cbssports.com's tim cary on the #dsmsports podcast, episode 7

Best Of... CBSSports.com's Tim CaryEpisode 7 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast

On episode 7 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast, Tim Cary, Social Media Editor for CBSSports.com discussed: the importance of building relationships on social media, prioritizing engagement over all else, the value of influencers, and more.

What follows are some snippets from the episode. Listen to the full podcast on iTunes or DSMSports.net

@njh287; DSMSports.net


On getting started with his career -

“With the growth of live blogging and Twitter and technology changing on the fly, I was fortunately caught in the middle of it.”



“I used Twitter very intentionally to network with people in sports media...I built relationships and reached out to them about [a job opening I wanted].”



“When you really reach out and try to build relationships, there are people willing to do that...you get so much value out of those relationships – people that have experience that you don't. The connections I have developed on Twitter are [priceless].”



“I have people I can point to that were willing to go overboard to help me and give me advice...I've thought how can I do that [now] for people in that same situation?...Now that the [roles are reversed], I'm willing to do that [and help] people willing to work hard and reach out.”



“Platforms come and go, trends change, but the [goals of] engagement and driving traffic to CBSSports.com remain the same.”



[paraphrase]

I'd always ask myself how can I write better? I'd look at how other, professional writers took that same story and those sames quotes and wrote their stories.



“A lot of sports journalists have a rooting position...but if you come with a level of expertise [fans are ok with it]...”

“The more conversational you can be, the more receptive people are to it. That doesn't mean you have to take away professionalism from it...people can enjoy conversational writing as long as it is communicated clearly.”



“The trick is not to be emotional...fans tend to be so worked up, you can't take them seriously [as journalists]...People [should not be able to tell] which side you are on. You limit your audience when you [put in your rooting interest] in to a story.”



“You can be positive without being emotional...people understand you have a bias, but the question to measure [the value] by is: can people still enjoy that post without sharing your viewpoint?”



“My job now writing things the size of a headline, [a big change] from thousands of words...it's surprising how little of my job is who won the game and what's the score? It's all the other little things that people talk about [on social media].”



“NFL is king when it comes to sports content, but a lot of times a story will take off and isn't necessarily on you see coming.”



[paraphrase]

Bloggers across all sports do a great job knowing what fans of their sport will interact with; they do a good job [for us] of curating what is out there. In addition to the content our writers create and news they break themselves.



“We have data tracking to see what the most popular stories are and where that traffic is coming from...the main thing we're looking at is traffic, but also social shares too...If something is getting a lot of social shares on the site, we'll put it on [our social media].”



On growth of social media and its effect for CBSSports.com

“Not only are we getting more likes, more retweets, more shares, we're also building the core audiences on those pages.”



“We decided doing less things [on fewer platforms] better, where we can get the most audience and most bang for our buck, [is the best for us.]...We want to dominate [those] spaces.”



On seeing the same fans sharing/commenting over and over -

“A superfan is a good thing to have. If you have someone that is engaging on Twitter and [always] talking back, that's a good thing. It will grow your audience...there are people out there who are helping you [spread your content].”



“Personally, I think the #1 thing you can do is be fast. You need to be accurate, but speed becomes a big difference.” He explains how he'll often have different headlines ready as the ends of games nears, particularly for close games.

“If we are first consistently, then if someone follows @CBSSports on Twitter, they don't have to follow [the others].”



“Every sports editor is in the business of analyzing and aggregating first...if we can share news [even from other sources] more quickly, we're more than happy to have fans click through our site.”



On balancing coverage across sports and writers -

“We collaborate because we all want to see the company do well...all of the divisions and people are working together to accomplish something for the brand...Ultimately, the more assets you have at your disposal, the more you can do from a social perspective.”



“We're pretty much responding to what is happening, but we'll obviously have a little bit more focus to what is happening on CBS networks.”



“Each department has certain goals they have to accomplish, but you develop relationships and communicate those goals to each other...Ultimately, you work together to help the company do well.”



“If there is a big story on our site, we want to make sure [fans] click to our version of it and not one another site has aggregated.”



This episode's Helpful Tool: GIFBoom, a mobile app to create, import, and share GIFs (and GIFs are viewable in Twitter)



On responsibility of speaking on behalf of CBSSports.com on social:

“If you are sending something that thousands of people are seeing at a time, there is a responsibility with that.

“We look to have a professional tone to our posts, we also look to have a voice...We don't want to be just an RSS feed, we want to talk like the fans.”



“You want to be conversational and you want to be professional...I want to make sure every 'I' is dotted and every 't' is crossed, but you err on the side of being professional...

It's okay to [cause reaction] in a post, it increases engagement.” [Cites example of a post with sarcasm getting more response than formal language]



Sports story that garnered the most social media engagement:

Linsanity, Lebron decision, Tebowmania, uniform alternate designs, Barry Bonds paying for Bryan Stow's needs



On CBS Sports:

“We want to be accurate, we want to be typo-free, and we want to be first.”



The episode's Share-able Stat: For decisive game 6 of World Series: 19.2 million TV audience, 8.4 million Twitter TV audience (per Nielsen and Major League Baseball Public Relations)



Sports story that was craziest / most chaotic to cover:

Superbowl during the blackout and the Dwight Howard free agency story, from start-to-finish, especially the last hours



Common misconception about social media and sports:

The story with most 'viral potential' will get the most engagement/shares; a lot of times it depends on if an individual with a lot of influence shares it; you try to think about how the masses will react, but a lot of times it comes down to just one person [sharing it].



“The teams with the best social media are ones that respond the most [to fans] and show they're dedicated to social media and get a reputation for being responsive.” Cites standout teams: Lakers [local teams for him] Columbus Blue Jackets, Cleveland Indians



Social platform with the most consistent engagement: Twitter

“If Facebook [or another platform] disappeared from my life, I probably wouldn't miss it a whole lot...”

(The recent growth of CBS Sports on G+ is more than all their other platforms combined)



“If you like watching news and TV, you should have a Twitter account...news stations have just become a way to curate information [already] shared on Twitter [hours ago].”



Favorite sports story:

From the past: Ones he has attended – Final Four, US vs. Mexico qualifiers in Columbus

Present: Real-time, unpredictable stories [not the stories with longer lives that are talked about at length], when something [unexpected] blows your mind



Tim's pick for this season's college football BCS National Champion:

Not Alabama



Social Media All-Stars To Follow:

@BTNDaveRevsine - Dave Revsine of Big10 Network;

@JamesonFleming of CBS Sports;

@KathleenHessert, social media manager; CEO of BuzzMgr



Where To Find Tim:

@TimCary, @CBSSports

Facebook.com/CBSSports

Plus.google.com/+CBSSportscom



Thanks very much to Tim Cary for sharing his experience, knowledge, and personality with us on the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast!

For more, visit DSMSports.net and follow me, Neil Horowitz, on Twitter @njh287


cbssports.com's tim cary on the #dsmsports podcast, episode 7

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