Select Sports Dir of Marketing Jacquelyn Davis (@JacquelynKDavis) knew as a tennis player at UC-San Diego that she wanted a career in sports. That passion led to working in promotions and events with the Padres before moving on to the Astros and eventually part of the marketing & sales team with FS San Diego. “It started out mostly managing their social media, then it turned into really a full-time marketing gig.” After working independently with athletes on their marketing and community efforts, this past summer she moved full-time to the athlete representation and management side, joining Select Sports.
Interest in working in social media:
I grew up a sports fan. I was pretty active on social media and saw the opportunities that were there. It is a growing medium. I saw how impactful it can be, and when I started to have a voice on social media in San Diego, that was a large reason why I landed that first job on Fox Sports.
How social media helps you do your job:
It’s a huge part in our everyday business in the agency world. I don’t know many deals that don’t involve some sort of social element in it even if it’s an appearance or a partnership; there are x-amount of tweets and Instagram posts that are required to go out from the athlete.
Importance of social-media networking:
It’s huge. That’s a big part of why I landed some of my jobs. I worked for FS San Diego, but I had never met some of the Fox team in L.A. Now I have great relationships with Fox Sports in L.A. and FS1. It’s a huge community of people working in the industry having the same interests. It’s a way of connecting with people across the country I otherwise wouldn’t have met.
How social media has influenced the way agencies do business:
Our biggest goal there is to push what we’ve already done. It’s not so much about promoting our agency as a brand, but the athletes and making sure their success stories are getting out there. For the athletes, they can brand themselves in different ways.
Importance of keeping posts casual:
I like to have fun with it, throw in some comedy without being some social media troll and without being rude. People see tons and tons of tweets per day and a lot of it revolves around ads and sponsors. So I like to keep it light and fun. At the same time, be careful what you say because once you tweet it, it’s out there.
Biggest challenge in repping clients:
At the end of the day, you want to make sure your athlete and the brand are happy. I always say we are creating relationships -- symbiotic relationships. When I’m speaking to companies, I’m making sure this is something the athlete is interested in, making sure it is organic and doesn't just have the appearance of being organic.
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