Communication Lessons From the Philadelphia 76ers
How one fan’s social media strategy led to a dream job.
Lisa B. Marshall
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Communication Lessons From the Philadelphia 76ers
What do the Philadelphia 76ers CE0 Adam Aron and recent Penn State graduate Jerry Rizzo have in common? Turns out, quite a bit. They are both savvy communicators, entrepreneurial, and now, they both work for the same organization.
Communication Success Story
Here’s the story. Recently, the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team ran a contest to choose their next mascot. Fan Jerry Rizzo and his friend Hunter Coleman decided to give the contest a little social media love—which included creating Twitter accounts on behalf of the possible new mascots. Turns out, Rizzo is a striving social media marketing pro.
The Twitter introduction for Phil E. Moose read “Just your average slam dunking moose trying to make it in the City of Brotherly Love as the future mascot of the @Sixers.” The Tweets were equally clever. For example: “Raise your hoof to the roof! Keep voting for your favorite Broad St. Bull.” and “It’s a Dogg eat Moose world.”
As these profiles began to gain attention and momentum, the team sent an email to Rizzo asking him to stop Tweeting and hand over the accounts. Instead of simply giving up, Rizzo put his communication skills to good use and called the team to negotiate a deal; box seats in exchange for the accounts.
The story gets even better. The 76ers CEO Adam Aron recognized the situation as an opportunity. No, not an opportunity to sue. But instead, an opportunity to show support for an enthusiastic, clever fan and to help the team. Aron reviewed Jerry’s online portfolio, interviewed him, and ultimately offered him a position as the team’s social media coordinator. Way to go Jerry Rizzo!
I love this story because it clearly demonstrates how effective communication strategies lead to success. Allow me to break down what went right:
Use Brand Icons to Engage Fans
Rizzo, who studied communication understood, that people prefer to interact with brand icons instead of with brands. For example, my current favorite brand icon that is doing especially well in social media is All State’s Mayhem. You’ve probably seen this series of commercials in which a guy represents all the bad things that can happen to your house, your car, your life. (I posted a funny example to my blog).
Rizzo recognized the missing element of the 76ers’ contest and very cleverly and professionally represented the newly-created potential team icons.
Reward Active Loyal Fans
This story also brought up an interesting question: What do you do if someone creates unofficial social media for your brand? If fans are loyal and are creating positive and effective engagement, they should be rewarded, not deterred. CEO Aron gets an A+ for how he handled the situation. Rather than calling in the legal guns, he embraced the fans’ loyalty.
In addition, Aron also scores kudos because he uses social media to reach out to fans directly. He actively listens to fans and most importantly, he answers fan Tweets personally.
Demonstrate Your Creativity and Initiative
As for Jerry Rizzo, he followed the advice that I talk about in my Guide to Ace Your Interview audiobook. He created a website which demonstrated his writing ability, his creativity, and initiative. Instead of waiting for a job in his chosen profession, he proactively worked as an intern and created independent projects to build his portfolio and expand his skill set. In may seem as though he found his dream job in a quirky, unconventional way, but this approach is the new standard. Check out my book to learn more about how to find your dream job in today’s market.
Resolve Conflict Person to Person
Finally, one thing that may seem trivial but I believe is significant: Jerry Rizzo didn’t hide behind an anonymous email address when he was asked to turn over the mascot Twitter accounts. Instead, he chose to pick up the phone and call the organization directly. His actions demonstrate the correct approach when dealing with conflict. When issues arise, it’s best to handle them face-to-face or at least voice-to-voice and not via email.
So there you have it, a story ripped from the headlines demonstrating the right way to communicate. It truly is a success story, for both Jerry and the 76ers.
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About the Author
Lisa B. Marshall Lisa holds masters with duel degrees in interpersonal/intercultural communication and organizational communication. She’s the author of Smart Talk: The Public Speaker’s Guide to Success in Every Situation, as well as Ace Your Interview, Powerful Presenter, and Expert Presenter. Her work has been featured in CBS Money Watch, Ragan.com, Woman’s Day, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, and many others. Her institutional clients include Johns Hopkins Medicine, Harvard University, NY Academy of Science, University of Pennsylvania, Genentech, and Roche.