Episode 207 Snippets: Erin Hodges of the Colorado Rockies

Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 207: Erin Hodges
@njh287; www.dsmsports.net
On episode 207 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast, Neil
chatted with Erin Hodges, Digital Communications Manager for the
Colorado Rockies.
What follows is a collection of snippets from the podcast. To hear the
full interview and more, check out the podcast on all podcast
platforms and at www.dsmsports.net.

Erin’s career path
“I guess it kind of all started when I actually took DECA in high
school, which is like marketing for high school/college students. I
took this course and I kind of fell in love with marketing as a whole. I
actually had this project where you get to put out an idea to an actual
company, and it got me to like nationals/internationals; and it was all
about social media marketing.

“And this was back in 2012, so before really any brands got on top of
it, and the CEO actually stopped me in the hallway and was like ‘You
should do something with this because you're really good at it. And
you're smart. And I know that social is going to go really far.’...And I
just took that to heart. I initially wanted to be a doctor...but I just kind
of fell in love with marketing and social media. And I ended up really
wanting to dive into sports because I played sports throughout my
entire life and if I couldn't play it, then I wanted to just work in it and
I really enjoyed it.

“So I ended up getting into NYU and their sports management program with an emphasis in
digital media marketing [starting in 2013]...And I'm just a go getter. And the first thing — the
very first day — my advisor said stuff about, like, oh, go get internships, go get jobs, do all this.
But they assumed you were going to do that when you're a sophomore or junior. I [started] right
away and I literally applied for a bunch of internships and I ended up getting one with the
Heisman Trophy, because they're actually in New York City, the Heisman Trophy Trust.
“And I ended up actually not being able to do the internship because I was a freshman. NYU
had this rule back then that you can’t get credit hours until you're a sophomore or above. And I
was like, ‘Well, I kind of already got the job. So I ended up just doing it as a volunteer
opportunity and then actually fighting for students to be able to get internships as a freshman .
So I got to actually be a part of that, which is really nice and now freshmen can [earn credit
hours for internships], so that's fun.

“So yeah, I did that...I got to help out in a lot of different areas for the Heisman
ceremony...So fun story — it snowed that day of the actual ceremony and I was carrying
credentials through the hotel lobby and it was tile and the tile was wet. Erin was in
heels, Erin can't walk in heels. [I slipped] and fell literally right in front of the group of
all the potential winners...So that was kind of like my freshman year at Apollo.
“I just wanted to kind of dabble [in sports marketing] and again, kind of my whole
theory on everything that I did in my career was ‘Okay, if you want it, go get it. And
there's nothing really stopping you except for, one, a no. And if it's a no go somewhere
else and go find that yes. As well as wanting to get experience wherever and whenever I
could.”

On appreciating sports business as a business and not just a career for a diehard fan
“I kind of understood that [going] back to like high school of, like, you just have to love
it, but you have to understand the actual work part of it. Not just [that] you understand
the product or you understand what you're selling or what you're doing, you have to
actually be good at what you do. And then from the actual you want to work in sports
aspect — that really came my freshman year. We had advisors in college and my advisor
was freaking fantastic. He was the one that told me all about, like, go out, get jobs,
things like that. Kind of along the same line of you have to focus more on your skills
and your abilities. And yes, you have to love the sport because you're going to be
working in it every single day, but you can't necessarily come off as like the fan, because
being a fan is probably going to actually be a negative to you getting a job.

“So after that I ended up actually coming home. I'm from Omaha, Nebraska, and I
wanted to get some experience in the college space. Obviously there's different varying
levels of sports, and so I wanted to do something in college. I worked at Creighton
University in their athletic department and I got to do an entire summer there. That's
where I started doing some Photoshop stuff because I had to make print collateral, as
well as some digital social media collateral, and then even down to like making
schematics of stadiums for stadium seating charts and selling tickets and things like
that; it was a wide variety of things.
“But the most important thing to me was it was college because I know that it was so
different from anything in pro sports. Not only was I working a million different types
of sports, but just the industry as a whole is so much different than anything in pro.

“After that, being who I am, I really wanted to work in hockey. That was kind of like the end goal I
always had in mind. I played hockey, I love hockey, I want to work in hockey. So I was applying for
tons of internships at the NHL and nothing was coming back. I was a sophomore, I was young, [so]
it was just really difficult to try and get something.
“Instead I ended up reaching out to the NWHL [National Women’s Hockey League] and the
commissioner of the league and it was their first season. And as a female in hockey, it just really
spoke to me. I was like, ‘Okay, what if I could be a part of this in this first season? What could I do?’
So I reached out and I kind of built myself an opportunity. It was more of like a startup at the
time...They ended up actually hiring me and I was a marketing intern. I built all the social media
platforms from scratch, I helped in ticketing, I designed different collateral assets, again, going back
to Photoshop and everything. And I also helped on partnerships; I helped with the partnership that
they have with Dunkin Donuts and things like that all in their very first season. So that was really
special to me...It was really fun to be a part of.

“After that, I ended up taking a break actually; I know shocker that I stopped working. I actually
went to study abroad. And why I think that that's important to talk about is internships and
working is great, but what other experiences can you get that can add to your repertoire? It's not
necessarily going to be your work, it's just experience as a whole. And I wanted that global
vision of everything that is the world. Plus I love traveling, so I ended up studying abroad. And
then during that, obviously I wanted to try to plan for when I come back.
“I applied for an internship at the US Olympic committee. This was 2016, so it was the Rio
Olympics year and they had an opportunity in their e-commerce marketing department. So kind
of more selling than it was actual social media or anything like that. So I got to work in the New
York office, everything and anything e-commerce, website, sales, working with their Nike
partnership, things like that; all during the actual Rio Olympics. So that was an incredible
opportunity and [I’m] super thankful for that and still keep in contact with all of them.

“After that, again, just like pretty much every semester I was like, ‘Hey, what can I do
next?...We're still in college here. Basically each of these internships for the most part
are by semester, sometimes you'll get lucky by year, but when I was doing them, a lot of
them were more by semester. So a lot of people could ask, well, why didn't you go back
for another section of it or another semester or another year, whatever it might've
been? And my answer to that is, again, I wanted experience in different areas...You get
four years of college, so eight semesters, [which means] I get eight chances to go learn
something different versus always doing the same thing. Now, if I could work a full
season, obviously that's great, but when you're a college student, it's a lot harder to
work a full season because most of them don't start in August. So it was really hard. It's
a lot easier by semester. So for me, I always took it just one semester at a time and
continuously just built that experience.

“[I kept] going back to hockey...So I kept trying for different opportunities in hockey while
also keeping my eyes open for other things. But an opportunity popped up with the Colorado
Avalanche — my neighbors now — and it was actually in their media relations department. So
I was kind of finding, as I was digging through job descriptions of things that I loved or
things that I could hope for in a dream job, it really came back to like being able to do media
relations stuff, being able to work with players, interview players, create press releases; again,
jobs change all the time, but that's what it was when I was looking for that dream job.
“So I tried for media relations and I ended up getting the one with the Colorado Avalanche. I
moved once again to a different city for the summer, and I did media relations work for the
Avs. I got into writing, so I really got better at long-form writing. I wrote tons of articles [and]
I got better with interviewing and public speaking. And I also got that experience in a front
office; being able to say that you worked directly with the GM, that you work directly with
directors and VPs was crucial. There's so much that I learned in that year that I didn't think I
did until I used it later. But it was definitely very helpful to me...

“So that was summer before my senior year, and now I'm kind of like,
sweet, I got that done. I did it, I loved it, I would love to keep doing it.
But, again, they were then going to hire for a new semester and I had
to be in Colorado to do it, and unfortunately I can't live in Colorado
and also go to school for my senior year. So I couldn't stay on [and] in
that case I had to find something back in New York. And the last thing
on my checklist was business development, partnerships, and the
player side of things. So what about player marketing obviously? It's
starting to grow [with] social media, not just for brands, but also the
athletes themselves. What does that look like?

“So I really narrowed my search down. By this time I had all this experience kind of in
my bag of what I can offer. So I was learning, one, it was a lot easier to get interviews
now, but two, I can be more specific with what I want. So I actually ended up applying
to this place called Vayner Sports that I genuinely had no idea what it was. I didn't
understand the impact it had. It was just an all-encompassing opportunity that allowed
me to learn about partnerships, learn about social media and run player social media.
And I kind of looked at that opportunity and I was like, that's exactly what I want, so
let's go. I ended up getting it [and] that was great. And on my very first day, I go into
the office and I'm just like, cool, Vayner, Vaynerchuk. I kind of understood who Gary
was and people look at me now and they're like, how the heck did you not know who
Gary Vaynerchuk was? You love social media. Apparently, I was very naive at the time.

“But on my very first day I had to go into his office and meet him and then it hit
me who he was. And I was like, oh! This giant, skyrise office; going up there
and I was like, oh, well, all right, this is going to be a much better opportunity
than I even thought it was going to be. And really just to get everything from
that and I got to be on team Gary V... because Vayner Sports at the time was
brand new.
“I learned a lot again from the partnership side of things, which is vital for
revenue in terms of social media, to even the legal side of things; [I] got to learn
about actual contracts for athletes. I mean, I touched all sorts of different
things. And that was the end of what I did internship-wise.

“So that's like six or seven [internships], it was a lot. And now I'm like, cool, I'm graduating.
Sweet. I have all this [experience], how can I get a full-time job? How do I actually get paid
for what I know and what I do? So I started applying for jobs. I graduated in the winter
actually, so I graduated in December of 2017 and there weren't a ton of jobs; a winter job
search in the sports world [is more difficult than] it is in the spring to summer months.
“I applied to a bunch more internship opportunities. And I got a lot of them. One of them
was actually with an MLB team and it was between that or a full-time job with
Bodybuilding.com. And I just kind of had to sit there and I was like, do I want another
internship? It's with a sports team and that's great. Or do I take a chance on this full-time
job [with] benefits, everything else, that also allows me to learn more in social media
specifically, and I can actually run things and get that experience — but it's not sports.

“And so many people will tell you, oh, you gotta take the sports one. Like you want to
work in sports, you have to take that. But to me, I was just like, I didn't think at that
time MLB was right for me...I wasn't feeling it as much. And I was just like, I really
think I could do this full-time job and get out of sports for a little bit and then someday
get back into it when I have even more experience. All my mentors told me the same
thing — you're going to get that experience later and you're going to find the right
opportunity you love later on. So I ended up saying no to that [MLB internship]. And I
still look back on that day, especially now that I work in MLB, I'm like, wow, what the
world would have told me way back then. I have no idea what would have happened.
I'm sure it would have been a fantastic opportunity and I'm still grateful that they even
offered me that job. Again, anything in sports is very hard to get, so still thankful for
that.

“But yeah, I ended up leaving sports, as crazy as it sounds. I ran social for
Bodybuilding.com. I started as a coordinator and worked my way up to a manager
level in under a year there and kind of headed up all things there. And I mean, they
have 3 million followers on pretty much every single platform that they had except
for Twitter. So there was a large reach. There was a lot that I did — lots of campaigns;
it was more selling, but then also I worked in influencer marketing and worked with
athletes in that way. So it was cool, I loved it. I also got to travel — they do expos and
things — so I got to go to events [and] not only run social, but then [also] work with
athletes and the influencers and kind of coordinate them as well as creating content
with them. And then [I worked with] all of the brands that we sold through, too. So it
was a very all-encompassing type of role that got me a lot of experience.

“And then similarly, I went to another fitness and health kind of business where our VP
at the time actually left [to start another job]. And then he kind of was like, ‘Hey, you're
really good and we need someone in this world to come [work for] this brand. Would
you be open to it?’ So I was like, okay, I could consider it. And it was higher pay. And it
was, again, that growth in my career. So I was like, sure, all right, let's do this. I ended
up moving to Texas and did a very similar role except a lot bigger. So now I had to run
basically six brand accounts, as well as 50 store accounts...
“I mean, again, just a massive undertaking and experience...And again, going back to
everything Erin does is always what is it going to do for me? Not just what can I offer? I
mean, you're always going to offer your talents and skills, but how's it going to help me
grow?...

“Each of those [jobs] were for a year, so now we're two years post-
graduation and that would have been 2019. And all of a sudden I was
really just missing sports. I loved the fitness world, but at the end of
the day I really wanted to work in sports and I kept seeing all these
opportunities pop up, and I stayed in contact with my network
throughout all of this time period just to a) keep in touch with that
world [and] b) the networking is so important. And all of a sudden,
more and more jobs were kind of opening up. And I was like, do I try
for these? Like, am I really going to be good enough?

“So I ended up reaching out to a few of my contacts and applying to quite a few of them.
But the one that I really loved was the one at the Tampa Bay Rays. Back to baseball, I
know, crazy, but I really just felt like the opportunity was right. It was all about digital
marketing. It was social media, but I could also learn about email, we had an in-house
creative team versus always going to the agency side. I mean, there was just something
about it. And then it was Florida, that was really cool. And I also loved the idea that it
was a small market team. I liked the challenge of that, but I also love the opportunity
that it came with. [It was] not this like big city big team that is stuck in their ways of
what they have to do in terms of marketing. And I also knew that I was going to have a
really sweet boss [Ryan Delgado]. So I ended up taking that one, moved myself once
again to St. Petersburg, Florida, and I started working in baseball and that's kind of
how I got my start in the baseball world.”

“When it came to all those [internships] it was like, yes, I got seven... Like that's a lot and
that's really great. But the amount of nos that I got along the way, too, people don't talk about
that enough. They'll look at me and they'll be like, oh, you got so many opportunities. You
had so many yesses. And I'm like, yeah, but you're not seeing the 500 nos or [all] the
companies I didn't get to work for that I thought I could work for, I thought I had the
experience for, or the amount of interviews or the amount of people and networking that I
did for even just like getting certain interviews or being able to put my resume in front of
people or just discussions and actually, you know, making friends with people. Nobody ever
sees that work. They only see, cool, you had seven opportunities. And if I could give a lesson
to anybody in college, it's one, don't be afraid of the nos. Go apply for those things, because
guess what? You're going to get a no, but someone's going to say yes to you. Someone's going
to give you that chance, but you're never going to get that chance if all you're scared of is a no.

“Go after it and find random skills that you want or that you see are
opportunities. AKA go look at a job description of what you hope to do one day
[and see] what are the things you need? And then from there build out. That
was the one thing I did and I think it really helped me a lot...And I guarantee
you, it's going to be in different areas. Again, I didn't just stay in social because
I thought I wanted to do social media marketing; that encompasses a million
different things. And so likely it's not going to be you just sitting and running
Twitter all day. It's going to be you finding those different areas and then that's
where you're going to get the easier yes. Along the way for those internships...it
might not be something that's just, oh, yes, it's a social media internship, but
maybe it's something a little bit different or a smaller area.”

On how Erin’s experience in different areas of marketing makes her better in her job today
“There are so many things in marketing and ultimately to get a job in sports, you have to be
good at all the different pieces or at least have an interest, especially when you're young in
learning whatever that is. So, yeah, if I could harp on anything it’s [that] kids just need to
not get stuck in this one idea of what marketing is or what social media is, and be willing to
get different skill sets and things in their tool belt in order to make them more versatile.
And yes, that might come at a cost of different unpaid internships, as sad as it is. And
hopefully that can change. That's a whole nother podcast topic that I think we could go on.
But just how can you become the most versatile person because that's going to up your
value and people aren't going to want to say no to you when you have so many different
skills.”

Going from the brand side back into a sports team role full-time
“There is one, how do we sell the emotion of what the Rays is and how
can we connect with our fans on that basis? My one thing I did was ask
questions. You're coming in as a new person to a new company and the
last thing you want to do is feel like you're a burden by asking
questions. But when you're asking it in a way that's going to help and
you're willing to learn something and do your research and try to get
yourself embedded as much as humanly possible as fast as possible —
you're no longer a burden because ultimately it's going to help you.

“So the big thing that I did was one, my boss was there for four years at the
time, and so really just [tried] to pick his brain a little bit on who are we, what
do we do and what are we about? And then how can we take all of that
knowledge into actually creating a strategy from it? And yes, actually create a
strategy from it, not just posting to post. And then, two, actually just trying to
work with the front office and the players, and then learning as much as
possible because again, it's their stories, not yours. It's not the Erin show...it's
the Rays organization and you're speaking on behalf of them. So what I really
tried to do was just learn about what we were and then try to put that in terms
of social media content and digital marketing and how that all create actual
storylines to what we do.”

About the Rays brand when Erin was with the team
“If I had to pick one thing, I called us the underdogs of the MLB world. And so
then you're kind of like, okay, so you're the underdog, what does that mean?
That means one, we can be a little bit more snarky in terms of our tone. It
means taking advantage of those big moments and making them probably
bigger than they are; making the most out of like any of like the big or small
moments that happen to your team. We have 162 games, but if something
happens, even if it's a midday game on a Wednesday, if something really major
happens, taking advantage of that moment and making it something big.

“It means taking advantage of the rivalries that you have and kind of blowing
those out, obviously Rays-Yankees — that was our big one; obviously Rays-
Red Sox, but Rays-Yankees was our core of when we can, how do we voice
that and who are we? And then lastly, it was about always being hungry and
that kind of turned into our campaign for the entire brand was stay hungry.
“And then they made the postseason, but they didn't end up winning. So
then into 2020 it was all about, okay, well, how can we stay hungry for what
we want, which is winning the World Series; and then taking that general
idea and making content and ideas and storylines from there.”

On the Rays and the national narrative about them not having a ton of fans or
attendance
“Yeah, we used it, but it's not overusing it, right? It's about using it in the right times
and also the right platforms. At the time a big one for us was I pretty much started the
TikTok platform. And that was where we could be a little bit more funny, let loose a
little bit. And we really nodded to those pieces and kind of the receipt life of if people
say things, how can we kind of like poke some fun at that? But then we also did it in
different ways, of course, on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, whatever it might be and
doing it in our own way that speaks to those points, but it doesn't always have to be
directly, if that makes sense. It's always just like that hidden note or hidden voice or
tone that you’re coming off of certain things.”

About the Rays TikTok strategy and getting player participation
“So my whole thing with TikTok was honestly the human element.
Maybe it's voicing who we are as the social team, but obviously more
so the players, how can we show their personalities? How can we have
fun with the music and the culture than we can maybe on some other
platforms. And how that voice came about, honestly it's ever changing;
our big end goal was to be fun and be relatable. That was pretty much
my [mindset] — if it's not fun, it's not relatable, it's probably not going
to go out.

“And from there we just kind of always tried to stay on trend, or we tried to stay in the
moment of certain things. It's great that the TikTok algorithm will always consistently
push out content at different times, so your content will always be on, I guess, in a way.
But I didn't want something that was like a week ago to go out. It still felt very timeline-
ish to me, so I always tried to stay with that, be on top of trends. And then also like
influencer marketing — I thought a lot of teams didn't take advantage [of that] on
TikTok even though it's large and there are so many creators out there. It's a lot different
this year than it [was] last year, but when we were there, nobody was really taking
advantage of that. So diving into our influencers and trying to make them a part of the
content.
“And it's funny that you say players because in 2020, we actually didn't have a lot of
access to our guys, so it was about being creative with what we could get and then
making it feel as if it was directly with our players, which is a lot harder than iI
thought...But it was kind of like, how can we take a piece of content, but make it feel like
our players are directly there with us or that we were there in that moment filming it.”

On learning new platforms and new skills proactively
“So in terms of TikTok, it was kind of like I was interested in it and I loved it and
I love the platform and then it was an opportunity for us and nobody else [with
the Rays] could really take it on work-wise. So it was kinda like my baby, it was
my project. So it was kinda like I had to do all of this in order to make it work and
that means learning things, that means, yeah, I absolutely a hundred percent
reached out to other people, not only in sports, but in other industries too, about
TikTok and what I could learn from it. Maybe it was sitting in seminars, maybe it
was actually reaching out directly to TikTok — they have an incredible sports
partnerships team. So really just trying to learn that and then executing it.

“I think that the downside is that a lot of people will learn things
about platforms, but then they won't go and actually execute it. So I
was super grateful with the opportunity to [use the skills]. [It was
like] okay, we're trying this; there is no failing on TikTok. Like what if
we went and tried this out, what happens? As long as we're in our
guardrails and we're not making the brand look bad in any sort of
way, how can we make something different on TikTok, and constantly
just having the freedom to do that.

“And then when it comes to other skillsets that are just simply job-related — absolutely. I don't
sit here and have a to-do list by any means of what I want [to learn], but if I need it or I want it,
I will take the time to go learn it. And yes, that might mean less sleep. Yes, that might mean that
I have to take something else off my plate in order to take it on. But it's just about being diligent
[about] how much do you care about learning, whatever that skill is? How much do you care
about learning something new to add and to be able to grow in your career? And a lot of that
could come from YouTube. It can come from seminars...a lot of it comes from my mentors and
people in the industry. I take a lot of learnings from everyone in our world. And I think that
that's what makes me the best is I'm not sitting here just looking at MLB. Maybe I'm looking at
the NBA, maybe I'm looking at tennis, maybe I'm looking at lacrosse, maybe I'm looking at F1 —
that world is crazy right now. I think there's just a lot of areas to learn and what people are
doing well and just being okay with, you know, saying you suck at something and getting better
at it.”

“When it comes to actual content creation...It’s unbelievable the amount that I've had
to learn in terms of, okay, you actually have to make stuff [yourself]. It's no longer,
okay, you have an idea. You want to create this graphic? Awesome. Cool. Well guess
what, if you don't have a team there to be able to make it for you, then you have to learn
whatever that skill is [to make it]. So I learned Photoshop. Awesome. Okay, then I was
finding like last year with TokTok — okay, I have to be able to make TikToks — what
does that mean? Oh, that means you have to know video editing. I didn't know video
editing. I knew some basics, like cutting highlight kind of things and being able to
splice something together on an iPhone app, but it wasn't like major Premiere editing
by any means. And I was like, okay, well you're telling me that I can't go and use
somebody else in order to make this, so I have to learn it. Okay, I'm going to learn it.

“And then being okay with sucking and failing at that and being not
perfect and still like being able to make stuff and getting better at it
and mastering it. I just think you're always going to be learning. If
you're not learning something new and work in social media or
content creation, if you're not willing to learn something new, you're
just holding yourself back because you're gonna have to keep learning
and getting better. Leave your ego at the door. Honestly, come into
work every day saying you suck at.”

On the need/expectation for social media pros to be proficient in so many different areas
“I think it's going to start to change in time, especially as we see this kind of digital transition
[where] now we're moving more dollars and more resources into digital than we are other
areas of marketing. I think it'll start to change. But I think — because I'm going to preach this
to people who are younger versus older in the industry — I don't think it'll ever go away that
you should know at least like the bare minimum of something. I think you should be able to
somewhat make graphics, I think you should kind of know somewhat of how to edit videos, I
think you should be able to know somewhat of analytics and strategy to what you're creating.
“I think that you will want that baseline bare minimum of different areas. But I don't think
you have to be a master, which is what it feels like right now that social media managers need
to master graphic design, video analytics, PR and everything else — they're required to be
super good at it. That's where the burnout comes out. I think it could be a lot different if it's
just kind of like, you should know how to do it, but you're not required to.”

How having basic skills across areas helps collaborating and project managing across
teams
“Such a huge point and something that I think that's even how I really started wanting
to get into even all these areas is, like, if I go make a request of somebody of a graphic, I
want to know the terminology. I want to know the basics of what they do. I certainly
want to be able to respect what they do, not just feel like I'm asking this and have no
idea what happens on the other side. The respect of what other people in your office
[do] and the things that you're asking is huge. And I think it also just betters your
relationships with those different areas, because you're willing to a) care about their
world and learn it and b) that respect is there from the beginning and it’s not like you’re
better than anybody else…”

On shifting from the Rays to the Rockies and adapting
“I think the experience in MLB really helped me because I kind of had a general idea [of how it’d
be]. I mean you see the content day in and day out, you see kind of the direction that they're moving.
You can kind of understand their voice and you pretty much understand everybody's voice. Not only
just for your understanding, but also then, say you play the team, can really have an impact on how
you're going to go about that content for that particular game or interactions with that team,
whatever it might be. So I felt like I had a very good understanding of what [the Rockies] are.
“I also knew at the time [her former boss at the Rockies] Julian Valentin very well. I just had a really
good feeling for what that opportunity could be, and I saw the job opening and it was actually a
[lateral] role — they were both coordinator roles, so I wasn't moving up. It wasn't much different; it
was a very similar job to what I had, but it was just with a different team. The difference being, at
least in my mind and why I ultimately went to the Rockies, was just that potential for growth. And
then what I was able to do in that role, what I oversaw, what I could manage, what I could produce,
and what I could do was just a lot higher than what I could at the Rays.

“So I took that leap of faith on what it could be, not only for the 20-21 season, but then beyond,
and then what I could bring to the table. And a big thing that the Rockies wanted was more
emphasis on creative and more emphasis on how can we be better at what we do from a brand
perspective? Not just, yes, we're the fun team and we have really out-of -the-box ideas, but how
can we start being more diligent and put out a lot higher quality of the actual creative. And that
takes the experience of being on different teams and also just that desire and somebody who
wants to build that out.
“That was kind of my initial role and then ultimately I actually moved up to be the digital
communications manager. And then I ended up hiring two people under me who are absolutely
incredible at what they do and are a lot stronger in that kind of graphic design and video world.
And then I'm kind of there to help mentor them and teach them the social strategy side of things
so that we can be a well-rounded team.”

On how the objective to elevate the brand played out tactically, resource-wise, and in harmony
with leadership
“I think coming in, when you have that mandate — I'm doing hand quotes — at least you have
the understanding that there's going to be that buy-in. And for anything that we do in social,
you have to have that buy-in to what the vision is and what you want for your brand and as a
strategy. So we kind of had that buy-in and then it was a process of like, okay, what are the
steps to get there? And it's not a one-year plan. I can't come in and expect to just make all these
changes right away. It was about, okay, how can we lay the foundation for now? And then in
the future, what are the different steps that we need to take to get to where we want to go?
“And it's about creating a five-year plan, not a one-year plan and expecting greatness in that
one year. And I think coming in and realizing that, and being able to ease your expectations in
that meantime was super important for us. But also just being able to kind of plan it out and
just realize that it's going to be a long-term effort. And right now we're just going to take the
steps to get there.”

A day in the life for Erin on a normal Rockies home game day
“So typically I wake up sometime early in the morning. I try to have a morning routine because it
gets my day started, and usually that includes some sort of caffeine and some sort of movement to
get my brain and body ready for whatever I'm going to do that day. So usually it includes a walk
outside. I live in Denver now, so I love the outdoors. So I would usually take a walk, I would drink
my Monster energy drink or coffee, and then I would get to work. And I live super close to work
because I hate commuting.
“So five minutes to the office, boom I'm in the office [and] usually would start with some sort of
meeting — different areas, it could be something different every day, which it was. So I'd have a
couple of meetings, anything in terms of content wise would go out. Let's say that this is during a
home stand, so we're probably gonna put out different pieces of content from the game before,
especially if we win; which, hopefully it was coming off of a win; that would be lovely.

“Any sort of recapping content for that morning would go out — and typically we would try
to schedule that — but given all the changes in the world of 2020 and 2021, we usually
didn't actually schedule too much because then you'd have to be able to have your laptop
on you, and you're just going to have to be there anyway to delete, so usually we just live
schedule.
“And then after all those meetings, I would meet with my two assistants and plan out what
that day would look like for that game. Have lunch hopefully somewhere in there to be able
to eat. And then BP [batting practice] normally started around three [o’clock]. We didn't
always cover [BP]; when you have 162 games, we tried to make every single game different.
So we tried not to always cover [BP] in the same way — or if we would cover it at all — It
just kind of depends on the day, what we're feeling, what our fans might like that day.

“Also, is it a theme game? Here at the Rockies we love our Rockies theme [games]. So again, that
would either come [from] something that we pre-plan that day, or usually it was something weeks in
advance to what we could do as a theme game for that day. [So we] cover BP and then get all that
content. Say we cover [BP]; awesome. [We] did that. Then we would start to look at everything that
came in. We also have the help of our MLB LCCs, so we would look through Greenfly and our lovely
partnership with Greenfly...We would take all that content and then we would meet and then decide
what needs to go out and what kind of content we want.
“If there was anything sponsored — usually there was — so again, create for that and then start to
get ready for the game. [Get] people in different areas that we need, get our video guy down in the
well, get us up to the press box and then cover the game. Usually it would start at 6:40; hopefully it
would start at 6:40. And then [we] cover the game as much as possible...typically it would be myself
and one assistant was with me and then one assistant was in the well shooting content. That would
be our lovely rotation, and we kind of switched those two out.

“But for us up in the press box, it was very much a mixed thing. I didn't want
anybody just on one platform all the time; I think that creates a lot of burnout
because then you're only creating Instagram copy, you're only creating Twitter copy.
And when you're a team, you need everybody's input to create the best [output], in
my opinion.
“So if we wanted something — say a big play happens, it would be, like, okay, what do
we want? Where do we want it to go out? What are our copy ideas? And then from
there we would then divvy out the work. Okay, you do Twitter because that idea was
super great. I'll go do this on Instagram if we even need it on Instagram, maybe it's
Stories. Oh, did somebody have a TikTok idea? Okay. Well, let's mark that down for
what we could do for TikTok later. And then continuously coordinating with our
photographers, making sure that we can get the photo content working with the
person down in the well, to make sure we can get that content and then distributing it
as needed.

“As a fun factoid of what we do, our goal was always get it out within seven minutes of a
play happening. I would say we hit that mark probably 90% of the time. And again, it
varies on the speed of what we can get stuff from, as well as then edit it and then get it
back out. So yeah, I don't know how other teams operate, but now they know that we
try within seven minutes and it's not always possible.
“And then, yeah, that would just happen for just different plays....[we] pay attention to
how things are happening and being really cognizant of fans, how they're reacting,
because that's also playing off of our voice; and then how the players are reacting. That
was another reason I love [having] people down in the wells is that they can relay that
information to us of what's happening down there. And then try and plan out win
content or plan out loss content.

“[Content when we win] is super great, love it. Loss content, not super great. Don't really
love it, but we try to have the most fun with it. This season, usually it involved the cat meme.
So we would start brainstorming — a really tough loss is when we really tried to [use the cat
meme], we would start brainstorming some ideas on if it was even the right tone for that
game or if it wasn’t. I'm going to assume that this game it was that we lost really badly, then
we would start brainstorming our lovely cat meme. And that was born out of — we actually
started it on the road when we legitimately had no photos to use for a loss graphic. It wasn't
sponsored, but it was just part of our strategy was we would still always put out [a graphic
after a] loss. Because if you're going to start game coverage, I always have the opinion that
you have to end the game coverage in some fashion. And we had no photos of anything
[from that game], so I was like, cool, well, what do we use [for] this graphic for a game that
was a complete blowout at the time and we have no photos to use…?

“And I just came up with the idea. I was like, well, it's really sad, so what if we did this sad cat
meme? It would just be super light and funny. It was against the Dodgers, so it would play really
well. And so we did [it], and then it completely blew up and fans really loved it. And then from
there we were kind of like, well, what if we did it for all these different games? And we just did it
in different ways .that was for that particular game? So we would theme it to the team or the city,
whatever it might be. It's kind of born out of that. And also we had Coors cat earlier in the season
when the cat came on the field. So I was just kinda like born out of all that.
“We would kind of use it as needed and that was always fun to try to brainstorm. And somehow
there was always something we could do. It was weird. And usually we didn't make them. People
assume we made the memes, like we would do the edits and we absolutely did not. It was usually
something we found online or even our fans would make [for] us. So later in the season, we
would repurpose them and use them and yeah that's how that one was born. That was super fun.

“And then we would end the night. If we win, cool, then we have to do obviously a lot more post-
game content. If we lose, then we try to just kind of cut it off from there as much as possible to
try to ease the loss. And then go home and do it all over again…
“Baseball is so much different from every other sport, because again, we just have so many
games. We can't always create that lovely, fun, hype video edit [when] we win postgame because
literally in under 12 hours we might be playing again. [So] that content isn't as relevant as it
might be for someone that is an NFL team or even an NHL team. But we'd still try to do some
postgame content. We tried to focus a lot on the players, try to get their perspective. So a lot of it
was point of view type content. Maybe we would literally have them record something for us.
We would try to be in the clubhouse if we could, for certain moments. We would try to be on the
field for high fives. We would do stuff with our mascot on the field. We would try all sorts of
different things.

“And then also maybe it was graphics instead; we tried to vary it; it was never the same. For us, that
was probably our big thing was how can we make every single game different? I never wanted it to
feel that it was literally an exact replica of the game before. And a lot of teams fall into that; I think
the worst is when you go from a night game to a day game and you literally see the same exact thing
within like a 12 hour span; and the worst is Instagram Stories, because you literally feel like you
rewatch the same thing over again. And I'm just like, wow...
“And you know what's even worse about that [is] because baseball guys are so superstitious that
they will literally wear the same thing [pregame], so it's not hard to duplicate it and I tried to avoid
it. There might've been a few times where if you absolutely need a piece of content and don't have it,
you might have to repurpose something. But I would say 99% of the time we got something new
from that day. Because especially in Colorado, lighting and weather, you can't fake it. You just can't.
It was gonna rain, it was going to be sunny, it was going to be a snow day. So then you have to
actually have snow content. You can't repurpose in Denver, it's just not possible. “

On tweet volume during games and how it may vary by circumstances
“For [our] game content...that strategy is nice as a whole and you can
have goals for it, but I really try to play it by ear, by game and by the
feeling of everything that's actually happening in the game. Because
with social you want to be social in the moment; your job is to tell it
kind of how it is and you're supposed to give updates to some extent.
So, if nothing's happening, you can't give an update in that way, and
it's like, okay, well, how could you fill that? But is it relevant? And is it
something good to post at that time?

“So for us, sometimes that means it is a high volume of posts because
there's just so much happening and so much going on that you can
have that high volume. And then there's those games where we're
getting completely blown out and you can have fun; it's baseball. It is
what it is. So you can kind of have some fun with some of the content,
you want to show off the good plays that do happen. But honestly, if it
doesn't feel right to post, I'm not just going to post to post. And yes, it's
great to talk about players and plays, but maybe it's not the right
moment. So it's okay to have a, cool, you posted the lineup and then
you post the final score, and sometimes that is just how it's going to be.

“And again, when you have 162 games, I think it's a lot easier to have that strategy. I don't
think that that strategy can necessarily work in something like the NFL. Your game coverage
should be pretty similar, whether you're losing or winning because you only have that one
game that week...You only get so many of those, [so] you kind of have to play it out. But then
again, I'm also not someone who's sitting in on the strategy of an NFL team right now, so I'm
not going to sit here and judge them either. Maybe I'm the only person in the industry that
hates that, but it's not my strategy to decide. My goal is to focus on my team and what we do.
“So for us, it's really just talking about the big moments that we can in that season and then
continuously evolving that voice depending on what happens and the progress that we have
as a team, the changes that we have in the players, the plays that we can [feature], and, again,
it’s different on every single platform, too.”

“We always tried to make it the same because at the end of the day, it's still a
game, it's still an important game. You can't just decide like, oh, because it's [an
away game] that I just post less; we tried to always post in a similar fashion or
some of the similar things that we would do at home. Because it's who we are as
a brand, it’s who we are as a team; we just try to be as consistent as possible.
And that might mean us going on the road, it might mean a photographer going
on the road, a videographer going on the road in order to create that
consistency, because I don't want our timelines and what fans expect content-
wise to change just because we went to the Mets and we're in New York, I want
it to be similar. And also from a sponsorship perspective — there's so much that
we do for sponsored content that we can't just stop because we're on the road.”

What it was like going to NYU with campus sprawled across NYC
“I really liked that. Coming from Omaha, Nebraska people thought I was crazy, like going to
New York City and living there for five years. But I love the fact that it was very 'city’. It allowed
me to legitimately go integrate into the city so much easier because you’re not off campus,
you're just there, so I could go do things super easy. I could go to sporting events, I could go to
different restaurants or bars or whatever it might've been to be able to actually experience the
city. It wasn't great for [college] sports. I will say that. We had D3 sports; but I did take
advantage of those sports. It was fun to go to those games. D3, D1, whatever it is, it doesn't
matter, they're still really fun to go to and support the athletes. I also became a student athletic
trainer, so that was super cool.
“But yeah, I loved New York city. I miss it a lot. It's very different from Denver, but I love the
fast pace. I love the hustle and bustle. I love just being in the center of legitimately everything.
And I think it made an impact in my career because there's so much in New York and there are
so many companies and brands and teams and it just made it super easy to do what I wanted to
do.”

The most popular social media post or campaign from her time with
Bodybuilding.com
“I think it would be anything that we did at the expos. That was our chance to
connect one-on-one with fans, actually meet them, talk with them, get content from
them, learn about their stories and their journeys in the fitness world, as well as
connecting with our athletes. So that stuff usually performed the best; because
again, it goes back to my point of being the most relatable and, like, that one-on-
one type of content was really great. And plus then you're also in new cities and you
just get to do a lot when it came to expos. So I think that those kind of posts always
did the best. It wasn't the salesy stuff by any means. It's the non salesy stuff.”

Erin’s TikTok tip for sports teams
“My number one tip is [to] have someone dedicated to it. I think that it's to that point and
it's big enough and can make enough of an impact in your department and for your brand
that if you have someone dedicated to just TikTok, you will be so much more successful
than if you're just kind of trying to do it on the side.
“Honestly, that probably goes for any platform, but specifically TikTok, because you have
to be so in the trenches of the For You page, in the trends, of the sounds, and you're not
going to do that if you can't stay focused on it.
“Then second is just there's no failing on that platform. It might not pop off, it might not go
viral, but you're never gonna fail. You're probably going to get better engagement than you
would on a single video even when your following is super low on TikTok than you might
on a very well-developed Twitter account or Instagram account. So there's no failing, keep
trying, keep creating content…”

Which 3 mobile apps could Erin not live without professionally (besides the social
media apps)
“One of them is Slate. It's this design [app]...Basically you can input photos and
templates and create different designs and it's all on-brand and you can import colors
and fonts. It was something new to MLB this year and I think it really helped us create
things at scale across multiple platforms and continuously keep it branded content...
“We also use it for just actual Instagram content with our watermarks to social
sponsored stuff. It made it super easy to get that out at scale and at speed than always
having to go back to our computers and make something in Premiere or just to put on a
watermark, for example, or a logo...

“[Another app is] Splice. It's a video editing app. Again, [I] love video
editing. It's super great, it's fun, you can do it on Premiere, but
sometimes you need something super quick. And then, oh gosh [one
more], you know a lot of people say Slack, honestly.I hate slack with
passion. I won't use it. I would much rather just text people. It's so
hard to decide [on a third app]...Probably my email app. I know that
that's super lame, but I'm someone — because we're in social, there’s
so much I do on my phone that I just don’t want to pull out my
laptop...if I can just send an email from phone and not open my laptop
that’s super great…”

Erin’s experience adjusting to the altitude in Denver
“Yeah, it sucked it. Straight up, it sucked. I never had issues with trying to get adjusted to it by
any means, but in terms of working out and fitness, yeah, it was really hard. It still is hard. I just
had to just adjust my expectations on how long a workout was going to be, especially when it
comes to cardio; and to probably not run. Not that I was a big runner before, but now I certainly
am not a runner.
“So I just took up different things, like different cardio. I got back into rollerblading
weightlifting. I didn't really see a difference. Maybe I started lifting more, apparently weight
might weigh less and maybe I'm just faking my new PR’s, but yeah, it sucked. And adapting, I
mean, it was just finding new things and I'm still trying to learn how to not be crappy at
athletics up here. So if anyone has tips…”

About the value gets from networking and relationships she’s built in sports
“I value relationships so much. And honestly it's sometimes more important than your actual
skills. And I'm not speaking from the point of, like, cool relationships, you're getting a job from
them — not from that standpoint. But just actually making genuine relationships, friendships;
they keep you going. With the pandemic that happened, I don't even know if I would have been
able to get through the pandemic without being able to have those virtual relationships, being
able to get on Zoom happy hours when that was a thing.
“They're not just in smsports, but social media as a whole; everyone understands the world
that we live in and the stuff that we go through [as] social media professionals; and having that
is super important for my mental health, my mental state. But then also like being able to have
those professional relationships to continuously get better, have mentors, and at the end of the
day, maybe down the road, be able to help you get your foot in the door somewhere. It's always
helpful in that way, but I always look at it from the perspective of these are my genuine
friendships and that is first and foremost important to me over anything that's transactional.”

The most important lessons personally and professionally Erin has learned in her
career so far
“Probably number one is being willing to move. I've moved a lot and it's certainly not
easy, and I know that not everybody can do it financially, or even just being able to
move somewhere. It's not simple. But in the sports world your opportunities are likely
not going to be in the city that you're currently in, they're going to be somewhere else.
If you have that ability to move, do it. Have that openness because, one, you're going to
be able to apply to more jobs if you can say, yeah, I'll move to San Diego, yeah I'll move
to Texas, I'll move to Florida, I'll move to Colorado. That all sucks; it's not fun to move,
but it's going to open your doors. So, be willing to move whenever humanly possible.

“I think number two would be kind of like we talked about in the last
point — making networking less transactional. It's all about being
personable. It's all about being friendly. It's all about actually being a
human and it's not about what you get out of something at the end of
the day. If anything, your relationships should be about what you can
give to that person, not about what you get. So as soon as you really
take that to heart and you start building real relationships or
friendships, I should say, I think your network is going to grow and
what you're able to do with those people. And again, non-
transactionally…”

The best meal to get in NYC and where to get it
“Oh, that's simple. It's called Tom's Diner. It's
actually in Brooklyn, but I'm counting it. They
have the best pancakes I've ever had in my life.
I went on a ‘I'm going to find the best
pancakes in New York city’ [tour] during one
of the years that I was in college and I decided
on Tom's Diner. So if you can get over there —
there's always a line so get there early, but it's
well worth it. The inside...if you think diner,
that's what it is, but then throw in your
grandma's house. Christmas decorations all
year round, it’s that vibe It's fantastic...

“[Get the] chocolate chip pancakes
for sure. Or blueberry. Take your
pick. You can go plain, those are
good, too. I just personally liked
toppings and in mine, just think it
adds something to it.
“And then I can’t talk about New
York and not say something about
bagels. So I'm going to throw in
Tompkins Square Bagels. It's kind of
in the lower east side. Elite bagels in
New York City….” [cinnamon raisin
she recommend]

The MLB player we should all be following on social media and why
“I really love Francisco Lindor. I just think he's super fun, out there and outgoing. I love
that he puts out his style stuff. He is super personable; like he just kind of puts off on stuff.
I think he could post a lot more. Hopefully he does in 2022. But yeah, he's a fun one.
“I also like Tucker Davidson, one of the pitchers for the Braves. He's been really great on
Twitter and TikTok lately. Maybe it's just because of postseason, but he's been super fun....
I have to also — I might hate myself for this — but I got to throw in [Alex] Bregman in
there. Because he recently started his docuseries, which I think Will Stout from LSU is
filming right now. And it's super cool to watch how that's all developing. Any player that's
actually getting into their personal brand...any player that cares about social.”

Which current Rockies player is going to be the breakout player next
year we should all know?
“There are so many young guys. I would probably say Ryan
McMahon, he had an incredible year defensively, he's up for a Gold
Glove this year; he’s a Gold Glove finalist. He's freaking fantastic. He
started really strong offensively, too. And I just think he's a young guy
that is still getting even better. And if he was this good this year, I can
only imagine the coming year. So I got to say RyMac for sure.”

Erin’s Social Media All-Star to Follow
“Someone I really love on social and have for a really long time is Jess [Smith],
@WarJessEagle. She used to do stuff with the Yankees, she did stuff with the New York
Rangers, and now she's at Stewart Haas Racing. She's a really fun follow for sports
world content. So definitely give her a follow.
“And then maybe somebody not in sports — his name is Adam Ornelas (@theatomray
on Instagram)...He used to do influencer marketing for Chipotle, but now he's with
Coinbase. So tons of crypto, NFT; he does influencer marketing, I just think he's a very
interesting follow. He’s [done] so much in his career, so it'll be exciting to see what he
does in this crypto NFT space.”

Where to find Erin and the Rockies on social media
Erin as @erinnicoleh_ on Twitter and Erin_Hodges on Instagram
The Rockies are @Rockies on every platform

Thanks again to Erin for being so generous with her time to share her
knowledge, experience, and expertise with me!
For more content and episodes, subscribe to the podcast, follow me
on LinkedIn and on Twitter @njh287, and visit www.dsmsports.net.

Episode 207 Snippets: Erin Hodges of the Colorado Rockies

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