Watch or listen to episode 298 of the Digital and Social Media Sports podcast, in which Neil chatted with Tim Watson, Director of Men’s Basketball Creative Content for UConn Athletics.
Listen above and watch below
Month: June 2025
What creates a community?
Consider all the diverse things that can unite groups of people — a favorite sports team, a beloved musical artist, a story (aka ‘IP’), a shared hobby, and the list goes on.
Everyone is passionate about something. And in our instinctual yearning for connection, there’s a powerful feeling when we encounter others who share that passion. Mutual interests become conversations, which evolve into meaningful relationships, and over time, a collection of individuals coalesces into a united community. They may take on other monikers — a fan base, a subreddit, a Tok (i.e. BookTok), a BeyHive, but these are powerful collectives that, together, can drive moments and propel culture (and commerce) forward.
Evan Parker learned the power of community early on in his career, coming up in roles at Edelman, where he worked with XBox 360 (among other brands), and at NASCAR. Businesses spend so much time, effort, and resources trying to propagate their message and build their brands, but there are people already out there with a passion for the areas in which brands play. To harness that passion is more effective and efficient than any PR campaign or advertisement.
“There’s only so much reach that any brand has,” said Parker, “but if you can talk to the right people and they talk to their friends, they talk to their communities, you’re able to expand that way. And it’s a lot easier to go pitch somebody who already loves what you’re doing, or is already interested in what you’re doing, than it is to go pitch The New York Times and try to get them to write the article that you wish that they would write that’s going to get read by all these people…
“Before social media was really a thing, community was the best way to go build a business. And if you could get people to love what you were doing and be evangelistic about what you’re trying to build, you have a shot at doing something pretty special.”
Parker is working to do something special now. Last year, he, along with Alexis Ohanian and Brent Montgomery, launched Mantel, a social network and content platform for collectors. The three individuals had been part of the fragmented coterie of collectors for years, with investor and Reddit co-founder Ohanian boasting an impressive sports collection, Montgomery, whose Wheelhouse is behind such shows like King of Collectibles and Pawn Stars, and Parker a collector himself and veteran of the sports space — and they saw an opportunity to bring all these collectors together, to give them a place to call home.
The collectibles space is booming, in case you haven’t noticed. There are countless creators, and platforms dedicated to ‘breaks,’ auctions and sales making headlines every day, it seems like, and a still-evolving paradigm for digital collectibles. Regardless of whether someone is moved by history, a hope for a financial return, or some sentimental value, collectors all appreciate the stories behind the items. That’s what Parker sees in Mantel, and the promise ahead as the platform continues to grow and brings together the items, the stories, and the people telling them.
“All of these people are in it for their own motivation,” said Parker who is CEO of Mantel, which launched publicly in December 2024. “I think what connects people, though, is the excitement of it, and the feeling that it brings; the nostalgia or the connection to these athletes, the stories behind it. We really are trying as much as we can to make sure that people are not just saying, ‘Here’s a card that I pulled’, but ‘Here’s a card that I pulled, and this is why it’s interesting to me’, or ‘this is what I’m thinking about’, or here’s a question I have about it.’ Like, can we get one level deeper?…
“How do we just break it down to the reason why people are interested in this, or if you’re not interested in it, what’s the thing that we can get you interested in?”
Parker continued, noting that while some may collect baseball cards, others seek stamps, and still others love movie memorabilia or comic books. Mantel is a place for all of them.
“I really believe that [for] everything that exists, every physical item, every digital item, there are communities that collect it, there are people who are interested in it,” said Parker, “and if the story is interesting — there are people who might not care about that topic at all, but because you told an interesting story, it’s like, ‘Okay, I don’t want to go collect that myself, but I really respect that you do. I’m really excited that I learned about that. I know more now than I did yesterday.'”
It’s the stories and collective interest that make certain collectibles so valuable. There are plenty of 1-of-1 or otherwise extremely rare items and cards that are worth pennies, while others are worth millions. Take a moment and consider the logic and rationale behind that. Why is a mint-condition Michael Jordan rookie card worth so much? Where does a Mickey Mantle card derive its value, or even a hat once worn by Abraham Lincoln, as opposed to any other 19th-century stovepipe? These are values that render any economic models meaningless. Supply and demand are part of the picture, to be sure, but some special forces are driving that demand.
It was revelatory and thought-provoking to consider this overarching question as Parker and I talked through the most famous collectible in sports, the T206 Honus Wagner card. Honus Wagner was one of the best shortstops of all-time, but he wasn’t Babe Ruth or Willie Mays or otherwise all that important to history. And yet it’s his 1909 card that has commanded small fortunes every time it has passed hands over the years.
“You hear all these reasons why [the T206 Honus Wagner] was [so well-known], the one that Wayne Gretzky bought, and the one that was altered and the one that was sold for this amount of money and that had this grade and that,” Parker described. “You know, every year [at] the National Sports Card Collectors Convention, there are dinners that get put together [and] the only way you get to go is if you own a T206, and all this stuff sort of builds this intrigue. And now this card, more than 100 years after it debuted, is a card that people who never watched sports, who don’t really care about baseball, they know that this card is interesting. And I think that’s sort of the magic of collecting.
“But it comes down to storytelling and community. Because the community decided that this was the card, not other cards from the T206 series…that [card] helps kind of illustrate to me why what we’re building at Mantel has the chance to be something really powerful, because we can bring people together and to tell stories and to build community that can then transcend in the same way that that card has.”
The best collectibles are imbued with meaning. They’re something collectors are proud to display (and post on Mantel), they’re conversation starters, relationship accelerants, identity enhancers. These traits are where sports teams can take heed, said Parker, when I asked him what sports leagues and teams can learn from the community and industry of sports collectors. They have no shortage of items — t-shirts and caps, bobbleheads and rally towels, and of course every piece of equipment and apparel associated with milestone achievements gets marked and pulled for posterity.
But the vast majority of things teams give away and sell don’t accrue more value over time, they rarely carry grander and broadly accessible narratives.
“I think that teams need to be spending more time thinking about how to create things that have interests beyond when it gets handed to you,” said Parker, who, like many collectors, laments the gradual disappearance of physical tickets in sports. “You know, a team will spend a lot of money putting towels on every seat for a playoff game, and at the end of the playoff game, half of them are still in their seats. Somebody will bring it home and it’ll end up as a dish rag. Somebody else will put it on their wall, but it kind of loses its appeal at that point.
“But if you can create something that has lasting value, that somebody wants to show their friends, wants to post on Mantel or another social network, that might have monetary value down the line, I think it just kind of anchors you to those moments, to those teams, to those athletes in important ways.”
The paradigm that assigns monetary value in the sports card and collectibles space has persisted for generations. There’s no set date when all of a sudden the value of sports cards increased exponentially, but the industry has been around for several decades now, with ebbs and flows throughout. Few really question the model that propels the space, just like we all accept that rare works of art (only by specific artists) are worth a lot more than others.
Well, then digital collectibles came along and the paradigm fell apart. Consensus gave way to speculative bubbles and discord about where digital collectibles and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) fit. Should the value of tokens come from exclusive community, not too far off from the T206 owners and their get-together at the National Sports Card Convention each year? If the value is in the eye of the beholder, there’s a certain trust and belief that the beholders comprising the collectible community will persist, if not grow, over time. Parker isn’t taking a hard stance on digital collectibles, watching the space with curiosity and the context of being immersed in a diverse community of collectors every day.
“It’s hard to discount what happens over time,” he said. “You know, we care about certain baseball cards that have been around for more than 100 years now. We grow up, and it’s something, before we [have] money, we’re liking it because our parents liked it, their parents liked it, we ended up liking it, [so did] our friends. Now we’re older and we have this connection of more than 100 years worth of this history. It’s rare.
“NFTs didn’t exist, and then all of a sudden they existed. We’re older, we could say, does this make sense? I just think that maybe had you and I been around in 1909, we would have had a different perspective of the T206 [Honus Wagner card]. ‘This is stupid. You could go buy a pack of smokes and get this card. Honus Wagner was good, but who cares? There’s all these other players.’ Walter Johnson was in that set. But we weren’t there then. So we’re now just inheriting these stories that took place before we were alive that have helped shape our worldview. Whereas with NFTs, we got to make it ourselves…
Parker continued, offering a balanced take on the uncertainty of where NFTs will go and the most important element to track as the space evolves.
“I just think the world is changing at such a high pace, and people are skeptical of it because they want to say, ‘Okay, is this thing going to be around? Am I just going to buy it because it’s a get-rich-quick [scheme]? Or is there a chance that I’m going to really care about this in 5 to 10 years?’
“If you’re building a brand in the NFT space, I would be thinking about how do I make sure that this is something that people are still going to care about down the line, versus how do I make sure that people are going to just go buy and trade these really quickly, I make my money, I disappear, and all these people are now left with something worthless.”
There’s no pyramid scheme at play when the beliefs of the community are driven by passion. The value of collectibles, in whatever form, persists (and grows, through scarcity and demand) because a critical mass of people believe in the meaning, the stories, and the connection these otherwise worthless items convey.
There are billion-dollar industries fueled by otherwise worthless endeavors, held up by stories and ancillary businesses that develop around them, which further buttress and grow said industry. That emotion you feel screaming at your TV because you’re watching a group of men or women playing a child’s game, the pride you feel in having a home run ball hit by your favorite player, the intangible mystique and aura surrounding a bank receipt stained with blood from Bonnie and Clyde (a real item posted by a user on Mantel!) — that’s all real and why the community of collectors is so strong. Parker lives in it every day, endlessly astonished by the treasures that collectors share on Mantel. And it’s why he and his team are so excited to keep building and engaging, bringing these people together and surfacing and amplifying more stories. The hunt, he reminds me, is just as important as the treasure one’s hunting. We’re all looking for a good story to tell. It’s about the exhibition, sure, but it’s about all the stories that live within it.
“The stuff that really gets me excited is seeing the things that get the community excited, because that’s why I’m into it,” said Parker. “I love to go to a museum. I love to go to shops and see things that I’ve never seen before. I get to sit at my desk all day and just see this endless stream of content of people showing me their personal museums, the things that get them excited. I don’t have to leave my desk.
“It’s like Cooperstown, the Smithsonian, all these things that exist on my screen 24 hours a day because the community is so passionate about the things that they’re interested in.”
Photo source: Sports Collectors Daily
On episode 297 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast, Neil chatted with Evan Parker, CEO of Mantel.
What follows are some snippets from the episode. Click Here to listen to the full episode or check it out and subscribe to the podcast via Apple or listen on Spotify or YouTube.
Watch or listen to episode 297 of the Digital and Social Media Sports podcast, in which Neil chatted with Evan Parker, CEO of Mantel.
Listen above and watch below
Some of the earliest social media hires in sports are now VPs and SVPs. Social media and content have always been inextricably tied to the underlying business and brand for sports organizations, but for years their impact was mostly acknowledged by vibes. Then likes, impressions, and views added a more data-driven and analytical bent.
Today, an organization’s social media and content strategy isn’t expected to deliver likes and comments, the expectation is to drive direct impact on key business objectives.
With such a lofty ascension, there are better questions being asked, more operationalized workflows, more documented guidelines and guardrails, and more thoughtfulness behind every post, piece of creative, and word that gets in front of fans. The ever-increasing fan touchpoints, an insatiable demand for content, and the realization that social media is where organizations can learn about their fans, grow the fan base and brand, and create new marketing funnels and revenue streams — the level of sophistication and discourse has never been higher.
These were among the key themes at this year’s second annual Gondola Sports Summit, which brought together the leaders and producers who bring sports fans all the content, copy, memes, and more that drive such engagement and earned media — and further key organizational objectives.
I was fortunate to attend the conference, which took place in Denver, May 19-21, and featured speakers from several of the biggest teams and leagues in sports, agencies that work with these organizations, and representatives from many of the platforms where fans consume and converse around all that content. There were countless insights and examples, inspirational stories, revelatory ideas, and warm camaraderie. What follows are a few actionable insights from the panels, which built on the theme of social media and sports growing up. We’ve raced well past the tropes of interns, the power of content and social being recognized and appreciated for all the value it can deliver.
What the sports world needs to know about Reddit
Reddit has kind of been having a moment, and not just in sports. It’s increasingly one of the last true large ‘social’ broadcast platforms left, a place where businesses and brands can get unfettered insight into what fans are saying, and more tied into the information users get, whether querying AI or Google.
Sports are not new to Reddit; there have been tons of engagement and conversation happening on various subreddits for years. But now the teams and leagues themselves are taking notice. Reddit’s Sports Partnerships Lead Christine Wixted Wixted sat on a panel alongside MLB’s Vice President, Social Media & Innovation Cameron Gidari , and they discussed some of the use cases and value props for the platform.
- Reddit is a text-heavy platform, because it’s about conversations. But that doesn’t mean photos and videos don’t have a place, multimedia can start and lead those conversations.
- Anyone (including brands) can be welcomed when they provide value. For teams and leagues, that can mean content they’re not getting elsewhere. Don’t just post the highlight, post a unique camera angle or clips that’ll elicit conversation.
- Niche down. This will come up again later with TikTok, but with the specific, interest-based nature of subreddits, there is opportunity to engage with non-sports communities. MLB mentioned their success posting in the weather subreddit, for example. AMAs (Ask Me Anything) can also be compelling ways to serve different niches; for example, could your head groundskeeper interact with the landscaping subreddit about caring for the grass at an MLB or NFL stadium? (my example!)
- AMAs were brought up multiple times by both Wixted and Gidari, and Wixted mentioned ongoing development of the platform’s AMA product. That’s a telling sign! Gidari talked about the success of having AMAs with MLB’s team-specific beat writers, offering deep engagement and conversation when, for example, the Cubs beat writer does an AMA with the Cubs subreddit (again, my example). This is an easy but effective way to get started on Reddit.
- You can get value from Reddit even if you never post. Wixted echoed what many marketers will say, characterizing Reddit as your free focus group. Lurk and listen, and, as Wixted recommended, leverage Reddit Pro — which is free, to set up listening flows to keep track of your brand and sport, and spot opportunities for engagement or pick up insights about your fans or potential fans.
- You don’t need to worry about constantly feeding Reddit. It’s not as algorithm-driven as other platforms (posts primarily gain visibility through comments and upvotes), so you can pick and choose opportunities instead of stressing about a 24/7/365 presence
- If you’re anxious or uneasy about treading into Reddit, where it’s true that brands are not always a welcomed presence, work through the subreddit moderators (or connect with the mods through the Reddit partnerships team)
- Wixted talked through some of Reddit’s near-term priorities and roadmap, so pay attention. She mentioned: Continued devleopment and evolution of their video product, improving their mobile app UX, further development of their AMA product (such as scheduling, RSVPs, video answers, activation within AMAs), building more publisher tools and verifications, and enhancing the live event experience with features like live stats, polls, custom flair, and game highlights (my note: just check out the r/CFB subreddit on a college football Saturday, for example!).
- My personal Reddit experience (from running Slyke) — the organic opportunity (and paid) is very real. Definitely be mindful of posting as a brand, you may share the same content under a non-brand handle. Think about posts that will start conversations, and note that users are willing to click off to a link to consume content that’ll funnel back into the conversation on the thread; I’ve had posts reach millions and drive considerable clicks. I’ve also found cost-effective ads (but be mindful of objectives). And do your research — Reddit Pro and Gummy Search can be helpful, jumping into subreddits and searching them or filtering by Best/Hot/Top over different time periods, and test different posting formats (link, text-only, carousel, video, etc.). I’ll also note, for a verrrry small marketer like myself, the Reddit ads team is extremely help and hands-on
Learning from the SMSports OGs
Depending on when you mark the unofficial start of the social media x sports era, the field as a profession is about 10-15 years old. It really did start with entry-level staff and, yes, some interns. The first pros whose job it was to write tweets, hit publish on Facebook, and navigate the early days of social media have grown up in the space, many in senior leadership or still hanging around the industry otherwise, continuing to evolve with it.
A few of these ‘OGs’ hit the stage to reflect on the past, analyze the present, and lend insight and inspiration to those coming up and molding the next era now.
- “Likes don’t pay the bills.” Justin Karp , an OG now at NBC Universal, isn’t the first to utter that phrase, but it captures the elevated place of social media in any business now. Counting engagements is fine, but now we have to ask ‘so what?’ multiple times in planning add measurement to ensure those engagements and that reach is connected to business goals. That could mean reaching certain audience, driving home messaging, gaining actionable insights and feedback from fan engagement and comments, tying to sales, affecting recruiting outcomes and interest (for college sports), and driving tune-in, subscriptions, sign-ups, etc.
- Platforms and what content and packaging work on said platforms change. So audiences. The point is you always have to be mindful of evolving, an insight elucidated by the Las Vegas Raiders’ Gavin Rivera. Learn to love the space as a science to continually study.
- There are still only 24 hours in a day and yet an ever-growing supply of content and options competing for that attention. So everything has to start with a compelling story. Regardless of mediums, platforms, and presentation, the story must be one worth telling.
- Rivera demonstrated decisiveness, explaining that we must fully comprehend the brand of the organization and know how to implement it across the board. You should be able to articulate the ‘why’ behind every post, heck, every word, and edit. The industry has grown up.
- Karp has spent a lot of time and effort to drive tune-in with live sports broadcast by NBC and its platforms. And a key insight, with broad implications for sports pros, is that sports fans have passions and interests beyond sports. They follow whatever stories, memes, and trends are popping in areas beyond sports. So how can you ensure your game feels culturally relevant, significant enough to command engagement and attention by the biggest audience?
Lessons and ROI with Losing Teams
“Don’t read the comments” was never a good idea. Sure, there is bound to be vitriol and salty language, especially in the lean times for teams, but there is no better way to hear from your fans at scale than social media. It’s a constant source of feedback and vibes, in general and for specific content and campaigns.
If you sift through riff-raff, there is gold in all those fan voices and finding those insights is another way the social media team can deliver meaningful value up to the c-suite. This was one of themes at the conference overall and in a discussion featuring social media and content leaders from the Chicago White Sox (Tim Brogdon ), Carolina Panthers (Alex Grant), and Diana Smith (Charlotte Hornets), three teams from three different leagues who share this one thing in common — their teams have suffered a spate of losing seasons, of varying degrees, in recent years.
- Remind yourself that the fan sentiment expressed on social media is often unrelated to your performance as a content and social media team, it’s the team performance they’re peeved about. Don’t get down about all the aspersions, but do look for patterns and opportunities within it. When you do something, creating content or commenting, for example, that shows fans you’re listening and addresses a common sore spot, that goes a long way.
- What do you do when the season is shot? It’s tough when fans can all recognize that this team just ain’t going to win much, let alone contend this season. The advice for this issue included maximizing the effort around things that fans are excited and feeling positively about. That could mean schedule release, the draft, free agency, training camp, fan traditions and community. You may recognize storylines that fans are interested in; if so, build on that.
- If it’s driving behavior, the content is valuable. Fans may not want to hear from you as much amidst losing, but don’t necessarily take negative sentiment or even lower engagement to automatically mean the content didn’t work. Pay attention to other metrics like sends/shares, watch time, and reach, too.
- Coaching up is an important skill. You need to be able to communicate and explain strategic decisions to senior leaders and execs in various departments. If you post less, those preseason engagement and growth goals are not gonna be reached. If we want our social media to be among the best amongst our peers, here’s what that’s going to take and why it makes sense. The White Sox’s Brogdon also spoke about high-level conversations about how the team’s self-awareness and even use of memes would help shift the public narrative a bit, and deflect negative attention on the team to more positive attention on the social media team’s approach.
- ‘Some ideas are worth waiting for.’ This paraphrase, via another paraphrase from the Hornets’ Smith was about not tossing aside ideas when fan sentiment is low, but saving some of them for when the right time comes. Talk to any staff at losing teams and there’s a good chance they have some ideas for content or even strategic direction for when the team becomes a winning one.
- Brogdon talked about developing a Whtie Sox fan persona, which guides core strategy and decisions, and enables more thoughtful conversations around the team’s approach. Overall, the panel has a good handle on documenting voice, tone, and brand guidelines, so everyone knows the gospel guiding the strategy and post-to-post decision making.
- This panel and others discussed non-traditional KPIs. Engagement is great, but there is so much more value to be tracked and framed. The Panthers’ Alex Grant even mentioned how player comments on content and their feedback as a good sign. As noted earlier, using social listening and comments to drive actionable recommendations and insights, whether based around fan experience [a pain point at the game], reaction to an activation or promotion, or an emerging affinity. Consider community development goals, too. When fans are starting their own conversations and conversing (hopefully respectfully!) with each other, that’s a good sign. If it starts to feel like the team and its fans have inside jokes or their own language, that’s pretty cool.
- STN Digital’s David Brickley went into what we mean when we say ROI. Understand the true objective — there is a difference between a marketing and a sales campaign, he said. Not everything is about sales, the objective could be community growth, reaching a specific demo, etc.
Live Coverage and Content
Content producers and leaders from three very different leagues and sports, NASCAR, MLB, and the PWHL, spoke about covering events/games and getting content to the feeds quickly (and why that matters).
- Major League Baseball games are full of highlights. They can’t always predict when they’ll be a an incredible defensive play or a monstrous home run, but when it happens they want to own the moment and get it out quickly. MLB’s Brett Blueweiss said the goal is ‘field to feed’ in two minutes, and noted they typically have three different angles to share to make the most of the moments. An over-arching theme was the value of sharing unique content. Plenty of accounts can post the broadcast highlight, but what is the content that only YOU have?
- While most sports events take place with fields and courts that are circumnavigable, NASCAR’s Alejandro Alvarez knows he and his content producers can’t possibly be everywhere in their massive speedway venues. So it helps them to be a bit more intentional about the content they want to capture and why. The overall goal, he said, is to convey the visceral experience of being at the race and all the energy and atmosphere of the event.
- Both Blueweiss and Alvarez said that data often shows that mobile content (phone-captured) performs better than more polished content shot with more professional video/photo equipment. It looks more like real life, so it’s more relatable, they surmised. Alvarez said the memorable line that ‘the best camera is the one in your hand,’ whether that’s a DSLR or an iPhone. But also be smart about it, recognize the moments where one device or the other makes more sense. Overall, showing the data can also help destigmatize any qualms about phone-captured content that some may harbor.
- There’s always risk of montony. Sports are about routine, by design, so content can get stale if every game day looks virtually the same with the live content captured. Some of the recommendations to combat this included giving your on-the-ground content creators some agency to roam around the venue to find unique angles or scenes. And let these talented producers try new things, they can bring good ideas to the table. Even small tweaks, too, can make something feel fresh for fans.
The Perfect Couple: Design and Social
Design and social media are inseparable. The best marriages can make 1+1 > 2, with creative that syncs with the content and copy to enhance fandom and enliven an intentional branding. Every good marriage requires communication, honesty, and compromise, and the discussion among design and social pros from the University of Tennessee’s Athletics and the Atlanta Falcons was full of helpful tips and insights.
- Distinct creative looks and techniques are ownable, and can augment brand identioty and equity, stated the Falcons’ Director of Social Media and Influencers, Ryan Delgado .
- Tennessee’s Evan Ford explained how the Vols (Volunteers) have creative boundaries around a sandbox in which colleagues can play. This helps maintain integirty while not stifling creative riffs among the school’s many teams. The Vols’ Kellen Hiser (Assistant AD, Digital and Creative Strategy) said that knowing the why behind creative elements and decisions can help inform playing within the guardrailed sandbox and guide future asks, too.
- In a nod to the potential for numbness and montony from otherwise awesome creative, there were recommendations about. how small tweaks can mitigate such risks. That could be changing up the font or composition on the creative, or even just the presentation; a new approach to carousels or Reels covers, for example, or a different introductory frame for a Stories post.
- Game days can move rapidly (of course!), so it helps to prepare and plan from a content and creative perspective, too. That means scenario planning, so all sides are ready for potential moments. It’s also good to know who is supposed to be where and when, so when content happens, someone is in the right place at the right time, and the director leading the content execution knows who to call on for the content.
- A subtle but important point of discussion was honing the creative process from all sides. It can make a big difference when a request or brief is well-written and an informed, reasonable timeline is provided. Knowing how to give and receive feedback are underrated skills. And don’t forget to ensure all sides know the purpose of the creative, how will it be used and why (and if it goes unused, why was that the case?). Close the loop on performance and feedback, that’s a complete creative cycle.
- You can win with consistency. Not every post or piece of creative needs to be a home run, consistently hitting singles and doubles can drive consistent impact.
- I just loved the Falcons’ Jack Ozmer (Graphic Designer) talk about crafting a team identity that’s consistent across visual and voice. That’s the crux of a lot of this synchronization and synergy of design and social, helping to build that cohesive brand.
TikTok Tips
TikTok continues to be a force in social media and no other platform has been more valuable in broadening the scope that sports can penetrate. The discussion on the TikTok panel was centered around March Madness and creators, and was packed with insights for general application, too.
- Search and intentional discovery remains a big priority for TikTok. The moderator of the panel, Kenny Yansen (TikTok leads for sports broadcast partnerships) showcased the key ways the platform activated around TikTok and the tournaments’ hub and search were front and center. TikTok in general remains a major search platform and it appears they’re continuing to lean into that behavior. When was the last time you searched your brand, team, or partners?
- Bleacher Report’s Louise Chouinard (Senior Producer, Field Content) articulated their approach to TikTok, embracing a culture of experimentation. And not all good ideas will hit on TikTok the first time you post them. Sometimes posting a second or third time, with or without tweaks, can hit. She also noted the opportunity to experiment and ‘flood the feed’ during those high times, such as during March Madness. Some of that creative spaghetti will stick, reach new audiences, and inform future practices, too.
- Content creator and former pro basketball player Trey Phils (and Yalie!) advised to not be afraid to flop. You just have to post. Get reps and try stuff. One of the features of TikTok your content doesn’t get automatically served at scale to users, let alone followers. Only the good content does. The bad content barely gets seen by anybody, so don’t sweat the flops. If you trip and fall while walking and nobody’s around to see it, who cares? (my example there, haha)
- When you work with creators, select creators whose style and content fits what you (and the brand) are seeking, said Chouinard. Then let them cook. If you try to force something that deviates from the creator’s content style, that’s not good for anyone.
- Lean into niche when you can (and when it’s relevant). TikTok has ‘unmatched discoverability,’ said Chouinard. Oftentimes niche sports or niche topics can over-perform, so look for those opportunities and lean into it. She cited an example of an interview with Stephen Nedoroscik (the bespectacled pommel horse hero for Team USA Olympic men’s gymnastics team) in which his love for the video game Rocket League came up. TikTok did its thing, getting that content to Rocket League aficionados on TikTok and the post took off.
The Growth and Opportunity of Women’s Sports, Athletes, and Content
No sports industry event can take place without a discussion about women’s sports. The growth is undeniable, the athletes influential, and it feels like we’re still just getting started.
- One of the content motifs that came up as a propellant, with benefits for women’s and men’s sports and cultural relevance was athlete collabs. That could be across teams in the same sport, teams in the same city, teammates together, or no natural connection like that at all. Numerous female athletes have wider reach on social media, and many are just better at social, even if the teams and leagues foir which the male athletes’ have bigger overall fan bases, for the most part, which means both sides stand to gain. Audiences can multiply quickly with collabs.
- Women’s sports athletes are inviting new brand categories and activations into the fold. Beauty and feminine hygiene brands, for example, now have a natural platform in sports that’s growing in scale, and these athletes are creating new opportunities through content like GRWM (get ready with me). Women are, in general, more willing to be vulnerable on social media, which makes them more relatable to fans, and more effective and authentic brand ambassadors.
- There is a tangible shift in the way brands play within women’s sports, too. While in the past their activations often came across as patronizing, like an act of charity. Now, it’s more about celebrating women’s sports and the athletes as legit superstars performing impressive athletic achievements.
- Fans of women’s sports are fans. They’re often more vehement and even tribal, which helps create a valuable platform for women’s sports. When other leagues/teams or brands engage authentically with women’s sports teams and athletes, these tribes often come with them, and bring their passion and devotion.
Understanding, Activating, and Community Building with Fans
It’s easy when you’re the legacy team account. (Okay, not easy, but stay with me) But how do you become a relevant presence for fans when you’re a media outlet, an upstart content and competition company, or even a multi-trillion-dollar corporate brand? There some insights and ideas with broad applications that I picked up in a discussion with the pros helping to engage communities and fans for ALLCITY Network, Overtime, and Microsoft.
- ALLCITY’s Parker Sperry (VP of Partnership Marketing) spoke about how ALLCITY, the parent company behind localized media companies (DNVR, PHNX, among others) thinks about serving fans throughout their gameday journey. From pregame to in-game to postgame, what can they do to engage their fans and add value?
- Sperry also spoke about positioning their talent to be brand ambassadors, in addition to how they work with creators. They want to offer fans something unique, so they’ll oftne let their creators try ideas in the moment and overall think about formats that are outside the box. They’re not trying to be traditional media.
- Overtime’s Mike Kaufman (Director of Social Strategy) appreciates the platform they have and the communities they can create and serve. He discussed the importance of listening to and learning from athletes (and their parents) to better serve them. He also spoke about discovering communities they can help, using their platform to fill programming gaps and serve those communities fans fans.
- Microsoft’s Joey Maestas , a social media and sports vet who today helps Microsoft market its AI as Social, Influencers & Video Lead for Copilot. In devising strategy, the north star for him is to consider what use cases would their audience care about? That guides the creators they work with (and how), the activations they produce, and the content they create.
A few more
Not everything fit in the sections above, so here are a couple other things that stuck with me.
- It’s always instructive to pay attention to what the major platforms advise, so we were all at rapt attention when Meta addressed the crowd. Kristen Oh (Sports Partnerships at Meta) shared a breakdown of Instagram’s many products, and how organizations can think about using each. While nothing is absolute, the overview included: Utilize the feed for curated highlights, Stories for ephemeral moments, short and entertainment-focused videos for Reels, go Live and be interactive with fans, and connect with core fans (in general, for specific events, for sub brands, for athletes) in Channels.
- Meta also reviewed Threads. It’s no secret that adoption and engagement on Threads is a big priority for Meta right now, and it was informative to learn how they speak about Threads and the frameworks for success on the platform. View the linked image for the full slide summing up the big ideas, but in brief they presented 4+ recommendations to build a community and engaging presence on Threads. 1) Post authoritative content like highlights and behind-the-scenes, 2) ‘Own the moment’ by sharing content that makes a statement or echoes what fans are feeling, 3) Tap into creators and commentators by developing ambassadors and elevating community voices, 4) Drive Community engagement by empowering everyday fans. Ultimately, consistently engage with fans and with the community, and that’ll go a long way on Threads.
- STN Digital’s David Brickley cited the old cliche ‘Your network is your net worth.’ But it wasn’t just about how who you know helps you get hired at your next job. It’s about being able to make things happen, too. He’s right in it, as a founder and leader of an agency, but he added another framing to the old aphorism, if there’s a big activation or content campaign to execute, do you have the rolodex of trusted agencies or freelancers to call into action? Building that network is valuable, particularly as you ascend. to more senior roles.
That’s over 4,000 words above. If you made it all the way here, whether you read this in a single sitting or sections at a time, I hope you feel smarter having learned what I learned. Since there is so much, here are some of the lasting themes and insights to ensure you take with you:
- Social has grown up — from “vibes” to a strategic, business-impact engine that drives tune-ins, ticket sales, sponsorships, marketing objectives and deeper fan insights.
- The communities for your content are broader than you think — Think beyond sports content and communities, and add value to others. Try sharing relevant content to niche subreddits and TikTok fandoms.
- Measure what matters — count engagements and views remain important, but aim to tie posts and performance to business goals (tune-in, brand messaging and pillars, marketing communications, community growth, brand affinity, partner activation).
- Empower your creators and colleagues — Formalize guardrails; the goal is not to micromanage, but invite safe experimentation, so creators, freelancers, and coworkers can unearth fresh angles and creative ideas.
- Content and Social are Strategic — Articulate the why behind the strategy, content, and creative. Decisions and direction should make sense because they align with the why.
- Experiment without fear — on TikTok and beyond, embrace rapid “fail fast” iterations; only the best content surfaces, so don’t sweat the misses. You may even reach communities you never thought about
- Lean into under-tapped fandoms — women’s sports, niche athletes and underserved communities hold high-value audiences hungry for genuine curation and context.
Somehow, this barely scratches the surface of all the knowledge to gain and stories to hear from the presentations at Gondola. Not to mention all the conversations on the side and the relationships formed outside of the official sessions.
Thanks to the team at Gondola (led by the legend Jared Kleinstein) for putting together a tremendous event and to all the speakers for being so thoughtful and generous and energetic with their discussions. If you haven’t checked out the Gondola platform, I encourage you to check it out, explore the content and creators, learn about the features, and sign up for an account. Visit Gondola
And shoutout to my employer Greenfly, who got several unsolicited shoutouts from the guest speakers, praising our software and service for being so valuable to their content operations and ability to achieve business goals.