just food for thought. Great job, can’t wait to see your final paper on the subject.
Bret,
I think this is a great topic, especially for you since you are such a big sports fan. Talking about the PR strategies is another great way to determine why pages post what they post. I liked how you compared the post about the Patriots versus the post about the Browns and how the teams represent themselves. For someone who is a huge sports fan like yourself, you consciously notice these things, whereas someone who does not follow the NFL closely, may only subconsciously realize the difference in these posts.
You touched on the infographics that are used on social media, and I think that would be an interesting topic on its own. Maybe talk about why they use infographics one time, and an image of the player another time.
This might be harder, but comparing different sports may also be an interesting topic. You can decide to compare the pages of NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL, or you can compare the pages of one city in each sport. This could be interesting to see how each sport is different and what facts they think are the most important to share with fans. Great job with this and I think you have tons of different ways you can go about writing this final essay.
Hi Bret,
This topic is perfect for you and something that I would have never thought to do a project on, but found highly intriguing. I liked your incorporation of the explanation as to why visuals work better than text. Your photos and the voiceover do a great job of confirming that we enjoy looking at a photo more than reading a giant paragraph. I also liked your point about making sure the image is not overloaded and too much for the eyes of the viewer. This is something people sometimes don’t understand because they believe viewers won’t mind the clutter. I believe this is definitely something you should elaborate on in your essay. Simplicity is key, especially when it comes to attracting new fans and keeping old ones.
Audience interaction is something that I would elaborate on more as well. Teams that give a POV on the sidelines and during the athletes’ days are doing something right of course, but then when it comes to posts that connect the fans with the team, is it better to add emotion or the facts? After your example of a win and a loss for a team, I believe that the emotional post and caption works way better than the coldness of the loss post. Maybe dive deeper into that too! Looking forward to the final essay.
Bret, you did an outstanding job in discussing the role that visual storytelling plays in sports social media. You touched on an interesting point regarding whether the content published on the different channels is fan based or controlled by the teams.
I like that you reinforced the use of color, captions and humor to tell the narrative. It was interesting to hear that rivalries and success stories garner the most engagement among fans.
Your presentation was very organized and the images were terrific. I especially enjoyed seeing the win/loss comparisons.
What struck me the most about your presentation is how content is presented. You shared the example of how the Bears pride themselves on teamwork, so their post shows the team in jubilation during a win. Conversely, the Saints highlight their star player Drew Brees. You mentioned that the content posted is determined by fan base, team culture and desires.
You reinforced that human-interest stories such as the involvement of teams in various charities and a behind-the-scenes look engage audiences. Social media promotes community among fans. They want to be part of the action and have a sense of belonging.
Social media also enhances the team brand and increases the brand’s visibility through building relationships and communicating with their fans.
Your presentation shared many aspects of sports social media in PR and marketing. For your final essay, I recommend that you include metrics from the various social media channels used (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube), and specific stories that garnered the most engagement.
Thank you for sharing your insights. Great job!
–Julia