I was invited to the Home of FIFA in Zurich, Switzerland, for the Women’s Football Instructors Seminar, from March 20-23, 2012. My work with FIFA is generally focused on Marketing and Communications for Com-Unity Seminars, so I’m incredibly thankful for this opportunity to come be a part of what I’d call, “coaches week,” in Zurich.

During this time, a small group of us worked on the structure and organization of the Com-Unity Seminars, while the larger group of participants discussed curriculum and tactics for FIFA’s coaching courses. The cross-over between programs was crucial, as I collected a ton of feedback from instructors on the successes and challenges regarding seminars/courses they’ve been a part of. I learned about ways I can better support coaches who work Com-Unity Seminars with me. And importantly, we were all able to meet face-to-face.

I believe we counted that 19 of the seminar participants are, or had previously been, head coaches at National Teams. We’re talking April Heinrichs (USA), Hope Powell (ENG), Tina Theune (GER), Carolina Morace (ITA), Vera Pauw (NED), Leonardo Cuellar (MEX), and more. Simply awesome.

The Home of FIFA.

A moment that struck me personally was when Jacquie Shipanga, the Head Coach of the Namibian Women’s National Team, spoke to the group about her challenges as a coach in Africa. Jacquie and I presented a Com-Unity Seminar together in Tanzania back in the fall, and she’s one of the bravest, strongest, most caring souls I’ve ever met. Her insights were incredibly powerful.

In an interview with FIFA.com during the course, Jacquie said:

The challenges we have to face in our country are so overwhelming sometimes that there’s no way of tackling them. You end up asking yourself who is responsible for the coaches and instructors. That’s why this seminar is so valuable.

We’re getting the opportunity here to work with role models who have an in-depth understanding of the women’s game. It’s really motivating for us to see leading coaches like Tina and April. They’re very warm people and they’re offering their help to us. I really feel everyone’s looking after me. It’s fantastic.

Here are just a couple of the photos I snapped during the week:

Left: My place setting. Right: President Blatter giving his opening speech.

Left: A panel discussion with National Team coaches. Right: On the pitch just outside FIFA’s main building.

A sincere thanks to FIFA and all those who made this week possible, especially Mayi Turner-Kerr Cruz Blanco, who literally works day in and day out for the development of women’s football around the world. Though she’s often behind the scenes organizing seminars and developing programs, she’s truly a rockstar who lives on the front lines.

I traveled to Austin, TX, last week, as NFL invited me to speak on a panel to their digital teams about how we’re using social media at MLS. I was excited and humbled to have been invited; the NFL is one of the organizations I’m constantly looking to for ideas and inspiration (did you see the social media command center for Superbowl?!). Other panelists included Michael Lazerow from Buddy Media, Omid Ashtari from Twitter, and Rachel Webber from Tumblr.

Some of the things we talked about included:

• The unique similarities and differences between each of the social platforms.
• Best practices when publishing to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc.
• New Facebook timeline and how it may impact sports businesses.
• How analytics can and should be included in the decision-making process.
• And of course, things we’ve each learned just by giving it the old college try.

Thank you to Jeff Berman, the GM of NFL Digital, who moderated the discussion. He made me feel absolutely at ease speaking to a room full of peers. It was also super-cool that he set up a Yammer chat so attendees could ask questions in real-time while we were speaking and he could select the most relevant ones to direct toward the panel. (I’m taking that idea to my next speaking engagement for sure.)

Overall, it was a great event, I met some amazing people, and I’m thankful to have been invited. I can’t wait to see the ideas the NFL and its teams come up with in 2012!

I arrived tonight in Vancouver, B.C., for the FIFA/CONCACAF Conference on the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany 2011. After looking through my brochure, I’m excited to see that many coaches, instructors and staff from FIFA projects I’ve worked on previously, and many of my fellow Americans, will be here.

The quote in our schedule from President Sepp Blatter states:

This conference will be a fantastic opportunity to bring the FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011 to the member associations of the CONCACAF region. The programme will analyse the performance of the participating teams and more specifically the CONCACAF ones. It will also provide a great platform for discussing the future of women’s football in the region at member association level.

After peeking my head into the Grand Ballroom earlier today to see the incredible set-up, I’m really looking forward to an inspiring weekend. I’ll do my best to post updates here on my blog, but Twitter will be real-time so follow me there if you’d like. (Fair warning: I’m not sure how much I’ll actually be able to tweet given the nature of the conference, but I’ll do my best. I’m also hoping I’ll still get the hotel Wi-Fi over there.)

Follow @vandey01

Here’s tomorrow’s schedule, Thursday, January 26, 2012:

9:00am Opening Ceremony
– Chuck Blazer (CONCACAF)
– Jill Fracisco (CONCACAF)
– Dominique Maestracci (CSA)
– Annette Wildgoose (Sport Canada)

10:00am Introduction
– Thierry Regenass (FIFA)

10:15am Review of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011
– April Heinrichs (USA)
– Vera Pauw (Netherlands)
– Anne Noe (Belgium)
– Sylvie Beliveau (Canada)

1:00pm The World Champions
– Eji Ueda (Japan)
– Hiroyuki Horino (Japan)

4:00pm Analysis of Physical Condition at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011
– Michel Ritschard (Switzerland)

4:45pm Injuries and Injury Prevention / F-MARC studies
– Cathy Campbell (Canada)

Evening
Official Dinner

What would the NSCAA Convention be without the added excitement (and pressure) of speaking? For the second year in a row, my good friend and peer Ryan Knapp and I presented together. Ryan and I met in 2009 at Tweet – Blowing the Whistle on Social Media and have bantered back and forth on all things digital and social media since.

Follow @ryanknappFollow @vandey01

While last year’s session was focused on social media, Ryan and I broadened the scope in 2012 to include Five Secrets to Successful Soccer Websites.

The idea for this session came about thanks to our work together on the new NSCAA.com. The project began in August 2010 and was a labor of love for the two of us. We just launched the site in November 2011.

Throughout the build, Ryan and I researched sites far and wide to hypothesize what makes successful websites tick. We combined this research into five secrets (aka takeaways) to share. Ryan also posted about the presentation on his blog, be sure to check it out.

Slides from session, Five Secrets to Successful Soccer Websites w/ @vandey01 are up. bit.ly/AxiJlO #NSCAAConvention

— Ryan Knapp (@ryanknapp) January 23, 2012

Click here to download the PDF. (opens in a new window)

Successful websites are:

1. Part of a larger business plan
It’s important that your website is built with your company’s business goals in mind, aka how do you make money? For many companies – especially in the soccer industry – your website is the front door to your business… and you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Ensure you know what success looks like first, then build your site to support that.

2. Built with the user in mind
There are two categories of users that we recommend you consider. The first is people, both those that use the site for business purposes (team administrators, webmasters) and those that visit it as a user (looking to purchase goods/services, players, parents). The second type of user to consider is a search engine (like Google, Yahoo or Bing). Both find, interact with and use your site differently. Recognize this and build your site to accommodate both.

3. Embrace content
As cliche as it may seem, content has been, and remains, king. By identifying what you want to communicate about your company/brand, how you should distribute this information, and when it will be most effective, you’ll set yourself up for success.

4. Sharable and social
While this may not have always been so in the past, today’s Internet has all but been consumed by social integration. “Being online” continues to evolve as more personal and socially-driven, and websites that embrace feedback, social media sharing and two-way dialogue will find success in this new dimension.

5. Analyzed and adjusted
Would you field a soccer team every weekend without analyzing and adjusting your lineup? No? Well, you shouldn’t do this with a website either. There are a ton of free and easy to use tools that you can use to learn what’s happening on your website. Use this data and tie your website back to your business goals, which you of course identified in secret number 1.

Click here to download the PDF. (opens in a new window)

Where do I start?

Everybody has to start someplace, because websites don’t just happen. Here are some tips to get you moving on the path to success.

1. Find a website you like.
Do a bit of research to find sites that match your company’s vision. If you can’t find an exact match, find something similar. It’s also good to identify what you don’t like in a website as well.

2. Call/email the contact listed on the site.
Usually there’s a link for “About Us” or “Contact Us”. You’ll also often find a link at the very bottom of the site that will take you to the developer directly.

3. Ask around.
If doing the homework on your own is proving daunting, ask around. Chances are that somebody in your social circle has had a part in building, updating, maintaining or using a website they’d recommend.

Click here to download the PDF. (opens in a new window)

What do I ask?

Here are some questions to ask that will help you get a good feeling for the company or web developer you’re considering.

1. Have you had experience building the type of website we want?
2. What will you do if we suggest a dumb idea?
3. When your projects run behind schedule, what is a typical reason?
4. What will the finished product include and what will it contain?
5. What other vendors and/or tools are we expected to obtain?
6. How long will you guarantee your work?
7. What do you consider to be a successful project
8. What is the cost of the website build, and what is the ongoing maintenance?

Click here to download the PDF (opens in a new window).

We hope you find this information useful. For us, giving this presentation was the culmination of a lot of months of hard work, and we were honored to be able share this at the NSCAA Convention.

If you have questions, suggestions or follow-ups, please feel free to write in the comments below or tweet us @RyanKnapp and/or @vandey01.

The 2012 NSCAA Convention could once again be called: The busiest week of my life. Here’s the play-by-play, through a few select photos from the camera on my iPhone. I’ve posted the photos in chronological order, enjoy!

Tuesday, January 10

Arrived in Kansas City and made my way over to the Kansas City Convention Center to check things out. The NSCAA National Office did such a great job with the set-up!

Wednesday, January 11

Woke up to a beautiful Kansas City sunrise and started my day with the NSCAA Board of Directors meeting. After four years, this would be my last meeting as the Women’s Committee representative to the Board of Directors, since I would become Secretary on Friday.

The cold weather couldn’t keep me away from the MLS Digital Social at Cashew Restaurant. What a great opportunity to meet people from around the league that I work with daily but rarely get to see face-to-face! In the photo above, Jarrod Morgenstern and Shawn Francis.

Thursday, January 12

The Red Aprons, honored and distinguished members of the NSCAA, led an early-morning training session with the Convention Registration volunteer staff.

The MLS team got together hours before the SuperDraft to ensure everything was organized and ready to rock. Judy Concha and I snapped a quick one with the MLS Digital sign.

If you watched the MLS SuperDraft, you may have noticed that when a team selected a player, a runner brought the card to the front of the room behind a black curtain… that’s where I was sitting so I could prepare the Official Tweet.

The Exhibit Hall Grand Opening, which happens every year on Thursday at 7pm, had a super-cool Coaches Lounge presented by MLS. We even had a Foursquare check-in special.

I snapped a pic when current President Paul Payne, incoming President Ralph Polson, Director of Education Administration Allison Pronske, College Services Manager Pat Madden, and College Women Representative to the Board of Directors John Daly, were chatting at the NSCAA booth.

The Social for Coaches of Female Athletes presented by the NSCAA Women’s Committee and Sponsored by Women’s Professional Soccer, offered a great opportunity for coaches to meet, mingle and network in a relaxed environment. It was also the perfect place for WPS CEO Jennifer O’Sullivan to address a room full of women’s soccer advocates.

Friday, January 13

What NSCAA Convention would be complete without the stress of an early-morning presentation? Ryan Knapp and I presented, “Five Secrets of Successful Soccer Websites.” And before you ask, yes, we’ll post the slides soon :-)

MLS Digital Day brought together digital, communications and marketing folks from the League and Clubs to talk about 2012 platforms and plans. I’m so excited for things to come!

After the NSCAA Annual Business meeting (where I was elected Secretary of the NSCAA!), I hustled over to the WPS Draft to catch my friends and former WPS co-workers at the tail end of their event. Above, Melanie Fitzgerald, Lisa Cole and myself.

If you’re part of the NSCAA community, the Annual Awards Banquet is a must-attend every year. Here’s our valiant CEO, Joe Cummings, at the podium.

Saturday, January 14

The NSCAA Women’s Committee hosted the Women’s Soccer Breakfast on Saturday morning with Australia Women’s National Team Coach Tom Sermanni as our Featured Speaker. Above, Lisa Cole and I with Sue Ryan, who was presented the Women’s Committee Award of Excellence sponsored by WAGS.

The Women’s Committee Open Meeting was an opportunity for coaches, administrators and managers in the women’s game to get involved in the Association.

The NSCAA VIP reception offered a thoughtful yet light-hearted goodbye to long-time Convention manager Robby Robinson and Awards Manager Jeff Farnsworth. Yes, that’s a real Kansas City barbershop quartet.

Sunday, January 15

My first official NSCAA Board of Directors meeting as Secretary of the Association resulted in absolutely no photos all day Sunday… My fingers were exhausted from all the typing. Okay, I did manage to catch this final shot of my direct flight back to SFO.

See you next year in Indianapolis!

After Twitter’s recent compilation of Twitter Stories, the good folks at MLSsoccer.com took a moment to reflect on the tremendous impact this social medium has had on Major League Soccer and the American soccer experience. We posted a few of our favorites to the site in December, which you can see here.

Personally, my favorite Twitter Story of 2011 was when Kyle Rogers invited NFL Star Chad Ochocinco to training at Sporting KC… and he came! From MLSsoccer.com:

When Sporting KC staff member Kyle Rogers saw that the NFL’s Chad Ochocinco had some spare time on his hands, he floated the idea of training with Sporting KC. The chances of Number 85 wearing the team’s kit were minimal at best, but improbably, the wide receiver responded, “Yes, I’m ready. Where and when do I sign the contract?”

@ochocinco Chad, time to get your soccer shoes ready. Wanna train with @SportingKC?

— Kyle Rogers (@KyleLRogers) March 12, 2011

Buzz spread like wildfire on Twitter, and even Sporting striker Teal Bunbury offered his belief that Ochocinco would make “a great addition to the team.”

Sporting KC head coach Peter Vermes felt that Ochocinco was ready for a tryout at least, and offered him just that the following week. After a good effort in training, the NFL star earned an appearance with the Sporting reserves and was named an “honorary member” of the team.

Pretty cool, right? You can read more MLS Twitter stories by following any of these links. Enjoy!

• #MLS4RSL represents an American soccer movement (this one’s my second favorite MLS Twitter Story from 2011)
• Fans pay tribute to Steve Zakuani after season-ending injury
• Timbers Army compares traveling hijinks
• Taylor Twellman tweets his grief at the sudden death of Bobby Rhine
• MLS Cup ticket holders take to the open market
• CJ Sapong raps for Hope Solo
• Jimmy Conrad gets roasted
• Teal Bunbury and Juan Agudelo set high stakes in Twitter battle
• Benny Feilhaber brought to Boston
• Kei Kamara starts a snowball fight

I’m currently running for Secretary of the NSCAA. The election winner will be announced at the annual business meeting at the NSCAA Convention in Kansas City on Friday, Jan. 13, so as we’re getting closer to the event, I thought it would be good to share my answers to the 12 questions the NSCAA asks each candidate to file. This was also published in the Fall 2011 issue of Soccer Journal.

1. Years as a member: 10

2. Current position/involvement in the game of soccer: Social Media Strategist at MLS

3. Please list NSCAA Board, Committee or Academy experience: Women’s Committee Chair from 2007-present, Board of Directors from 2008-present and Premier Diploma Graduate in January 2011

4. I want to serve on the NSCAA Board of Directors because: I firmly believe in the NSCAA’s mission to advance and support the coaching of soccer for the greater good of the game. The NSCAA has been there every step of my soccer career – from coaching education to networking events and international trips. It’s been the foundation upon which so many organizations I’ve been a part of have built their livelihoods, and I welcome the opportunity to give back to the membership association that has given so much to me.

5. I feel my strongest qualifications for this position are: my deep knowledge of the Association from the board level and national office to constituent groups and general membership. I also have a strong working knowledge of the NSCAA Academy, Events, Digital and Marketing programs. I’m well versed in the American soccer community, having worked in Digital Media for both the MLS and WPS league offices, coached in the college game as the Head Coach at NYU and Graduate Assistant at The College of New Jersey, played collegiate soccer at the University of Wyoming, and spent many years coaching within the youth game. But most importantly, I’m passionate about the NSCAA.

6. During my tenure on the NSCAA Board of Directors I would like to see: the Association grow in revenue so that we can offer more extensive programming for our membership.

7. What steps would you propose the NSCAA take to improve its image and influence within the U.S. soccer community? I believe the NSCAA currently upholds a strong reputation within the U.S. soccer community, and building upon that by engaging more members in a meaningful way will increase the Association’s influence. Ways we may accomplish this include developing more non-residential courses across the country, increasing attendance at the annual convention and developing programs and events for a larger and more diverse coaching community.

8. What steps would you propose the NSCAA take to enhance its position as a leader of coaching education in the U.S.? The NSCAA has built a tremendous coaching education program. A key to enhancing its position is offering more courses and educational events that people can attend, and then effectively sharing information, dates, times and locations. I think word of mouth is our best marketing tool, for I know that every time I complete an Academy course or attend an annual Convention, I’m reenergized and excited about tackling anything this game can throw at me.

9. What steps would you propose the NSCAA take to better serve its members? The NSCAA works incredibly hard to serve its members with the resources at hand, but I think creating digital assets like online registration and internet-based educational programming is one of the greatest services we can provide for our members at present.

10. Given the current economic climate, what types of creative fiscal strategies have you observed that might be transferable and thus positively impact the NSCAA’s economic planning? At both WPS and MLS I’ve seen the true value in every dollar earned and have found that financial resources are best spent on committed and passionate people. Then, giving those employees the proper tools and support to succeed is paramount. Of course, sometimes we have to make difficult financial choices, and I’ve learned to base decisions on analytics and return on investment (ROI) whenever possible.

11. What learning experiences have you had in other organizations that you will bring to your work as a member of the NSCAA Board of Directors? I think the biggest learning experience I can bring to the Board is my diversity and empathy having worked both on the pitch and in the front office in both the men and women’s games. I’m a coach – first and foremost – and I believe in the coaches’ influence on the game at all levels. However I will do my best to support the education and enrichment of all those involved in the global game.

12. What other types of organizational experiences will you bring to your position that might be unique and contribute to the continued progress of the NSCAA? As a result of my extensive work in digital and social media I believe I can support the development of effective marketing and communications strategies, but I welcome the opportunity to help in whatever way is best for the Association.

42 hours of flight time for 5 days of work, and totally worth it. I’m honored to have been the Communications and Marketing instructor for the FIFA Women’s Com-Unity Seminar in Tanzania in October 2011.

FIFA conducts these seminars to bring together government officials, community leaders, non-government organizations, men’s and women’s football clubs, media partners and marketing sponsors in an effort to develop girls’ and women’s soccer around the world.

• Read about the Seminar in Jamaica in September
• Learn more about the FIFA Com-Unity Course Program

Here’s an overview of the schedule in Tanzania. The first day was focused on grassroots football and the impact it can have on social and educational development programs. The second day highlighted the role of the media to create a positive image of the women’s game, and the role of the football association, clubs, coaches and players in promoting women’s football. The third day focused on the marketing and promotion of women’s football and addressed how it can be developed as a product, including opportunities, benefits and expectations from sponsors.

The event was undoubtedly motivational and inspirational, and I recommend you read the entire recap on FIFA.com to learn more about the program including the challenges the TFF faces.

Recently, a woman named Nisha Ligon created a documentary about the team, which I’ve embedded below. This video really takes you into the lives of the players and the Tanzania Women’s Soccer team, and it offers a far better description about the state of women’s soccer in Tanzania than I ever could. If you’ve got a couple minutes it’s well worth watching.

Presenting in Tanzania was a unique experience by which I was truly humbled. I really had to work to understand the context and culture in an effort to effectively share the information I thought would most beneficial to the participants. A heartfelt thanks to my fellow presenters, Ashford Mamelodi from Botswana and Jacqui Shipanga from Namibia, who gave me amazing advice.

I’m thankful to have met wonderful people in Tanzania, and I will never forget the generosity of the Tanzania Football Federation during my first trip to Africa. And thanks to FIFA Women’s Football Development Manager Mayi Turner-Kerr (Cruz Blanco) for inviting me on this trip. Here’s to the continued growth and development of girls and women’s soccer in Tanzania, and around the world.

I’ve posted a couple photos from the week below, enjoy!

Participants at the FIFA Women’s Com-Unity Seminar in Tanzania.

The FIFA team – Mayi, Ashford, Jacqui and me putting the finishing touches on our conclusions and recommendations slide.

Presenting on Day 2. Topic: Communications.

FIFA Instructor and Head Women’s Coach of the Namibia Women’s Soccer Team, Jacqui Shipanga, speaks with the Tanzanian players.

FIFA Development Manager Mayi Cruz Blanco presented gifts to all the figureheads who attended the Seminar.

FIFA Development Officer in charge of East/South Africa, Ashford Mamelodi, speaks to the participants.

The captain of the Tanzania Women’s Football Team, Sophia Mwasikili, shares her experiences as a member of the team.

Jacqui asks, “Everybody who has a cell phone with Internet service, please hold them up.”

The Tanzania Football Coaches Coaches Association.

Ashford, Jacqui and me on the last day of the Seminar.

MLS Cup was this past Sunday, November 20, 2011. This post will describe how we used The Grid to help organize our MLS Cup social media plan. My goal in sharing this is to paint a picture and share a tool that I find effective, rather than delve into details about the campaign, so this is very top-level. If you’d like more insight about something specific, please feel free to ask.

Basically The Grid is a big chart. Over the years, it has transformed from chicken scratch on a whiteboard to a series of extravagant excel files. I’ve been actively using The Grid since working as the Director of Online Marketing at the Chicago Red Stars in 2008, where it began as a way for Elly Deutch and me to keep track of our social media schedules and posts.

Since then, I’ve used The Grid to brainstorm, organize and schedule social media content and promotions in my work as the Chair of the NSCAA Women’s Committee, the New Media Manager at WPS and now as the Social Media Strategist at MLS. I’ve set up multiple versions of The Grid for one-day events (WPS All-Star Game, MLS Cup), specific campaigns (Shop WPS, MLS playoffs) and season-long content plans (the MLS fans section).

Here’s the set-up. Across the top row are the time periods. Could be hourly, could be daily, could be weekly… whatever suits your needs. For MLS Cup, we defined pre-game, in-game and post-game. Down the left column is each social media platform. For this exercise, I’ll limit The Grid to Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare.

I would encourage people to think about games and/or events in these buckets. Not only do fans interact differently with brands during each of these times and on each of these platforms, but the content you’re producing is probably much different as well. Get fans excited about the upcoming event, engage with them while it’s happening and give them a place to come back and relive the action forever.

Site	Pre-Game	In-Game	Post-Game
Facebook	MLS Cup Prediction Challenge	Real-time video highlights from MLSsoccer.com/videos	MLSsoccer.com Scavenger Hunt
Twitter	Twitter Photo Scavenger Hunt at Soccer Celebration	#MLSCup Twitter Trivia Challenge	Behind-the-scenes photos. RT player and staff tweets.
Foursquare	Check-In Special at Soccer Celebration	Exclusive MLS Cup Foursquare Badge	Post event photos on Foursquare

One thing to note is that we always post an article on the site that a social promotion is coming to tease the fans, and after it’s ended to announce the winners. Here are two examples:

• Before – #MLSCup Twitter Trivia Challenge
• After – Fans Win on Twitter During MLS Cup

• Before – Twitter Photo Scavenger Hunt at MLS Soccer Celebration
• After – Galaxy Fan Goes on the Hunt at MLS Cup

Hopefully there’s something useful in here, thanks for reading my post. I’d love to hear how you organize your social content programming. Please feel free to ask questions or share more ideas in the comments below.

I flew to Toronto this week to represent MLS on the Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) Social Media Panel as part of their 2011 Sponsorship Marketing Summit. MLSE hosted the event at the Air Canada Center – which is where the Maple Leafs play of course. Being in a hardcore hockey town, in their beloved hockey stadium, right on the hockey ice was simply Canada-tastic!

Prior to our panel discussion, MLSE had coaches from their various franchises give a look at the upcoming/ongoing seasons from the team perspective. Cliff Fletcher, Hockey Operations for the Toronto Maple Leafs, talked about the team’s young talent and how excited they are about the future of the program. Dwane Casey, the Head Coach of the Toronto Raptors, shared a crowd-pleasing story about how hockey playoff videos inspired his Dallas Mavericks to victory. Paul Mariner, the Director of Player Development for Toronto FC, shared his excitement for TFC’s new training facility. And Patti-Anne Tarlton, VP and GM of Live Nation, gave us a rundown of the concert performers she anticipated would come through Toronto in the near future. That panel was good fun.

Then we were on. It was an honor to be on stage with Melissa Brenner, VP of Marketing at the NBA and Eric Vieira, Associate Social Media Director at Rocket XL, the agency that manages NHL’s social media. Jonathan Sinden, the Social Producer at MLSE moderated the panel and did a tremendous job. He introduced me as, “This is Amanda Vandervort, and she knows soccer.” I don’t think there’s a bigger compliment he could have given!

The conversation was really focused on best practices for sponsors when engaging with a sports league or team in social media. Here are some of the key takeaways.

• Provide value. Or, as Melissa Brenner says, C.O.G. where C = Cause, O = Offers, G = Games. Fans don’t want marketing messages, but instead they want to get something in return for liking your brand.
• Try new things. Social media is constantly changing and evolving and it’s okay to test new products and ideas. Listen to what fans are saying and use that information to determine the success of your tactics.
• Create a culture. Implementing social programming into your company shouldn’t be thought of as an add-on, but instead part of each employee’s day-to-day thinking.

I thought we each did a pretty good job of playing off each other’s comments, citing both general social media philosophies as well as specific examples. I saw the attendees scribbling a ton of notes so that was definitely solid sign.

After lunch, I took a cab over to the MLSE’s Digital Headquarters where I met Asif Hossain, the Producer and Digital Content Manager for Toronto FC. He and his coworkers from the other Maple Leaf properties gave me the low down on how it is working for such a big (and growing) company while also remaining focused on their specific teams.

This was my first trip to Canada since I was young and my first time ever to Toronto, so I have to say that I never realized just how incredibly big MLSE is. From sports teams to restaurant groups, they’ve got the entertainment industry on lock down in Toronto, and it’s pretty awesome. It was particularly insightful to see the support for the soccer team within the organization. Humble props to the entire organization for their vision and initiative.

Thanks to Asif for being such an awesome host, and to Miguel and Stephanie at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment for inviting MLS to be part of this awesome day.