Episode 30 of the DSMSports Podcast w/ Mac Slavin of @Tigers #SMSports

Best Of... Detroit Tigers' Mac Slavin
Episode 30 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast
featured Detroit Tigers Social Media Coordinator, Mac Slavin
What follows are some snippets from the episode. Listen to
the full podcast on iTunes or www.DSMSports.net
@njh287; DSMSports.net

Mac's background and career path
Grew up in small town in Minnesota and attended Wartburg
College in Iowa planning to pursue sports journalism
→ Took a tip from a professor to look at public relations and he
got involved in athletics department there doing PR and
marketing and soon discovered social media, too, and covered
some events on Twitter
“We had some things happen on campus...it was some of the
real-time stuff that had to get out there. All of a sudden it just
clicked in my mind, 'Wow, this is cool.'”

→ After college, Mac sought journalism job and worked on a
PBS documentary called 'Road Trip Nation,' helping with
grassroots marketing on the road, recruiting others to appear;
sharing experiences on social media showing college students
and professionals interacting about their experiences
Mac notes the experience in journalism and marketing and living
on the road in an RV, going from city to city

“We were basically just on Twitter, Facebook, and blogging...I'd
literally be blogging while we were driving down the
interstate...It was great to see [social media] as a marketing (and
journalism) tool.”
“It was cool hearing all the stories (of the professionals) about
[changing their lives]...It was not just professional learning, but
all-around life learning. [That] cheesy stuff.”

“I wasn't a huge fan of web, but (my professors) kind of forced
me to do it because they knew it was something I needed to do.
Finally, Twitter made it click and I jumped on board...I'm curious.
I would try a new app...I have always been curious about those
types of things. And that's how my career started (in social
media).”

After Road Trip Nation ended, Mac went to a small ad agency in
Iowa near Wartburg College → Started as a copywriter working
on cheesy commercials (including car ads!)...
”I enjoyed where I was working, but, professionally, it wasn't
what I wanted to do...Fate kind of happened that I found this paid
internship with a minor league baseball team in southern
California.”
→ Hired as Media, Marketing, and Publications intern for
Lancaster Jet Hawks (Astros affiliate)

“Minor league baseball is super-fun because you can do some
wacky promotions...That was one of my first tastes and I
absolutely loved it...The season ended and they couldn't (hire)
me for the offseason.”
→ Ended up getting a freelance gig with an ad agency to help
with some bigger clients, including Superbowl and March
Madness
→ “I really needed that to say that agency life wasn't totally
for me. I really want to work in sports by itself.”

→ Next went to Professional Bull Riders (PBR) for two years
before ending up with the Detroit Tigers at the start of this [2014]
MLB season
On his role at PBR:
“When I started, there was only one other web person, my boss,
the Senior Director of Digital Media...When I got hired, I was the
social media guy and helped do a lot of web stuff...Bull riding
didn't seem like the type of fans on (social media). [But] it's more
of an action sport than a western sport, these days. You get fans
that love the adrenaline rush...they're waiting for the wreck to
happen. It was really interesting; social media has helped PBR
get out to their social circles...If you watch a bunch of cool clips
online, it (makes you want to attend).”

“My (PBR) job was created as open-ended...it was (previously)
hard for one person to do everything (social and digital)...live-tweeting
events, promoting events, and (looking at) new
platforms...”
[only on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube prior to Mac's arrival]

“YouTube was huge...video was huge for PBR and drives a lot of
excitement, especially during the week (leading up to weekend
events)...video really helps. It's kind of the opposite of baseball
with games every day. You have to create a different kind of
excitement.”

This episode's Helpful Tool: Unroll.me
- a freemium website to quickly clear out subscriptions to which
your email address is subscribed that you do not want; easy and
quick!

“(The Tigers) was the first job where there had been a Social
Media Coordinator before me...she had been doing media
relations and social media, but she gave up the social part and
they brought me in...
“It's still the sports world, but it's (a complete change from PBR)
with 162 games a year plus Spring Training, plus
postseason...with PBR, we had a pretty strict content calendar,
but (it's much different in MLB), with postings changing (based
on Tigers' performance day-to-day).”

“Ultimately, every sports teams wants to sell tickets...Our
marketing department understands branding [too]...
“MLB gives us pretty cool software to analyze our data. It's great
to be able to pull in and track what our fans doing. They
understand that for us posting a home run [video], that actually
drives more traffic and sales than (a basic sales message)....
They knew and understood that when I came in, which made my
transition a lot easier.”

“A lot of people still see PR as your free press...(Social media) is
the same concept. We're where the fans are. They see our
content, similar to PR, with a marketing message on it. Social
and digital is like a hybrid of all of the above.”

“I'm not from Detroit, so I don't necessarily know (everything
about the team's fans and events)...Our marketing and
promotions staff are integrated day-to-day. They helped me do
some of the bigger events...I'm in on all of those meetings from
day one (participating) and listening and thinking about how to
(involve) social aspects and how things will go over in a post.”
“(Our efforts involve) Just trying to amplify some of our
events...to get people to come down to the ballpark...to take
some of the bigger events beyond the ballpark...”
(mentions spreading great anti-bullying campaign in greater
Detroit/Michigan area)

“We do have direct calls to action, but a lot of them are 'watch
this video' or 'engage here,' rather than 'buy here' or 'sign up
here.' We do have certain things our fans get excited about, so
we tell them exactly how to sign up...
“There are times where, if it's something huge, you don't want to
confuse your outside audience, for certain messages (cites
tickets on-sale as example).”

“One of the interesting things is that the Tigers did have some
tough seasons back in the 1990s...so they kind of lost a
generation of fans because they weren't tied to the team...The
older fans, that group of people not tied to the Tigers, but to
Detroit. And that group of younger fans that jumped on the
Tigers train in 2006 when they made the World Series.
“There are a ton of different segments and we take into account
(segments on each social platform).”

[Cites event done for 30-year anniversary of 1984 World Series
title, streaming the game live on Tigers.com while live-tweeting
it]
→ “People got really excited about it. It was kind of a soft sell for
tickets to that '84 reunion game...It was really fun seeing the old-school
announcers (and players) and I think also a lot of the
younger fans got into it. It was also cool seeing fans tweet a ton
of pictures with their kids watching the game. Tigers fans are
family people (from over generations)...That was a way we could
jump on that.”

“Generally, it's more 'this is cool content everyone can
appreciate' and we'll tailor the message a little bit...But, for
certain ticket packages or events...we post (certain types of
content on each platform) hoping they'll both help sell the same
amount of tickets (accomplish the same objectives).”
“(Social media) is kind of an overall marketing message. We'll
come up with some (sales ideas for social)...We don't think of it
as selling tickets on Facebook for a single, event. We'll look at it
more of where it makes sense to put (digital) resources to
promote games (through social and paid ads).”

“Ultimately, we want people at the ballpark experiencing games,
so we try to do a lot of things [showing] 'Here's how much fun
these fans are having.' We [also] have a cool partnership
through MLB with Wayin that lets us broadcast our fans' photos
and Instagrams on the screen...We do get to pick and choose
what goes on the board to make sure it's appropriate.”

“Wi-Fi is huge...If fans can't get to their [apps], they just quit and
they're done for the day. They're not engaging anymore. And
that's some of your best brand advocates. People who are
actually at the game, at the event...
“We're seeing more and more stadiums pop up with Wi-Fi
[Comerica hopes to install in future].
“I think we'll see a dramatic increase in engagement and sharing
user-generated content [as Wi-Fi spreads to stadiums].”
“Most of the time, since we're an outdoor ballpark...most people
don't (have issues with connections).”

“We tested out (iBeacons) a little this year. When fans entered
the ballpark (and had the At The Ballpark App installed), they got
a prompt to check in at Comerica Park...It was interesting to see
how many people checked in. A lot of clubs are spit-balling
[iBeacon] ideas now, but we didn't do much outside of that with it.
It's kind of 'Is it really helping fans (and) are they enticed to [use]
it?' It's definitely an offseason discussion point for this year.”
“One of the cool things about working in Major League Baseball
is that all of the clubs talk to each other frequently. It's not a big
deal for me to call up (people) at other clubs to ask for help and
questions.”

This episode's Shareable Stat: -0.4%; In the 2014 MLB regular
season, total attendance league-wide was down 0.4% YOY,
virtually “flat.”
Slavin: “Detroit has some really solid fans...We're usually up
around 3 million fans. It's pretty awesome...It's good to hear
(MLB attendance) is not declining like other (ticketed
entertainment events).”

Mac's best PBR story:
“There were a lot of good stories. Hanging around with the
cowboys and trying to get them to tweet is a story itself.”
“PBR was growing fast with a lot of new employees and they
forget animals, specifically bulls, poop...
“It was really interesting to see how some 'city folks' react when
poo is flying off a tail of a bull and it hits them...(When) some
poo hit a girl from Jersey in the side of the face, her reaction
was pretty priceless.”

Mac's favorite social media tip or lesson:
“One of the most generic tips, but you have to listen to, is just
'listen to your fans.' You need to know if your fans are happy, if
your fans are upset...finding out what fans like (during
games/updates)...
“Listening to your fans and having to change certain things on
the fly (is important). Fans are much smarter than (most) give
them credit for.”

The best non-MLB sports team on social media and why:
Golden State Warriors → “A lot of teams do cool stuff from their
teams' platforms, but it seems like the Warriors have players and
coaches that have bought into social, too.
(Cites their recent “Tweedia Day”) “It's second nature for those
guys to do Twitter chats, to post selfies...It's really cool.”

Mac's philosophy on social media ROI:
“Since social media is such a hybrid of everything, it's hard to
put a distinct finger on what ROI is in social. I do monitor how
many tickets are sold from certain posts...With PBR, we were
tracking live streaming and streaming packages...”
“A lot of people like to put their fingers on one thing (for ROI).
It's everything from engagement to your reach to actual tickets
sold. It's a million different things, which is why I think it should
be more than three letters...Even on each different post. Each
post, each platform, each everything is different.”

More fun to live-tweet: A home-run filled barrage by the Tigers or
an ace pitching performance
“The home runs are more fun because there are a million
different ways to tweet home run...At the same time, I'm old
school and superstitious. And I get nervous on tweeting (about
no-hitters), when I can post that so I don't jinx it, but let people
know.”
(offers Tigers protocol for tweeting no-hitter alerts)
“There is a point where you have to bring it up because you're
covering the event.”

Best Tigers player on social media and why:
“They're all pretty good on Twitter...David Price is great because
he always talks about his dog and I love dogs. Torii Hunter is
pretty fun, too. You get to know Torii as a person off the
field...It's a tie between Torii and David. But we have quite a few
guys. They're all good.”
Price: @DAVIDprice14
Hunter: @toriihunter48

Mac's favorite memory from his first season with the Tigers:
“Nothing compares to going in [the clubhouse] for the
champagne celebration...I made the rookie mistake of not
wrapping my phone in a plastic bag...It was super-fun getting
sprayed by champagne; one of the few times in your life where
you're happy to smell like cheap booze and stale champagne...
“The guys had so much fun with it and being able to capture it
right away on all of our different platforms...It was a lot of
work...It meant a good thing too. It was a cool moment that
meant a lot to players, fans, and everyone involved.”

The best food item at Comerica Park and at other MLB ballparks:
Other park – Dodgers dogs at Dodger Stadium;
“I started to love those when I was out (there) working in minor
league baseball.”
Comerica Park – “We have this thing called a Poutine Dog. It's
got everything and anything on it. It's a Canadian thing...It
doesn't look that appealing, but it tastes delicious.”

If the Tigers were 3 outs away from a World Series title, does
Mac plan his winning tweet or wing it til the end?
“I would want to have something planned and to have this plan
go without fail, but I guarantee it would turn into winging it on
the last out.”
(cites example of when Tigers clinched division for winging it)

Mac's Social Media All-Star to Follow:
@KevinDeshazo, social media consultant and educator,
specializing in sports and student athletes; Runs Fieldhouse
Leadership
“He always seems to find articles on stuff I'm thinking about.”

Mac's Social Media All-Star to Follow:
@KevinDeshazo, social media consultant and educator,
specializing in sports and student athletes; Runs Fieldhouse
Leadership
“He always seems to find articles on stuff I'm thinking about.”
Where to find Mac and the Tigers on social media:
@MacSlavin on Twitter; @Tigers on Twitter, Instagram,
Facebook, Vine, Snapchat, and elsewhere

Thanks so much to Mac for sharing his time, knowledge,
experience, and expertise with the Digital and Social Media
Sports podcast!
Listen to the podcast and find more episodes and content on
iTunes and at www.DSMSports.net.
You can also follow me on Twitter @njh287

Episode 30 of the DSMSports Podcast w/ Mac Slavin of @Tigers #SMSports

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Episode 30 of the DSMSports Podcast w/ Mac Slavin of @Tigers #SMSports