Episode 102 Snippets: Karen Freberg of the University of Louisville

Best of the Digital and Social
Media Sports Podcast
Episode 102: Karen Freberg
On episode 102, Neil chatted with Karen Freberg, Associate
Professor, Strategic Communications at the University of Louiville.
What follows are select snippets from the episode. To hear the full
interview, check out the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, and at
www.dsmsports.net.
You can also follow me on Twitter @njh287.
@njh287; www.dsmsports.net

Karen’s Career Path
Starting in 1995…Karen got, for her 13th birthday, her own domain name online from
her parents as a gift, to create her own website (her sister got one, too!)
She created a website for Val Kilmer, of Top Gun fame at the time
As a student athlete in high school, Karen transformed her website to be a personal
marketing tool to help get the attention of track and field coaches in college
“At that early stage of my athletic career, I didn’t really know that I was
doing…blogging…personal branding, PR, marketing.”

Karen got a scholarship to University of Florida -> After a couple of years, Karen’s academic
advisor recommended she change her major from pre-med to PR after seeing Karen’s content
blogging and writing on her website
Karen graduated from UF and then went to USC for her master’s, where she continued to
compete on track and field, setting several records and even competing at the Olympic trials!
[She still has the shot put record at USC!]
After graduating from USC, Karen did an internship in South Africa in PR before returning to the
states to pursue her phD at the University of Tennessee, focusing on social media crisis
communications primarily
She has now been at University of Louisville for 7+ years and just recently received tenure!

Karen’s advice:
“If you have a passion for research and if you have an interest for
applying your research to actionable strategies and creative
executions, and you want to help others…this is an awesome
job…I love helping out colleagues, I love learning new
things…and I love being part of the sports community, especially
social media and sports…It has been fun to be able to help others
and mentor others.”

On early personal branding with her website and recruiting
“I’m glad the emphasis on personal branding or athletes has changed,
because just in the community that I was in in track and field, I got a lot
pushback from other coaches, other athletes…They basically said that is
self-aggrandizing, that you’re promoting yourself too much…By the time I
finished, they were the ones who had their own websites.
“I always felt that that was something that I could do (where) I could
separate myself...”

[Karen recounts a story at Penn Relays when she overshadowed a
competitor on the post-meet stories, despite her having broken records and
a better performance, because of Karen’s branding and blog]
“I had student athletes in my class over the years and I told them…’You
guys are getting hands-on experience of how to present yourself, how to
deal with the media…’ I know the one “mini crisis” that I kind of sparked was
at the first SEC track and field championships…I broke the school record at
that meet and I won, and I did the Gator Chomp on the award stand, and I
didn’t realize the rivalry between Florida and Tennessee was so intense
(!)…”

PR becoming more ‘strategic communications’
:”It has been fascinating to see the changing landscape of PR, and what
I’ve noticed just in the time I’ve been a professor [is] I feel more aligned
with strategic communications now and social media than I do with the
traditional form of PR…I tell [my students] there is definitely a time and
place where you work with the mainstream media…there relationships.
But it’s really integrated, and I think you can’t just rely on one
approach…I have found that I have actually gotten more
opportunities…just for the content that I share…I think people are…not
necessarily gravitating to the traditional forms of reaching people…

“I tell students all the time that I would not be where I am without
social media…” [Karen talks about her peers thinking her
academic focus on social media was doomed to fail because
social media was a ‘fad’]
“I feel Twitter has been my rolodex of communities, where I feel
that just in the last 5-6 years ,it has really grown substantially and,
over time, I have been able to make these amazing connections
and amazing opportunities…I think just taking a little time each
day to just invest yourself…be authentic…is just important…”

Teaching a dynamic subject like social media and strategic communications
“I’m a very applied researcher. My goal is…I always look to see what are the
questions that the practitioners are asking to see if I could use theory or some
sort of method to explain what’s going on…I feel like (studying strategic
communications) is gave me a foundation of not only thinking strategically, but
creatively…I really try to keep my hand on the pulse with the professionals, and I
feel that’s an expectation…We can’t rely on case studies from a year ago…The
influx of information that we’re getting is just huge.

“It’s a lot of work (teaching social media)…I (try to be) a student of the
technology community…I tell my students I’m not an expert in social media, I’m
an enthusiast. I really love learning something new every day…and then you
have to teach something new every day. The turnaround is really fast.”

Helpful Tool: word2cleanhtml.com to turn Word docs into
HTML code.

How communications evolve but some principles remain in place
“I think that there are still some fundamental communications practices that you have
to follow. I feel having proper etiquette is one of them…Especially when we talk about
personal branding or approaching someone for networking connections…
“I do feel that there are new ways in communicating…I love emojis. (Karen explains
how shoe got spend time at General Motors, when they did a full press release about
a campaign, all in emojis). “I think what it comes down to if it’s relevant and if it
resonates with your audience and it’s in the language they’re looking for, then yeah I
think it’s appropriate. But would you use emojis if you were sitting in a c-suite with
someone that is not on social media. Probably not…”

On measuring success of communications now
“It’s interesting to see and talk with other professors that teach social media, because when you
bring up numbers and data, some of them get really excited…and then others look like (a) deer
in the headlights…I also (think) that if we just 100% focus on data, that may be too much. It’s
about the balance, about looking at what we collect, and seeing what’s working and what isn’t…
“It also validates what we’re working toward. The metrics and the KPIs that we set forth…helps
us not only prove our value to what we do on social, but I also think, too…you get creative ideas
from looking at the research…We’re looking at how our content does…In my classes, I would
say the last couple of years, we’ve definitely had a lot more emphasis on data.”
[Karen talks about her class working with the Louisville Bats, and analyzing data through
Sysomos to evaluate their social network and followers]

[Karen mentions working closely with Hootsuite and Meltwater,
among data platforms to work with her class]
“It shows the students that data isn’t scary…you can look to see
what works on your own accounts…Data is very helpful, but I
think it’s about balance – balancing the science of the data [and
research]…and also being able to apply it. I think sometimes
people forget about the application, but you’ve got to validate your
actions…”

On her students using data in their own social media decisions
“I think it’s also about the encouragement of experimenting. They feel that
social media is a one (size) fits all kind of scenario, and there’s one correct
answer…I tell them there is no right answer. I didn’t want you to think there
is a limit to the possibilities you can come up with. You have to experiment
and see what works. That freaks them out..
“My goal here is not to provide (students) trick questions. The important
thing is to think creatively, think quickly, but also be experimenting because
this is exactly what you’ll be doing in the workplace.”

Learning from the students herself
“I feel that I’m a student in their role, too…It’s getting to the point
where they’re experiencing things that I know that I’m not
experiencing when it comes to social media…There are things
they’re interested that I’m not as aware of…I learn so much from
my students.”
[Karen talks about Samantha Hughey helping Karen learn about
some key people and ideas in the industry and another student
who only took notes in class, using Instagram Stories]

Students and being conscious of personal brand when they arrive at
school
“I think that they’re getting better. One of the assignments I give them
toward the midway through the semester I have them do a managing
personal brand audit where they look at the past year of content that
they’ve shared across their platforms. It is the biggest eye opener for
them.”
[Karen makes sure to reinforce the strategic mindset and understanding
the consequences of what they post, good and bad]

“By the end of the semester, they are definitely very aware, they all have their LinkedIns,
their profile set up. One of the challenges that they raise with me is they (ask) “Do I have to
be 100% professional? How do I inject my personality…’”
[Karen practices what she preaches and shows her students how she is engaged in the
community, building her own brand and part of her personality]

Share-able Stat: $32 Million – the amount of money JJ Watt
has helped raise for Hurricane Harvey relief

Is it pronounced Louisville or Lville? And how much does it bug
locals when people get it wrong?
“It is definitely ‘L’ville.’ I grew up in California, and I wanted to call
it ‘Lewis-ville…’ and people were like ‘No.’ There are signs and
swag you can get in the tourism office at Louisville that not only
have the different pronunciations of Louisville, but the different
spellings. They definitely understand if you’re not from around
here, but they do expect you to use the correct pronunciation…”

The team or brand on social media that impresses Karen most and why
“I love Starbucks. Not just for their coffee – I love their visual presentation online. As
far as sports teams, they’re the GOAT for sports teams, in general – Clemson. When
you think you’ve seen it all, Jonathan, Jeff, Nic, and their team raise the bar…It’s
basically just mind-blowing with what they’re doing…
“I also really like what the NBA teams are doing…In football, the Washington
Redskins and Atlanta Falcons. With NBA teams, I really liked what the Atlanta Hawks
did with the Phoenix Suns for the eclipse…It’s like a comedy show sometimes when I
see the tweets they come up with…”

Tell us about your phD dissertation
“It was definitely a work of love…I definitely felt really happy to be able to work on a
project that combined the research and application part. My phD dissertation was
focusing the attention to comply with social media messages during crises. I
focused food safety (Karen said she’s a foodie)…It was a labor of love…I like to
name things, as well…so I called it ‘Bruce Lee,’ because I thought it’d be, in my
opinion, legendary and amazing…and it’s also going to kick my butt.
“I defended on April Fools’ Day 2011 (and they fooled her into thinking she didn’t
pass)…I got it published, I actually got two articles from it. It has done really well…”

[Karen explains about the varying levels of trust people have during crises when it
comes to social edia, with her uncovering some key insights about how different
audiences, varying by age, had different levels of credibility around messaging
relayed by specific subjects and social media; her work has been cited quite a bit!]

The most instructive communications crisis Karen uses in her classes as an
example
“That’s the thing – with crisis communications, there’s always something that
happens…I’ll bring up an example that actually happened earlier this year…Where
Uber had the sexual harassment allegations and Pepsi had the Kendall Jenner ad
(that offended many), the United flight (with passenger dragged off)…My students
looked at the sentiment…and (asked) if you were the social care person, how would
you respond to these?

“I think with the United case (especially), it tied together a lot of things…I felt,
looking at this case, it has such a tie to our city, and I feel this is what we study…I
needed to do a post on this…I wrote a post, published it on LinkedIn and my blog
(and it took off after LinkedIn put it on their Aviation channel)…As a result of that, I
got two interviews with publications, just because of my blog post…
“I tell my students you can actually get some opportunities and publicity just from a
blog post…”

The best event Karen has gotten to attend where she got to geek out on
social
“The first one happened last year when College GameDay came to
Louisville, and they were giving out two VIP tickets…[Karen created a video
to get picked to get the tickets!]…
[Karen decided to take a student with her to College GameDay, Chase
Kostellic, who did a Snapchat takeover for Front Office Sports]
“Just seeing the experiences and how (Chase) was able to get real-world
experiences; for me, that was really rewarding.

“But, by far, the Clemson trip I took last October was literally the best
experience…[an experience that originated from Twitter correspondence]
“I got to spend two days (with the Clemson staff) and I got just an amazing,
transparent, truly educational experience…They really rolled out the orange [sic]
carpet…I was able to see and experience the campus and the community…But the
most touching thing I experienced was…the friendship I developed with the
team…Jeff and Jonathan had a gift for me…they gave me a personalized football
jersey with my name on the back…I almost lost it…I got it framed, so it’s in my office
at Louisville…”
[Karen also calls out the guidance and mentoring Jeff and Jonathan give to the
student workers that work with them, to help their careers, too]

Karen’s bucket list sports event that she’d most want to attend
“I would say that the category of events that I would like to go to…I have a social
media and sports bucket list of people that I want to meet. And my goal is to try
to go to a game or event where they’re basically running (it)…[Karen mentions
going to Redskins Social Media Day, wanting to go to a Falcons game]

“I would say it comes down to multiple events, but I’d like to see the people behind these
sporting events…My goal is to have coffee (with many people from the social media and
sports community)…I’ve had a few in-person meetings…and it’s always over coffee, and I
always bring a famous treat from Louisville…an amazing dessert called Bourbon Balls,
basically a chocolate candy, but it’s full of bourbon…Whenever I meet people, I want to
give them a little taste of Louisville…
“I would say that I don’t have one event, but I would love to meet my colleagues and
friends who I’ve met through social media, and learn from them…”

Tell us about being an accomplished athlete and she got into track and field
“My dad was a thrower for UCLA [where had a lot of success]…So there was definitely that
family history for throwing. My parents…they wanted us to learn a musical instrument, they
wanted us to have some sort of art we were passionate about, and they wanted us to play a
team sport, as well as an individual sport.
[Karen about trying basketball first, but her coach told her she was ‘too nice’ on the court]
“I signed up for track (in junior high)..and won (her first) meet (despite no experience or
practicing)…I thought, okay, this is what I’m going to do. I love the shot put (Karen also did
discus)…I love weightlifting…My dad always made me work out with the guys, because he said ‘I
don’t want you to be intimidated by what you should and should not be able to do as a female.’
[She used to lift with the football players, and out-lifted many of them]

The most important social media principle, in Karen’s opinion
“I would say be yourself, I think is really important. But always pay it forward, too. It’s
important to be yourself and not feel like you to have be like everybody else…I think
there’s a lot of unique stories and points of views and perspectives that need to be
showcased, but I think people sometimes are intimidated to show that…[Karen uses
herself as an example for students, not a ‘typical professor’]
“Also, I think – paying it forward. We’re all busy people, but making the extra effort
and helping someone – you never know the difference you can make.” [Karen talks
about passing this principle on to her students]

The best food to get in Louisville
“Louisville is a foodie city. They’ve gotten several awards.
It depends on what you like:”
BBQ: Doc Crow’s
Comfort food: Village Anchor, especially Sunday Brunch
Coffee Shop: Please & Thank You (“the best chocolate chip cookies”)

Karen’s favorite guest lecturer she’s had in class and her dream guess
lecturer
“I would say I have to highlight three people:
“Definitely Jonathan and Jeff from Clemson, they were phenomenal.
Samantha (Hughey) came in a couple times; once was when was with
Team USA…she also did a presentation when she was at adidas. I
would also say that both Geoff from the Washington Redskins and Jeff
O’Keefe from Toyota Racing were really relatable…Also Katie Hughes
from College GameDay was really amazing.

“As far as wishful speakers, and I know this is very unlikely, it would be interesting to have
Gary Vaynerchuk. [Karen reviewed his last book and got a shoutout from him]…”I think it
would be interesting just for us to have a conversation about education. He has over the
years had some interesting things to say about the value of higher education…what
professors don’t teach in class. I want to raise my hand and say ‘Hey, you don’t realize
what some of us have been doing…’
“One that I think would be interesting would be Nick Marquez from Facebook and
Instagram. The things he’s doing for college sports…it would be amazing…”

Karen’s Social Media All-Star to Follow
“I would definitely mention all the people that I’ve mentioned (previously
in the conversation)…I think @ChrisYandle, @JimmySanderson are
really amazing, as well. Jessica Smith (@WarJessEagle) definitely a
must-follow…I would also recommend looking at some conference
follows - @KatieCavender from Mountain West, @JustinKarp from Pac
12 Networks, @CollegeGameday and those folks. I would also
encourage people to follow the #smsports hash tag (and community)…”

Where to find Karen on digital and social media
Karen is most active on Twitter @kfreberg
Also find her on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and
Snapchat

Thanks so much again to Karen for sharing her time, expertise, and
experience on the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast!
Hear the full episode on iTunes, Stitcher, and at
www.dsmsports.net.

Episode 102 Snippets: Karen Freberg of the University of Louisville

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Episode 102 Snippets: Karen Freberg of the University of Louisville