Some professional athletes in Twitterverse simply “get it”. They use Twitter to connect and talk to fans, and seem, well, more human. Shaquille O’Neal is without a doubt the most successful, amassing over 1.5 million followers. On June 25th he admitted his plans to play for another three years to his followers. In doing so he instantaneously connected with them and created a buzz even before I’d seen it on ESPN.
That aside, he doesn’t always wax poetically. It’s hard to look past his tasteless “your momma” joke gems, but at times he’s a better marketer for the NBA than the NBA itself. On March 25th Shaq Tweeted to Portland area basketball fans: “ I have oe ticket laft at will call under twitter, first one there its yurs just say twitter“. Grammar aside, this is pure genius. It’s also re-tweetable, a call-to-action for fans, and it builds his personal brand. Followers rushed to the will-call booth for their prize and had a unique story to tell their friends for years. He did something that the NBA hasn’t done for me in years, or ever.
But how can your company learn from these Twitter-Athletes and create an idea that’s exciting, retweetable, AND a call-to-action?
Not until I read this article from the Dallas News about Twitter-letes did I have any interest in what they had to say. Now I’m following former Milwaukee Brewers pitching titan C.C. Sabathia and even Royals outfielder Coco Crisp , not to be confused with the cereal. Seeing Coco on Twitter brought back fond memories of several friends and I taunting him endlessly about his name during a 4-H trip to a Minnesota Twins game years ago. Our jeers eventually merited a glare from Mr. Crisp and I’ll remember that forever. Now that doesn’t make me want to buy cereal or tickets to Royals game, but I think you get my drift.
Marketers from companies like enlyten have tapped into Shaq’s social media popularity by using him as a spokesman for their upcoming Vegas launch party. Check out their Facebook page. I’m not sure the Nutrients in a Post-It Flag package will really take off but why does Shaq care? He’s just along for the ride.
Author: Spencer Anderson
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
The crazy part of Shaq promoting enlyten is that he found the product and came to enlyten to be the spokesperson! Enlyten was not, and is not, looking for celebrity spokespeople.
Visit the online distribution site of enlyten at http://www.allstrips.com to find out more about why Shaq got on board with enlyten and give enlyten strips a try for yourself.
I don’t think that’s “crazy” at all, I think its fantastic for you and your brand. Nice work when Shaq is calling you – that’s some serious brand love and who better than Shaq with that great smile to be a brand advocate for Enlyten?!!
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