Social Media and College Athletics: The Protector, the Entertainer, and the Interactor

I imagine many athletic departments are discussing the very important question of “Should social media be under the direction of marketing or sports information?” I’m not taking sides on the debate but in most companies the public relations department has become the popular landing destination. Every school needs to decide who is leading the internal discussion and direction of an athletic department’s social media strategy but I would encourage each school to spend as much time thinking about who they are involving in its ongoing social media strategy and execution.

I wonder how many ticket offices are part of the social media planning and decision making process within an athletic department? If your ticketing operation focuses on having conversations with your customers, building relationships and expanding your customer base, I would strongly encourage you to include them in the discussion. Ticketing professionals interact with customers everyday. With their expertise in customer service, ticket managers can play an important role in the department social media strategy sessions.

It’s one of the most important ventures I’ve engaged in during the last twelve months. Our ticket operation jumps at any chance to interact with our customers and develop better relationships. The interaction opportunities that exist in social media are a blessing to better serve our customer needs and have given us an opportunity to expand our customer base. We’ve utilized facebook and twitter for ticket sales, promotions, customer service, and to have an ongoing dialogue with our season ticket holders. We didn’t need to reinvent our operation because our social media presence and philosophy is just an extension of what we are doing when customers come to the box office, call us on the phone or email us.

What does a ticket office involvement in social media look like? At Utah, we have a standing weekly meeting for all the members of our new media committee. In my role as Director of Ticket Operations, I attend these meetings along with our Sports Information Director, Director of Marketing, Director of Compliance, Director of Video Operations along with our new media staff. We talk social media for an hour- anything from content priorities, distribution, brand management, emerging trends, customer engagement, etc.

We’ve been meeting weekly for almost six months now and I’ve observed that the three primary participants gravitate toward natural roles.

Sports Information as “The Protector”

Expertise: Policing content, policy creation and enforcement, reputation management, crisis management, media communication

Marketing as “The Entertainer”

Expertise: Creative content creation, growing distribution

Ticketing as “The Interactor”

Expertise: Customer relationships and interaction, distribution of content


I value the collaborative nature of our approach. Each of us are cognizant of the importance of protecting, entertaining, and interacting in social media but we have a particular expertise in one area. Our sports information staff is charged with the reputation management of our department and getting our message out to the media. There is no better group at emphasizing the importance of the protector role in social media. Our marketing department houses our creative geniuses who are constantly creating content to drive excitement for Utah Athletics. They naturally gravitate toward the entertainer point of view during our discussions. Our ticket department builds relationships and serves our customer’s needs everyday. It’s no surprise that we emphasize the importance of interaction and dialogue with our fans during our meetings.

We recognize the strengths and weaknesses that we bring to the meetings but within that group we have our best Protector, Entertainer and Interactor in the department. We don’t have everything figured out (Who does?) but I think we have the right people at the table.

I’d love to hear how other athletic departments are tackling this issue. In the rare instance that you work in college athletics and you read to the end of this post, please share what your department is doing!

The Power of TED

One of my favorite things about social media is how easy it is to share and receive great information. Not a day goes by that I don’t get at least one message from a friend, colleague or complete stranger on twitter that either educates me on a topic of interest or inspires me in some way.

A year ago, a friend of mine tweeted the link to a John Wooden speech at the 2001 TED conference on the difference between winning and success. The speech was simple and powerful (as all John Wooden speeches and quotes are) and after watching I discovered the website that was storing the speech- ted.com. I’ve visited ted.com hundreds of times since then and have enjoyed watching inspirational video after inspirational video.

TED’s mission statement captures its essence:

“We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we’re building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world’s most inspired thinkers and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other.”

I use TED.com for personal inspiration and growth but I also utilize it frequently in my job. I love to show a thought-provoking ted talk during staff meetings. It gives us a chance to get out of “day-to-day” mode and do some personal reflection. It allows to staff to hear from someone much smarter than myself and it usually leads to some great discussions. I place a strong emphasis in the personal growth of my staff and ted.com has been one of my most valuable tools.

In the spirit of TEDs vision to share knowledge, here are ten of my favorite TED talks.


Dan Pink- Science of motivation. Intrinsic motivation- autonomy, mastery, purpose

Steve Jobs- Commencement speech on how to live before you die

Elizabeth Gilbert- Nurturing creativity

Seth Godin- Standing out

Randy Pausch- The Last Lecture

Malcolm Gladwell- Choice and happiness through spaghetti sauce

Barry Schwartz- Our loss of wisdom. Be an ordinary hero

JK Rowling- The fringe benefits of failure

Aimee Mullins: The opportunity of adversity

Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action


So if you find something that inspires you, share it with others or, at least, share it with me.

One introvert’s guide to attending conventions

I’m an introvert. I’ve taken the Myers-Briggs personality type test over and over and no matter how hard I try, I always come out an introvert.

The off season in college athletics is fast approaching with many professionals around the country making plans to attend conventions and seminars. Over and over again, you will hear the most important thing about conventions and career advancement overall is networking. The old cliché “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” will be uttered over and over again. While it may not be true all the time, the relationships you create with your colleagues can make the difference in getting your next position.

I have something to admit. One of my kryptonite's is small talk. I struggle with meeting someone for the first time and conventions used to scare me to death. My colleagues would talk about the importance of networking and meeting as many people as possible. I’d watch my extrovert friends work their magic. I was nervous, overwhelmed and always felt inferior due to my inability to have as many casual conversations as my colleagues.

Recently, I stopped trying to emulate my extroverted friends and no longer try to work the room. It was uncomfortable for me and I wasn’t very good at it. I decided to embrace my inner introvert and began networking and attending conferences in a new way.

Here are three things I do:

1. Network through social media: I’m convinced that social media allows an introvert to explore his/her extrovertness. I’ve been amazed at how many meaningful relationships I have developed with my colleagues in college athletic administration through twitter and blogging. I’ve picked up the phone on more than one occasion and called a colleague who I follow on twitter. We joke about how we’ve never talked but we feel as though we know each other and we end up having great conversations. I now see these people at conventions and it’s very easy for me to say hello and we introduce one another to other co-workers and colleagues.

2. Enjoy the sessions. When the agenda for the NACDA/NACMA/NAADD/CABMA/CEFMA/NAAC convention is posted I begin to plan my week. I understand the importance of networking at conventions but I also attend to learn about trends in the industry and learn how some schools are innovating and attacking the challenges of the college sports. Every year, I try to leave with 3-5 takeaways that I can bring back to Utah to try and make us better. I pick the sessions that I will attend much like how I used to pick my classes in college- speaker over topic. I enjoy listening to the innovators in our industry and it gives me a chance to potentially develop a future relationship with them. After I return from the convention, I will email the speaker of each session I enjoyed thanking them for sharing their insight and ask any further questions I didn’t get a chance to ask during the session. More than a few times this approach has led to further discussions about other topics and a meaningful relationship with a colleague.

3. Get involved. Volunteer to help at the convention and/ or speak on a topic you are passionate about. This may be a stretch for some introverts but when you are working with someone on a project or talking about a topic you know inside out, it’s much easier to interact with people you are meeting for the first time. Make sure to collect the business cards of people you work with or attend your session and send them a thank you note after the convention.


I used to think that being an introvert would hinder my networking and potentially my career. I no longer feel that way. Now, I wear it as a badge of honor. I’d love to hear from other introverts (and extroverts) on the topic. Message me on twitter at @zacklassiter, email me at zlassiter@huntsman.utah.edu or post below.