I had the great pleasure of speaking about Social Media at Paciolan’s annual PACnet conference this past week in Newport Beach, CA. The conference brought together Paciolan’s clients from all over the country and Canada to share best practices in the event ticketing industry. Who knew there was so much strategy and methodology surrounding ticket pricing, seating and inventory?!

Most of the attendees were athletic directors and marketing professionals who represented schools like Arizona State University, North Carolina State, University of Colorado and University of Alabama. They gathered to hear the different approaches and products their colleagues are using to get more “butts in seats” at events. The most used phrase I heard throughout the conference was “perceived value of a seat.” If the perception of any given seat in a stadium or venue is high, the dollar value of that seat increases. The goal is to get people clamoring for every seat in the place, including those nose-bleeds most people don’t want to sit in (or purchase because they’re cheap). Pretty intuitive, right?

Besides the fascinating information I learned as an attendee (and the delicious In-N-Out Double Double I consumed), I also heard a lot about how these sporting venues are using (or not using) social media. Most of them have Facebook pages with a handful of fans, but they aren’t using them to full capacity- many have little engagement besides the basic score update or announcement of when the next game is being played. There was a lot of discussion about the possibility of people becoming fans to show their school and alumni spirit, but not necessarily engaging with the content. I quickly came to the conclusion that many of the people managing the social media programs for these schools aren’t giving their fans information to engage with. There is such an opportunity for them to increase an event’s perceived value through social media.

I would’ve liked to spent more time with another Double Double….I mean with each representative to discuss how their social media program could yield better results. I hope to do that in the future. In the meantime, do you follow any sports teams that are doing an exceptional job of interacting through social media?