Healthcare marketing – Entry Level

Entry Level opportunity for a job through Lynne Hazan and associates!

New job posts from MicaSports

Here’s a listing of new available sports jobs from my sports recruiter friends at MicaSports. If any of these jobs fit you, please contact them directly at michelle@micasports.com OR caryn@micasports.com.

Twitter Is Now Banned Deep In The Heart of Texas Tech

Things aren’t going so great in Red Raider land. 

No, it’s not the fact that they are 2-2 and the chances of returning to last year’s glory are not going to happen.

It’s because some key Texas Tech players started to use Twitter to voice their frustration about both the coach and their play after last weekend’s late loss to Houston.

In an Yahoo article posted Monday, key seniors including senior linebacker Marlon Williams tweeted their frustration publicly like this one:

“Wondering why I’m still in this meeting room when the head coach can’t be on time for his own meeting.”

Ouch.

Instead of rounding up the wagons and attempt to squash these frustrations, technologically adverse Coach Leach issued a team-wide Twitter ban for the rest of the season Monday afternoon.

Bless their hearts, I feel so sorry for them…and for Coach Leach too.

Athletes should realize that controversial tweets are almost equivalent to paparazzi pictures of celebrities doing stupid things.  All the media has to do is sit back and wait for the perfect piece without having to lift a finger.

Sometimes, it just comes in a form of 140 characters.

This is the dangerous side of how social media allows for self expression, but if you let your guard down, you won’t be able to take it back.  No matter what they say on Twitter, Facebook, or any other social media platform, it is considered “open” and free content, no matter how much privacy they set up.

Athletes, if Charlie Villaneuva, Chad OchoCinco, and Antonio Cromartie haven’t shown you that you need to think before you tweet, then I’m not sure how much more we can help you.

On the flip side, while I understand coach Leach wanting to restrict his players from saying any “negative” things through Twitter, I hope he is going to take the time to address the deeper issue that is causing these outburst. 

Well…outside of the fact that the Red Raiders are not very good this season that is.

If he doesn’t and the Red Raiders continue to follow their downward path, don’t expect the media to let up on pursuing athlete’s growing frustration of their season…or their coach.

Oh, and Coach Leach, there’s not enough banning you can do to stop that problem.

———————————————

Steve Raquel is sports fan and an online social media expert who helps professional athletes, individuals and businesses navigate and succeed in leveraging social media as the president of Illinois Online Ventures.  Contact Steve directly at sraquel@iovmedia.com or follow him on twitter at @sraquel.

The Edmonton Eskimos: Where Social Media Is A Part Of The Game Plan

As the reach of social media starts to be evaluated and slowly integrated into key major professional leagues here in America, its adoption and use is starting to be uncovered in all places, our neighbors to the north.  More specially, the Canadian Football League (CFL).

Unlike the National Football League, the CFL is less restrictive on their social media policies, if they have one at all.  As a result, teams and players are attempting to find out how to use social media in ways that the NFL won’t event start.

One team in particular, the Edmonton Eskimos, found one effective way almost by accident.

Snapping a picture of the team praying together right before a game.

Edmonton Eskimos Director of Communication Dave Jamieson, spoke about how the team’s web designer had snapped a couple of “behind-the-scenes” pictures of the team and posted on the online photo sharing site SnapMyLife.com. 

They weren’t sure what the reaction would be about showing what seemed to be innocuous photos of locker rooms, players in their off time, and the team praying before a game. 

The reaction surprised them.

As Jamieson put it, “our fans reacted better than we ever expected.  We realized Edmonton fans wanted to see all the behind-the-scenes things we take for granted.  It not only helped them to feel even more connected, but it gave us a communication channel to share the passion of the team in real time.” 

As word spread about the photos, the team tried to figure out how to better utilize the site.  What they found was a nifty Snap2Twitter feature that gives team personnel the ability to take behind-the-scene photos as they happen and post them immediately to the team’s SnapMyLife profile page.

However, unlike the NFL or now the NBA, the Edmonton Eskimos are taking pictures before, after, and during the game, which has fans buzzing.  So far, Jamieson has indicated that these photos, only taken by their team personnel, haven’t impacted the game at all.  In fact the opposite has happened.  Fans only want more and the Eskimos are more than happy to oblige.

A shot of a player in his post-interception celebration?  Check.  A picture taken only five feet away of a player talking with the head coach after a great play like the one shown above?  Why not?

SnapMyLife Founder George Grey is more than happy to see the Eskimos utilize his platform that was initially focused on family and friends. He believes SnapMyLife is a perfect platform to “complement” existing media that lets fans already engage with the team including Twitter.

As a result of this opportunity and the growth of its site, SnapMyLife is making upgrades to this to be able to partner with other professional sports teams who want to use their platform to connect with fans.   

While it’s clear that the Eskimos and other professional sports teams are still in its infancy of utilizing social media, it may end up that lesser known professional leagues and teams will be the ones on the cutting edge of “social media” in sports. 

Why?

Because it’ll take large established leagues like the NFL time to figure out how to accommodate social media without compromising their multi-billion dollar television contracts.

That’s why.

And until then, the Eskimos will continue snapping away at success with their fans—off and on the field.

—————————

Steve Raquel is sports fan and an online social media expert who helps professional athletes, individuals and businesses navigate and succeed in leveraging social media as the president of Illinois Online Ventures.  Contact Steve directly at sraquel@iovmedia.com or follow him on twitter at @sraquel.

How-To Delete Facebook Apps

So…you’ve added more apps than you can shake a stick at! How do you remove them? We show you how in under 90 seconds!

How to remove or add Facebook friend feeds

If you have ever wanted to find out how to remove a friends feed from your news feed wall, here is a quick tutorial on how to not only remove it, but add it back! Enjoy!

Is David Stern Serious About A Twitter Policy? Yes, But Not Really.

It has been reported today through Yahoo that NBA Commish David Stern is putting on the finishing touches to the NBA’s Social Media Policy as it relates to their athletes utilizing the Twitter platform during the season.

Per the article, Stern believes the policy won’t be “too serious.”

“We just need to make sure when it’s OK to Tweet and when it’s not OK to Tweet so it at least focuses around the game,” he said. “It would look unusual for a guy sitting on the bench to pick up his cell phone, and I think we can agree that he probably shouldn’t be writing e-mails. It’s not about Twitter; it’s about the line of communication. That’s what we’re focusing on.

“We’re happy to let it play out to see if it merits all the attention that it’s getting. We don’t want to overreact.”

Did I just hear common sense coming from a professional league?  I believe so!

I think Mr. Stern has benefited from having the NFL and the SEC walk on the social media landmine before he had to deal with it.  By sitting and watching the feedback from angry fans, media and players alike, he’s able to take the time to provide a more thoughtful and meaningful policy.

It also helps that NBA players like Shaq, Stephon Marbury, Eddie Curry and many other NBA superstars have embraced social media (for good and bad) in ways they are starting to see future potential in building fan loyalty.

I believe that Stern probably created this policy to be self-policed on the team level as seen with the Charlie Villanueva episode last March.  Instead of the league cracking down on Charlie, like the NFL would probably do, all it took was Coach Skiles reprimanded him for tweeting during halftime of a game.

Charlie, thanks for being the guinea pig for the rest for the league.  However, I think you’ll survive.

In any event, professional leagues are slowly warming up to the realization that social media is here to stay.  If the NBA’s first crack at a decent approach to a social media policy is any indication, it looks like the future is great.

Actually…it’s FAN-tastic!

——————————

Steve Raquel is sports fan and an online social media expert who helps professional athletes, individuals and businesses navigate and succeed in leveraging social media as the president of Illinois Online Ventures.  Contact Steve directly at sraquel@iovmedia or follow him on twitter at @sraquel.

Washington Redskins Allow Game Tweets: A Crack in the NFL Armor?

Did the Washington Redskins find a weak spot in the NFL social media policy?

I hope so.

As you know a couple of weeks ago, the NFL unveiled a social media policy tighter than Fort Knox, restricting anybody related to the NFL from utilizing social media 90 minutes before and after any NFL games.

I wrote earlier that I expect the NFL to enforce that policy on the players and personnel through hefty fines and public admonitions.  It has caused Chad Ochocinco to consider closing his Twitter account rather than attempting to fight the system.

However, the NFL’s policy of restricting fans from using social media during games was something I didn’t believe could be enforced. 

Now it looks like that one NFL team has thrown the NFL’s defense off by testing that policy starting this Sunday.

In an article written by Aaron Brazell it says that the Washington Redskins are actually encouraging their fans to Tweet during games using the #redskins hashtag that will be posted on large screens in the stadium and online for those who aren’t at the game.

Encouraging fan engagement during NFL football games?  What a novel concept!

If the Redskins are successful, which I completely believe they will be, I expect other NFL teams will come out with their own ways to get fans engaged using social media during games this fall.

When that happens, I hope the NFL will take notice and start looking to go from a defensive to an offensive mode and score points with social media savvy NFL fans…like me. 

————————————–

Steve Raquel is sports fan and an online social media expert who helps professional athletes, individuals and businesses navigate and succeed in leveraging social media as the president of Illinois Online Ventures.  Contact Steve directly at sraquel@iovmedia or follow him on twitter at @sraquel.

Internship Opp – mktg group Chicago

mktg’ is looking for an eager college student to partake in an internship for the Chicago office (Sept. 1 – Nov. 1).

The Chicago Marathon: Five Ways Social Media Could Help Cheer Runners On

Last year, I spent 18 weeks waking up at 5:00 am each morning to train for one of the most incredible experiences one can have in their lifetime—running the Chicago Marathon.

It had been on my bucket list for many years and after completing a half-marathon the year prior, I rustled up the courage to go for broke and accomplished my first marathon.

As those of you who’ve also done it, it is an incredible experience I will never forget and hopefully do again. 

As I think about all of those brave souls getting ready for this year’s Chicago Marathon, I thought about how my personal experience running would have been affected if I could integrate social media into the experience.

Why? To me that’s an easy answer.

It’s all about encouragement. As much and in as many ways as possible.

You see, outside of top elite runners who finish the race even before I hit mile nine, the rest of us amateur runners feed strength and encouragement off of the thousands of fans who line up to cheer their butts off for the thousands of us who have prepared for that day.

However, in my personal experience, there were more stretches of empty streets than they were full ones, especially in the latter half of the marathon. You end up looking for every holler from a passing car or a “keep going” from someone on their porch that gives you that little morsel of energy to keep going.

On the flip side, my biggest fans were desperately trying to pick me out from a crowd at some mile marker, only to attempt to yell something inspirational for the few seconds I ran by. Those who couldn’t come had to wait until after the race to send me an e-mail or call. 

While I’ll take what I can get, where I need the most encouragement is the long stretches between miles 18-25. Like when I’m running north on Michigan avenue trying to take the next step with two miles left while I’m being passed by grandma using a walker.

That’s where I think the concept of social media can help. 

I believe these new technologies can help create opportunities for people near and far to encourage runners throughout more of the race in real time, especially in areas where they need it most. It can also act as a way for fans to engage and be a part of the marathon, any marathon, like never before.

If I was running (or had a friend running) the marathon this year, I came up with five quick social media ideas that I’d know would make the Chicago Marathon even better:

1. Create a marathon Hashtag. Create the #BOACM (Bank of America Chicago Marathon) hashtag and allow attenders and followers a way to Twitterate (Twitter-celebrate) the Chicago Marathon throughout the event.  People with mobile phones can send tweet and twitpic updates from all over the city instantaneously for everyone to see.  Allow for tweets/twitpics to be posted on digital screens placed all around the city so runners can see what people are saying. For those who aren’t there, use www.twubs.com to keep up with the latest action as it happens.
2. Chicago Marathon iPhone Application. Develop an iPhone app that ties in a runners’ GPS coordinates from their timing chip so that people can know where they are at all times. In addition, afterward runners can get almost instant feedback on their pace and overall time they’ve run so far. In addition, this app acts as a locator for where friends and family can position themselves to cheer without the fuss of wondering if they passed already!
3. Skype Encouragement Call Centers. In tandem with the iPhone app & GPS locator, allow areas in the back half of the marathon where amateurs (like me) start to get weary and would love to get encouragement from people far away. Allow special walk/rest stations where a runner can get a 30-second to one-minute call from a loved one far away who can encourage them.
4. Facebook FanPage/Broadcast Page. Just like the NBA and PGA have used Facebook to broadcast live event video and real-time chatting, allow fans to use Facebook to get involved in the Chicago Marathon via Facebook. The page could show real-time competitor results, allow people to look up where their friend is and/or tag all the friends who are competing. Facebook could have different pages for different mile markers so people can see multiple parts of the marathon at the same time. People could also post messages of support that would be posted on digital boards at various mile markers. Related, numbers of runners coming into view could be posted online so that people can send real-time encouragement to them as the runner goes by. 
5. YouTube Encouragement Video Areas. Fans and friends of runners can record short videos of encouragement before the event that runners can play at different part of the race. Ideally, a runner could enter a rest/walk section and trigger the start of the videos playing or they could be playing in a loop. This would be great in those long stretches where spectator support is lower.

Please keep in mind that these ideas are purely subjective and the actual integration of technology to make these things happen may not be there yet, but I know if someone put their mind to it, one or more of these things could potentially be a reality.

Since social media is here to stay, the sky’s the limit on how many way you can integrate it to help make something like the Chicago Marathon, any marathon or any sporting event even more fan engaging.

If you have your own ideas, let me know below.  I’d love to hear them.

————————————

Steve Raquel is sports fan and an online social media expert who helps individuals and businesses navigate and succeed in leveraging social media. He also manages the online lives of dozen of professional athletes as the VP athlete relations of FanFuego.com, an online sports social network that connects pro athletes with passionate fans. Contact Steve directly at sraquel@fanfuego.com or follow him on twitter at @sraquel.