Recent Design-ings @ Work

Worked on this for hot minute this afternoon. Once I figure out the exact dimensions and all, it will be the new twitter background for the Chicago Bandits. Our old twitter background was just the Bandits logo (girl in a cowboy hat) tiled across the background, not very visually appealing. So after doing some research of other sports teams, other random twitter users and some high profile social media experts, I decided that we needed to include our email, Facebook and blog links ... in a format that is all visually appealing. I learned how to make the polaroid effect from a tutorial and away I went from there. The Chicago skyline is something I cut a while back with the magic wands in Photoshop. The only thing left to change, I think, is the '2008 World Champion' and 'Chicago Bandits' on the right. I find it a little hard to read because it contradicts with the skyline, so I'll get that fixed up and it'll be good to go.

@aophillips

Cannonball into Social Media

Social networking sites such as facebook and twitter are quickly becoming outstanding marketing tools for companies and people in all fields of work. Yes, twitter lost a little luster after the whole ordeal of Ashton Kutcher vs CNN in the race to 1 million followers, and the fact that many local media outlets in Chicago went bananas over Oprah's first twitter post.

All that celeb stuff aside, twitter offers a great way for everyday people and business to contact one another. For example, Whole Foods - I think the country's leading 'healthy' food store - offers tips on recipes, in-store specials, going green and more.

Sports teams are even using Twitter. The Phoenix Suns (NBA) and the Chicago Red Stars (WPS) are just two great examples of how sports teams should use twitter to their advantage. Right this second, the Suns are doing a 'random act of orange' campaign, giving away an autographed jersey to one of their twitter followers that answers a trivia question correctly. After all the answers flood in (they have +6,000 followers) the front office selects a winner based on the response. That winners Twitter name is then posted to show that someone actually one. Contests like these are just one example of how Twitter can help to build a bigger fan base and allow for the fans to feel more connected to the organization.

The Red Stars, the first women's pro soccer team in Chicago, are also doing an great job using Twitter. During their game yesterday (sat, April 25) the Red Stars posted score updates, thank you's to the fans at the game and other little bits of information. Since Twitter allows for posts to be sent to phones, the Red Stars also took advantage of that feature by posting things like ... Face Painting available in Section C3 ... so not only are they keeping fans that cannot make the game posted on events, but they're also trying to interact with those in attendance.

When I'm not cracking the books at North Central and preparing to graduate in June, I'm working as the Director of Media Relations for the Chicago Bandits. The Bandits are a women's professional fast pitch softball team located in Elgin, Ill. The most recognizable player on the roster right now is Team USA Olympian Jennie Finch. Just last Friday I began implementing a social media plan at the Bandits. We now have a twitter and a facebook fan page that I hope to build into a great presence on both sns. I plan to model our twitters and facebook after the two teams I mentioned, because in my opinion they do a great job.

The followers are small right now, but they will come ...