Data analytics as a marathon, not a sprint
By Alexis Higgins
Amh262@txstate.edu
Two Texas State graduates offered their professional take on social media analytics in sports and entertainment during Mass Comm Week, saying clients required different levels of focus.
JC Hernandez represented Under Armour where he works as a solutions planner for Connected Fitness. Daily, his team connects with consumers across four main platforms: MapMyFitness, MyFitnessPal, Endomondo, and UA Record. Jordan Cooper works at Umble, a data management company, as a digital media planner in Austin. His intimate team works mainly with Facebook to “turn a casual fan into a buyer, and turn a buyer into a season ticket holder,” through advertisements.
The two are in the same industry, but they work on two different levels of impact. Hernandez works on a nationwide demographic, while Cooper trails a granular audience. For example, a client of Umble’s is the Phoenix Suns. He works with smaller budgets over shorter periods of time—10 days before a game—to generate revenue. Cooper uses niche targeting within a 50-mile radius of Phoenix, Arizona’s, core to do so.
On the other hand, Hernandez could receive budgets into the millions; he is also expected to work campaigns sometimes for up to a year. These types of budgets yield posts of up to three times a day. He focuses mainly on KPI (Key Performance Indicators) by looking through click rates to help determine things like recipe contents and push products for Under Armour’s heathy-living clients.
A digital analyst has more than one race. It is important to note that there is a different lane for everyone. Hernandez advised students to know their media math–“know how to talk to the data, and how to tell it’s story.” Cooper also suggested Facebook Blueprint Training, saying it’s known as “a marketer’s black belt”.
Visit www.umbel.com/about/careers/ for opportunities on employment with Umble. For an internship, try applying for the Summer League at Under Armour by visiting careers.underarmour.com/students.