French Open Blogging Tips
By Beth Rifkin
Social media platforms like blogging, Facebook and Twitter are excellent tools for tennis players to multiply their fan base, increase their market value and show their true personality to the world. By having a vehicle with which to communicate on their own, a player’s message to the public and fans is completely under their control – no expectations, no misquotes and no statements out of context.
High-profile Grand Slams and Masters Series tournaments, like the French Open, are an ideal time to increase fan outreach. Here are three simple tips for social media success:
Be engaging!
Traveling around the world and playing in tournaments such as the French Open is everyday life (so to speak) to players on the pro tour. But most of the fans watching at home have never attended a Grand Slam, let alone played in one. And they want to hear about it. They want to know what it’s like to play on center court, what’s going in the locker room or the player’s lounge, encounters that you’ve had throughout the day, training tips, tennis tips, off the court, on the court – the extraordinary within the ordinary that is Roland Garros. It doesn’t have to be lengthy; a bit here and there will go a long way to engaging fans and making them feel as if they are part of something big.
Let your personality shine!
Without intruding on player’s personal lives or resorting to sensational sound bites, social media is a great way for players to show a side to their personality that’s not usually seen on the court. How to come up with all of that material? Often it’s most difficult to write about our own lives, we can say interesting things about others all day but when put on the spot to say something about ourselves or our day we draw an immediate blank. Therefore we end up with flat or boring posts that lead to fans drawing misconceptions about player’s personalities and subsequently their likeability factor decreases. It is important for players to be themselves while communicating and sometimes the best way to achieve that is by stepping out of their own mind and to think with confidence – tennis related or not.
Advice to players: Keep it respectful, professional, down to earth and relax – maybe rather than a ‘laundry list’ of your day, start conversations or discuss topics that you would want to talk about with your friends, family, fellow players or coach. If you find something interesting, there is a good chance your fans will think it is interesting as well. Additionally, social media is also an excellent opportunity to talk about charitable work, your own foundations or philanthropic causes that you consider important. Fans are always interested in hearing about specific issues, programs, the people or communities that players are helping– and even how they too are able to get involved and make a difference.
Be social!
The most important tip to social media success is to actually BE SOCIAL. Respond, reply, make comments. Simply posting information isn’t enough; interacting with fans is essential to keeping them engaged – and to keep them as fans. Start a conversation, answer questions, reply to posts, read and reply to blog comments and join discussions. Be realistic, there’s no need to answer every response, but a few here and there will make people feel like they are actually interacting with you, which will lead to loyal and everlasting fans.
For assistance with your social media efforts contact me at beth@bethrifkin.com, 415.846.3615 (San Francisco, CA)
May, 2010
