In case you didn’t know, I’m a big social media advocate. I love what it can do for people and business alike, creating content, conversation and active communities. In turn, when I see unique opportunities and promotions based around this space, I love to share them here, which bring me to the “Ultimate Sports Social Media Job” program created by Xfinity.

Here is a quick summary of the contest and what the winner can receive:

“Comcast’s Xfinity Service is launching a contest to hire an individual who will serve as the new voice of Xfinity in the sports social media space and go behind-the-scenes at some of the biggest nationwide sporting events in 2012, sharing exclusive insights and updates with fans. The contest, entitled “Xfinity Presents: The Ultimate Sports Social Media Job,” runs from January 13 through March 25 in search of the next sports social media star.”

“The winner will receive a one-year salary and will be responsible for tweeting from the @XFINITYSports Twitter handle on continual basis,  reporting live from premier sporting events throughout 2012, and educating and engaging avid sports fans in social media communities. In addition to live event access, the winner will also receive all the electronics for the ultimate sports pad, including televisions, home audio/video equipment, etc.”

Anyone who is interested can apply through their Facebook page at Facebook.com/Xfinity. You have to share a video (up to 2 minutes) pitching why you’re the perfect person for this role based on your knowledge and passion for sports, social media and Comcast (after all, the winner will be working for them!). The top entries will be featured on this page and voted on by fans, with the top 5 advancing to the finals. These lucky five will get a trial run covering a premier sporting event in early March, and then a panel of celebrity judges will make the final decision on a winner who will get to travel to and cover some of the biggest sporting events for an entire year.

So, if this is your ultimate sports and social media dream job, make sure to enter ASAP. Also, if you are a reader of this blog and decide to apply, please let us know in the comments so we can check out your entries. I’d love to throw my support behind one of our fans, sharing your entry on the site and in the newsletter. Good luck!

My full-time roles in the sports industry have been focused on the CRM and database space, and these positions can have lots of fun and interesting responsibilities, such as:

• Consolidating data to build a complete picture of each fan and customer
• Building distinct customer segments for targeted marketing campaigns
• Managing digital communications using email, web, PURLs, social media and more
• Creating detailed customer profiles to understand who are fans are
• Measuring the results of sales and marketing initiatives
• Generating new leads and building models to predict sales and renewals
• Using marketing automation to generate incremental revenue
• Analyzing ticket sales and survey research data to identify trends and opportunities
• Leveraging technology to build efficient sales, service and marketing departments

In case you haven’t checked out the Event Calendar, we have two more sports networking events scheduled for this month!

The Business of Sports – New York Networking Event

• Wednesday, January 11 at Slattery’s Midtown Pub
• Open networking from 6:00 to 9:00PM
• Free to attend, all backgrounds welcome (No resumes please!)
• Details and RSVP here!

The Business of Sports – Atlanta Networking Event

• Tuesday, January 17 at Buckhead Bottle Bar
• Open networking from 5:30 to 8:00PM
• Free to attend, all backgrounds welcome (No resumes please!)
• Details and RSVP here!

Our goal is to create a regular series of sports business networking events in as many major markets as we can. These events provide opportunities for sports professionals on all levels to connect with other like-minded individuals and build up their professional network. Our feedback from these events continues to be tremendous, so we will keep seeking out new locations and new ways to help support this wonderful community. We hope to see as many of you as we can at one of these events very soon!

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Dave Fogelson.

In all likelihood, people aspiring to “work in sports” are over-looking the sporting goods industry, particularly the retail end of the business, as the starting point for a career path. Retail is where people seeking entry-level jobs can find the most opportunities to apply their sports interest and knowledge and acquire invaluable, real world experience.

The $52 billion sporting goods industry is home to some of the most recognizable and iconic consumer brands and biggest names in retailing. National chains like Dick’s and Sports Authority, regional stores such as Modell’s and Hibbett, specialty retailers in the team sports, golf, running and outdoor segments and many other brick and mortar and on-line outlets have an on-going need for people who either have or can acquire product knowledge and possess a commitment to customer service.

Working the past two years as a retail sales associate at a sporting goods chain, I’ve influenced more sales than during the combined 13 years I spent as the head of public relations for two athletic footwear and apparel companies. I oftentimes think about how much more effective I (and most of my corporate colleagues) would have been in our brand marketing positions had we possessed some of the insight that comes from working retail.

So, what knowledge, experience and skills can you expect to acquire at retail that can help you land that “dream job” in sports?

-  Selling and business development:  Every organization in every industry needs people oriented to generating business. Sporting goods retail associates play the critical role in the space known as “the last three feet of the sale.” It’s the epitome of missionary salesmanship and not merely order-taking.

- Product knowledge:  Having the capacity to understand and embrace the features and benefits of the products/services you represent is essential to any job you’re likely to perform in sports marketing. A product or service’s unique selling proposition is the foundation of an effective marketing campaign.

- Listening and communicating:  Having acquired product knowledge, the ability to apply it by listening to customers, understanding their needs and clearly and concisely communicating the features and benefits of products that meet their requirements creates more business for your employer now and in the future. Aren’t the majority of (if not all) sports marketing programs predicated on building and sustaining customer/fan loyalty to the sponsor’s brand and products?

- Prioritizing and working the plan:  In addition to dealing with customers, retail associates handle a myriad of responsibilities. From organizing inventory to merchandising product displays, many balls must be kept in the air simultaneously. The ability to take on and handle multiple assignments is one of the hallmarks of a successful sports marketer.

- Working (well) with others:  Working retail requires flexibility, a willingness to pitch-in whenever and wherever situations demand and a thick skin. Among managers and sales associates, retail’s “we’re in this together” mentality is comparable to the work environment and expectations you’ll encounter throughout the sports industry.

- Understanding what truly resonates with customers:  Retail (the Place) is where the rubber meets the road for the other three “Ps” – Product, Promotion and Price. Working retail provides insights into what truly motivates consumers to part (or not part) with their cash for products and services. People with this insight are better able to create and conduct more targeted sports marketing campaigns that utilize brand resources more efficiently and effectively.

With this knowledge and experience, in tandem with your educational background and special interests, aspiring sports business executives are in a much better position to pursue and secure more rewarding positions of greater responsibility.

• If your heart is in retailing, there are corporate level positions as a buyer, in merchandising, operations and marketing.
• If retailing isn’t for you, brands across the spectrum of the sporting goods industry need people in product development, marketing and sales who’ve experienced first-hand how consumers and retail sales associates respond to product features, advertising and promotional campaigns and price promotions.
• Non-sports brands that sponsor sports along with their agency partners need people who’ve experienced at the retail level how event sponsorships and athlete endorsers can be leveraged with the consumer to generate sales and create brand loyalty.

The retail environment isn’t glamorous and can be down-right difficult. The challenges you’re likely to encounter at retail, coupled with the modest compensation, are best surmounted by taking a broader view and looking at the time and energy you’re spending on the sales floor as a means to a greater end.

In the majority of instances, the investments brands make in product development and marketing are greatly diminished absent the sales associate creating connections for the product and brand with consumers. Creating these connections is the stuff with which attention-getting resumes are built.

Within this context and keeping in mind your career aspirations, every retail floor assignment, no matter how mundane, every customer interaction and sale you generate have greater significance. Leverage this experience and the insights you’ve gained in your ongoing communications with the organizations you’ve identified as prospective employers and networking with industry contacts.

Dave Fogelson is the former head of public relations for adidas USA and Reebok. He’s also held public relations positions with The Miller Brewing Company, Pan-american Sports Network and Sharp Electronics. For the past 2-1/2 years, he’s served as an athletic footwear and golf sales associate at a major sporting goods retail chain.

Last Friday I had the chance to attend the 2011 Ivy Sports Symposium, which every year offers an impressive array of speakers, informative panel discussions and wonderful networking opportunities. If you haven’t already, search for the Twitter hashtag #ISS2011 to see some of the updates that were shared during the event. During the breaks between sessions, I tried to grab a couple of video interviews to share with you this week, along with a larger event recap post coming soon.

Next up is my interview with Scott Minto, Director of the San Diego State University Sports MBA Program. Scott talks about the value of an advanced sports education degree and how attending events like the Ivy Sports Symposium is critical for young sports professionals.

You can connect with Scott on Twitter at @SDSUSportsMBA or at the SDSU Sports MBA Facebook page.

(Please pardon the slightly unusual shape of the video box – I took the video vertically on my iPhone. I’ll stick to landscape for future clips!)

For those of you in the Northeast, I wanted to make sure you know about a great event coming up in a couple of weeks down in Philadelphia!

The 6th Annual Ivy Sports Symposium @ Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Friday, November 18, 2011 from 8:00 AM to 7:30 PM (ET)

Today is the final day to register for the 6th annual Ivy Sports Symposium (formerly known as the Princeton Sports Symposium) on Friday, November 18 at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The Ivy Sports Symposium is an annual sports business conference established in 2006 by Chris Chaney (Princeton ’07) at Princeton University. Click here to view the 2011 Symposium agenda.

The Ivy Sports Symposium is one of the global sports industry’s premier conferences that sets the standard among college-based sports business events. It is widely considered the best and most comprehensive one-day event. The Symposium has gained industry-wide recognition since its inception by featuring more than 180 unique speakers from around the world representing all facets of the sports business.

The Symposium aims to advance the sports business by facilitating interaction among students and professionals, providing a forum for communication and debate, and enabling some of the most successful executives in the industry to share invaluable knowledge with their peers and successors.

Click here to register today for the 2011 Ivy Sports Symposium.

Digital Fan Marketing Summits, created and organized by Pat Coyle, are educational events designed to help attendees increase revenues through digital media. Pat normally hosts a few of these per year, most recently in Los Angeles and New York. His next event is coming up on October 11 in San Francisco, and I highly encourage folks to attend.

As a special offer for our readers, you can use the discount code sportsbiz to get $100 off the cost of admission!

Each summit attracts leading practitioners in digital publishing and brand marketing who share their experiences and latest thinking, build relationships and debate emerging opportunities such as:

• how to attract fans in digital channels
• how to generate value for these fans
• how to drive revenue from fans
• how to evaluate emerging trends and emerging technologies

Major discussion themes will include: social commerce, mobile commerce, location-based services, games, analytics and more. These 1-day events will feature keynote speakers, panel discussions, Ignite presentations, and ample networking opportunities.

For more information and to register, please visit http://dfm11-sf.eventbrite.com/.

I am excited to announce that we’re bringing our networking events back to Texas, specifically the Dallas/Forth Worth area!

The Business of Sports – Dallas Networking Event

• Wednesday, September 7 at Hully & Mo’s (2800 Routh St, Dallas)
• Open networking from 5:30 to 8:00PM
• Free to attend, all backgrounds welcome (No resumes please!)
• Details and RSVP here!
• Special thanks to Brian and Brandi Connolly, Jamie Acks and Tom Scovic for making this event happen.

Our goal is to create a regular series of sports business networking events in as many major markets as we can. They provide great opportunities for sports professionals on all levels to connect with other like-minded individuals and build up their professional network. Our feedback continues to be tremendous, so we will keep seeking out new locations and new ways to help support this wonderful community. We hope to see as many of you as we can at one of these events very soon!

Also, please check out the photo gallery from our last New York event, courtesy of VenuesToday.com.

I am excited to announce that we have two more sports networking events scheduled for this month and they are in the two biggest markets in the country!

The Business of Sports – Los Angeles Networking Event

• Thursday, August 18 at ESPN Zone at LA Live
• Open networking from 6:00 to 9:00PM
• Free to attend, all backgrounds welcome (No resumes please!)
• Details and RSVP here!
• Special thanks to Joshua Boren (Populous) and Ara Messerlian (Par 5 Events)

The Business of Sports – New York Networking Event

• Wednesday, August 24 at Slattery’s Midtown Pub
• Open networking from 6:30 to 9:30PM
• Free to attend, all backgrounds welcome (No resumes please!)
• Details and RSVP here!
• Special thanks to Joshua Duboff (The Sports Business Exchange)

Our goal is to create a regular series of sports business networking events in as many major markets as we can (we’re actually working on coming back to Dallas/Fort Worth very soon). These events provide opportunities for sports professionals on all levels to connect with other like-minded individuals and build up their professional network. Our feedback from these events continues to be tremendous, so we will keep seeking out new locations and new ways to help support this wonderful community. We hope to see as many of you as we can at one of these events very soon!

Major League Soccer’s National Sales Center (MLSNSC), which I wrote about almost eight months ago, recently sent their fifth set of graduates into the difficult environment of selling soccer tickets in a down economy. To refresh your memory, the MLSNSC is (and I quote from their official website) “a highly selective 45 day sales training program, this experience provides a one-of-kind learning environment and exposure to the fundamentals of MLS ticket selling. Trainees will have the opportunity to apply what they are learning to actual selling of season, group and mini plan ticket inventory for different MLS clubs during the program. At the conclusion of the session, those trainees earning specific benchmarks throughout the program will have the opportunity to interview for sales positions at MLS clubs.”

Bryant Pfeiffer, Vice President of Club Services for MLS, commented on the changes that were made over the course of the first five sessions. “Initially we were thinking we would try to facilitate close to 6-7 sessions in 2011,” commented Pfeiffer. “After getting a better handle on both recruiting and placement flow in 2010 we felt it worked better to run four total sessions in 2011 that were more spaced out in between them.”

In terms of placement for the first four sessions, 40 candidates went through the program with 39 of those securing employment with an MLS club. Many of those graduates continue to keep tabs on each other. Jacob Hanselman, a graduate of Session IV, was hired by the Chicago Fire in March 2011. “Since we have been out at teams we keep an email chain that we are able to share stories with the entire group about different situations that have occurred or tips on questions some people have,” said Hansleman. “We grew to be very close and there hasn’t been a week were you won’t get a phone call from someone in the session or talk on Facebook comparing numbers and how everyone has been successful. I wouldn’t have been able to have the success that I have had thus far without any of the other 10 people that were in session IV not having a profound impact on me.”

One of the most valuable tools in the program is the instant feedback each candidate gets regarding their techniques. The feedback is not based solely on whether a sale was made or not. Pfeiffer mentioned, “We have added much more emphasis on video and audio recording of sales calls as an instant feedback tool. Trainees have consistently highly rated the impact this technology has on their development.” For Hanselman, the feedback was invaluable. “The most challenging part of the session for me was the refining of the sales process,” commented Hanselman. “Every one of our calls at the MLSNSC was taped, so even when you did make what you thought was a good call, we could go back and analyze and break it down; much like watching game tape. After each one you would see that we still had a lot of room for improvement.”

It’s easy to see after the first five sessions that the MLSNSC is going strong. “Fourteen MLS clubs have either hired or interviewed National Sales Center graduates,” said Pfeiffer. “Dallas and Houston have both hired six graduates so far.” With the blessing of the MLS head office, and strong recommendations from it’s previous graduates, MLSNSC will begin it’s sixth session on July 25th.

A successful candidate will “show a strong to desire to keep improving themselves, a strong competitive spirit, and refuse to be outworked wherever they are.” If that describes you, you can apply by visiting the MLSNSC website, scrolling to the bottom and clicking ‘Apply now.’