@SrachauDbacks
Shaun Rachau is the vice president of communications for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Rachau has 14 years of experience with Major League Baseball, in which he spent eight seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Rachau graduated from Arizona State University in 1995 with a bachelor's degree in journalism. Rachau lives in Phoenix with his wife, Joely, and son, Brody.
Following: 733
Followers: 1,214
Number of Tweets: 890
Favorite person to follow? My favorite person to follow is CNBC sports business reporter Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell). Rovell has been an innovator in the sports industry social media landscape because he gets exclusives with professional athletes and with many of the largest sports brands. If there is a big-time sporting event going on, such as the World Series, Rovell asks people attending the games to post pictures from the ballpark and Tweet what the price of concessions are, for example. Whether you are a fan or an executive in the sports industry, those are the types of things you want to know and can't get by watching the game on TV.
Why did you start Tweeting? I first started Tweeting during the 2009 baseball season really not knowing what I was doing or how it could interact with what I do for a baseball team on a daily basis. I have self taught myself and observed many other people since then and really make using Twitter a part of my everyday life. It has completely changed how sports public relations people deal with the media and how the news cycle for a story is instant rather than at least taking a reporter a few hours to post a story only a few years ago.
What do you never Tweet about? I don't tweet about my family. However, I try to offer as much behind-the-scenes information about the D-backs as I can because I believe Twitter is a great way to engage our fan base.
What Tweet has generated the most response? We sent out numerous Tweets with a link to a lip dub video the organization produced during the holidays last year that received a ton of responses. The video ended up being picked up by ESPN, most of the Valley TV stations and sports blogs throughout the country.
What is the strangest place you've Tweeted from? I have tweeted from an airplane at 30,000 feet when Wi-fi has been available for passengers.
How do you choose who you follow? Because I am the D-backs public relations representative, I try to follow all of the Phoenix news, sports and entertainment media as well as the national media covering baseball. I also try to follow sports business writers, bloggers and baseball fans who are really interactive on Twitter. The ultimate goal is to get as many people following the D-backs on Twitter so they are the first to be informed when we make a trade, have discount ticket offers for fans or want to push behind-the-scenes video of our players on a daily basis.
iPhone or BlackBerry? iPhone.
