Boys and Girls Athletic Club Social Media Marketing

Overview

Company: Local Boys and Girls Athletic Club
Audience: Children, Teens, Parents
Message: Stay active and healthy through sports.
Social Media Tools: Twitter & Social Networking; Blogs - WordPress, Blogger; QR Codes

I think social media tools can be a great asset in the marketing strategy for local Boys and Girls athletic clubs. The strategy would target children and teens as the primary participants, but also parents, who will be responsible for ensuring children/teens are signed up for activities. The message is promoting an active healthy lifestyle through recreational sports, in an age where childhood obesity has become nearly an epidemic.

The first social media platform is social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Vine, FourSquare, YouTube. These channels not only reach a large audience, they allow the message to take on a life of its own. For example, if one child participates in an activity and posts it to at least one social networking site, it can be shared, forwarded, linked, favorited, retweeted, repinned over and over again.  In turn the Boys and Girls Club, original message sender, is promoted by more than the marketing team.  Social networking is used by children, teens, and adults. For this strategy  all three audiences will be reached.

The second social media tool is blogging. Daily, future, and past activities can be recorded via the blog.  It can be designed to catch the eye while providing an important message. It can also include additional information such as nutrition guides, professional and semi professional sporting events, and other healthy living advice. The blog will be more catered to adults and parents. It can serve as a hub parents can check on a child's activities, view scoreboards, and other important information.

The third element to this stratedgy is the QR (Quick Response) code. QR codes are very convenient. When trying to communicate a lot of information, a QR code can put the information right into your hand literally. An overwhelming number of children, teens, and parents have daily access to a smart phone or a similar device. The QR code can provide access to permission slips and waivers, game schedules, nutrition guides, the main website, basically every facet of the company. The QR code can also be posted everywhere from online, to in schools, to in offices. It's very versatile and quick.

Boston University Takes a Bite Out of Apple.

 While digesting my daily intake of The Huffington Post, I found myseld especially drawn to a piece written about my alma mater, Boston University. The article, Boston University Sues Apple For Alleged Patent Infringement, reports that Boston University is suing Apple, Inc., Amazon, and Samsung for allegedly stealing semiconductor technology designs from a University professor.

After a bit of research, I found similar articles published in New York Times, LA Times, CBS News, USA Today, Boston Business Journal, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and The Boston University Student Newspaper - The Daily Free Press. Among numerous special interest tech blogs.  That was my biggest indication that the article was reliable.

The article was "filed" by Tyler Kingkade. I'm having a hard time deciphering if that means written, but it more than likely means it was reviews. Tyler Kingkade is the Assistant Editor of the Huffington Post College.  Tyler's writing have earned him recognition from the Society of Professional Journalist, The Associated Collegiate Press, and the University of Georgia (source).  I consider him a reliable source, as his work has been peer reviewed.

I generally find The Huffington Post to politically lean slightly liberal, however I do think they do an excellent job of remaining neutral, and at time do post conservative leaning articles.

The article does not site an additional contributor.


Next I investigated the cited sources.

The most reliable source is the complaint filed with the US District Court in Massachusetts. A copy of the complaint is linked to the article. An official legal document lends itself to a high degree of credibility.

The article also references The Boston Globe. I followed that article in hopes of obtaining additional sources, however the Globe does not cite any sources at all.

The original article also cites Gigaom.com. GigaOM is a new media journalistic website covering mobile, cloud, cleantech, consumer web and media (source).

Lastly the article uses the opinion of tech analyst, Roger Kay. Roger Kay works for Endpoint Technology Associates, and is a regular contributor to Forbes.com. He is considered an expert in his field.

Finally, the URL was pretty simple to breakdown.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/03/boston-university-apple-lawsuit_n_3542270.html?ir=Technology

Huffington Post -year -month -date- title - subgroup


Overall I find the article to be credible, because the Author used credible sources.


Chaunice