On episode 227 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast, Neil chatted with Marc Jordan, Manager of Product Success, INFLCR | Teamworks.
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
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Episode 227 Snippets: Marc Jordan of INFLCR
1. Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
@njh287; www.dsmsports.net
On episode 227 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast, Neil
chatted with Marc Jordan, Manager of Product Success for INFLCR |
Teamworks.
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.
2. Marc’s Career Path
“I grew up in a Manchester, New Hampshire…[There were] not a ton of sports
[there], not a ton college athletics. So I knew that anywhere if I wanted to work in
sports, I needed to go somewhere that had more opportunities. One of the
upperclassmen ahead of me had told me that he was going to the University of
Tampa and he said it was a great school. I [was] like Tampa, Florida — there's the
Rays, the Bucs, they have hockey, they kind of have a little bit of everything. I
didn't really know what I wanted to do career-wise at that point, so I just
thought, ‘You know what, I'll enroll for sport management. I'll try different
things, I'll get an internship, I'll work at different places, I'll see what see what's
available.’
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
3. “So I went to the school at the University of Tampa [and] my first intro to sport
management class, Tom Colby — who was the Athletics Communications Director at
the University of Tampa, so he oversaw all of the media relations for the sports
department — he came in and basically told me that there was a full-time job for
people who like to do stats. I was a big stat nerd, like all of the fantasy sports — I did
football, basketball, baseball. I could calculate ERA; I loved stats, I was such a nerd
for stats. When I found out that there was a job that I could do [stats] I was like,
‘I have to work with this guy. I have to go and do it.’
“So I became a student intern spring of my freshman year. [Then] I moved into a
student assistant role, which in a lot of cases at these smaller [division two] schools
means you're doing more. So I was in charge of stats and oversight of volleyball and
baseball. I traveled with the teams as an undergrad [and] I got a lot of great
experience…
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
4. “I got my first full-time postgraduate job in 2015 — I spent a couple years as an
intern while working full-time as an enrollment counselor. But I went to a rival
school Saint Leo [and] managed athletics communications there. I worked with
men's women's lacrosse, women's basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball. I got
to really work with a lot of different sports.
“[Then] Tampa brought me back. They were like, ‘Marc, we got a full-time job for
you now.’ I came back as the Assistant Director of Athletics Communications
working with Tom again. And it was a great experience. What we did was we
revamped the website [and] we really went in on branding. We launched new
logos because — anyone who knows the University of Tampa, their logo 10 years
ago was rough; especially it was an embroiderer’s nightmare, so they adjusted
[it].
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
5. “[Then] that led me to [the University of] Texas. And I truly to this day, don't
know what Texas saw in me or what it was that was, like, ‘We can hand you the
keys to one of the social media of the biggest brands in the country. We're happy
to do that.’ [I was] a no-name man from Tampa, Florida, but I'm just so thankful
for that opportunity. I'm really proud of what I've done at Texas. I'm really proud
of what I did at Tampa. But [I’m] really lucky to be here at INFLCR now, helping
departments and athletes with what I've learned from social media and what I've
been able to do.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
6. On how he came to want to work in sports
“I was like every other sport management major before they actually get to
school, thinking that everyone's gonna be a baseball agent or everyone is going to
be a general manager. So I went in there thinking, like, ‘Yeah, I'm gonna be a
general manager for a baseball team.’ And the first class that I went to — the
literal first intro class — he said the two easiest ways to get into sports is to go
into sales or to marry the GM's daughter. He just said that to the class and I was
like, ‘Okay, cool. Well, both of those things probably aren't gonna work for me.’
So I had to put in the work and I thankfully had a great mentor. I've had many
great mentors and people who've come before me that taught me a lot. And I got
really lucky.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
7. About social media for University of Tampa Athletics
“So social was something that Tom let a lot of the student assistants and the interns
manage more of because it was so new. We were part of the group that started the first
Twitter account. Instagram wasn't [even] a thing until close to when I graduated. He let the
people who were willing to learn and put in the effort because he also recognized that if I
had done a good job with it [then] that sets me up for a future career somewhere else. He
understood that that could be the thing that — if he let someone do it, it's career-making
for them. I tell a lot of the folks who are working in NIL now, especially student interns —
or we met with the Oklahoma State brand squad, and we were talking with a couple of their
students that are working with Oklahoma State athletes, and we tell them, ‘If you do a good
job and you set yourself apart in this — this is such a new territory — you can set yourself
up for a great role. If you do a good job now and really take ownership and make it as best
as it possibly can be.’
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
8. “And that's kind of how I looked at social at Tampa. I wanted to do the best that I
could knowing that we were never going to be able to compete with a lot of the DI
programs. [Actually] I stand corrected because we did a case study a couple
months ago [and] Tampa volleyball became the most followed volleyball account
[on Instagram]. [In] the month of April, they added 190,000 followers. It's
nuts…They have one video that has over 170 million views on Instagram. At
Texas, I think we were lucky [if] we got 2 million views on one video and this
video has 176 million.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
9. On transitioning to the much larger social media operation at Texas
“I had imposter syndrome from day one and I think even on my last day, I still
had the imposter syndrome there, because when you deal with a brand like
Texas, when you are given the opportunity to make something at a place like
Texas — I could not believe that I was the first social media coordinator hired by
them. In 2017, they added a social media role and they trusted me of all people to
do it. Every day I walked in with this imposter syndrome, but [at the same time]
I wanted to prove to them every single day that they made the correct hire. I
wanted to prove to them that I was the right person for the job.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
10. “And I put in the work I put in the time. Not every day was great, but I'm truly
proud of where everything turned out on my last day and how far we've come as a
group and as a department, and on our social media accounts. I like to think that
some of the things that we did at Texas have started to translate to other places
and other places that are doing well at social. You kind of see a little bit how their
main accounts have shifted away from just a dumping ground for ads, and truly a
place to be the super fan and to help create FOMO and to really give the fans a
voice that I don't think that they normally would've had. And that was the
strategy we took at Texas. I would say imposter syndrome and not wanting to fail
were the two things that helped me succeed at Texas.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
11. About Texas Athletics’ social media setup
“So the creative team at Texas — there were 12 that were on the creative
development team, which you gotta credit Chris Del Conte and Drew Martin for
building that team out. When I first started there, it was two separate teams —
one housed in media relations, one housed in marketing; different
videographers, different social media coordinators, different graphic designers.
It didn't make a ton of sense. So [Del Conte] came in, brought in Drew from TCU
and Drew was like, ‘We need all the creatives together. We need them
collaborating. We need them working together.’ So he put us all together, hired
Caten Hyde — best man for the job, absolutely best man for the job. He came in
[and] he made an impact right away. He got us all together, he got us all thinking
creatively. He got a bunch of different personalities and creative talents to match.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
12. “Football did have their own crew. I'd say we were quasi-collaborative with them.
They obviously had their own objectives. They dealt heavily in recruiting,
obviously, [and] they had their own sort of look, feel, and voice. But I would say
all of the other sports kind of fell under our camp. We were assisting with social,
we were assisting with graphics. We had, in some cases, athletics
communications folks managing accounts. We had two social coordinators. It
was a pretty great team. We had six or so videographers [and] two and a half
graphic designers, a photographer…great team.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
13. About the goals for social at Texas
“You're probably not gonna like this answer, but they didn't really give me objectives at
Texas. And I think that was the smartest thing they could have done because, I mean,
regardless of what they said as those objectives, I wanted to crush them. But in not giving
me a goal — they just wanted to be the best. It was a very ambiguous measure of success.
So we just made sure we focused on interactions, interaction rate, making sure that the
things that we were posting were resonating with our audience and then the other things
would fall into line. Like, tickets would get sold, people would come to our events, people
would be excited, we could promote different things. So they didn't really set objectives for
me other than to, like, do a good job and, and make sure you leave it better than you found
it.”
[Marc also notes any post with Matthew McConaughey was always viral and that he’s a
great guy to work with!]
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
14. On identifying the content to produce and stories to tell
“[There was] so much collaboration. And I'm thankful that I did start in
communications because I had a great relationship with [Head of Athletics
Communications] John Bianco and all of the athletics communications folks who
were on the day-to-day with these athletes and who did know these stories. Then
also in my role and in creative development, we do work with pretty much every
department. Every department's needs would be funneled through us, so you do
end up building relationships across the entire department. I think the only
department I think we never really interacted with was the athletic trainers…
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
15. “During football season, we would have a meeting every Tuesday related to
football and we would talk about social, what we were doing on social, marketing
would be there, development would be there — so it's just kind of an opportunity
to talk all things football. And then we of course would have our creative
meetings and folks would give us things that they want to look at, or some
campaigns that they were thinking about and what we could do. It was a great
environment for creatives. It was a great environment for folks to collaborate and
build. I think that that's what led to a lot of the success was everyone being able
to work together towards a common goal.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
16. On where athletes fit with Texas social media strategy
“It was very much these were the representatives of the university. Every single
athlete was an ambassador for this brand and we wanted to make sure that we
were showcasing them. We were tagging them in content, we were making sure
that they were getting content that featured them. Towards the end [of Marc’s
time there] — and this is why I gotta credit Caten — we built a more focused plan
on making sure that we got this content to the athletes more effectively.
“That's what really inspired me to go to INFLCR. That was their bread and
butter. They wanted to get this content and make it easier for folks like me to get
that content to the athletes. So I loved making the jump and I loved working for a
brand that could do this for many schools and many partners.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
17. About the third-party media coverage and storytelling about Texas athletics
“We had some social listening tools, and we kind of put in some things that we
were looking for. But I think in a lot of cases, we had a crisis communications
team and we were prepared for things like that to happen. But ultimately there
was a ton of trust between the department and the athletes. I don't think any of
these coaches would bring in any of these athletes that they didn't trust to
represent the university in some form or fashion. That was really great and I
really appreciated that because I mean, I had, even at my time at Tampa, worked
with coaches that just viewed social as a distraction or viewed it as something
that could only get folks in trouble, but Texas really embraced it.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
18. “Texas really got behind the opportunity for athletes to make the most of their
time there and be representatives of the university. I think as soon as the
recruiting part of it caught up where they recognized that recruits were following
their athletes and that the more active and the more available and the more that
their athletes were on social, the better it was for recruiting. I think that that
really helped. But even social media from ten years ago, I think in a lot of cases, it
was hyper-focused on the bad things that could come of it by having this
platform. But all of those years resulted in so much learning and so many case
studies for what not to do that I think athletes today, and especially as new
generations of athletes are coming in, they're more versed in what's good and bad
on social.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
19. On how NIL came to Texas and how they tried to anticipate it
“During the pandemic we talked about it some because we did want to put programming
together. We did wanna start the brand-building portion of it because even if the athletes
weren't able to monetize then and there, there were things that they could do to prepare
themselves. When I started an INFLCR, that was the strategy we took was that it's a when
not if. We know that this is going to happen and the more work that you put in now, the
easier it will be for you when it does go into effect.
“So we would work with different teams and we would work with different departments to
prepare their athletes, get them onto a better posting cadence, have them understand
what's good and what's bad, the difference between editorial and commercial content, and
reasons why you focus more on that editorial; making sure that they didn't just become the
NASCAR of Instagram where there are just logos everywhere and there’s no value behind
it.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
20. Marc gives an overview INFLCR
“INFLCR is content distribution [platform] at its core, but we've added a ton of
NIL functionality. We have a ‘Verified’ product which allows compliance to
oversee and kind of manage the [deal] disclosures from athletes. Some states
require that some states do, some institutions just are asking athletes to do that,
so we wanted to provide a system on which they could do that. Then it even
expanded further and now it's a way for athletes to find opportunities in the NIL
space and for them to promote themselves, create their own business card —
make themselves available to these different companies.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
21. “We've launched a couple of different exchanges, which are platforms designed to help
schools have more oversight and be able to assist athletes in the process should they
wanna be taking that route. I think facilitation is still a bit of a gray area, but we're
moving closer and closer to departments having a little more ability to help, which to
me makes perfect sense. I mean, if the athlete's having trouble in class, they get a
tutor. If they're wanting to get stronger, they have a strength coach, if their nutrition
isn't there, they have a dietician helping them. So why not someone in the NIL space if
they need someone to help them build their brand, or they need someone to help them
understand a contract or understand if a company asks for then social media posts
over a year period, what that looks like and how to stay on top of it.
“So, to me, I think it's a positive evolution and we're gonna continue to adapt and
build new products and features that make sure that these schools and athletes are
prepared for each step of the way.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
22. “I love that there are schools adding for-credit courses [related to branding/NIL],
so that athletes can get the education that they need, but then also get credit
towards their degree…I also love that there are schools putting together clubs on
their campus that help athletes navigate this and help them with content
strategy, and they have students on that campus who wanna learn and want to
grow their own career and experience helping athletes who want to grow their
brands. I think where we've seen the most success in our education is breaking it
down into very simple things and making it sort of tiered.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
23. “I think in the past I've been naive to think that we could give athletes, you know,
here are 20 steps to NIL success. No one's gonna go through 20 steps. No athlete
is going to go through and do that. We've offered some online courses that are
quick, that have allowed athletes to learn very quickly — but breaking it down to
here are four steps that you can do, here are the things that you could do in the
next five minutes that will help you down the road, and then letting them learn as
they go; adding more as they do the initial steps, but not trying to overload them
too quickly, because there's one thing these athletes don't have [is] time. So
making sure that whatever we ask them to do or whatever we try and educate
them in is time-effective and it's not a huge lift on their end.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
24. Helping athletes balance building an authentic brand that’s also attractive for NIL
opportunities
“I think our CEO Jim Cavale has the best analogy for this. He compares athlete NIL to
Hulu. So in a lot of cases, you know, you're paying for Hulu, you pay for the monthly
subscription, but it still comes with commercials. Now, what he says to athletes is [to] think
of your social media accounts as Hulu and them following you as them paying for your
service. If you were only offering commercials, would you pay for Hulu? If they were only
showing commercials and not the TV shows, not the content, not the real reasons you're
going to Hulu — would you still pay for it? The answer's no.
“So the same is true for your social media and athletes. If a follower is following you, it's
because they want to follow you, they want to follow your journey. If there are a couple
commercials along the way, so be it, but as long as it's not all commercials, it'll be great and
it'll be a good journey that they'll wanna follow.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
25. “We talk to [the athletes] about [brand] and we also break down kind of their
audience because we [approach it] for what [their audience] is that day. So let's
say they want to build their brand in a certain area, we talk to them a little bit
about, ‘Okay, well, think about your social media now. There are probably your
friends and family who are the ones that have been following you from day one
and they will probably like nearly everything that you post. Then you probably
branched out and got people who are competing in the same sport as you,
teammates or people who've played against you, people who are also going
through the recruiting process. So you have that group. And then when you
commit to a school, now, all of a sudden you have anyone that has an affiliation
that school and likes your sport or is following you because you are an athlete at
this institution.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
26. “So as you are figuring out content and as you're figuring out brand building, understanding
that when you post things and when you want to get interaction, you have to at least satisfy one
of those buckets or groups. But the more of them that you can get interested in that type of
content, the better and higher engagement it's gonna have. So as you're adding in different
things — like, if you're interested in music in fashion — understand that those are gonna be
harder things to build early on because you're adding a new type of audience into your current
following. So you may not get a bunch of people who are liking that stuff because they're not
following you for that to begin with, but that's okay. You want to build an audience that way. So
just having [the athletes] being okay with maybe the interactions aren't going to be there at first
as you try and build that additional audience, but making sure that they are putting in that
value.
“Because every athlete's gonna retire at some point…So we want to make sure that they are
setting up their audience to care about them for when they aren't competing anymore, and for
when they do go in [and] enter the workforce or they retire and sail off into the sunset — we
just wanna make sure that that audience sticks with them.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
27. On trends Marc has seen as athlete begin to dip their toe into making money off their
NIL
“I think that the athletes have done a great job of innovating and finding different places
and people, and different ways to maximize NIL. I think for low-hanging fruit Cameo
has come out on top on this. A lot of athletes have Cameo accounts, they're completing
that. So I think Cameo has been a great partner of ours in getting athlete opportunities.
“But they are innovating and I love seeing the creativity. We recently hired a former
softball pitcher at Duke - Peyton St. George. She actually was competing in a regional
against UCLA the week before we hired her. She was one of the biggest proponents, and
she had a lot of great opportunities at Duke that she made for herself. She reached out
to the local, minor league baseball team asking if they wanted to have a softball athlete
as a representative, and she has a strong social following.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
28. “So I love seeing the innovation that has come of this. But obviously there are
easier [wyaysaws to monetize], you know, partner with a merch line, so that if
you have a viral moment on social media for, for good reasons, or you have a big
play, they're ready to act. Jocelyn Alo at Oklahoma, when she broke the home
run record, they partnered with Oklahoma to make sure that people had a way to
commemorate that and for her to be able to monetize off of that. So I just love
seeing stuff like that.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
29. About keeping up with the different NIL policies across states and schools
“It's a lot. I'm thankful that our COO was so on top of this, he had a full
spreadsheet as new laws were coming into effect, and what they meant, what are
some cliff notes of it. He made it super simple for our staff to be able to go from
client to client… I would say that a lot of our software is customizable. We have
different [versions] for whatever the school NIL policy is for whatever state that
they're residing. We have ways for them to include their own NIL policies and
attestations. We wanna make sure that our tech works for them, so we do a great
job of partnering with them. They do a tremendous job of putting their policies
together and making the INFLCR system what it needs to be for their institution.
So I'm very lucky in that I don't have to study super hard because we had a cheat
sheet and we had ways and people smarter than I who put all the stuff together
and made it really simple for our crew to all be on the same page.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
30. On maximizing the recruiting oomph of a school adding a NIL program
“The only way for these programs and these things to work is for them to have
substance. The recruit will be able to see right through any cute announcement
or any branded program if there isn't any substance behind it. So it's my role
here to make sure that those programs have substance and for me to make sure
that INFLCR is doing its part to provide resources, education. If I'm speaking to
athletes seminar-style on social strategy I'm gonna do it. If I'm meeting
individually with athletes to figure out what it is they want to accomplish and
what they want to do and how they want to do that, that's what we're gonna do.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
31. “We need this symbiosis between us and the [school’s athletics] department —
because the department has so many resources, they have so many people who
NIL touches so many different departments. I think a lot of folks think that it's
mostly compliance and compliance has a huge part in it, but creative is involved
in it, student services is involved in it; heck, development is involved in it. So
having all of these people involved and having a robust program that has
substance is truly the way to make these announcements and make these
recruiting pitches really work. Because if you can show it working for a current
student-athlete, that recruit's not gonna have as many questions, and they're
gonna know that they're in good hands.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
32. On where NIL initiatives tend to start and live at schools
“It could truly come from so many different departments and I think that that is
what's led to a lot of the success here is that if we are truly providing value to
more than just our traditional customer. Like, let's say it's the content team and
it's the content creators — because originally we were content distribution, that
was our bread and butter, that was the foundation that INFLCR was built on. But
now that we are touching so many different departments, we're getting referrals
from student services, we're getting referrals from trademark licensing, we're
getting folks who two years ago would never have known what INFLCR is. And
we're getting folks who are becoming advocates for us because they see the good
that we're doing and they see the value that we are bringing to our partners. It's
across the board.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
33. “I mean, I look at departments like Oklahoma that are absolutely crushing it;
they're doing such a great job. They have so many folks involved. I'm very
thankful to be working with all of them, but I think that it's the recipe for our
success is that we so many different groups and different types of people who are
advocating for us and then we find different ways and it's across all of our
products.
“Teamworks is the same way. Working with the hub product, we have so many
opportunities to delight and to make people's lives easier, and to make them
work more efficiently through tech. So I'm thankful to be on this team and to be a
part of that and to see all of these great advocates across our campuses.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
34. On whether these NIL strategies playing out with college athletes will make way
to the pros
“I do think setting the tone now with the collegiate athletes, that's the foundation
to get them to that pro level and to be more polished. I think that even a few years
ago, I mean we've had comments that maybe there are some holes in the
onboarding of rookies and to having them understand the different things that
they can do. The model's just so different between collegiate and pro right now
that I would say that it's to be determined on our end, just because of, you know,
collective bargaining and having associations speaking for different athletes. You
just don't have that right now at the collegiate level. So I would say it's to be
determined on our end or at least, we could be working on it, but I'm not at liberty
to say. So it's one of those things where less information is probably more.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
35. The most notable thing that Marc has learned or realized being at a startup for a
year and a half
”How quickly things change and how quickly growth can happen…”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
36. Who is the most famous athlete from the University of Tampa and who was the
most accomplished athlete during Marc’s time there?
“I would say Tino Martinez is probably the most famous athlete to come from
Tampa. The most accomplished while I was there — she was my absolute favorite
was [volleyball player] Berkley Whaley. She was a three-time player of the year,
three-time All-American, won a national championship with Tampa. And then
she ended up being our communications grad intern for a year. Just [an]
incredible human, incredible athlete — my favorite athlete I've ever worked
with.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
37. The most popular or memorable social media post from Marc’s time at Texas
“So this one is one I've been dreading because it is the, our infamous barbecue tweet…[So] we
made a TikTok, and this is when I learned that you don't necessarily have to post everything
that you post on TikTok on Twitter. But we were trying to make a cute version of that trend,
where people would put a logo over a latte, and then they would like put cinnamon or
chocolate over it over a pattern.
“So we thought, ‘Hey, let's do that with barbecue.’ So one of our interns got a plate of
barbecue and she put the plate together, but she saved half of it. So she saved half the
barbecue in case she messed up the first one so that she would have a backup plate of
barbecue. So it was the saddest plate. And then we played it and it got over a million views on
TikTok, but barbecue Twitter roasted us because they were so upset because we did not put
all of the barbecue on the actual plate. And I swear I was up late that night being like, ‘Oh, I
wronged somebody.’ We got into a beef with a local barbecue staple that has been so good to
us. So it was this infamous barbecue tweet.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
38. Is Texas back?
“[It’s] getting there for sure. I mean, [Texas has won] two Director’s Cups. If
we're talking football, I think that they have the talent, they have the coaches. I
think that they have the potential. But I was also there when Texas beat Georgia,
and then Sam [Ehlinger] said [‘We’re baaaack’] on stage. I was there and I think
we all collectively still have nightmares about that. So I'm afraid to actually
officially say it.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
39. Marc’s favorite NIL deal he’s seen so far
“The [Decoldest Crawford] one is hilarious. I think it was [Robert Griffin III] who
posted a tweet about it being like, ‘Yeah, people are seeing this and now they're
naming their kids Daferrari or Dalamborghini’, so I'm, I'm here for it.
“Anytime that there's a pun or anytime that it's on the nose, I love it. So that one
is probably my favorite so far.”
Best Of The Digital and
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Episode 227: Marc Jordan
40. Marc’s perspective on the NIL collectives springing up across the country
“I don't think that they're going to be what they are today [in the future]. Even
NIL a year ago isn't what NIL is today. So I think that things are going to change
and as more money — or maybe less money because of a [potential] recession
coming…I think that it's gonna continue to change. I don't think anything is set
in stone. I think that once we get a national law or we get some type of guardrails
that are across the entire landscape — that's when we can start to expect things to
settle a little bit. But right now I still think that we're building on sand.”
Best Of The Digital and
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Episode 227: Marc Jordan
41. Marc’s favorite student-athlete story from his time at INFCLR so far
“So I was on campus with Stanford a few months ago and I have a great
relationship with their Director of NIL, and she introduced me to one of their
athletes. This athlete had a very strong TikTok following. He was funny, he was
smart. His name was Thunder Keck and I'm like, ‘His name is Thunder and we just
signed a deal with WWE.’ I'm like, ‘You should reach out to them,’ because he had
the social media chops, his name was Thunder and the WWE. And sure enough, he
got signed. He sent me an email a few weeks later saying that he was gonna be part
of the next class [of WWE college athletes]. It was announced at the NIL Summit…
“It was like all the stars aligned. It felt too perfect to not be a partnership there. So
that's my favorite story to tell right now.”
Best Of The Digital and
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Episode 227: Marc Jordan
42. The best meal to get in Austin and where to
get it
“Black’s BBQ. Make sure you go for lunch
so that they don't run out of any of the
good things, but Black’s BBQ for sure. I’m
not even a big meat eater, but that is where
I would go if I was taking someone for one
meal and they only had one in Austin…You
gotta get the brisket. Tthey have some good
sausage and turkey. The sides are pretty
good too; I would probably go for a mac
and cheese, maybe a coleslaw, but make
sure you get the brisket.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
43. Which happens first – the College Football Playoff expands or college football
players start getting paid a salary?
“I think that the college football playoff expansion is gonna happen first because
I think that that might be where they need to get the money to start paying the
players. I think that there are a lot of things that need to be figured out on the
second part [by] people smarter than I am. But if I were to guess, I'd say the
College Football Playoff expands first.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
44. Marc’s Social Media All-Star to Follow
“I'm gonna cheat and give two, but they're related sort of. Hunter Woodhall
(@hunterwoodhall on social, especially TikTok and IG) and Tara Davis
(@_taarra_ on IG, @_taradavis on TikTok), those are the two that I would
follow. I just love watching their antics. They are super fun. They are former
track athletes, one was at Texas [and] one was at Arkansas. They're the ones to
follow…They just take you behind their journey together. They were both
Olympians, like the whole process of it. Definitely my favorites.”
[also on YouTube at @TaraAndHunterVideos]
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan
45. Where to find Marc and INFLCR on social
Marc is @mcjordan87 on Twitter and find INFLCR @inflcr across platforms
Best Of The Digital and
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Episode 227: Marc Jordan
46. @njh287; www.dsmsports.net
Thanks again to Marc for being so generous with his time to share his
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.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 227: Marc Jordan