Episode 91 Snippets: Casper Vestereng of TV3 SPORT

Best of the Digital and Social Media Sports

PodcastEpisode 91: Casper Vestereng

On episode 91, Neil chatted with Casper Vestereng, Social Media Manager for TV3 SPORT.

What follows are select snippets from the episode. To hear the full interview, check out the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, and at www.dsmsports.net.

You can also follow me on Twitter @njh287.

@njh287; www.dsmsports.net

http://www.dsmsports.net/



Casper’s career path Aspired to be a sports commentator and started out as a sports reporter and did a lot of freelance work Then worked for in digital sales for a communications companies “There was a point where companies in Denmark started to create Facebook Pages and started to use Facebook as a (business) platform…”




Casper studied Facebook marketing and developed expertise in the space “It started to open up opportunities in different companies. They wanted to people to manage Facebook Pages…It was this mix of working with online content and marketing. By studying…I learned a lot about the marketing side and by being a journalist, I had a sense of content.” Casper joined online (food) delivery company and did social media for them in Denmark (they were in 17 countries) “I learned a lot about marketing…about using Facebook...using paid social.” After 2 years there, Casper joined one of Denmark’s biggest news organizations, doing mainly social and paid social.




Following that stint, Casper joined the (publicly owned) Danish Broadcast Corporation as Social Media Editor in the News Department (biggest news department in Denmark). “It was very cool. It wasn’t strategy and measuring; it was a lot more managing the profiles and Pages. And also being their internal expert, going on television and radio and talking about the tech world…”




After a year with Danish Broadcasting Corporation, Casper was contacted by TV3 Sport to ho help with their social media, as they did not have a Social Media Manager in-house: “They wanted to have some strategy around their social media, to get it all streamlined and they asked me for some tips on how to do it. Then they asked me to come to do it the way I told them to do it…”[Casper has now been there for 3 years]




“TV3 Sport is part of Modern Times Group, which is quite a big company that is trying to transform themselves from being a television company to being a digital entertainer…They are investing in esports and mobile gaming (in particular)…(They are) also starting to try to be global. In terms of TV, we are mainly active in Scandinavia…but they are trying to start some initiatives that are global…(esports, World Boxing SuperSeries, UFC, among others)”




On 2nd screen and sports for Denmark / Scandinavia “It came along…Twitter is very big in England and we watch a lot of Premier League Football in England, from Denmark. So we started to use it a lot…And there is a lot of this second screen talk…I believe it has now developed into a more 24/7 thing, 7 days/week thing. So, for us, social media and digital is a lot more about being there every day of the week than being there and engaging people during a match…And I believe it is the same task for the clubs and the leagues and the players…Now you really try to use (social media) to keep interest 365 days per year.”




How Casper’s background in digital and social marketing affects his perspective “It has been very different with my different bosses. But I am very focused on results and all about creating traffic and sales, and whatever the focus was. That is really what drives me and what (has) increased my interest in the digital world – that you’re able to create results. Growing fan bases, growing traffic, growing sales…




[Casper talks about the different KPI’s and objectives in his roles over the years] “For TV3 Sport, it’s a lot of traffic, for both the website and our over the top service. It’s also for TV and we also have sponsored content, where we want people to go to one of our sponsors. We also do this old-fashioned newsletter, so we try to collect (emails and permissions)…My view on this is that you can drive the results…but you have to do it on the premises of how this platform works…




“For driving a lot of traffic from Facebook, you need to put some engaging stuff [out] there, because that’s the nature of Facebook…[Casper mentions The Sports Bible as an example of a Page that has a good combination] – “Every time they put out one sort of engaging post, they put out three linked posts, which get a lot lower reach, probably, but that’s what gets them money. We do it kind of the same way. A lot of linked posts out, but we also do a lot of fun stuff. We try to give a little of it away [to] try to keep fans happy.”




On valuing social media engagement vs. website traffic “It has been moving the other way around. Starting out, three years ago, one of the goals was traffic, one of the goals was (our OTT service)…, and then my third goal at that point was creating better TV experiences – trying to engage people around our shows and include Tweets and Facebook comments in our buildups and during matches. Growing fan bases and reach. “But we hit a point where we got so big, (we created several different Pages, taking the Buzzfeed model, Casper said) [Casper notes they have 500,000 Facebook fans; impressive considering Denmark’s population is 3.2 million]…If I have to be honest, (having several Pages), is quite by coincidence. We have a lot of sports rights in Denmark…and when I started, there wasn’t this social media department. But there were a lot of Facebook Pages and Twitter profiles…so they were already created and they were actually already (decently big)…so I didn’t want to close them down and merge them together…




“So we decided to try and go on with that and see if we could create enough content for (all of them) and it hasn’t been a problem so far. A lot of broadcasters are using a different strategy and keep it to a very few pages…But the way I see it is…we can do some experiments on our Pages. Because if one of the Pages gets too many posts or for some reason doesn’t get the reach in one month than it (usually does), then we have a lot of other Pages that will drive traffic for us…So we can do a lot of experiments on different Pages…And if we had only one or two big Pages, I would be more careful to do these experiments. “That’s one of the upsides. One of the downsides is you obviously need a lot of content. You need to keep an eye on these Pages and you need tools for the community management part. It’s a lot of work, but it’s working for us. We’re growing faster, in fans, than all of the other media companies in Denmark…”




On organizing content on so many Pages and platforms “That’s an ongoing process…All of our sports departments are working in different ways, and we try to get the best partnership with the TV departments…We have so much content – we have two sports channels on TV, a golf channel, and then a lot of sports on the over the top service. So we have so much content coming in…(so) we create a lot of ‘easy’ content around that…And then we have a lot of journalists in-house…and when they go to do a match…I try to contact them before that and try to do (social media content on-site)…




“It has been a long process and, in the beginning, I always had to kick in the doors to the editors, and now I am invited very early in the process (and) planning…Also being able to brainstorm with them around the buildup…Partnering really close with the editors and doing some very good stuff (on social media). And now we’ve grown so big that they see the potential. “In reality, the number of television viewers is not growing on all sports, so all of the TV guys are under a lot of pressure, and now we monetize a lot of the content we put on digital. So now our bosses are all great on pushing the TV people to do digital stuff…I only see it getting better and better.”




Helpful Tool: Clips iOS app, to create videos and utilize tons of filters, overlays, sound beds, and effects




Leading social media vision and adapting to changing trends and platforms “I’m definitely looking outside Denmark…We like to experiment, we like to test new platforms, we like to test one or two times, and then we usually find out that it doesn’t give us the payoff that Facebook does. We are so results-oriented, we are so focused on monetizing all the stuff we do on digital, so we get back to Facebook and put our efforts there… “The way I put it is – we use Snapchat, we build it up (to a sizable fan base)…, but it doesn’t really fulfill our goals of pushing out links. The same goes with Instagram. We build our profiles and then we are just (using them) once or twice per week. We are doing easy stuff…being ready that, I something is happening in the social world (and platforms and algorithms are changing)…(so) we feel we are ready to act…and increase our effort on the other social platforms…




“Regarding Twitter, it’s a bit special in Denmark, because it’s not that big. It’s very focused around politics and journalism. Then there are this few hundred people that are engaging in sports around Twitter. But they are very engaged. There are a lot of journalists on Twitter, too. But (the reach) is not there that you get on Facebook… “There is a lot on Facebook (with fans) writing about the match in their feed or hopefully engaging with the stuff we put out there. We put a lot of stuff on Facebook during big matches both before and after the match, and we try to use our TV guys to do it. We might set up a football expert to do a Facebook Live during our buildup…and he can ask people to turn on the television…We try to put out that content that people want (to see), we try to say the things that they want to say. We try to crate debates, not by putting out our opinions, but just pushing on to get a discussion (with topics) that we know will engage (and affect) behavior.”




“We’ve had some discussions about (content and engagement during the telecast)…Our take on that…we don’t cannibalize our television show by putting out content during the buildup or during the match. We just give people an alternative…because they’re going to sit with their phones or their tablets in their hands, anyway. And if they’re not going to engage with our stuff, they’re going to engage with the clubs’ stuff, or some other media… “If we didn’t do (social media content), just because we had (and event) on TV, we’d lose a lot of engagement there [and] we’d lose a lot of control over the discussion [around the event]…”




Differences between social media and sport in Scandinavia and US “There are a lot of things we do differently, and that is mainly because of the language barrier. We are 5.5 million people Denmark, and that is the only people in the world speaking Danish…and that is our target group. So we are very focused on this small community, and it gives us some boundaries. We can’t get the reach that people can in the (US) and England, because you have such a global (audience) that understands your content…




“So we need to pick our fights. When we put out something that we want to go viral, it needs to be very good. (But) we can’t monetize viral stuff. We need traffic. We have maybe the longest pre-roll (ad) strategy in the world. I haven’t ever seen a website with one minute pre-rolls that you can’t get skip. We have that before every goal that we show, every highlight we show on our website.” “I’m not sure it’s the right way to do it. It’s not my strategy. [But noting video starts up more than ever] We’re still growing…We’ve done (the one-minute pre-roll) for years now. People know (to expect it)…So people are accepting of it…And I think a lot of other media are actually looking at it sand [saying] publicly ‘the commercials are so annoying…’ but in their strategy meetings are (jealous)…”




Branded and sponsored content in Denmark “We have what’s called a creative sales department. They were mainly working with television, doing partnerships in our Champions League buildup, Formula One…The deal was always they wanted a number of mentions…across television. But as we’ve increased our fan base and these pretty huge Facebook Pages with a lot of reach and a lot of impressions, it has become a regular target in all these deals with sponsors that they need some number of posts…I have weekly meetings with the creative sales department, and we always have one or two partnerships going on (on social media)…”




Danish pro athletes and social media “There aren’t too many (athletes on social media) in Denmark. They’re pretty cautious, I think… [Casper tells about a couple Danish professional footballer, who played abroad, that displayed personality and some reckless posts on social media, particularly Instagram and Twitter]




“They’re very cautious…All our biggest players – they’re very cautious. In football, they’ve been in the biggest clubs (since age 16) and they’ve learned to be very cautious from their clubs. That’s one of the differences – is that the clubs in Europe, you can’t compare their view with social media with the clubs in the States… [Casper cites the NBA memo asking clubs to not talk trash on social media] “That is a bit sad, because that is something that (creates) buzz…”




[Casper also mentions the Dallas Stars making fun of Donald Trump’s inflated Inauguration attendance] “I cannot find one example of a European club that (does anything) with politics, or teasing each other. I think they’re very cautious and I think they teach their players to be pretty cautious, too.”




On TV 3 Sport’s personality and voice “We are not afraid to provoke people a little bit…We are not afraid to pick on players, because we know that people are so engaged and they can’t see things objectively if they have a favorite club or favorite player. We can do it with some players [Casper notes they have to be careful with topics around Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi]”




Share-able Stat: According to Google’s “What’s Cool?” report, Gen Z’s top 4 ‘coolest’ platforms are 1) YouTube, 2) Netflix, 3) Spotify, 4) Hulu




The most popular athlete in the world in Denmark [Casper notes North American athletes are not as popular as European footballers] Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi “NFL is actually quite big in Denmark. The group of people following NFL are very dedicated. We have around 20 Facebook Pages now and our second biggest Page is our NFL Page. And we get a lot of engagement on that Page. It’s not our biggest sport in terms of viewers…(but they’re highly engaged)…so Tom Brady is definitely a big game here…We’ve done a lot of boxing, too, so Floyd Mayweather (is known)…”




[Casper notes that some fans are awake for NFL games that begin at 11pm and 1am] “It’s maybe four or five times smaller than a regular Champions League match. So it’s not too big, but they’re very engaged.” [Casper notes a Danish player may be drafted into the NFL, so TV3 Sport will be giving coverage to the NFL Draft]




Casper’s #1 tip for a social media and sports pro “Working with sports and tech and social media, you’ll meet a lot of people who have a passion for sports…My tip would be (to) increase your interest in tech, and not only in sports. Get some special skills in tech. Try new tools [and] try to always add on some tech skills and not only exploit your sports interest…because it’s the tech part that really is key.”




The best sports event Casper has ever attended and the one he most wants to attend “The best sport event I’ve ever attended, I didn’t really attend. It was the Super Bowl in 2011 in Dallas. I was traveling around…doing some thinking about my career and doing some freelancing (as a sports journalist). So I was doing some video interviews outside the stadium [where the Super Bowl was]…I didn’t go to the match, but it was so exciting to be around the match, to experience the whole Super Bowl event…There was a lot of stuff that was very new to me…And I could just hear people roaring in the stadium…I really wanted to get inside that stadium. That’s the event I really want to attend…“I’ve been to some Champions League matches…I’ve been to a lot of football games in London. But a Super Bowl would be the ultimate thing. Also because I’ve been so close to experiencing it.”




The reporter or sport s media personality in Europe that does the best job on social media “That’ll be the answer that everyone in England or Europe would probably give – that is Gary Lineker, from England, the former striker. He nailed it early on and got a huge following. I believe he has a good team to keep a high activity level on his Twitter profile. But Gary Lineker is good. There are a lot of opinions about him, but he is good. If you have a (hot topic), he is always there with a one-liner that is taking it to the next level or just summing up what it is all about…”




The sports event that has/had the most buzz on social media for TV3 Sport “The Champions League final. That is also because we have so many sports going on during the season…when the Champions League is coming to an end, all the (other) seasons are (inactive). So we have a week to build up for the Champions League match…it’s such a good time, the final of all football seasons. We have a lot of engagement during the Champions League final. We produce a lot of content…




“But I want to say the Super Bowl, too. Because even though the Super Bowl is a horrible time for Danish people…you have to sit up all Sunday. We build up around 10pm [and] the match starts around 1am…You need to stay awake for the whole match. But we have a very engaged NFL crowd. And our journalists and hosts working with the NFL are so good at including Facebook (in the broadcasts)…This year, we did a second stream of the match, which was a ‘NFL for dummies’ stream, where we had one of our famous football hosts sitting there (to answer questions from fans) with one of the NFL experts and you could just ask questions. I believe we had over 1,000 questions…I believe we created a lot of interest in the NFL. There was a lot of engagement.”




The most unique sport or tradition for Danish fans “We are a small country [and] Danish people love when Danes are winning something. If we can beat the world in something, they love it. At one point, we won silver medals in the Olympics in curling, and everyone was talking about curling. Historically, we have a lot of great badminton players, so badminton is very big in Denmark, at least when we’re winning. The overall, no.1 sport that attracts the most viewers of (all) sports in Denmark is handball. “Personally, I kind of hate it because (fans) only want to watch it when Denmark is playing…half the country watches the matches…They are so psyched about handball, because we can win a lot (in it).”




The best food to get a sports event in Denmark and the best food to get visiting in Denmark Smørrebrød – a sandwich on a type of Rye bread, a traditional Danish food Best stadium food is from Denmark’s Super League team, Lyngby – “They have a very special sausage…It’s very famous and special-made from a local butcher, and has been there for years.”




Which sport is growing fastest in Denmark / Europe? “I may be a bit biased with (sports) that we work with. We got the rights for the UFC 1.5 years ago, and I think the interest around the UFC and especially Connor McGregor and all the buzz he’s creating, is really growing. We’ve had a lot of big Danish boxers (over) the years, and boxing has been very big in Denmark…And at the same time UFC is there, and they’ve really done a good job of putting out a lot of content…We’ve had four or five Danish fighters in the UFC… “But I need to mention esports, too. We’re also doing a lot of esports in my company, more and more. Esports is rally growing. In CS:GO, we have three Danish teams competing as some of the best teams in the world…There is a lot of buzz around esports in Denmark. I believe that is the same globally.”




Casper’s favorite athlete growing up and the active athlete he’d most want to meet now Growing up Michael Laudrup: “Danish footballer, playing for Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus, and playing for the Danish national team. And I have the pleasure to work with him at TV3 Sport. He’s been an expert for us [and] he’s been a manager, too. And now he’s managing a club in Qatar…He’s a legend in Denmark, in Europe, actually…” Active athlete “Zlatan Ibrahimovic. For being this annoying teenager, he’s just cool…He knows he’s the king and he’s showing it on the pitch…He’s just cool. And he’s from Sweden, our neighbor, so he’s almost half-Danish.”




Casper’s Social Media All-Star to Follow Paul Rogers (@PaulRogers73) “He’s Head of Digital for AS Roma, the Italian football club. Italian football is not that hyped, or they don’t get a lot of interest in Denmark…but he is doing a tremendous job. And obviously his bosses are doing a tremendous job, giving him all the resources he gets and room to experiment. I really get a lot of inspiration following AS Roma on social and just watching their website. And Paul rally knows what’s going on in the world of sports and tech, so that’s a good guy to follow.”




Where to find Casper and TV3 Sport on social media Casper is @Vestereng on Twitter and on LinkedIn – Casper Vestereng @TV3SportDK on Twitter and all over Facebook with TV3 Sport’s several Facebook Pages (all are in Danish)




Thanks so much again to Casper for sharing his time, expertise, and experience on the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast!

Hear the full episode on iTunes, Stitcher, and at www.dsmsports.net.


http://www.dsmsports.net/