Will Topps Attend the 2010 National?

I can't remember the last time Topps attended the National Sports Collectors Convention, but could they make a return this year?

Considering their leadership changes and customer outreach via social media, it seems now would be the perfect time to make a big splash at the 2010 National in Baltimore, MD.

I posted the discussion on the Facebook National group page.

Who's Blogging About the 2010 National

Who's blogging and writing about the 2010 National Sports Collectors Convention?

A discussion thread is started on the Facebook Group page for the 2010 National.

Be sure to list your blog or the favorite one you read on the discussion thread. This will be a good resource to share ideas, thoughts and opinions.

Dear Topps and Upper Deck: You Need More than a Fan Page

You need a Facebook Application.

It's great that Topps, UpperDeck and other card manufacturers have joined the Facebook tribes. Their fan pages are OK - they aren't at the level of Red Bull or Dunkin' Donuts. Both of them have been recognized for having killer facebook fan pages.

However, the Upper Deck page has more than 800 fans and there seems to be a lot of interaction. The Topps fan page is new and has around 100.

But we need more.

The fan page is great for getting the message out and talking to your customers, but let's interact some. I want a facebook application!

The card companies need to look beyond the fan page and navigation ads.

How about an interactive application that allows you to put any photo you have on your facebook page into your own trading card? This would be similar to the Topps My Trading Card page. You could:
- create your own set
- add it to your profile
- make it your avatar and
- order it directly from the facebook application.

Why not add yourself to the background of the photo like Topps did with the George W. Bush and Derek Jeter card?

Facebook fan pages were great in 2009. In 2010, we need to step it up and see some facebook applications.

Rich Klein Begins The 2010 National Facebook Group Discussion

The National Facebook Group discussion has started. Rich Klein kicked off his admin duties with a post on Monday. Check it out here.

Information Golden Era of Sports Collecting

Are we in an Information Golden Era of Sports Collecting?

When I started the SportsLocker blog in November, 2007 there wasn't a lot of opinion and information on the internet. If you wanted the latest news and opinion, then you needed to subscribe to the magazines, find a good hobby shop, or hope to find one of the few blogs dedicated to the hobby. There were very few to choose from.

Fast-forward a couple of years and the landscape has really changed. Today, you can read blogs that focus on specific types, certain teams, individual players and the "stats on the back." You can read Beckett's opinion and the anti-Beckett opinion.

If you're into social networking, there are several facebook groups and fan pages run by fellow collectors. Upper Deck and Steiner Sports also do a lot of work on facebook and offer fans special access, sales, and contests.

Personally, I think Twitter made the biggest splash to the collecting world in 2009. Bloggers, corporations, and card manufacturers did more than dip their toe in the pool - they dove in to the deep end. Not only do they tweet when they have a new blog post, but they tweet when they have an opinion. Following collectors and some of the companies on twitter can bring you alerts to sales from Blowout Cards to interesting topics at the Freedom Card Board. If you didn't like the latest box break from Beckett, you can send Tracy Hackler and Chris Olds a message on twitter with your opinion (within 140 characters).

We don't have a shortage of information today. We have more opinions and places to get the latest scoop than I ever could have imaged two years ago. The landscape has changed and continues to evolve. I'm really enjoying this new world of collecting: it's more transparent, has more opinions, and is fun to be a part of.

Farmville Can Save the Sports Card Hobby

Whenever I log in to facebook, my home page is littered with my friends' Farmville status updates. Originally I ignored the updates and shrugged them off as some game for kids, but eventually more and more of my "adult" facebook friends began getting involved.

Now, I can't log on to facebook without one of my buddies having an update, "Jim just accomplished . . . on Farmville."

What is farmville? It's a game you play within facebook - an application you download to your profile. As the game begins, you receive some land to start a farm (fruits, veggies, animals, etc). Each crop grows at a different rate and you build a harvest to sell, buy more, plant, etc. This process grows your faux farm.

It seems to be pretty addicting. If you don't log in to the facebook application and tend to your field, you won't have a good harvest. The application even updates you with information on your farm and your farming friends can ask you for help doing farm chores.

So I started looking around facebook to see what applications Topps and Upper Deck have come up with. I didn't find anything! Where are they? I found some baseball card applications, but they seemed pretty weak.

Are the sports cards companies missing an opportunity? Considering the success of eTopps, I would have guessed they would have a facebook application. Before you knock on eTopps (I don't use it either), consider the numbers. According to quantcast.com, eTopps gets about 10k unique visitors per month and the user base primarily consists of males, age 35-49 with some college education.

eTopps could:
- Provide an application to trade, buy, and display your eTopps card. It would tie in with your online account.
- Create a digital binder with your eTopps cards.
- Update your profile status every time you make a trade or buy a new eTopps card.
- Send you announcements of the latest offerings.

Pizza Hut is another example of large companies connecting with their audience. Pizza Hut has an application on facebook that allows you to order pizza from your facebook account and receive a discount. I think it would make sense if Upper Deck (or whomever) had an application where you could buy one of their products after seeing it offered in your "virtual sports card binder." The application could direct you to a preferred UD vendor where you'd buy the box or case and get a discount.

I only picked on eTopps and Upper Deck as examples, but I believe the key to our hobby's success is to be more social. The card companies can use Farmville's best practices to grow the hobby. Most card companies have dipped their toe in the facebook shallow end of the pool with fan pages and groups, but it's time to do more.

Facebook's growth is amazing. The online social networking site now has a user base that would make it the fourth largest country in the world!

The card companies need to do more than create a page and post images. It's time to create an application, a virtual binder, and get more social.

The National Wrapper Redemption Scoop

Upper Deck, Press Pass, Sport Kings, Panini America, and Tristar announced their wrapper redemption program's at the 2009 National Sports Collector's Convention.

Here's the link to the announcement from the NSCC. Check out The National facebook group and the #NSCCShow hashtag on twitter.

Sports Locker Blog Influencing The National

People with The National are following this blog and I think it's great. Thanks for following everyone.

For months I've been emailing and calling folks at the National and asking them to join the facebook group I created. Facebook groups are great ways for corporations to keep a conversation going with people who really want more information and to share their experiences with people who have their same passion. (If you want more information about social media marketing, follow me on Twitter.)

The National never responded to my emails or phone calls . . . until I checked out their home page. Apparently, they thought it was a great idea to get in the game too so they started their own fan page on facebook to post press releases. It's not exactly the social part of social marketing, but it's a step in the right direction.

I think it's great whenever a company moves where their customers are talking about them. I'm not sure they understand the "social" part in social marketing otherwise they would have joined the page already created and answered my emails but I've learned that changes to social media take time. This is a good step for them.

So if you want a recap on their press releases, join their group. If you want to talk about the show, the autograph guest list (yawn so far), and share pictures, then join this facebook group.