You’re Under-Charging. To all the NBA superstars reading, this article is not for you. For everyone else, most likely in a “niche” sport, you are simply not asking enough of your non-industry sponsors. You are worth more than you think.

In these information overloaded times, broad messaging from companies is becoming less and less fruitful. We have been seeing a dramatic shift away from traditional advertising and towards highly-focused and targeted marketing campaigns. For many, this means spending money on a Google AdWords campaign and refining the keywords they bought ads against. Though spending will continue to grow in this area, return on investment (ROI) will decrease. The latest rage, fueled by the success of Twitter and Facebook, is in building and connecting with communities. In 2010, the US spend on social media is projected to be nearly $1Billion(Forrester), up from only $50Million in 2006(PQMedia) . That is astronomical growth in such a short time, and with a projected $3.1Billion in 2014, it will only continue.

Though there were many others, Seth Godin led the charge in talking about “Interruption Marketing” and how building a “Tribe” would ultimately be more successful for companies looking to reach new customers (or stay in touch with existing customers). From Seth’s Blog:

It starts with permission, the understanding that the real asset most organizations can build isn’t an amorphous brand but is in fact the privilege of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who want to get them.

It adds to that the fact that what people really want is the ability to connect to each other, not to companies. So the permission is used to build a tribe, to build people who want to hear from the company because it helps them connect, it helps them find each other, it gives them a story to tell and something to talk about.

Despite there being no lack of information on the topic, most companies are having a hard time figuring this out (how many useless Facebook ads, irrelevant/spam Twitter followers, etc. have you seen?). They spend tons of time and money trying to build their own communities, and while there are some definite success stories, there is a far larger number of failures. This is made all the more difficult by the fact that social media is in its infancy, and the methods, tools, and norms are changing quickly. This is one of the reasons that you are more valuable than you think. You’ve already figured all of that out and have built a community, and sponsors are willing to pay for access to it!

Creating value from your community can be a bit like walking a tightrope, but the great thing is that this tightrope (your community) will tell you when you’re off-balance and about to fall. I’m sure some reading this might view what I propose as selling out, but IMHO, if you are honest in your communications, the messages are going to be relevant (and amplified by your community) anyway. Providing useful information isn’t selling out. One of the cool things about being a pro athlete is that people WANT to know about your day-to-day life. This is a great opportunity to serve both your sponsor’s needs and keep your fans happy.

Sharing information about industry sponsors is easy, but non-industry sponsors can be a bit more difficult. The key is always to continue sharing honest reactions.

• Confused by or just not-interested in a product or service? Share it. “Just sat in a training on what ABC business software is. Still don’t get it. Do any of you?” The replies you get can be quite useful in guiding your updates for the rest of the year.
• Can you do a video or photo montage of you coming to grips with a sponsor’s product or service? Your fans want to know what that’s like for you, and the content is exactly what the sponsor wants to get to the fans anyway.
• Looking for sponsors? Ask your community. It’s pretty powerful to be able to say to a potential sponsor, “I’m presenting this opportunity to you because 99 fans asked me to. They’re excited about your stuff.”

As winning is only one part of your job, figuring out how to use social media to your professional benefit is just one more part of the big picture. Participating in your fan community by honestly sharing your interactions with sponsors, while noticing and responding to fans’ reactions, will keep you from “selling out”, as will continuing non-sponsor driven communications. With your community already built, you have a valuable asset that sponsors want and are willing to pay for, and you need to include that in your calculations.