SocialToaster, the social marketing platform, today revealed the four rules for running a successful social media brand program, according to some of America’s biggest and best professional sports teams. These professional sports teams included the Detroit Pistons, Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens who are sharing their expertise as SocialToaster launches SocialToaster FANACTIVE, which helps professional sports teams harness social media to amplify their messages, exponentially increasing their online reach while driving website traffic, fan advocacy, and ticket sales. According to these teams, the four social media rules are: Create Content No One Else Is Making; Balance Quantity with Quality (Not Quality over Quantity); Don’t Use One Voice – Use Many; and Sharing beats Stalking.

Create Content No One Else Is Making

“You have to listen, analyze and adjust the content you are providing your fans,” said Mike Donnay, Senior Director, Brand Networks of Palace Sports & Entertainment and The Detroit Pistons. “In our case, what we’ve learned by analyzing our social metrics is that fans want exclusive behind the scenes content that you can’t get from other media outlets like ESPN. Our Instagram feed, for example, is all behind-the-scenes photos that you can’t get anywhere else. But that’s not something we simply created from our plan, but from using social listening and monitoring tools to understand what fans want. We then use these insights to optimize our social strategy to deliver unique content to each of our social channels.”

Balance Quantity with Quality (Not Quality over Quantity)

“The rule used to be ‘do not overload your fans with too many posts,’” said Baltimore Ravens Super Fan and Social Media Strategist AK Stout. “Then Facebook changed their algorithms and now any given post only reaches about 16% of your fan base. The general rule for Facebook now is ‘post as often as you want’, up to 5 times a day – evenly timed. For Twitter, you can tweet 30 times a day and it’s probably ok. People are unlikely to see all of your posts, so as long as you are sharing valuable info, most followers will be ok with it. For Pinterest, it works a little bit differently – you really can post as many times daily as you want. Users don’t have to follow everything a brand pushes out – they opt in to follow specific “boards” which allows them to tailor what content they want to receive.”

Don’t Use One Voice - Use Many

“All digital channels are not equal,” added Daniel Plumlee, Director of Interactive Media for The Indianapolis Colts. “Sports teams have a huge range in a fan’s age. Each age likes to consume media in their own way. You have to tailor your message to each channel. You have to provide content they will find valuable.”

“We operate on the philosophy that we need to be wherever our fans are,” said Michelle Andres, Vice President, of Digital Media for the Baltimore Ravens. “We are very active on Facebook and Twitter but you also have to look at Google Plus and Pinterest. In fact, you never know what is going to come along and turn into the next Facebook. You have to be flexible – social networks are changing all the time.”

Sharing Beats Stalking

“People don’t want to stalk brands on social media and just passively receive updates - they want to be able to share the team’s content,” said Baltimore Ravens Super Fan and Social Media Strategist AK Stout. “Brands can look at sports teams that use SocialToaster as an example. By using Super Fans to spread content about a sports team, SocialToaster empowers true brand evangelists while creating more fan engagement. SocialToaster is a game changer because it’s easy for both the brand and the user.”

ABOUT SOCIAL TOASTER

SocialToaster, with corporate headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland, is a fan engagement and message amplification platform that provides a simple way to amplify the reach of messages on social networking sites by making content sharing fun and easy. SocialToaster mobilizes Super Fans of media and entertainment brands, sports teams, and other enterprise-level organizations to increase fan engagement, propel website traffic, strengthen brand loyalty, and drive revenues. As an alternative to traditional advertising, SocialToaster helps clients monetize the social channel by increasing the visibility of posts and maximizing their potential reach in a repeatable, measurable way.