In the newly revised edition of the textbook
Sport Public Relations: Managing Stakeholder Communications, Second Edition, coauthors G. Clayton Stoldt, Stephen Dittmore and Scott Branvoid highlight how social media and other e-technologies are affecting the sports communications field. The book is currently available, as of March 2012, from Human Kinetics Publishers.
Stoldt, a frequent presenter at CoSIDA Conventions, conducted a survey wtih CoSIDA members earlier this academic year which focused on athletic communicatators using social media. He plans to discuss his findings during the
2012 CoSIDA Convention in St. Louis.
Rather than address public relations only as a means of supporting the marketing function or leveraging the media’s interest in an event or organization, this text recognizes the roles of public relations and PR professionals as vital components to a sport organization’s overall management.
Below, co-author Dittmore is interviewed about the state of sports communications today and discusses the key role that social media plays in sports communications. Additionally, he discusses the diverse role of the athletic communications pro today which encompasses crisis communications, media, community, employee, investor, customer, donor, and government relations.
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Using Social Media to Foster Sports Fan Allegiance
Source: University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Fayetteville, Ark. – The two-way nature of public relations has never been more essential, according to Stephen W. Dittmore, assistant professor of sports management at the University of Arkansas. In the newly revised edition of Sport Public Relations: Managing Stakeholder Communications, Dittmore and his coauthors highlight how social media and other e-technologies are affecting the 
field for what Dittmore contends is the better.
“Never before have there been so many opportunities for an organization to proactively push its message,” Dittmore said. “What the Internet and all these social media tools have done is allow organizations to bypass the gatekeeping powers of the traditional media and make their news available for people who have an insatiable appetite for information, especially about their favorite sports teams and athletes.”
Dittmore and coauthors, G. Clayton Stoldt and Scott Branvold, acknowledge the challenges that the new media have imposed on sports organizations, for example the more pressing need for a quick response and comprehensive plan during a communications crisis, or the headaches that can accompany a player or coach “tweeting” out of turn. But Dittmore, who is a veteran sports management professor, an experienced public relations professional and a two-time media assistant for the Olympics, insists that a strong communications strategy is vital regardless, particularly for a sports organization.
“Sports is a unique business in the sense that sports has to deal with fluctuation in product quality — essentially the performance of the team,” Dittmore said. “Their messaging system has to be strong because the product may not always be as desirable.”
The “fleeting allegiances” of fans, Dittmore said, make it essential for sports organizations to establish and maintain long-term relationships with stakeholders. Seeking and listening to stakeholder feedback is the most basic way to do this.
“Communication is a dialogue. It is two-way in that people are going to reply to you; they are going to ‘tweet’ back at you,” Dittmore said. “Facebook enables comments instantaneously. Public relations professionals need to take advantage of these technologies, listen to what the stakeholders are saying and let them feel that they are truly engaged in their organization.”
Dittmore and coauthors argue that a proactive, two-way approach to communication not only improves a sports organization’s ability to manage fluctuating relationships, but also to avoid a team’s poor performance affecting the bottom line. Throughout its text, Sport Public Relations portrays public relations as an essential tool for an organization’s overall management capability and success in being profitable. The new media environment, Dittmore said, only adds to its value.
“The traditional communication model of source-channel-receiver no longer applies,” Dittmore said. “The organization is still the source, but it can be the vehicle or channel of the message, too.”
Sport Public Relations: Managing Stakeholder Communications, Second Edition will be released by Human Kinetics Publishers in March 2012.