My new team

by Shannon Paul on October 13, 2008

It’s been extremely difficult keeping quiet about this, but today was my first day working for the Detroit Red Wings as their New Media and Creative Content Coordinator!

This basically means that I will be helping the team with all things related to social media engagement and online content creation.

This is a brand new position for the Red Wings as well, so I’ll be working with the team’s marketing and public relations departments to bring Hockeytown to the fans like never before; no matter where they happen to live.

The Red Wings aren’t just any team, they’re champions, and they’re one of the most beloved teams of any sport in the world. I am beyond excited about the prospect of bringing fans closer to the action through blogs, social networks, streaming video and events.

The rich history of the Red Wings and the team’s dedication to excellence make it a privilege to be considered part of this organization.

Thanks for letting me share my good news, and tell me, what would you do if you were in my position? How would you use the internet to make Hockeytown more engaging and accessible to fans?

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{ 51 comments… read them below or add one }

October 13, 2008 Victoria Pater 1

CONGRATS! I look forward to following along :)

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October 13, 2008 ALi R Khan 2

Best of luck with your new job and Red Wings really rocks.
Regards
Ali R Khan

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October 13, 2008 Scott Hepburn 3

Wow, congrats! I’m absolutely thrilled for you — the Red Wings are getting a rising star!

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October 13, 2008 pprlisa 4

Shannon,

You are going to do such a great job for the Red Wings – I am so, so happy for you. What a great opportunity, but they are really lucky to have you too!!

Congratulations Shannon, well done. Good for Motown too :)

–Lisa Dilg

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October 13, 2008 Shannon Swenson, Interactive Producer 5

Represent!

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October 13, 2008 Kellye Crane 6

Congrats to the Detroit Red Wings on their coup in hiring such a gifted strategist! Shannon, I can’t wait to see the fabulous things you’re going to do in this new position. Wishing you all the best on your new adventure!

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October 13, 2008 dirkthecow 7

Congratulations Shannon, sounds like a fantastic opportunity!

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October 13, 2008 Stacy 8

Oh wow. What else can I say but I’m extremely jealous and extremely happy for you at the same time.

What would I do if I were in your position?

I haven’t thought past the “pee my pants” part yet.

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October 13, 2008 Matt Clark 9

Great job Shannon!

– @imagedesigns

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October 13, 2008 Shauna Nicholson 10

Shannon,
I’m so excited for you– you deserve it!
I’ll throw ideas your way as they come. Let’s get a meal (ie drink) sometime soon!
<3
Shauna

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October 13, 2008 davidmullen 11

Great news! I’m very excited for you and know you’ll knock their socks off.

I’m not sure what they’re already doing, but I think it would be cool to embed video interviews with a different player the day after each game. And you could also use the tools to make the players more personal – what are their favorite musicians, food, etc.

The athletic side makes people stop, watch and cheer. The human side will help draw them in and create stronger bonds with the team.

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October 13, 2008 cjguest 12

Congrats on the RedWings job, they’re a class act of the NHL, whose just raised the bar with your addition!

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October 13, 2008 Brian Ambrozy 13

The entire Icrontic team would like to congratulate you, Shannon, as well as the Detroit Red Wings for bringing a superstar such as yourself on board.

As any Detroit team knows, bringing on the right people is key to victory ;)

Hey Hey Hockeytown!

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October 13, 2008 Jenny McCutcheon 14

This is such great news Shannon! I love David’s suggestion to use social media as a way demonstrate the personalities of the individual players.

Get people to fall in love with the players (more than they already are), and they will support the team even more.

Congratulations!

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October 13, 2008 Bella Casa 15

Congratulations!!! My 13 year old son will be so jealous ;)

Just found you on twitter this AM. Nice to meet you!

Bella
Also a Hockeytown gal…and former Olympia Entertainment employee myself:)

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October 13, 2008 Brandon Chesnutt 16

That is so freaking cool. You’re going to be really busy this season… since they are going to repeat!

Best of luck to you!

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October 13, 2008 Ari Adler 17

Woo hoo for you Shannon. I’m amazed at how long you’ve been able to keep this quiet without exploding! :)

The Red Wings made a great choice and you have a wonderful opportunity to bring the world to Hockeytown like never before.

I’m not a hockey fan, but who knows, I might still have some ideas of how to connect the Red Wings with folks like me, so I’ll give it some thought.

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October 13, 2008 Naim 18

This is the greatest thing in the history of things.

Congrats!

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October 13, 2008 Hooshna 19

Hey Shannon,

Congratulations! The Wings are lucky to have you :)

~H

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October 13, 2008 SuzyMae 20

Its bananas! ;) so happy for you, beautiful lady. Congrats!

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October 13, 2008 Frank 21

Congrats! That’s totally crazy.

Since you asked, here’s two things I would like to see in the Red Wings online presence:

1) More streaming video. I won’t hold my breath on this, but I don’t have cable and don’t usually go to bars so I have few ways to actually see the wings.

2) A nice games and events calendar in a standard format that I can simply subscribe to via Google Calendar or iCal or something like that.

Make it so!

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October 13, 2008 Charlie Wollborg 22

Awesome. So happy for you (and a little jealous). Shot Score!

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October 13, 2008 Stacy 23

Would I sound like a sexist pig if I said I’d like to see a downloadable calendar of all the hottest Wings shirtless?

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October 13, 2008 John Phillips 24

Shannon, that is fantastic. You definitely deserve that opportunity. Congrats!

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October 13, 2008 chrisbrogan 25

What? Are you kidding? When did this happen? Unbelievable! Why am I always the last to know ?

Congrats to you.

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October 13, 2008 Nikki 26

I’ve already expressed my congrats to you on Twitter, but I’ll reinforce it with a blog comment – CONGRATS! Hope to connect with you more in the future (and in person!). Best of luck getting acclimated with the new job! Oh and of course, if you get tickets you best share with us D-town sports lovers :)

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October 13, 2008 Shannon Nelson 27

Gah! I can finally say congrats! It was tough keeping quiet knowing that you were heading to an awesome job! You are going to be super fabulous there!

xx

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October 13, 2008 EmDee 28

Soooooo proud of you, Miss Paul. I cannot wait to track your progress of infinite possibilities. Sure, you feel lucky to be there. . . but they are lucky to have you. Cheers!

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October 13, 2008 Andrew Weaver 29

That is great! Congrats! Really looking forward to following you now!

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October 13, 2008 wjc 30

TheRed Wings are lucky to have you and your creative expertise.

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October 13, 2008 David Damore 31

How about short rapid fire interviews with players, coaches, trainers, and others who are part of the Red Wings organization?

These would be short on demand podcasts that would be sortable/filterable by tags. That way people can listen to the content that interests them. Some people will be drawn to players, others to people who operate mostly behind the scenes [EG: trainers] but contribute to the success of the team.

If someone was interested in physical therapy/physical training they might listen to the interviews with Red Wings trainers. Might be an interesting way to engage more people with the Red Wings community we know as Hockeytown.

Shannon, best to you and the Detroit Red Wings.
David

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October 13, 2008 Skyle 32

Are you kidding me? Tres Bananaaas! You look so awesome in a RedWings shirt, is this your required uniform? It should be!

Congrats Darling!

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October 13, 2008 Beverly Cornell 33

Shannon -

I am very excited for you and this highly visible position. This is Hockeytown and we love our Red Wings – so your job should be easy and difficult at the same time.

We have high expectations but an inherent love for our hockey guys! ;-)

I followed the Red Wings on twitter and thought they twittered too much and I ended up removing their feed. We briefly talked about this – I am sure you have some great ideas.

Getting to talk to the players via twitter or through a blog would be great. I know the guys are from all over the world and language may be an issue but to be able to connect with them on a more personal level would be really fun!

We are so excited to have an inside voice at the Red Wings. Knock em dead!

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October 13, 2008 thinkingSage 34

It sounds like your days of being the Lone Voice in the Wilderness at work are over. Well done.

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October 14, 2008 Hajj E. Flemings 35

Shannon,

Congrats! It is great when good things happen to good people.

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October 14, 2008 pachuvachuva 36

Gratz, Shannon! Just recently been following your blog and it’s great. Best of luck with the Red Wings job. You’ll do just fine. Wait, make that better than fine. ;)

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October 14, 2008 Tina Tate- The Tater Patch of Bays Mountain 37

YES! Shannon, I am soooooo proud of you! Keep us all up-to-date with the Red Wings! I’m down south here, doing cartwheels for you!!! (((HUGS!))) Love yah!

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October 14, 2008 Tim (@Twalk) Walker 38

Congratulations!

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October 14, 2008 shawn smith 39

Big Huge Humongous Extravagant Super Happy Congrats to you Shannon! This is awesome news. Can’t wait to see what you do with the Red Wings!

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October 14, 2008 Jim "Genuine" Turner 40

From one AVS fan to a Red Wings Soc Med person, the Redwings definitely do not suck! Great job Shannon.

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October 14, 2008 Deb Kolaras 41

What a great gig and a great opp for you AND the Red Wings club. Being an AVs fan, I can appreciate the rivalry, but hopefully you’ll teach our guys here how to reach out and touch the community in a new way. You asked, so if it were me, one super simple idea is just getting people plugged in at the games; have a table, sign ‘em up. I’m sure they have an Ical, but that would also be a nifty “gimme”. HAVE FUN! I’m jealous!!

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October 14, 2008 Chadillac 2oo8 42

Introducing…………… Shannon Paul…………. hands down, the best damn addition to the Red Wings since Steve Yzerman. She just brought the game up to another level………(or thats my opinion)…I may be biased. Congrats!!!! luv ya cuz

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October 14, 2008 nicklucido 43

As if you haven’t heard it enough… congrats! We’re all looking forward to seeing you on Friday!

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October 15, 2008 Dino Baskovic 44

This is outstanding news, Shannon! You shot, you scored. Big time congrats, Ms. Big Time!

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October 15, 2008 Beth Harte 45

Congratulations Shannon!! The Red Wings are lucky to have you! :) Looking forward to seeing how you take them on a social media ride…They are used to speed, but I hope they are prepared for the wonderful conversations that are about to ensue with their fans!

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October 19, 2008 Karen Swim 46

Congratulations Shannon! You are such a star so it only makes sense that you would take on a star team! You truly represent the best this region has to offer!

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October 20, 2008 Roger Burnett 47

Shannon:
You have a fantastic, loyal, rabid fan base (of which I am a member, of course), that EAT UP all things RED WING. However, the majority of them do not fall instantly into the demographic that is aware of what a valuable tool they might soon possess. Being a captive fan base, however, allows you a myriad of opportunities to market to them while they are engaged with the core product. I have some ideas that could work. If you’d be interested in having a brainstorming session, please let me know. Too bad I didn;t find you sooner, as my son and his Little Caesars hockey team had been practicing at JLA two times a week earlier this fall and I had LOTS of time to kill.
Roger

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October 21, 2008 Lauren B. 48

Congrats Shannon on a great new opportunity and welcome to the “Coolest Job Ever” club! I just found your blog (via Chris Brogan) and am adding you to my reader right away. Six months ago, I got a similar opportunity with the PGA TOUR, to do social media and fan outreach online, and every day has been a fun and new experience. Feel free to hit me up if you want to share ideas or say hello. Best wishes to your Red Wings this season (though I am a Stars fan).

Cheers, Lauren (@ltbeyer)

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October 28, 2008 Lauren Weber 49

Congrats on getting one of the best jobs in the D! You lucky dog. Be sure to remember us little PR people and let’s meet up for lunch real soon!
@metrogal84

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November 3, 2008 Jamie 50

Congrats on the job… Nancy told me about you getting the position.

I hope your position has something to do with keeping the RWW updated. I think that needs some help. Us RWW people sometimes feel left out of the loop. I know that it isn’t always considered NEW MEDIA but it is the OLD media that is in need of some TLC.

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{ 2 trackbacks }

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