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Social Studies: Neumann Univ.'s Caleb Mezzy On Students Going Digital At MLB Meetings

It is not uncommon for college professors to send students to MLB’s Winter Meetings in order to learn more about the industry. However, Philadelphia-based Neumann Univ. Industry Relations, Media Specialist for Sport Management Caleb Mezzy (@Caleb_Mezzy) has his students placing an emphasis on social media when they converge upon National Harbor in Maryland when the meetings commence Sunday. Part of that will entail students posting about their experiences in as close to real time as possible. Mezzy said, “They took it upon themselves when they got the acceptance to go to the Winter Meetings that they were going to start reaching out and lining up meetings, start applying for jobs. There are so many things there that none of these kids know what they are going to see. What they are trying to do is get all their ducks aligned.”

SOCIAL SNAPSHOT
Must-follow: Mike Mahoney, Neil Horowitz, Jessica Smith, J.W. Cannon.
Favorite App: Twitter is probably my favorite social app, but because of my job, I love LinkedIn.
Average time per day on social media: Six to eight hours that I’m glued to it.

Evolution of social media:
Social media is many things, and one of the things to start with for students is a marketing tool, a place to launch their own personal brand. It’s an amplified connection -- learning about people, doing your research, preparing before a phone call. It’s helped in my class where students have to reach out to someone not in their family, not from their school, not their coach growing up and is involved in something they might be interested in doing. They can call someone at a college in Texas or a Nebraska facility. Because of technology, they are able to do it and it broadens their mindset as to what jobs are out there, but also who they can connect with and what they can learn from those people.

How growing up as a social media native changes the view of sports business:
The biggest thing is to bend their brain to allow them to think differently. They see social as a way to tout themselves -- I’m going on vacation or I’m going to this game. What I have to do is tell them how sports business works within that and tell them there are people who are trying to connect with people like them. They have to understand that they can use this to build their brand and put out positive things. A lot of students and their parents, especially, think social is terrible because they’ve seen what digital natives are prone to do on these channels.

Using social media at Winter Meetings:
They are using LinkedIn primarily, but Twitter is helping them with sharing articles, seeing who is going to be there. This is the part that so many people look past because they are focused on finding a job. This is meeting people and finding common ground.

Biggest concerns of students about social media:
What I hear a lot from mostly freshmen and sophomores is they don’t know how to use it or don’t know what to post. Once they start to see the rewards, even if that’s a retweet or a like or a new follower, they start to say, “I can do this.” The other part that they don’t mention, but I feel is an obstacle, is the consistency.

Industry concerns:
Everybody is saying that people who work in the field aren't prepared for what the industry is because they went to a school where it is pure academic and that’s all they knew, or that entry-level employees are not prepared. I don’t give any tests, and it's very seldom you walk into the Bulls as a sales employee and they are going to put a test on your desk and you will have 30 minutes to take it. What they are going to do is say you have to present to our stakeholders. If you can’t do that, you fail.

If you know anyone who should be featured for their use of social media, send their name to us at jperez@sportsbusinessdaily.com.

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