The UFC ‘do’ social media as well as any sporting organization in the world. There was a good post from Greg Ferenstein at Techcrunch a couple of weeks ago explaining that, when the mainstream media were shunning the sport as being too violent or not something they wished to associate with, UFC president, Dana White turned to grass roots, word of mouth and social media to harness a following for his organization and made MMA the fastest growing sport in the World.

You can read more about UFC’s strategies for building their brand on social media here and here . Sure, they partnered up with Digital Royalty who have a good track record when it comes to building fan engagement programs, but the secret (if you can call it that) seems to be two-fold…

1. The CEO is championing social media. This is a huge one as most brands are still looking for the concrete evidence that social media will improve their bottom line before assigning the appropriate resources to make it effective, whereas Dana White is telling the fighters to “Tweet their asses off”

2. The athletes are given the freedom to express themselves and engage with the fans. Again, huge if you want to be successful in social media and the very thing that is scaring the shit out of most mainstream sports. They are terrified of an athlete or employee breaking ranks and going ‘off message’ that may impact their perceived brand. What Dana White has cottoned on to here, is that every one of his fighters that promotes themselves, their fights, MMA, the UFC brand or any sponsors is adding to his marketing clout.

It would be great to see more teams, athletes and CEO’s being as frank with the media and fans as Dana White is in the below video. It is probably an unfair comparison as he is clearly an outgoing, fan centric guy who loves his job and the sport, and they are rare…but it is a good example of what can be done by letting go of control and allowing authentic, un-spun communications with your fans or customers.

Any up and coming, developing sports or organizations should take note!