How Social Media Is Changing the Sports Ticketing Market [INFOGRAPHIC]

Social media hasn’t only revolutionized sports fans’ experiences at the game — it’s also changed how they get there in the first place.

One in five fans use social networks to invite friends to games, according to a recent report by the Sports Business Journal. Nearly 15% of ticket buyers say their purchases have been influenced by Facebook posts.

And engaging fans on social media doesn’t just help sports teams reach potential buyers — it literally pays off. According to the same research, fans who buy tickets through social media links pay more than one-and-a-half times as much on average compared to all buyers. Why? They typically make their purchases farther in advance.

The flash deals site for sports tickets Crowd Seats recently pulled research from Ticketmaster, the Sports Business Journal and the marketing firm Burson-Marsteller to produce the infographic below.

Crowd Seats is no stranger to social media’s impact on the ticketing business, either — a full third of its sales come through social media and CEO Justin Cener is speaking this week at the Sports Business Journal‘s ticketing symposium.

SEE ALSO: How Social Media Is Changing Sports [INFOGRAPHIC]

Check out the full infographic below for more on how social media has impacted the sports ticket market, and how Major League Baseball teams are leveraging social media this season to put butts in their seats.

Have you ever bought tickets to a sporting event through social media? Would you do it again? Share with us in the comments.


More About: infographics, sports

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from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/06/04/social-media-sports-tickets-infographic/?utm_s...

5 Ways Social Media Is Revolutionizing Talent Acquisition



Social Media Conversation Sajjad Masud is co-founder & CEO of Simplicant, a cloud-based social recruiting platform transforming talent acquisition and making enterprise-level recruiting technology accessible to companies of all sizes. Connect with Sajjad and the Simplicant team on Twitter and Facebook.

The way we communicate with each other has evolved rapidly over the last decade. Social media has further intensified the departure from traditional communication methods to redefine how people and businesses interact with each other.

In fact, more than half of companies on social media fail to have a social media strategy and in doing so, risk ignoring an increasingly dynamic and expanding audience. Recent social media stats show that more than 60% of adults are connected to one or more social networks, while 23% of online time is spent entirely on social networking activities.

While social media has seen rapid growth at the consumer level, the gap between consumer and corporate adoption is widening. Businesses are continuing to figure out optimal ways to harness the reach of social media and translate its usefulness into results.

One area where the benefits are already beginning to outshine older methods is talent acquisition and recruiting. The sheer number of active users on sites such as Facebook have made social recruiting extremely advantageous. With so many people using social media, especially for employment opportunities, companies are expected to use social media to recruit for more than 80% of job openings in 2012.

So just how does social media benefit the environment of talent acquisition? Here are five shifts that are taking place now.


1. It’s Personal


Hiring has always been concerned with people, and the relationships formed through social media between candidates and employers are even more imperative.

While candidates can reach out to key recruiters, companies form entire networks or talent communities to connect and engage with candidates. Social media is a tool that caters to sharing interests and engaging in conversation, making it easier to find a suitable candidate early on. After all, we do it so much everyday that it becomes a natural process.


2. It’s Transparent


Social media users tend to be self-aware of their brand because of how visible their activity and interests can be. Because of this, we must always anticipate some sort of reaction or feedback. No longer are your strategies and tactics a secret from those outside the company — they are fair game for criticism, even by the candidates themselves.

Though your recruiting activities can open a Pandora’s box of negative comments, it’s still a good way to find new perspective on what you may be doing wrong and how it can be better.


3. It’s No Longer Just For HR


Social media talent acquisition allows for entrepreneurs and CEOs alike to find candidates directly, quickly and with a reduced cost-per-hire — especially for startups that lack traditional HR personnel or funds for a recruiter. However, social recruiting is not to be taken lightly; just because you can find candidates on Facebook doesn’t mean you should throw away the rule book.


4. It’s Marketing


digital-marketing-600

A solid plan, a target audience, metrics and data are all required for effective social recruiting. With the introduction of Brand Pages on Facebook, your organization isn’t any different from those selling a product — instead, you’re advertising a place of work.

Through brand management, content creation and engagement, candidates and employers alike see the value of social interaction for talent acquisition. It’s instantly measurable and targeted to something that older processes simply can’t match.


5. It’s Being Shared


Employees on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook are contributing to the efforts of recruiting through their own posts and tweets. Not only are open positions getting distributed as pieces of content to vast networks of people, but it’s also facilitating the use of social referrals — one of the best sources of quality candidates. Job seekers are finding ways to take advantage of social referrals by keeping in contact and engaging with key members of companies.


Conclusion


Social media doesn’t need to be the absolute center of your recruitment strategy, but it would be ill-advised to ignore the trend completely. These five factors are changing and advancing the ways we approach finding the best talent and taking it to a more personal, open and collaborative experience.

What do you think? Does using social media mean less work for recruiting, or just more effective implementation of traditional ideas?


Social Media Job Listings


Every week we post a list of social media and web job opportunities. While we publish a huge range of job listings, we’ve selected some of the top social media job opportunities from the past two weeks to get you started. Happy hunting!

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, chris_lemmens, alengo

More About: features, job recruiting, job search series, mashable, online recruiting

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from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/06/03/talent-acquisition-social/?utm_source=feedburn...

Another Step Forward In Small Scale Electrical Generators

NicknamesAreStupid writes "Product Design & Development reports another breakthrough in small scale solid oxide fuel cells. This methane-fueled cell achieves about 50% efficiency at around 2kW, enough to power an average home. It does so by efficiently recycling its heat to perpetuate the process. Of course, this is not practical for most homes, which only have natural gas that contains nearly one fifth impurities. However, that could change if gas suppliers refined their product."

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from Slashdot http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/06/03/1845208/another-step-forward-in-small...

Online Social Networks Can Be Tipped By Less Than 1% of Their Population

An anonymous reader writes "A new algorithm developed by researchers at West Point seems to break new ground for viral marketing practices in online social networks. Assuming a trend or behavior that spreads in an online social network based on the classic 'tipping' model from sociology (based on the work of Thomas Schelling and Mark Granovetter), the new West Point algorithm can find a set of individuals in the network that can initiate a social cascade – a progressive series of 'tipping' incidents — which leads to everyone in the social network adopting the new behavior. The good news for viral marketers is that this set of individuals is often very small – a sample of the Friendster social network can be influenced when only 0.8% of the initial population is seeded. The trick is finding the seed set. The algorithm is described in a paper to be presented later this summer at the prestigious IEEE ASONAM conference."

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from Slashdot http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/06/04/1710206/online-social-networks-can...

Greenhorn Connect Weekly Countdown: June 3rd-10th

The stock market may be hitting a rough patch but the startup world is only rising. Get out and help make your company a buy. Boston has 39 startup networking events and office hours this week that could trigger your climb to the top.  How will you invest your time?

/ / / Monday, Jun 4

Marketing Analytics 101

Description:  You know what they say…you can’t manage it unless you measure it! In this course, you’ll learn the fundamentals of Marketing Analytics. Review how to identify the metrics that drive business success, and how to track the efficacy of your marketing campaigns.
Time: Monday, Jun 4, 6:00pm – 7:30pm
Place: Intelligent.ly Campus – 500 Harrison Ave – Boston, MA 02118
Cost: $30

The Boston Python User Group: June Project Night

Description: Come work on Python projects, get programming help, help others, and hang out. Food sponsored by Yieldbot! Bring your own project or work on one of the suggested projects below.  Everyone is welcome, all skill levels are encouraged.
Time: Monday, Jun 4, 6:30pm – 9:30pm
Place: Microsoft New England Research & Development Center (NERD) One Memorial Drive Suite 100 Cambridge, MA

/ / / Tuesday, Jun 5

100 Beers

Description: Believe it or not, it’s time for our next get-together!  Join MITX on June 5th for our quarterly 100 Beers party, where we buy the first 100 beers and you bring the fun (well, we will, too). We’ll also be giving you a sneak peek into the amazing things we have in store for the final two quarters of the year – like early-bird access for FutureM, a revamped Interactive Awards and many other great opportunities to get involved, get educated and get connected.
Time: Tuesday, Jun 5, 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Place: Julep Bar – 200 High Street, Boston MA
Cost: Free for MITX members / $10 for non-members

/ / / Wednesday, Jun 6

Space Matters: Finding the Right Office Space for your Business

Description: Finding the right office space for your growing business can be an unexpected challenge. With an array of options in and around Boston and Cambridge, it’s hard to even know where to start. In this program, Jon Frisch and Dan Stevenson from T3 Advisors will guide you through the steps you need to take to find space that will satisfy your needs without breaking the bank.
Time: Wednesday, Jun 6, 9:30am – 11:30am
Place: Cambridge Innovation Center One Broadway 5th Floor – Havana Training Room Cambridge, MA 02142
Cost: FREE

/ / / Thursday, Jun 7

Startup Sox

Description: Running a startup isn’t easy. You need a break. And a beer; or three. We can help. Join the Startup community on Thursday June 7th for a night at Fenway Park. We’ll kick off the evening at 5pm with a pre-game networking hour at MassChallenge, sponsored by Peak Organic Brewery. At 6pm, we’ll head over to Fenway (we’re working on buses) for the 7pm game where we’ll sit together in the bleachers.
Time: Thursday, Jun 7, 5:30pm – 10:00pm
Place: MassChallenge & Fenway Park
Cost: $19-49 (Coupon code to save $10: greenhorn)

/ / / Saturday, Jun 9

ProductCamp Boston

Description: ProductCamp Boston is the only full-dayunconference for product managers and product marketers in the Greater Boston area.  It’s the premier event for product professionals to find out the latest developments, discover new ideas, and network with other professionals.  Because it’s an unconference, ProductCamp is organized by attendees, for attendees so you can get the most out of the day.
Time: Saturday, Jun 9, 8:00am – 5:00pm
Place: Microsoft New England Research & Development (NERD) 1 Memorial Drive Cambridge, 02142
Cost: $10.00 Deposit, refunded when you attend event!

Event of the Week Sponsored by Microsoft NERD 

Space Matters: Finding the Right Office Space for your Business

Why? Learn when and where is appropriate to move your startup and connect with the experts from T3 Advisors that can make it happen!

from BostInno http://bostinno.com/channels/greenhorn-connect-weekly-countdown-june-3rd-10th/

10 Local Higher Ed Experts to Follow on Twitter & Why

Boston is a higher ed hub. Yet, with 50 colleges and universities, the city’s higher ed experts have needed a centralized space to connect and communicate. Twitter’s quickly become that place, and for anyone interested in knowing what’s locally going on in education, we’ve provided a list of 10 people we recommend you begin paying attention to now. Want to get schooled? Then just start hitting “follow” on the knowledgeable people below.

Eric Stoller@EricStoller — Eric Stoller is a nationally known speaker, author, consultant and blogger in the areas of higher education, student affairs and technology who’s currently stationed right here in the hub. He currently writes for Inside Higher Ed, and is also is the host of Student Affairs Live on the Higher Ed Live network.

Mike Petroff @mikepetroff — A digital content strategist for Harvard, Petroff is also the creator of followEDU, a searchable directory of Twitter users in higher ed. Petroff organizes and runs EDUtweetups, as well, which you can find on Inside Higher Ed.

Marissa Lowman@marissalowman — Not only is Lowman the founder of the networking event EdTechup, but she also helped coordinate Boston’s first Startup Weekend EDU.

Kyle Judah@KyleJudah — As the CEO of Betaspring company RecoVend, Judah is helping schools discover, research and buy the products they need, all while saving them time and money.

Mike Garvin @BostonGarv – Mike Garvin is a UMass Amherst alum, and now works as the vice president of college and consortium partnerships at CollegeWeekLive, the “world’s largest college fair.”

Kris Mattera @KrisMatt – Kris Mattera’s an adjunct professor at Suffolk University, as well as a communications assistant at MIT. With an education background that includes stints at Emerson, Bentley and Northeastern for marketing, continuing ed and graphic design, Mattera’s got a handle on Boston’s higher ed scene.

Gene Begin @Gbegin — After getting his MBA at Babson, Begin started working as the College’s digital marketing director. He’s also previously served as Babson’s assistant director of MBA Alumni Relations, the manager of Alumni Online Communications, the marketing manager of Client Operations and the undergraduate school marketing director. The ultimate expert on Babson? We’d say so.

Eric Clark @EA_Clark — Eric Clark is the director of the Center for Academic Success at Eastern Nazerene College, as well as the founder of Quincy Tutoring, a platform perfect for tutors who are interested in working with new clients.

Jenny Mackintosh @JennyMack — Currently a public relations assistant at Boston University, Mackintosh tweets on both @BU_Tweets and @BUToday, connecting everyone to all that’s going on at Boston University.

Georgy Cohen @radiofreegeorgy — Georgy Cohen is a writer, speaker and consultant focused on digital communications in higher education and nonprofits. She’s co-author of Meet Content, a website focused on “empowering higher education to create and sustain web content that works.”

from BostInno http://bostinno.com/2012/06/04/10-local-higher-ed-experts-to-follow-on-twitte...

How to Raise Startup Capital Without a Pitch Deck


Shafqat Islam is the co-founder and CEO of NewsCred, a platform that connects publishers and brands with the world’s best journalism. Follow him @shafqatislam.

My company has gone through three rounds of financing, with our latest Series A closing in the fall of 2011. We did the Series A fundraising without a pitch deck, also known as your sales pitch.

It’s true that the deck is often considered the main piece of fundraising collateral. But I would argue that the main marketing collateral while fundraising is you: the founder. Below are the lessons we learned from raising a series A round without a pitch deck.


1. Date Before You Marry


Finding a great investor is like finding a great spouse. You would never decide on your life partner after a week of frantic courting. Why do that when finding an investor? Remember, you can’t divorce your investor. So select investors that you think will make great long-term partners.

My number one criteria: only date people you really like spending time with. In our case, we “dated” our lead investor for more than a year. During that period, I kept in touch, had occasional coffees, sent interesting links, engaged him on Twitter, and kept him up to date on the company. As a result, our story had a nice, positive arc and our investor had a lot of context. As Mark Suster says, VCs invest in lines, not dots.


2. Don’t Ever “Start Fundraising”


The added benefit of the “date before you marry” approach is that you never have to go into “fundraising mode.” There is no flipping the switch one day. When you think funding is on the horizon, you can increase the frequency of your meetings and start sending stronger signals — more numbers, charts showing growth, news of key hires.

In our case, the occasional meetings slowly turned more serious, and when it was time to start thinking about fundraising, the transition was natural and the investor already knew that things were going well for the company. Instead of pitching him on a general offer, we were in a position to share the product road maps, pipeline, and financials.


3. Create Urgency


Once you have the interest of investors and it’s clear that you are raising a round, the most important thing is to create some sense of urgency. Deals don’t close by themselves. Salespeople close deals, and in this case, you are the salesperson. If you don’t know about sales, this is probably a good time to pick up a good sales book or find a sales mentor.

Also, don’t forget that VC’s have little incentive to say “no” right away (although the best VC’s give quick responses), because it’s usually in their interest to drag on the process to collect more information and know the investment has little risk. You should try and create some sort of forcing function, whether it’s based on time, an important hire, a deal closing, or product milestones.


4. If You Create a Proposal, Don’t Send It Early


Think of your pitch deck as your sales proposal (or wedding proposal!). In a normal sale, you would never send a proposal to a prospect before you’ve spent enough time getting to know them, understanding what they are looking for, and finding out if your solution is a good fit. So why do it differently here?

Keep the deck to yourself, and customize and send it when both sides are comfortable that there is a deal there. In our case, the only time we actually used any slide was on the day before we got the term sheet, just so our investor had something to show his partners during the Monday morning partners meeting.


5. Ask for Help


My entire fundraising approach is predicated on the fact that you have to build relationships with investors first. That said, we initially built our company in Switzerland, and I did not know a single investor. As such, not knowing investors is not a valid excuse. Hustle and figure out a way to build those connections. Cold email people, go to events, comment on VCs’ blog posts, ping them on Twitter, set up your AngelList profile, do whatever it takes. Once you build some initial relationships, even if they are informal, nurture the hell out of them.

If there is one takeaway, it’s that fundraising is not a one-time thing. It’s an ongoing process, and the most important part of VC fundraising happens when you aren’t actually raising money. VC’s invest in you, so return the favor and invest in your relationships with them. Ultimately the relationships will matter more than an amazing pitch deck.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, andrearoad

More About: contributor, features, funding, startup

from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/06/01/raise-a-series-round-without-pitch-deck/?utm_s...

ITV Player 2.0 adds live streams of the UK broadcaster's TV to iPhone, iPad

For our friends in the UK, ITV Player has received a 2.0 update that gives you live access to ITV 1 and ITV 2 over Wi-Fi or 3G. ITV also will provide an extra stream for live events that do not show on either of those channels. For those wanting to catch up on a show, however, that can only be done via Wi-Fi at this time.

Users can now use content switching within the app and will be able to mirror using AirPlay. Retina graphics and improved location services have been added to the app.

[Via Engadget]

ITV Player 2.0 adds live streams of the UK broadcaster's TV to iPhone, iPad originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 01 Jun 2012 05:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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from TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com/2012/06/01/itv-player-2-0-adds-live-streams-of-the-uk-bro...

The 9 Best Credit Card Signup Bonuses

A month and a half back I developed a top 10 credit card signup bonus list. It’s amazing how much has changed since then.

The links I had for 50,000 American Airlines miles and 50,000 Southwest points no longer work. The Chase Ink Bold signup bonus now requires more spending. The British Airways Visa, which I believe has the best current signup bonus offer in the market, is expected to pull that bonus on June 7th. These lists rapidly evolve, so I’ve updated what I think is currently the best out there, and what I’m drawing from for my own churns.

Fortunately it remains the case that for folks with reasonably good credit (and see my thoughts on the effects of credit card signups on credit scores, in many cases it can actually help), the banks still want you to travel around the world in a premium cabin almost for free.

  1. British Airways Visa 100,000 point signup bonus: 50,000 points with first purchase, 25,000 more after $10,000 spend, 25,000 more after the next $10,000 in spend.Fee is $95, they offer a free companion award ticket after $30,000 in spend, and the card earns 1.25 Avios points per dollar spent. No foreign currency transaction fees.

    Here’s my analysis on how to leverage the signup bonus into being 350,000 or even 700,000 miles.

    (Note that there’s also an offer which Mommypoints flags that I haven’t been able to replicate, by test booking a British Airways flight some folks are able to get 50,000 points now, 50,000 points after a year, without minimum spend — you wait for the miles and pay two $95 annual fees but avoid a spend threshold for those miles.)

  2. Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa offers no fee the first year, 40,000 points after $3000 in spend within 3 months, no foreign currency conversion fees, double points on travel and dining, points transfer to United, Hyatt, Southwest, Amtrak, British Airways, Korean Airlines, Marriott Priority Club, and Ritz-Carlton.
  3. Chase Ink Bold small business card 50,000 point signup bonus25,000 after first purchase and 25,000 more after $10,000 spend within 3 months. Points transfer to United, British Airways, Korean Airlines, Southwest, Hyatt, Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, Priority Club, and Amtrak. It earns quintuple points on wireless/telecommunications services, cable and satellite TV and radio, and office supply stores and double points on hotels and gas stations up to 200,000 points per year.
  4. United Explorer 50,000 point signup bonus, fee waived the first year.
  5. 40,000 American AAdvantage miles for a new Citi Mastercardafter $3000 in purchases within 3 months, no fee the first year. In my experience churnable every 18 months.
  6. US Airways Mastercard 40,000 points after first purchaseand fee waived the first year. This is from Barclay’s Bank so gets a plus for not being Chase/Amex/Citibank, and is generally churnable — you can get the bonus more than once in a lifetime for this card.
  7. 50,000 American Express Membership Rewards points for a new Mercedes Benz Platinum American Express card ($475 annual fee, but with benefits that make the fee worthwhjile).
  8. Citi Thank You Premier Card with 50,000 point signup bonus after $2500 in spend within 3 months, no fee the first year. Currently points are worth only 1.25 cents apiece towards paid travel, though it’s expected that points will become transferrable to airline milesin the coming weeks or months.
  9. Virgin Atlantic American Express with up to 65,000 points as a signup bonus: 20,000 miles after first purchase; 2,500 miles for each of the first two authorized users added to your account; 25,000 miles after $2,500 spend within 90 days; 7,500 for $15,000 spend within the anniversary year and an additional 7,500 if you hit $25,000 spend within the anniversary year. There’s a $90 fee for the card, not waived. Virgin Atlantic points can be transferred to Hilton, using them for travel on Virgin incurs some hefty fuel surcharges. A plus here because it’s a Bank of America card, so not Chase/Citi/Amex.

I usually try to grab no more than one card from each issuer at a time, though often I’ll grab a personal and small business card from an issuer and those will be treated separately. The really advanced churners will pay attention to which issuers pull credit reports from which companies in their home state to try to spread out their credit inquiries, I don’t worry about it to that same degree.

Note that this list of cards is of best signup bonsues, meaning the best for big points up front, which is different from the best cards to carry in your wallet for travel benefits (some cards with lounge access or companion tickets, etc. may make sense to carry) and different from the most rewarding for actual spending. Put enough spending on these cards to meet the minimums for signup bonuses, but in between card churns they may not make sense for more spend than that.

Are there any better offers for these cards that I’ve missed? Please share those in the comments.

(Disclosure: one-third of the links in the list above offer referral credit to me if you use my links, as always I want to share the best available offers. When I’m aware of an offer that’s better than something that will provide any credit to me, that’s the offer I share, hence the offers on this list that don’t include my links.)

from View from the Wing http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfromthewing/2012/05/31/the-9-best-credit-ca...