Opendorse Marketing Dir Sam Weber (@Opendorse) says his company’s goal is simple: help athletes on social media. Opendorse sends a text message to athletes -- who have elected to use the service -- allowing them to accept, reject or edit content from Opendorse partners -- a team, league, brand -- that would be shared on social channels. Opendorse's property clients include the Devils, LPGA, WTA, NFL Players Inc. and Conference USA, while on the brand side, the company's website lists work done for brands such as Pepsi, Tostitos, P.F. Chang's and Krave beef jerky. Webber said the athlete marketing platform has an "odd way of doing things.” He said, “We never approach an athlete, we never try to get an athlete on board without them having something to share or a partner to be with. The way we expand is by building partnerships. A lot of that is done through word of mouth.”
SOCIAL SNAPSHOT
Must-follows: I love the @NBA on Twitter. This time of year, it's gold, especially.
Favorite app: Definitely Twitter. That's where I get my news, what I have open when I'm watching live sports.
Average time per day on social media: I would put it around 4-5 hours.
Working with partners:
By and large, we build our platform to be as lightweight and easy to use as possible. But more than a platform. We're not just providing software, but also strategy and services. We have a team here that works with both the individuals who are manning those accounts that are helping them every step of the way. A lot of our partners don’t necessarily need a ton of support and are super social and digital savvy. But when they do, they might need an idea or know how the most recent campaign performed, we are there to help them with that.
How athletes are selected:
A partner like the LPGA, they had access to onboard as many players in the LPGA as they wanted and as many players who wanted to join Opendorse. Athletes are pretty busy and every time they step on their field of play, they are creating a ton of content that’s being captured, but they never have access to it. So, the LPGA says we have access to all this content and it’s only going out through LPGA-owned channels, so if the athlete wants access to that content and wants to share it, all they have to do is sign up for Opendorse and then they can share it with a tap of a button.
Working with athletes in messaging:
Our partners will plug in their suggested copy and athletes will have the ability to edit that copy. There are certain campaigns where partners can control the message and not allow editing. But if the athlete doesn’t approve of that message or doesn’t want to say it in that way, the athlete can always reject the message and go back and say they want to revise the copy.
Social media having an impact:
The North Star in everything we do revolves around the fact that athletes are powerful and matter. They create culture, they create highlights, they build fans. It’s the faces in your feed that stop your scroll, it’s not the logos. During the NFL Draft, there were over 50 NFL players -- rookies and actives -- who shared content on social that was paid, sponsored content. We measured those posts: all the views, engagements, impressions and all the posts that came directly from the brand partners. Those athletes engaged their fans at a 55 times higher rate than the brands did when posting through the brand itself. That’s power.
More companies in the space:
Not on a huge scale, but people across the sports industry, the technology industry are understanding that athlete-driven media is an incredibly valuable thing. We have a few competitors, but what we always go back to is if you are helping athletes build their brands and you are helping them on social, then good for you. We are here to help athletes and believe the people who are supporting them are doing the right thing.
If you know anyone who should be featured for their use of social media, send their name to us at jperez@sportsbusinessdaily.com.
