Victoria Takala
540 ESPN Snapchat Proposal
Background
I first came across Snapchat when a friend brought it to my attention in 2013 . At this point it
was just a fun way to communicate with friends via a picture or a video that would only be able
to be seen for 10 seconds. The media is then assumed to disappear into cyberspace, to never
be seen again. In the past two years Snapchat has grown to be a type of media businesses are
using to communicate with their cliental and most recently sports teams are jumping on this
band wagon. It allows the business or team to give the viewer a behind the scenes look into
their company in a fun, easy, accessible way.
What is Snapchat?
A photo messaging application that can be used for users to take photos, record videos, add
text or drawings, and send them to a controlled list of recipients.
Why Snapchat?
Within the United States there are approximately 26 million users and from those users 400
million snaps go out each day. There is a huge amount of outreach by using this app to connect
with our fans.
Statement of Problem
At ESPN Milwaukee we take advantage of many different social media outlets to reach out to
our fan base; Facebook, Twitter, Google + and Instagram. The problem that we have is we are
not reaching the younger demographic of sports lovers in the Milwaukee area. When a new
social media outlet starts out they are usually swarmed with the younger generation (typically
teens and young twenties). As the outlet gains popularity and credibility you will see more users
(of all ages) joining and even businesses, now is our time.
Just take a look at how Facebook started; a college student wanted to create a way to connect
with friends online. In 2005 it was only accessible to Harvard College students, soon after
anyone with an .edu email address could join. Ten years later we see anyone and everyone with
a Facebook account. To a young teenager just wanting to connect with his friends after school
to an elderly women trying to reconnect with friends from her high school years. More and
more we see businesses, sports teams, non-profits and just about anything else joining
Facebook to have a way to reach their fans/cliental. Twitter and Instagram have gone through
the same cycle and right now Snapchat is rounding the corner of businesses starting accounts
to market and reach out to clients.
Victoria Takala
Proposed Action
This is our time to step up and be one of the first to have a business Snapchat account. As a
representative of Milwaukee’s professional sports news we need to stay in the same context as
Milwaukee’s professional sports teams; the Milwaukee Brewers and the Milwaukee Bucks.
Already each of them has a Snapchat account that is sending out behind the scenes videos and
pictures along with competitions and games for anyone that follows them. I am proposing that
we create an @ESPNMilwaukee Snapchat account for the station to use.
In research for how a business should use a Snapchat account to its full potential I came across
an article from Frobes Magazine that lists of four simple steps for a business to take to ensure
they utilize the full impact of their new Snapchat account.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Understanding your Audience
Embrace the Time Limit
Get Going with the Video
Portraying Your Personality
So to be successful we need to try and work with each of these, staring with understanding
your audience. It’s said that the overall essence of Snapchat is casual. We have to look at who
our audience would be and how to portray a casual, fun marketing strategy to send to them.
Our biggest audience will obviously be Milwaukee sports fans; breaking it down more we are
going to see slightly more middle aged men. With Snapchat we hope that we can obtain a
younger demographic of fans that will enjoy receiving short videos or photos from us. But
basically our fans want to see funny things that our hosts are doing, athletes we come in
contact with and so on.
With embracing the time limit we have to remember that Snapchat limits us to either a picture
that shows for 10 seconds or a 10 second video. You are able to add each of these to your story
so a fans can see them again later (they only stay up for approximately 24hrs). You have to be
careful not to add too many snaps to your story, no one wants to watch a 200 second long
story. With ten seconds we can show them where we are (for street team events), something
funny that is happening in studio, etc. Also looking into the video aspect we must remember
that video is a great way to get a message out there and to show behind the scenes of what is
happening in studio today.
Lastly we must remember to always portray our personality in our snaps. We always want to
show our company in the correct lighting and be sure to show our company culture in the
messages. We would want to show all the “human-like” fun that happens so that we humanize
our brand and people aren’t intimidated, by the ESPN name, but rather think of us as a partner
or a friend.
Victoria Takala
Timetable
Getting Started
There will be many steps to get started. Obviously we don’t just want to send our first message
to one person when we could send it to hundreds. Before we even start sending out snaps we
have to market that we have a Snapchat account on all of our other social media accounts and
even on air (let some of the talent announce to the fans to follow us on Snapchat).
The steps we should take are as follows
Timeline
 March 1st: Receive approval from designated social media staff members
 March 1st: Create ESPN Milwaukee Snapchat
 March 3rd: Find QR Code and screen shot a picture to be used on other social media
accounts. Edit on ESPN Milwaukee Logo to personalize the photo
 March 4th-13th: Start posting on social media (Facebook, Twitter & Instagram) to
announce we have started an account and that in the next week we will start sending
out our first snaps
 March 4th – 13th: Have the on air talent mention the new Snapchat account when they
can. Also record a liner to be used during commercial breaks
 March 16th: We again announce (on our other social media outlets) that everyone
should follow us on our new Snapchat account because we are now sending out snaps
 March 16th: We start sending out our first couple snaps and videos
 March 16th-20th: Every couple of snaps we need to just screen shot one and post it to
our other social media accounts to remind people that we have an account and they
should be following us.
First Week of Snaps
To make the start of this account easier, below is a list of some snap ideas we can send out in
the first week. We are free to do more than this. This is just a base to make sure we have
something going out at all times.
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(Video) Walking in the front doors and seeing the ESPN Milwaukee Sign “Welcome to
ESPN Milwaukee”
(Picture) Exciting Sports things we have through the office, like all the Wisconsin team
logos on the large wall
(Picture Contest) 1st shot – A Picture of an on air talent’s desk “Guess Whose Deck?” 2nd
Shot- A picture of them at their desk “Did You Guess ___”
(Picture) Shot from the producers room into the studio while a show is going on
(Videos) Any street team event or sports game we have staff at we need to send out a
video snap with a catchy caption
Victoria Takala
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(Picture Contest) Take a picture of an autograph somewhere in the office asking them to
guess whose autograph this is
(Video) Of the guys playing basketball at our small office court
Cost
This app is free in the Apple App store and Google Play. All we would need to do is download
the app on the station iPad and we are free to start snapping away.
Participants
The act of sending out snaps doesn’t have to fall on any one person but rather would be a team
effort. During the day interns should be allowed and encouraged to grab the iPad and send out
a couple snaps for the fans. Also teammates if they are at any fun event should bring the iPad
and snap away. During shows we should encourage the show hosts to have the iPad with them
to send out snaps of their show topics and see if anyone snaps in an answer.
Overall Goal
With Snapchat our overall goal will be to show fans the fun side of our company by producing
short behind the scene videos & pictures. To keep them up to date on where we are for street
team events & what is happening at the events. Give them contests so they know they can
interact with our account and most of all, they have fun.