Social media has quite literally become the number one playing field for sports marketing and audience engagement. For sports fans, excitement peaks while they are watching their favorite teams play. During game time, they take to social media to connect with other fans on social channels and share real-time reactions and opinions. Timing is everything in sports; which makes real-time social engagement and content marketing crucial modes of communication for sports marketers to effectively reach their target audience at the right time.
Most sports marketers have jumped eagerly on the social media bandwagon for these reasons, creating an incredibly competitive landscape for sports brands to set themselves apart with unique and clever campaigns. In our research, we found 25 brilliant sports marketing influencers, sharing interesting sports marketing content and industry best practices. Follow these experts for inspiration to get the creative juices flowing for your next real-time social media marketing campaign.
- Stephanie McMcahon – Chief Brand Officer at WWE
Chief Brand Officer @WWE, TV villain, philanthropist, public speaker, fitness enthusiast & mom of 3 daughters. #WelcomeToTheQueendom - Joe Favorito – Strategic Communications, Social Media, and Brand Consultant
30 yr. vet. sports & entertainment marketing & PR consultant, blogger, Dir. of Industry Relations, Columbia University Sports Management http://joefavorito.com - Peter Stringer – Vice President, Social Media at UFC
Vice President, Social Media at @UFC. Formerly @Celtics, @Fidelity, @NESN and more. - John Guppy – President and Founder of Gilt Edge Soccer Marketing
Sports biz & soccer marketing veteran / Former #MLS Team President / Head of @SoccerMarketing / #saintsfc fan before it was ? — it is cool, right? - Brian Dailey – Sports Digital Media at Showtime Network Inc.
Digital VP @shosports, past @espn. Sports marketer & storyteller. Hoops junkie. Fight fan. Director of @SHO_Docs Legacy: Bob Hurley. - Adolfo Romero – Head of Marketing and Host Committees at CONCACAF
Sports Marketer and Director of International Business for Major League Soccer. Lifelong Angels baseball fan. Opinions my own. - Adam Hulme – Social Media Manager at Everton
Social Media Manager at @Everton. Previously Social Media Manager at @btsport and @QPRFC. - Diego Valdes – Director & International Sports Marketing Consultant, Conference Speaker at Sport Business Institute Barcelona
Director at Sports Business Institute Barcelona @SBI_Barcelona I Sports Marketing & Communication Consultant | Int’l Football Journalist - Tariq Ahmad – Social Media Consultant at DDG Inc & Social Media & Sports Researcher at Smart Brothers LLC
Social Media Director. Aspiring YouTuber. Host #smsportschat Thursdays 9p ET. Sports & social media most of the time. Eat, Tweet, Sleep, Repeat. - Oscar Ugaz – Strategy Director at Atomikal Marketing Digital
Digital Business Manager (@realmadrid Toyota @Promperu ) #digisport #sportsbiz #countrybranding. - Ryan Murrant – Marketing & Fan Engagement Manager at MotherwellFC
Marketing & Fan Engagement Manager at @MotherwellFC ,a passion for #FanEngagement.In 1999 I became an @anthonynolan donor.My own views,if you agree they’re ours - Jess Smith – Senior Manager, Digital & Social Strategy at NY Yankees
Digital/social @Yankees. Runner. Auburn alum. Dog mom. Blogging at http://socialnsport.com . Believe in power of stories. Coffee in hand, always. Views my own. - Heidi Browning Pearson – EVP, Chief Marketing Officer at National Hockey League
Digital passionista dedicated to peace, love & ROI. My happy place is the intersection of media, tech, music, culture & hockey. CMO @NHL. Tweets are mine - Sean Callanan – Founder of Sports Geek
Growing revenue via digital at @SportsGeek & @CHUNKY_media. Connector, keynote speaker, #sportsbiz, podcaster, hard worker. Say hello to me at #sac17 - Thomas Van Schaik – Chief Commercial Officer at NOC*NSF
ENGAGING FANS & BUILDING BRANDS. Raving sports fan & Chief Commercial Officer @nocnsf & @TeamNLtweets. - Neil Horowitz – Senior Customer Success Manager at Hopscotch
Customer Success Mgr at Hopscotch @gohops. Social Media, Digital, Mobile, Analytics, #sportsbiz, #smsports, Padres, Raiders, Grizzlies, Yale grad, Weightlifting - Richard Clarke – Director at Mr Richard Clarke- Sports Digital Consultant
Sports Digital/Social Media Consultant | #Digisport Journalist, Speaker #SXSW| Ran content strategy @ ??#Arsenal ??#Rapids96 now ??#Liga1 | Views≠employer - Jason Matheson – Owner of Skull Sparks/ Sports Digital
College sports digital, recruiting, social @SkullSparks. Former digital Auburn, Oklahoma, Miami Athletics. Still trying to master German. #smsports - Dan Pecoraro – Integrated Marketing Manager, at NBC Sports
SportsMarketing @NBCUniversal for @NFL Sunday Night Football & http://NBCSports.com | former Marketing & On-Air Talent @BleacherReport @BKCyclones @Party105FM - David Fowler – Head of Business Intelligence at FIFA
#CIM chartered marketer & sportsbiz pro. Twitter interests incl. #marketing #digisport #sportsbiz #sportstech and #sponsorship. More sportsbiz stuff on my blog - Saivoush Fallahi – Social Media Editor at Eurosport
Sports journalist & social media wiz @Eurosport. Once Founded SempreInter and SoloCalcio. Tweets about #football & #Inter. - Kevin Driscoll – Social Media Director at Sports Illustrated
Director of Social Media at Sports Illustrated @SInow - Brandon Stoneburg – Sports Reporter at Hanover Evening Sun
Social Media Coordinator in baseball. Former sports reporter. Temple U grad. Baltimore kid. Drake enthusiast. - Liam Corcoran – Social Media Sports Journalist at Sky
Social Media Journalist at Sky Sports | Reporter at @AnfieldHQ | Roberto Firmino enthusiast | Views my own | RT is not an endorsement - Todd Ballard – Interim Chief Marketing Officer at GoPro
Interim CMO/ Vice President, Global Sports and Entertainment Marketing at GoPro- the world’s most versatile camera
Have we missed anyone? Tell us in the comments section below!
If your sports brand is ready to take your social media strategies to the next level, check out our ebook, Social Listening, Social Intelligence…So What?
