To star in school assemblies, stunt team needs to study Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
The daredevils at TNT Dunk Squad like nothing better than to execute high-flying trampoline stunts and acrobatic basketball slam-dunks for Los Angles Clippers and Lakers fans, college-basketball audiences and special-events crowds worldwide.
But if they want to expand their business, the gymnastic duo will also have to do some online tricks.
In the last 20 years, with their team and others, the pair have performed in more than 70 cities worldwide and at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
It has been a part-time endeavor, with revenue last year of just $45,000.
About 18 months ago, owners Brian Smith and Keith Cousino decided to crank up their game and turn their entertainment showcase into a full-scale business.
By chance, they stumbled onto the low-profile world of school-assembly performances and realized they were on to something that could be big.
Although the schools don’t pay as much as TNT’s marquee clients, the number of potential jobs is much higher. But finding the PTA parents who book talent for school assemblies with themes such as teamwork and healthy living has been harder than expected, said Smith, 40.
“How can we market to these schools and get this whole thing going faster?” Smith said. “I called this one guy who’d been doing it for years, and he laughed and said, ‘When you figure it out, call me.’ ”
With few funds and little marketing expertise, the pair managed to land about 35 school jobs last year for their Pasadena business. Their goal is to book at least 100 school assemblies by the end of this year. So far, they have 40 scheduled.
Smith said he and Cousino, 41, briefly considered social media as a cheap way to reach more customers but dismissed it as “silly and somewhat of a waste of time.”
They are not the only small business to miss the potential that social media has to build sales, says Rebekah King, principal of ReBiz Works in Irvine, a one-person shop that specializes in social media marketing and training.
Social media sites, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and online communication tools, such as Twitter and the content-update utility Ping.fm, could raise TNT’s profile, introduce it to new customers and provide an easy way to keep in front of its growing community. Also, content on social media sites is counted in search-engine results and can move a business higher in result rankings.
To be effective, a business needs a plan.
“Any social-media program has to have a focus, a purpose,” says King, who works with small businesses and advertising agencies. “They want to book more business. Social media can show people who they are and help drive potential customers to their website.”
Here are her recommendations for how TNT could use social media to win more business.
* Reorganize the website. The problem with TNT’s website, TNTDunkSquad.com, is that it doesn’t make clear everything the business does, King says. For example, the slide show that was on the home page focused on TNT’s performances for the huge basketball audiences that had been their main market.
King helped Smith and Cousino sort their markets into four categories: sports teams, school performances, corporate events and special events. She suggests they create a navigation button on the home page for each one.
That would solve two problems, King says. The buttons would immediately show Web visitors what the business does and would give the owners a way to tailor content. So a PTA representative who clicks on the “school” button would find reassuring photos of TNT performing in front of school kids. There also could be endorsements from other parent groups, principals and even kids. (TNT has since posted a new video that features its school performances.)
King also suggests that TNT’s phone number be moved to the top of the home page and made much larger.
“People don’t come to your website expecting to dig,” she says.
* Create a Facebook page. Facebook is about fun and sharing, making it a good fit for consumer-related marketers such as TNT, King says.
She suggests the company set up a Facebook page to give kids a place to share photos, videos and comments about TNT shows. King points out that schoolchildren share online content like wildfire and could be ambassadors to parents who make hiring decisions.
One way to get kids involved is to tell them during the last five minutes of a performance that they can turn on their cellphones to take photos and video. The kids could then post the pictures to the TNT Facebook page or their own social media pages.
A Facebook page also would give the adults who book the school assemblies another place to find the performers.
“When you look at demographics, the highest-growing audience on Facebook is soccer moms,” which is one of TNT’s target markets, King says.
She suggests TNT lay a foundation on its Facebook page by posting its performance videos, photos from events and information about the company, including links to its website.
Then update the content easily and quickly by taking photos with cellphones at each performance and even during practice sessions, she says. Eventually, TNT could run contests that reward fans for posting.
Updating consistently is key; otherwise, a company “looks like losers” to the Facebook community, King cautions.
* Twitter. Twitter is like a personal news ticker, with each update limited to 140 characters.
TNT should set up a Twitter account and use cellphones to post quick updates on what the team is up to, King says. A big benefit: The Twitter feed can be put on TNT’s website and Facebook site so the fresh content can appear in multiple places at once.
* Set up a LinkedIn profile. This networking website can help TNT build a professional community, including potential customers, King says. It also will make them easier to find because such profiles typically show up at the top of search-engine results.
Creating a profile would take about two hours for each owner, she says. Once that’s done, they can import their existing online address book into LinkedIn, which will highlight anyone registered on the site.
TNT can ask those contacts to connect to the team’s LinkedIn profile. The company can then send messages through the site to contacts who agree. Pitches should be very short and casual, King says.
In a few months, once they are comfortable on LinkedIn, Smith and Cousino can invite others in their address book to join LinkedIn and connect to TNT. The goal is to build their LinkedIn contacts.
To keep the LinkedIn page current, which is one of the keys to using the site successfully, TNT should post status updates. People who have connected with TNT on LinkedIn will get weekly status reports.
The owners also can search the online public contact lists of their connections and ask for introductions. For a fee, LinkedIn users are allowed to send messages to those not on their direct contact list, but they lose access if they spam.
* Update efficiently. Track results. Ping.fm, a free computer utility program, will let TNT simultaneously update all of its social-networking sites with additional content, such as Twitter posts and photos.
TNT also needs to keep track of the responses to each social media effort so it can change tactics if necessary, King says.
Social media can be a powerful, cheap and efficient way to connect with customers, but it requires commitment, the consultant says.
“There is no magic bullet,” King says. “Just consistent, coordinated work.”
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TNT Dunk Squad
COMPANY SNAPSHOT
Business: TNT Dunk Squad is an acrobatic basketball slam-dunk team based in Pasadena that performs at colleges, NBA games, corporate events and school assemblies.
Owners: Brian Smith and Keith Cousino
Employees: Five independent contractors
Revenue: $45,000 in 2008
Founded: 2000
Start-up funds: $10,000
Website: www.TNTDunkSquad.com
CHALLENGE
Marketing: Get the squad’s name out to potential clients, especially schools.
GOAL
Turn a part-time endeavor into a full-time company whose gymnasts perform at school assemblies and other events.
Source: TNT Dunk Squad
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Meet the expert
Rebekah King is the principal of ReBiz Works, a digital- media marketing firm in Irvine. She specializes in social media marketing and training. Clients have included Western Digital Corp. of Lake Forest, Rock.com Inc. of Laguna Hills and Advanced Litho Printing & Bindery in Lake Forest.
King started her business in 2006. She graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with a degree in tourism and convention administration. King is also on the board
of directors at Eli Home Inc.,
an Anaheim nonprofit that serves abused and neglected children and their mothers.