Earlier this year the Lakewood Blue Claws became one of the first teams to effectively use Twitter to move tickets and then unite their loyal Twitter followers with face to face meetings during a Twitter night. Now the Fresno Grizzlies, with a media partner (beehive..com), will not just do a little tweeting to build brand but also have “Fresno's largest tweetup” at the end of the month for a July 30 game against Colorado Springs. The Grizzlies, who are one of baseball's great innovators in fan activation and unique year-round events to keep fans engaged, will use the night to reward followers with instant twitter discounts, a special meeting area, twitter-only discounts and other text-related contests. Putting a “Fresno's largest” bill to it and then bringing in a media partner is also a great move to expand their twitter base, build email lists and even engage more casual fans. There is one big irony in the whole announcement however, and it speaks perhaps more to the fact that minor league sports promotions, combined with social networking, has become more of a draw then the game itself…nowhere in the Griz announcement does it mention anything about baseball...not a player, not the opponent, not the Grizzlies standing in the Pacific Coast League…not a thing. Even with the omission, the Grizzlies tweetup event is great…great promotion, great way to show how to effectively use Twitter to drive brand awareness and ROI, great way to bring in a media partner and another great step up the innovation ladder for minor league ball promotion.
Some other good reads…Media Post had a good piece on the partnership between EA and Major League Gaming…this week's Sports Business Journal has a great piece on how newspaper coverage of sports is changing and how teams are adapting…and the New York Times had a good look at the USTA's new campaign bringing grassroots players and a new feel to the sport.
