Episode 71 of the DSMSports Podcast w/ Gary Paczesny on Brand and Digital Strategy/Social at Memphis...

Best Of...Gary Paczesny on theDigital and Social Media Sports

Podcast

Gary Paczesny, Coordinator of Digital Media for University of Memphis Athletics, was the featured guest on episode 71 of the DSMSports Podcast.

What follows are some snippets from the interview. Hear the full episode on www.DSMSports.net or download it on from iTunes Store podcasts or on Stitcher and other podcast apps.

Enjoy...

@njh287DSMSports.net


PodcastGary's Career Path

Did undergrad work at Valparaiso University, where he wanted to pursue a career in college athletics (he even did some job shadow in at Notre Dame, while he was in high school!) and participated in their sport management program; His experience at Notre Dame helped him ultimately land a job there after a stint doing media relations with Fiesta Bowl



PodcastOn getting a master's degree through Western

Kentucky's remote program → “It was one of the best things I've ever done. It allowed me to explore college athletics as a whole at a deeper level I never had as an undergrad...It really got me into that (learning) mindset...It maybe hasn't helped me get a job, but it sets you apart. In the end, it sets you apart..and puts you ahead of that other person in job seeking.”



PodcastOn where Notre Dame was in social and digital when Gary started

there

“When I started there...it was in the digital aspect of video, web streaming...We were the web stream guys that were putting...any non-TV rights on the web. Our mission was to stream every game we could...whatever we could do...We were doing 140 broadcasts (of live games) per year...

“We saw the opportunity for revenue, but that's for the sales guys...for us, it was a fan engagement tool. It allowed our student athletes to be showcased like never before...”

(Gary talks about trying to have a website feature on every student athlete at least once in their career)



Podcast“When I first started (in 2007), Facebook was (only for

students),...Twitter was just starting to come online. The first time I used it was to follow the Women's Professional Soccer League Draft...”

“For us, it was slowly bringing online some of these social media things, in conjunction with the marketing and communications offices. We brought Twitter to the forefront of Notre Dame...It was also means for us to promote the content we were producing (on our website)...We saw social media as a means to promote our existing content...”



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On building up social media at ND

“We structure in multiple ways, with a combination of video department staff members, our communications staff, and our marketing staff...Through our combination o building our digital media team, we hired a social media coordinator and a social media intern to build out all our social media platforms...(it has become) a great means to promote the great content we have...”



PodcastOn getting buy-in

“I think for some teams the buy-in was greater than others...One of the things we had a lot of success with was having coaches give us access to the locker room spaces to capture some of that imagery and audio. For a long time, that was stuff we showed (just) to recruits, we didn't even put any of that stuff on the web...I use (Men's BB Coach) Mike Brey as an example. He allowed us to go in there and we spent a lot of time shooting stuff that never saw the light of day to the public eye. But it gave us a trust aspect in presenting it...to the fans...I personally have to thank Brian Kelly a lot for it, too. When he came on board, we pitched him the idea of 'We want to be in the locker room every time you speak to the team.' He gave me a great opportunity to do that...”@njh287

DSMSports.net


Podcast

“It's understanding that (coach's) end goal is to recruit student athletes...That's what you have to remember in everything that you're doing – the images you're putting out on social media or the content that you're producing for coach's TV shows is all about helping you recruit. So how we can help expose the brand and expose the brand in a ay that coaches want?...It's not just about putting out a tweet, it's about putting out the right tweet that'll help the end goal of these coaches.”



Podcast

Helpful Tool: Twitter 'Engage' mobile app for quick and easy app data and follower info



PodcastGoing from ND to Memphis

“After a year kind of out of it, doing a lot of stuff with Raycom and the ACC Network and NBC Sports, I decided I wanted to get back into college athletics...Memphis was looking to ramp up their digital side...They wanted someone dedicated to video and social media stuff...

I was fortunate enough to be thrown into the best football season in school history...I don't take any credit for that whatsoever...it was a tremendous opportunity and really spring-boarded everything we were doing here at Memphis...”



PodcastOn starting with Memphis

“A lot of it was starting over, like we did at Notre Dame...it was a lot of re buy-in and restarting the Memphis Tiger network...and really giving it a revitalization. They had done a lot of great work before I was here, but it was time for a reboot of the system...It just took time. If anything, it's relationships...It's understanding that, when you show up, you're (connecting with the coaches)...I had to show them what I was about and what I brought to the table.”

“We're still building out. It's a process...We're really trying to build a strong foundation, so when we add staff...we'll have the infrastructure and process, like we had at Notre Dame.”



PodcastEmpowering coaches and teams across all sports

“It's important for us to provide the tools to those teams and people to have what they need to succeed, and us really help facilitate whatever they need as a brand ambassador to oversee it all.”

“On game day, we rely heavily on our media relations staff to oversee all that social media content. But for the most part, if there is a home Tiger event, myself or my assistant Jake..we're at one of those games...We're there to capture highlights for the end of year video....for our weekly story...to provide the American Athletic Conference....and to highlight our student athletes. We do that, as well as you're monitoring the social landscape...All while trying to maintain your sanity, some days...”



PodcastWorking with the departments

“We meet twice as a week as a staff, within the communications department where I'm housed...to make sure we understand everything that has transgressed through the week, have objectives changed....So that way we make sure we're engaging fans at any given time appropriately, and also that we're giving the best content (based on its end use and end goals)...”

(Gary also talks about using a file sharing service, Mediafire, to help share media and content with other teams)



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On defining a brand for Memphis Athletics and how that has evolved

“The brand staples and the logos and those type of things were in place...But, for us, it's still trying to find our voice. Being a partial pro sports town, we still kind f fight for our fans and fight for our fans. So we still have to have a really strong voice, but, at the same time, we have to understand who our clientele and our fan base is...”



PodcastBuilding Memphis's brand, especially as beyond a Power 5 school

“For us, it's just about making sure our brand is consistent with our message of student athletes, and showing people what our brand is...It's all the sports that we have here, and showing people that we have great kids, and we're an all-encompassing athletic department...”

“We are working on a guidelines for social media for all of our teams. From the look and the feel, to whom they should engage with and whom they should follow...Give them a one-sheet...Trying to make it as a simple as possible, but also as detailed as possible, so everyone can live in the same world.”



PodcastMaximizing the football success of this past season

“I was fortunate enough to have a lot of those same experiences while at Notre Dame. So I think, for a lot of people, they relied on me to understand how a Thursday night prime time game compare for ESPN's setup at the Liberty Bowl, compared to NBC's broadcast...I think a lot of those questions were those being asked...So, for me, it was falling back on the experiences I had and trying to give people the best direction, while at the same time understanding it was a whole different ballgame than people were used to.”



Podcast

“You try to maximize the content, but also sometimes people just want to see what you got. As much as driving them back to buy tickets or sell merchandise is really great, and obviously it helps the bottom line...In the end, sometimes it's just about the content, and people love seeing that. And they just engage, regardless...”



PodcastLooking ahead to this season with new football and men's

basketball coaches

“We have a really dynamic (football) coach in Mike Norvell. He's great on Twitter (especially GIFs)...And Coach Tubby Smith, a legendary coach in his own right. For us, we're trying to help him expose the brand and what he's about here at Memphis and helping him recruit.

“We try to really build it out – talking with our donation team (and) our sales side; making sure we all have the same talking points...just making sure everybody is on the same page...It really helps the machine move on time.”



PodcastOn distribution of Memphis's live content and the Memphis

Tiger Network

“We do anywhere from three to one camera shows of (several sports Gary lists)...in which we stream our games to our fans...We use those games, along with the American Digital Network...it allows us a great opportunity for fans to see our student athletes in real-time and live in the game...

(Gary talks about the varying scales of production depending on the venue and infrastructure within the facilities)



Podcast“We plan to utilize Facebook Live for some of our content

that is front of the paywall currently...I think there are a lot of opportunities for us (in digital video)...”

“We think about all opportunities that can be positive (when going live on Facebook)...we try to think of things not only in a negative light (for things that an go wrong), but also in a positive light for how can this help Memphis as a whole?”



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Share-able Stat: Among social media users ages 16-24, one-third of users are categorized as “creators” (and influencers)



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The most viral piece of digital/social content in Gary's time at Notre Dame and his time so far at Memphis

At Notre Dame – “If you go back to 2012, we had a defensive lineman, Louis Nix. We're at the national championship game and they take us to the Miami Heat game and he dances to Gangam Style. So I'm there with the video camera, just seeing what we could get...It blew up pretty quick (on YouTube)...It took off pretty quickly...



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At Memphis, after a buzzer beater win for men's basketball over Tulane → I saw Coach (Josh) Pastner was really excited, so I followed him in (to the locker room) and [he] starts dancing. I throw it up right before the plane takes off (to return) to Memphis, and so we land at Memphis and there was 60,000 )plus) views and in the two-hour flight to Memphis...It was interesting to see how many people had already engaged with it.”



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Which student athlete and which coach have been the best on social media and why?

“We had a couple of soccer players at Notre Dame that were really good and they engaged with Jay Bilas a lot...Coach (Mike) Norvell has really impressed me as head (football) coach at Memphis...You like to see the ones that engage with not fans and athletes, but university presidents, as well, and different people around the community...”



PodcastOn being at Notre Dame when the Manti Te'o catfishing incident occurred

“I remember sitting at my desk when it all broke...Having a little bit of heads up about it, but not a tremendous amount of understanding...of what was happening...The biggest thing that we had to do was make people aware of what we knew as an athletic department and what we knew to tell people...It wasn't, by any means, an attempt to cover up. It was a means to educate people on what had happened, what the university knew, and how we proceeded moving forward. We went so far as to alert people via YouTube comments that 'This video was taped under the assumption that this incident had happened.' We didn't just want to delete content, we wanted to make people aware of why we posted what we did, even if it was months ago.”@njh287

DSMSports.net


PodcastGary's memories of working at the famous Fiesta Bowl when Boise State used trick plays to beat Oklahoma in overtime

“It was probably one of the best experiences of my life...We did three games in eleven days...and I remember being on the field for the end of the game...the game goes to overtime. I remember standing there and watching Adrian Peterson (score) on the first play of overtime to take the lead and you could literally hear the air come out of the building...Boise State has to go for all these crazy plays...all this drama ensued...To go for two was crazy enough, but to run a Statue of Liberty play (which they had run earlier in the year)...it all kind of transpired in front of me and, to this day, I have a six foot picture in my house of (the famous play)...”



PodcastThe social media platform that performs the best for

Memphis and the one for which he has high hopes for this upcoming season

“For us, it's a tie between Twitter and Facebook...For us, we're going to strive for Facebook Live, here. I was also really impressed today with Twitter rolling out Twitter Dashboard...to see our analytics almost in real-time...Maybe that'll help us do things a little bit better here in the future.”



PodcastGary's #1 tip to get buy-in for digital and social from

athletics administration

“You have to show people. That's the easiest way to get buy-in...Until they actually see how it operates, they don't like to buy in, because they like to see how it's going to affect their program. The more you can show people, the better off it's gonna be...I've gone so far as to mock up Twitter posts...and say, this is how I would do it for different events and this is how we go about promoting those events.”



PodcastThe best food to get around Memphis and the best food to get around the Notre Dame campus

In Memphis → “Germantown Commissary...It's a little hole-in-the-wall barbecue spot...definitely my favorite.”

Around Notre Dame → Barnaby's Pizza



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Gary's biggest social media and sports pet peeve

“It's way longer hours than people ever think. They think I'm just on my phone all the time, but I'm actually trying to figure out what's going on, a lot of times.”

(Gary also notes how, even in 'leisure' time watching other sports, he's constantly learning to see how other accounts are doing things)



PodcastWhich former Memphis star will have a better debut season

in their new job – Coach Justin Fuente (at Virginia Tech) or QB Paxton Lynch (with the Broncos)?

Gary notes excitement for Coach Fuente to coach in the “Battle of Bristol Motor Speedway.”

“Paxton should have a great opportunity to play some out in Denver...”

“I'm also excited to see how Coach Tubby Smith and Coach Mike Norvell...just how they get these guys ready for our seasons coming up here...We have some great guys here on campus and we're really excited to see what's going to happen here”



PodcastGary's social media All-Star to follow

@KevinDeshazo → “He does a great job of telling people whats going in the socia lemdia sphere...he'll let you know what's happening (on pkatforms)...

Mark Hodgkin (@MarkAHodgkin) “I had a great opportunity to work alongside (him) when I was at the American Athletic Conference...(He) really shares a lot...”

Nicole Imbrogno (@24nicolefrances) is one of our go-to people and she has worked in the college world...”



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Where to find Gary and the Memphis Tigers on digital and social

@GaryPaczesny on Twitter and Instagram

@TigersAthletics and @MemphisTigers on several platforms → “We have various account names that I am working to fix..”



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Thanks so much to Gary Paczesny for joining the Digital & Social Media Sports podcast!

For more info on the podcast, check out http://www.DSMSports.net and follow me @njh287


http://www.DSMSports.net/

Episode 71 of the DSMSports Podcast w/ Gary Paczesny on Brand and Digital Strategy/Social at Memphis...

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Transcript of Episode 71 of the DSMSports Podcast w/ Gary Paczesny on Brand and Digital Strategy/Social at Memphis...