In the buildup to the first of Front Office Sports’ Huddle Series on February 22, we’re introducing you to the huddle leaders who will be lending their expertise to the conversation.
Today, meet Jonah Ballow, VP of Digital at MKTG. He will be one of the leaders of the huddle “Making Money on Social: Creating and Delivering Monetizable Assets.”
A Colorado native, Ballow is a 2004 graduate of the University of Kansas, where he studied broadcast journalism and had, what he describes, as the thrill of a lifetime doing radio play-by-play for Jayhawks basketball games. On top of that, KU professors instilled in him the importance of building an online audience for any team or brand.
This set Ballow on a career path that included several jobs as a reporter and web producer for radio stations in Kansas and Missouri before bringing him to the NBA. Ballow joined the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2008 as a web editor, overseeing the organization’s web and social presence while playing a major role in all of their content creation efforts.
READ MORE: Inside the Huddle: Talking Paid Social With Angela Welchert
Ballow recalls a formative experience as a social media professional that came during his time with the Timberwolves. Capitalizing on the viral popularity of a clip of Kevin Love and Wesley Johnson failing to shake hands after a free throw, he showcased his agility as a creator with a comedic “investigative report” on what went wrong on the handshake.
The video was picked up by media outlets like NBA.com and ESPN, and quickly generated well over a million views.
“When all the major networks picked it up on their sites,” Ballow remembers, “a light bulb went off. I saw that the future was going to consist of teams making these original pieces of content with players who want to see themselves in that light.”
After nearly four years with the Timberwolves, Ballow moved on to the New York Knicks where he was the director of digital for six and a half years. Eight months ago, Ballow joined on with MKTG in a role that, to him, feels like a culmination of all of his past experiences.
“Being at MKTG and getting to work with different brands outside of basketball has been good for me,” he says. “I get to utilize the knowledge I gained with sponsorship integration and monetizing content, and bring brands onto the next platforms, while showing these brands how you can create original content that’s branded in a way where it can be used as a revenue stream.”
With over a decade of experience in digital media, Ballow finds that being quick on his feet — which helped him shine in his first big role in Minnesota — is still a key trait for a social media professional to have today.
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“Everybody likes to be an ‘expert’ in this space. But just be nimble and be flexible,” Ballow stated. “Social is about trends and it’s moving at such a rapid pace that you can’t be stuck on one way of doing things or creating content. This also means keeping your eyes open for storylines and being able to create content quickly to act on them.”
On top of creating content quickly, Ballow reminds aspiring digital professionals that the real key to creating monetizable assets is simple, in theory: make good, unique content.
“The biggest thing I hope to achieve is originality. Whether it be original content or branded content, what we see in the best case studies of successful social campaigns is that at the heart of it, they are all built around really good content. Work out those other aspects of your strategy later.”
Looking forward to taking part in this @frntofficesport #HuddleSeries! Excited to join an extremely talented panel on February 22nd.
🎟: https://t.co/9pVtlsp8jP pic.twitter.com/svf2TB4cjT
— Jonah Ballow (@jonahballow) January 10, 2019
Being a leader of digital teams within the sport industry since the early days of his career, Ballow has learned that the most important aspect of leading a strong team is setting a positive example in content creation, as well as collaborating with other creatives.
“I think you have to really invest in your employees and the people around you and show them you’re going to work as hard or harder than anybody else. They’ll look to mirror that type of work ethic, and also show them respect and that you care about their lives and what they’re doing. The most important part about leadership is collaborating. Listen to other people’s thoughts and listen to what they bring to the table and from there, you can really decide on what the best course of action is.”
Meet Ballow and hear more of his thoughts on the current digital landscape at the Front Office Sports Digital Media Huddle presented by Opendorse in New York on February 22. For tickets and additional info, click here.
