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The keys to a good social media presence for a sports team are providing fans with access, engaging with them, and posting crisp content. One of the better examples of all these things in Major League Baseball currently is the Los Angeles Dodgers.
A graduate of Columbia College Chicago, Sue Jo is now the social media manager for the Dodgers. She is in her fourth year of working with the organization following a stint as a content producer with NBC Chicago.
Jo joins Shahbaz Khan and Amara Baptist on today’s episode to discuss her professional journey, her process in creating content for one of baseball’s biggest brands, and surviving a 162-game season.
Edited highlights appear below:
On staying fresh during the long baseball season (14:48)
Jo: “It’s definitely a grind…But I think because I started in baseball, I was like, okay, this is what my life is, I accept it….I’m tired a lot of the times, but it’s kind of just like an everyday thing…Don’t get it wrong. I love what I do…Also the team is fun…I think it’d be hard if we were like losing like 10 games in a row.”
On creating a unique voice for the Dodgers’ social presence (18:05)
Jo: “I tried to do a little bit differently than how it was done in the past. Obviously we’re the Dodgers, so we’re not going to go full savage mode here…But I thought that didn’t mean that we had to be boring. I wanted to create some sort of voice that was fun. Maybe sometimes there was a little bit of sass involved. But like kind of just like honing what I wanted that voice to be. I carried that straight through the end of the postseason last year and then this year when I did hire the MLB person to help us I had him watch what I was doing and just kind of observe and just kind of see how I was responding to certain fans and how I was doing that.”
Social on the Sidelines is Presented to You By:
On establishing strong relationships with players, coaches, and team staffers (27:01)
Jo: “I think it did take a long time. It’s definitely super important to build a relationship with the players, to let them know ‘Hey, I’m here to make you guys look good and I would never post anything that would make you look bad. I’ll never embarrass you.’ Things like that. And of course PR is super crucial…making sure that we have access to these players…so they know that what I’m there for, it’s really kind of help building their brand and making them look good for the team and, and showing the fans that there’s like a different side of these guys that you don’t always get to see. So of course with the players, the coaches, the PR stuff, that’s crucial.”
SEE MORE: NFL Social Content Manager Jordan Dolbin on Building Athletes’ Social Presence
On staying motivated to keep applying for jobs after getting rejected (37:45)
Jo: “Keep motivating yourself and trust yourself and know that it’s gonna get there. [For me] It was a long time coming. It seemed so quick to the outside world, but it definitely was not because of the jumping from a different career and there was already thousands of people that are studying that job and or know somebody in sports that can get you there. So that’s what I was going up against. But [I was] still just motivating myself, staying confident and making sure I know I’m good at this. I know if I got a shot I can do it. So then eventually, you get that one call, you go out there and you know, you take that part time job and you do everything possible.”
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