The TwHEATup Is On!

After writing in this space on April 8 about the San Francisco Giants decision to have a Tweetup at their April 30 game, I mentioned that three of the four local South Florida professional teams were kind enough to let me know they were researching ways to continue increasing their social media activities with their fans in the future.

To that, I wondered aloud as to which South Florida team would be the first to take advantage and hold a TEAM-SPONSORED fan tweetup. (I was reminded two weeks ago some Twitter users staged a small tweetup at a Marlins game late last season but it was not sponsored by the team).

As it turns out, the weight took all of 13 days, as Sarah Talalay of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel broke the story in her Business of Sports Blog Wednesday afternoon that the @MiamiHEAT (whose Twitter name used to be @MHEAT) were using Game 3 of their NBA First Round Playoff Series against the Boston Celtics to stage the team's first-ever Tweetup.

In fact, they're taking the bold step of branding the event with a special name -  twHEATup.   Kudos to the person in the organization that figured out twHEATup and Tweetup are pronounced the same.

For $50, twHEATup participants will receive:

• Seats in Section 307 (the special twHEATup section for the evening)
• Halftime Meet & Greet with Heat Dancers
• Postgame Meet & Greet with Former Miami Heat legend Tim Hardaway

Although parking is not included, the ticket price for this special event is a savings of between 16 to 40 percent off the normal single ticket price.

Hopefully, our friends with the Florida Marlins, Florida Panthers and Miami Dolphins will follow suit with tweetups in the coming weeks and months now that the Heat has stepped up and determined how to package the event.  I said it was brilliant when the San Francsico Giants did this, and I applaud the Heat for taking a chance on something they haven't done before.

The only remaining decision for the twHEATup may be which hashtag attendees should use at the event, as the ad for the event shows #LETSGOHEAT and #BLACKisBACK.

Either way, hopefully this is the start of a new era in South Florida sports.

A Giant Step

First and foremost, I'm back.

I can't believe I haven't blogged since January 2009. I thought about deleting that entry after reading it over, but I figured that would be wrong.

Why did I stop blogging? Many reasons. My father passed away in March of 2009 and I went into a funk. When I'm at work, ideas come to me without much problem, but at home, the few times I tried to blog, I just couldn't come up with anything to say.

Then it hit me - I'm overthinking.

Some of my friends (@carrieimpactpr, @agustinap) challenged me to get it going once again. One of my friends (@jarret23) started his blog a week ago and has cranked out about one entry a day and is doing great coming up with ideas.

So I decided it's important for me to do this for myself and not get hung up on whether I have the perfect topic.

Which brings me to the San Francisco Giants and their April 30 Tweetup.

Surfing the internet this past weekend, I stumbled across the ad to the right. For $20 on April 30 in San Francisco, a fan would receive:

• Panel discussion with social media experts (which, it turns out, one of whom is one of the Twitter co-founders)
• First 1,000 fans receive official "Follow Us" Tweetup T-Shirt
• Private pre-game Tweetup Party
• Seats in the special Tweetup section
• Partial Proceeds go to a local non-profit

When I saw this, the first thought that came to mind: BRILLIANT.

Finally, a sports team came up with a way to marry two things that benefit them in the long run: Putting a fair value on a package that would cause them to make money, and reaching out to a community of passionate fans who probably follow the Giants online, like I do with the #Rays.

The full details: http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/sf/ticketing/special_events/tweetup.jsp

What struck me as interesting about this is that Sarah Talalay, the talented Sports Business Writer from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel writer, wrote a front-page sports story about our four local South Florida sports teams in March 2009, and the only team at that time with any true social media presence was the Miami Heat.

It's 13 months later, and when I reached out to all four sports teams (@MHEAT, @Marlins411, @MiamiDolphins, @FlaPanthers), three of them were kind enough to let me know they are researching ways to continue increasing their social media activities with their fans.

The bottom line: Anything that makes people feel part of a community and creates goodwill between a sports team and its fans is greatly appreciated.

The race is on - which South Florida team will be the first to take advantage?