Tariq Ahmad spends little time in the sports business world as Social Business Manager with IBM. But it is as an adjunct professor at Columbia Univ. teaching social media and in his weekly chats on Twitter that his depth of knowledge come through. He said, "I did a Ph.D. and the NBA was my specific research on how NBA teams implement and evaluate social-media strategies. I really immersed myself into sports and into the niche of sports and social media. I knew at that time that social media was going to be a big thing so I wanted to jump on it early and then try to make my mark from there."
Things he likes best about social media:
You can connect with people that you wouldn't have had a chance to before. Before, there was you and then there was the medium, which was either TV or newspaper or the Internet. Then there was the player or team. With social media, that middle barrier is now broken. That's big.
The key for business to connect through sports via social media:
Know your audience. You want to be able to target your audience with either specific messages or specific platforms. You really have to know what they like. The Atlanta Hawks and the L.A. Kings, who have really witty accounts and are quick on the draw, have something that's on point for their messaging.
A social media account that you admire:
The WWE. The key with the WWE is it's non-seasonal and they have 52 weeks of live content every single year. It's a lot harder for them. It's multiple live events per week. I'm really impressed how they can produce fresh content pretty much every single week, multiple times a week, week after week, multiple times a year without even stopping.
The importance of those in social media to engage through the medium:
A friend says it best. She says, "Social media is a telephone, not a megaphone." It means social media is communication, not just you blasting out messages. The key with engagement is it let the team know you are listening to the fans and really builds that connection, that bond with the fan. I'm a firm believer that social media has converted fans not into changing their allegiances but has brought on more loyal fans for teams you might not have been a fan of before because they engage with you on social media.
Biggest lesson to impart on students:
There is a saying -- you are what you eat. I say, you are what you tweet. You want to make sure whatever you tweet is a representation of you. You want to make sure that your message is on point, that it's clean, there are no typos and no objectionable language. It doesn't matter what you like; you can tweet about food or fireworks or lawnmowers or chairs or whatever it is as long as it is on point, clean and provides a value to social media. Then that's the No. 1 thing I emphasize to students.
What makes something valuable on social media:
It depends. What I mean by that is it depends on your audience and what they think is valuable. I think it was Jack Dorsey, the co-Founder & CEO of Twitter, who said people will tweet, "Hey, I just ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast." Like nobody cares about that, but if your mom is on Twitter and she reads it, then she cares about it. What makes content valuable is it depends on your audience and also knowing what your audience wants.
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