Social Media RxD

Social Media has become the most efficient, effective, and inexpensive means of Marketing in the CrossFit industry, amongst most other industries.  Athletes use SM to gain a following and make themselves more marketable to sponsors.  Affiliates use it to keep in touch with the CF community and their own community.  Brands use it as free advertising and customer service. 
Who are some exceptional users of SM?

RX:
Shaquille O'Neal (Athlete): Shaq was one of the pioneers to use SM as a tool to become more marketable as an athlete (as if his championships weren't enough).  With the help of a Digital Media company, in 2011 Shaq released a video of his retirement to his fans that went viral. 
More Followers/Views= More Influence= Higher Marketability= More Sponsors= More $
Check out his video HERE

Christmas Abbott (Athlete): In the CF world, Christmas hasn't ever won the CF Games but she has over 12K followers on Twitter (a whole lot in comparison to other CF competitors).  She's authentic in her tweets meaning they're always in her own voice and and she answers her followers questions on a daily basis.

CrossFit Mission Gorge (Affiliate): I don't follow every box but I do follow many, as I'm sure there are many boxes with a great SM plan, CFMG is one of them.  They're on all 3 of most popular means of SM in our community (most other businesses value LinkedIn over the latter 2)- Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  Besides using SM to post the daily WOD, they use it as a means of customer service to deliver important box news, class cancellations, new products in stock, food orders, etc.  They boost their community by showing off their community- photos, events, athlete of the month, testimonials, etc.  One of my favorite things they do is at the end of the month they post a photo of their PR Board and ask their members to tag themselves if they are on the board.  Simple, effective way to give their members a sense of accomplishment and also spread their name to their members' followers.

 

WHICH BRANDS DO YOU THINK USE SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECTIVELY?


DNF:
Negativity (Many):  I thought about calling out negative uses on SM but 2 wrongs don't make a right.  We saw that last week with the SoCal Regional incident; an athlete posted negative about 'no reps' at an event, CFG posted the 'Dave Castro: Rules Clarification' and then hate comments pursued.  Remember what your mom told you in elementary school, "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say it all."

Non-existent (Many): The real DNF'ers here are the non-existent, the ones who don't believe in SM.  Even those who think just communicating on 1 type of SM are missing out.  Each medium has it's advantages and disadvantages so its important to keep in touch on at least the 3 major ones.  I've heard repeatedly Twitter is a dying fad, if you need proof why it's not then read my 'About the Author' section. 

Social Media is FREE Marketing, Advertising, Customer Service, PR, etc. for you and your Brand.


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The Digital Pitch

Building a personal brand has historically been dominated by celebrities and professional athletes, so what's the value in putting energy in "little ol' me's brand"?  Think of it more like the digital-age version of the the elevator pitch.  It's answering the question "tell me about yourself" but without saying a word.

Harvard Business School has a site dedicated to the Art of Pitchcraft.


Give 'em your best pitch!

"Whether you are trying to raise capital, promote your company, or promote yourself, it's essential to have an elevator pitch.  You need to communicate your main message quickly, clearly, and distinctly to someone who doesn't even know you... a good pitch takes planning and practice to deliver..."

But with the accessibility of social media, who rarely doesn't know somebody?  Admit it- you've Facebook stalked, I mean who hasn't?! The first thing my boss does before an interview is look them up on Facebook or LinkedIn.  You can have it set to strict privacy but with all the content means and changing policies, there's bound to have that one embarassing photo slip through.  And face it Human Resources have accessibility to "special" tools readily available to view so-called "private" content. 

Regardless if you are trying to advance your career or you're looking for a job, you should be presenting yourself, talents, and interests with your best cyber-foot forward.  Social Media is now your digital portfolio- professionally and personally.  This doesn't mean you have to untag every photo from a fun Friday night with a drink in hand (depending on your line of business), but you should  think twice about any tags or posts of potential controversy- an overboard night, political views, religious views, etc.

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