While many more athletes have become social media savvy, knowing “how” to use the technology is much different than understanding how to do it well.
Twitter especially, is an asset that is both misused and underleveraged by many athletes, entertainers and other public figures. Sometimes the consequences can be catastrophic, but more often than not, the consequences are unknown. Just because nothing “happens,” does not mean something isn’t “happening.”
Every tweet generates a perception – good or bad – and most of the time, you’ll never know the impact. While many athletes have stories of opportunities that came to them as a direct result of their positive engagement on Twitter, there are many more who will never know what opportunities DIDN’T come their way because of their activity on Twitter.
So what are they doing that’s not working? There are 10 common mistakes that athletes continue to make on Twitter that hurt their personal brands or limit their opportunities.
GETTING ON TWITTER BEFORE GETTING EDUCATED
Like any branding initiative, getting on Twitter requires an education and a sound strategy.Whether athletes take the time to do the research and figure it out on their own, ask their advisors for help or hire professional consultants to learn the ropes and get started, it’s critical that they engage with defined goals and a clear plan to achieve those goals.
FORGETTING THEIR AUDIENCE
While Twitter is social and it’s fun for fans to see athletes interacting with each other and having a good time, often time athletes forget that they’re not just tweeting to their friends but thousands of people who include kids, teens, moms, professionals and everyone in between. These fans follow athletes because they want to get to know them as people and get insights on what it’s like to be a pro athlete. Tweets shouldn’t leave them scratching their heads.
USE PROFANITY OR DISCUSS R RATED SUBJECTS.
When athletes forget their audience, they also tend to say a lot of things on Twitter they would never say to mothers or young fans. Profanity or crude comments leave a lot of people with a sour taste in their mouths and a less than favorable impression of the athlete. Even common acronyms like “WTF” or “LMAO” should be deleted from their Twitter vocabulary.
GETTING BAITED
The ubiquitous “If you don’t like what I tweet then you can choose not to follow me” is not something any athlete should ever tweet in response to an obnoxious fan who is trying to solicit a reaction. Many athletes let fans get the best of them and get sucked into Twitter wars. There are enough positive fans out there to feed off of. Unruly fans should be ignored, not engaged.
VENTING FRUSTRATION OR ANGER.
Venting about an assistant, the airline attendant or the waiter at a restaurant is unproductive and has a negative impact on reputation in almost every instance, even if it doesn’t create a major firestorm. People don’t like complainers or to see other people publicly berated. It never makes anyone look good.
NOT BEING DISCREET WHEN IT COMES TO “WOMEN OF INTEREST”
Even athletes who are considered model Twitter users have issues here. When fans see a reply to @im2hottxxx that implies the athlete is “friends” with her, the public (including moms and kids) can figure out what’s going on pretty quickly. Perception is also influenced by the company one keeps. Discretion is paramount and can easily be kept in check with the direct message function.
BELIEVING THAT DIRECT MESSAGES WILL REMAIN PRIVATE
Taking steps to be discreet does not mean being careless. Any direct message could end up RT’d or passed on to a blogger, depending on how the athlete’s relationship with the recipient changes over time. Athletes are targets and should be aware of the unintended consequences of inappropriate exchanges.
THINKING SPELLING ISN’T A BIG DEAL
There are many brilliant people who just can’t spell, even journalists, but you’d never know it because they cover their tracks and are careful spell checkers because they know its importance. Sure, Twitter is an informal platform where everyone plays with spelling to cram messages into 140 characters, but when posts are consistently filled with incorrectly spelled words, the perception, fair or unfair, is that the person is lacking upstairs. Spell check is easy and most of the Twitter management programs like Hootsuite will redline words that look incorrect.
UNDERESTIMATING TWITTER’S INFLUENCE ON ADVERTISERS
People who want to do business with athletes are paying attention to Twitter – number of followers, quality of engagement, and a variety of other elements. Athletes who realize the marketing value of their followers and understand that their account is an asset to be protected, will ultimately attract more opportunities and enjoy more lucrative careers.
BELIEVING THEY CAN SIDESTEP TRADITIONAL MEDIA ALL TOGETHER
True, Twitter allows athletes more control over their brands than they’ve ever had, but for now, it’s not enough. Traditional media still validates an athlete and wields exponentially more influence on public perception on an athlete’s reputation, especially in a crisis situation. Even athletes with followers in the millions cannot curb the negative fallout of a major national news story. Traditional media still rules, at least for now.
Covering high school football as I do, players today are actually being suspended from games, thrown off teams or actually losing scholarships to play college ball because of poor online reputations. Education and good habits are needed when one chooses to go “social.”
where was it mentionned to censor them? It was just said to watch what you say because you might lose contracts (AKA money) because advertisers do check this! If biznasty had tweeted about how great this article was, no one would have give Sh* to the author!
I don’t agree with everything up there but the spellcheck is something important. basic things like “wear” “were” or “your” “you’re” should not have mistakes (hint: go see shane o’brien’s page you’ll get what I mean.)
Those were, some, of the, longest, sentences I’ve, ever seen (Get the hint? Ease off the comma button)!
But yea, whoever wrote this really has to get a reality check! 95% of the things we say online shouldn’t be used to reflect on our personality…who doesn’t say #*&%#’d things on the internet??
and he’s a 4th line plug/duster!
wow. are you 80? pull your head out of your a**. this is the 21st century. if you’re old enough to work a computer, you’re old enough to see anything an athlete feels like posting. i know everyone has already mentioned him, but Paul Bissonnette has the most followers for an active NHL twitterer for a reason: he breaks every “rule” you rambled on about.
I’m in agreement with rlane420, what a shitty journalist to be pro-censorship. No one, regardless of whether or not they are an athlete should be afraid to speak their mind. The mention of the spelling factor makes me think the author is a troll in his/her free time, I think it’s pretty common knowledge that athletes aren’t paid based on their grammar skills… including that as one of your “mistakes” is rather petty.
I follow plenty of athletes whose twitter updates are all something like
“great workout today. can’t wait for next season” etc,
so mundane and boring like every tweet is a press release. Thank you to all the athletes out there who aren’t afraid to tweet whatever they want, especially BizNasty.
Appreciate everyone’s comments and took my own advice on spell check. The point of all this is not to censor athletes, turn them into robots or stifle their personalities, but to make them aware of the pitfalls. As @jonesry28 of the Oilers said, it’s all about striking a balance. Big thanks to @BizNasty2point0 for taking the conversation to the next level. – MT
I disagree with a lot of this BIG TIME. I find the most interesting and funniest people to follow on twitter are athletes because they do not have a stick up their butt. I’ve unfollowed soooo many celebrities because they lack any sense of humour, feel as though people are interested in what they’re doing next and post links to their lives like people care.
Give me somebody twittering as if they’re my friends I hang out with every day and make me laugh and I’m sold. I follow them because they show that they have a personality, aren’t self absorbed and tweeting about their day like I care and aren’t some robot tweeting nonsense.
Who are you to censor anyone as a journalists you should be ashamed. I want the players to be real. I can see the watered down crap
in ever interview they do. Let them be themselves. So you don’t have to complain about them I will say it for them,if you don’t like it unfollow them.
You better tweet @BizNasty2point0 a thank you for sending so much traffic your way, all to see your description of how he misuses twitter.
Biznasty2.0 doesn’t like this article, therefore Chuck Norris has been dispatched to punch the writer in the teeth for disturbing the balance of the twooniverse……just saying.
Its their twitter. Let them post whatever they want to. I like it when they write or do whatever they want on it, post pics of them, whatever. It lets me see their personality.
In the paragraph about spelling you misspelled “everyone.”
“Spell check is easy.”
Take your own advice.
Wow twitter must rule your life or something.
Learn how to spell buddy
Twitter would drop kick this article into the ocean if it could. Also, use spelling & grammar check next time. Way too many commas per sentence.
“Twitter is an informal platform where everone plays with spelling to cram messages into 140 characters, but when posts are consistently filled with incorrectly spelled words, the perception, fair or unfair, is that the person is lacking upstairs”
You cant be saying something like that in an article when you can’t spell the word asset correctly. And you had way more than 140 characters.
Hahahahahahaha. Wow does this author live in a cave?
*asset.
*asset.