A Look At the UFC's Social Media Expertise

Social Media has become the next great tool for companies to utilize to reach out to consumers. When I was 19, I dropped out of college to work for a record label under Universal's umbrella as the Director of New Media. At the time I was one of the few people who was on Facebook (relative to today) as the company launched in Boston, the city I formerly went to college in, and had experience using their systems. Facebook originally was only for those enrolled in college as a way to stay in contact with friends and people from class.

As Director of New Media for this record label, I was able to utilize Facebook to help bands infiltrate markets while on tour by informing friends from High School about the shows. I built up a network around the country to promote the bands and enlisted people I met on the site to sign up for music message boards across the country to act as members of the punk scene to talk up the bands. It was widely successful and I created a database that is still used by the record label today.

Fast forward seven years. Today, the world of Social Media has changed dramatically. Where forums once were the land of promotion, they have taken a backseat to a more personable medium in Twitter. People are able to reach out and have a "real" connection with athletes and celebrities that they would not have otherwise. The UFC and its marketing team recognized this and have used Twitter like no other company. Dana White gets praise for his ticket give aways and rightfully so, as there is a recognition that a group of diehard fans who will sprint to a location across town just to meet the man in hopes of scoring tickets for an event. I know this from personal experience.

When the UFC had their Ultimate Fight Night in Austin back in September 2010, I ran to the location Dana tweeted. I got there early enough to get two tickets to the event, just as a swarm of UFC fans came running up. My expectation was that the tickets would be in a nose bleed section, but after checking the seating chart I discovered that I would be sitting five rows from the floor. And Zuffa doesn't just give away tickets for UFN events, they even comp tickets for Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez, one of the biggest UFC fights of all time.

The fan interaction on Twitter is brilliant, a medium that no other company has utilized to its full potential. This past weekend the UFC pushed further into the Web 2.0 realm by airing four prelims live on their Facebook fan page. All you had to do was sign up and "like" the UFC, an easy task for any fan of free fights. By giving away four fights, the UFC has now expanded their Web 2.0 empire. Bloody Elbow was tracking the amount of "likes" the UFC got going into the event, which was 4.5 million. The stream ran smoothly for most people who have strong internet connections, while running off the UFC's internal server. By contrast, when Strikeforce attempted to stream Jay Heiron vs. Joe Riggs on the EA Sports website, most streams were delayed or crashed completely. 

There is a major benefit for Zuffa by hosting the Prelims on Facebook. Since the time I used Facebook, the company has grown drastically. Many Fortune 500 companies are now using Facebook to provide news updates and that is exactly what the UFC has done. The UFC now has over 4.6 million likes on Facebook, a staggering number when you consider that Dana White is stuck on 1.3 million followers on Twitter. With their expertise with Social Media, the UFC is truly a leader in Web 2.0, with no one even close to their equal.