Social Media Strategy Case Study

The Central Florida Sports Commission is an organization that aims to attract national as well as international sporting events to the central Florida area. They highly stress their interest in partnering with businesses in the local area in order to promote tourism and economic growth through sporting events. In the sense of being "online" they promote their events though their website, as well as Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube. Today, I will examine the strategies they employ through two of these platforms, Facebook and You Tube, as well as determine their effectiveness.

The general demographics that the commission is trying to reach varies slightly, dependent on their function as almost a public relations firm. On one hand they are targeting fans and sports enthusiasts to attend their events, though on the other they are targeting event arenas and sponsors to host such contests.

The organization utilizes social media to get the community involved and interested in the events they're hosting as well as a tool to attract teams and competitions to the area. The Sports Commission posts on Facebook multiple times a day, and uses it as almost a catchall to keep the public updated on what is going on within the organization, as well as other ways to involve the community. They inform on projects they have spearheaded, such as "with the help of our government partners, we're spearheading the effort to bring 22 NCAA Championships to the region over the next 5 years," as well as when an upcoming event's tickets go on sale, and free events that are going on within the community. Their Facebook page is effective in that it is extremely informative, although there is much room to grow. One area I feel that would benefit them, is if they were more interactive; interactive in the sense that they post pictures of people at events, host contests for tickets through Facebook, do a daily trivia question for prizes etc., the possibilities go on and on. Yes, people can comment on their posts now, but that is nearly as far as the interaction goes, and more feedback from their consumers creates a better company.

The organization uses the social platform of You Tube also as a way to inform the community, but as well as a way to share more marketing details. For example, they recently posted the video they used to submit to the NCAA to potentially host the soccer championship in 2013. In the video, local schools such as UCF, and Rollins, are featured saying that they are on the "team." This branding technique is used throughout the video in order to portray a total sense of unity and community throughout the central Florida region, no matter the school or division of competition. You Tube is also used to promote the organization in general, and offers videos that promote their mission such as "Sports is Big Business in Florida." One problem that lies within their You Tube account though, is that they have almost no views on any of them. They need to implement ways through their Facebook, and website that see more traffic in order to promote their You Tube content.

Overall, the Central Florida Sports Commission has done a mediocre job at establishing themselves in the social media sphere, now it is up to them to implement strategies to utilize social media to its full potential. With the implementation of a more interactive user experience they have the ability to gain more followers as well become more effective in the social media realm.