Company: ESPN
Position: Vice President of Social Media
Kaitee’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaiteedaley/
ESPN Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/espn/
ESPN is known as one of the biggest sports networks which covers a wide range of sports. The network has been doing so well that they now have an international network. Kaitee Daley is the Vice President of Social Media and has been working for the company for almost 15 years. Katiee is responsible for creating and posting stories across social media platforms as well as reviewing posts before they are published on social media.
Kaite is also responsible for interviewing the athletes before and after their game. In addition to interviewing the athletes she is also responsible for overseeing and reviewing the posts of her co-workers as well to make sure that they are not violating anything that the athlete may want to keep confidential. She does a really good job of organizing the athletes’ information by their sport and team by having highlights on the ESPN Instagram page that she runs. This is important to note as Kaitee does her best from talking about the players’ personal lives unless they have just been drafted into the NBA, NHL or MLB and she is doing a player profile on that specific player. An example of this is when she posted about NBA star James Harden from the Philadelphia 76ers. In this post Kaitee pointed out how many points, assists and field goals he made to help his team get the win over the Boston Celtics in the NBA playoffs. These concepts have been noticed in academic literature as well. From the academic article written by Siguencia et al., “Instagram has revolutionized marketing” (2017, p. 79). The quote points out how Instagram has changed and why sports media employees need to be more aware of what they are posting about their athletes on this specific social media platform. This quote is important because Kaitee has to use her strengths as a social media employee to really keep the athletes’ personal information confidential. As a result, she is still able to put some new and exciting information about the athlete on social media.
There is a lot that I can learn from Kaitee. From Kaitee I have learned the importance of rereading and editing a post before it goes live on Instagram. She additionally organizes the athletes information by using the highlight section on the ESPN Instagram that she runs. This is especially valuable and important in the sports world. In addition, Kaitee hopes to continue her career with ESPN in her current role. She enjoys posting on the ESPN Instagram. She has confidence that she is setting an example for all of the women out there who have dreams of working in the sports industry. Kaitee will continue to post stories about the athletes and what they are up to in both their professional and personal lives. Kaitee hopes that one day the sports industry will have a higher ratio of women in the industry.
As a female who has dreams of working in the sports world specifically on the corporate communications side, Kaitee is someone who I look up to. I will also be considering the importance of privacy management in my career path. I hope that this post will inspire other women who dream of working in sports to just go for it, because this industry needs more females! I hope that I have inspired someone to go ahead and take the leap into the sport industry whether it be behind the scenes or in front of the camera reporting. Katie has taught me many concepts that I hope to integrate into both my professional career and life in general.
Citation:
Siguencia, L. O., Herman, D., Marzano, G., & Rodak, P. (2017). The role of social media in sports communication management: An analysis of polish top league teams’ strategy. Procedia computer science, 104, 73-80.
