NEW YORK: Like countless others, the NBA’s Tish Carmona has spent hours scrolling TikTok since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Then the strategic comms writer realized that she had not seen a single video on her For You page about working in sports or the business side of the industry.
Carmona has decided to fill that void by launching a TikTok page (@TishCarmona) dedicated to giving advice to people who want a communications job in sports.
“A lot of college students during the pandemic have reached out to me asking for advice and usually I will answer them one-on-one,” said Carmona. “But when I was thinking about how I could best use my platform to share my advice and make it accessible to a lot of young, aspiring sports industry professionals, TikTok made the most sense because of its ability to just pick up a video, blow it up and put it on the For You page.”
Carmona started the page this month with the goal of answering at least one question per day. Her tips are for people at different stages in their lives, from high schoolers and recent college graduates to people laid off due to the pandemic who are looking to get back into the industry.
She hopes to interview other industry pros in her videos.
“There is a general lack of understanding about what comms pros and PR pros do, so I want to speak on that,” she said. “I am 25 and have been working in sports for five years, but I want to share the learnings I have.”
People who want Carmona to answer their questions in her videos can reach out via LinkedIn or by commenting directly.
Carmona picked TikTok as a platform to share her advice because of its laid back, creative nature. She noted that, in comparison with other social media channels, videos on TikTok are more likely to spread widely and are easily digestible, with all content under one minute.
“TikTok is a great way for individuals to reach people they wouldn’t otherwise reach,” she said.
Within the account’s first two days, Carmona racked up 8,425 followers, and one of her videos received 34,000 likes and 225,000 views.
Carmona has 13,000 followers and 67,000 likes on her TikTok page. One of the videos she posted last week has been viewed 356,500 times.
@tishcarmona Who wants to work in sports? ???? ##fyp ##foryou ##sports ##sportsbusiness ##nba ##wnba ##nfl
? Say So (Instrumental Version) [Originally Performed by Doja Cat] - Elliot Van Coup
@tishcarmona “What do you actually do?” ##sportsbusiness ##sports ##fyp
? original sound - TishCarmona
"It expanded way further than I was expecting," she said.
