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Basketball

NBA Continues to Slam Dunk with Social Media

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By: Dallas J. Short

The NBA gets it, they really really get it. They are aware their fanbase is younger and socially connected (read: addicted to smartphones and tablets). They strongly believe that “fan-generated content is the ultimate marketing.” Teams and players are both active and followers continue to grow. More than 87% of NBA players have one or more accounts and the league’s new campaign #ThisIsWhyWePlay has been successfully exploding. Numbers wise, it’s hard to deny their force. The NBA has 27.5 million (Facebook) and 17.7 million (Twitter). How does that compared to the other big leagues? NFL has 12.5 million (Facebook) and 13.9 (Twitter). MLB has 6.3 million (Facebook) and 5.3 million (Twitter). NFL has 3.9 million (Facebook) and 4.21 million (Twitter).

This season the NBA is bringing games to Facebook and Twitter. Subscribers to League Pass (or Team Pass, which for the first time grants access to all out-of-market games for a single team) will be able to go straight from social media (official NBA posts/tweets) through a “watch” link into the games they pay for and watch in real time. Non-subscribers can purchase access to a single game for $6.99. The NBA will become the first major U.S. professional sports league to offer a single option for fans throughout the regular season.  The single game offering, available for purchase three days prior to the game, will allow fans to watch individual NBA League Pass live games during the regular season. The only league doing it this way for streaming, where you don’t have to buy the entire package and can only watch what you want. I say again, the NBA gets it!

So instead of just hearing or reading about Steph Curry putting up another 30+ points in a game, you can watch it wherever you are at as well. If LeBron or someone is set to break another record, access that single game to see history happen. As a Sixers fan, the fear of throwing my phone becomes even more a risk. So, I think I will have stick to yelling at the television for at least a few more years.

Last season, there were 101 international players on opening-night rosters, which is almost 25% of the league. This new update allows international growth as well.

(From their press release) The NBA had a record breaking year on social media, adding 240 million new fans since the end of the 2013-14 regular season — a 40% increase and largest single-year total.  Overall, the NBA now has more than 811 million likes and followers combined across all league, team and player social platforms. The record year on social media for the NBA resulted in more than 31 billion impressions, up 130% over the previous season with record growth on NBA social platforms including:

Facebook: +4.8 million new likes, +22% (2 million total likes)

Twitter: +4.1 million new followers, +42% (13.9 million total followers)

Instagram: +3.5 million new followers, +151%, (5.8 million total followers)

YouTube: +665 million new videos viewed, +33% (2.7 billion total videos viewed)

NBA.com and NBA Mobile achieved all-time traffic records during the 2014-15 season with more than 16.7 billion page views and 4.2 billion video views combined, up 9% respectively when compared to the previous season.

While other leagues are trying to shut down user content, it’s great to see the NBA, under Adam Silver’s leadership, continue to grow and thrive while embracing their fans and wanting to do more for their overall experience.

Are you following the @NBA or your favorite teams and players on social media? Do you think you will watch games through the new watch link?

As always, if you enjoyed what you read, please be social and share. Please feel free to follow me @meddafore @indraPRGroup

 

We’re Still Talkin About Practice

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By Dallas J. Short

May 7, 2002, a day that will forever be remembered as the greatest NBA press conference in history or least the press conference that created a timeless quotable. The date when Allen Iverson questioned “Practice? We’re talkin about practice, man.”

(Full disclosure, the Sixers are my favorite team and I believe Allen Iverson is one of the greatest players of all time.)

Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d29VsG35DQM

Thirteen years later, we’re still talking about practice. This is a quote I use on a regular basis, as recently as Monday night I used it at my kickball game. I used it in a blog a few months ago. It has taken on a whole life outside of that press conference, been parodied by comedians, referenced by other athletes, paid homage to on t-shirts and much more.

If you’re reading this, you probably have already done your Allen Iverson “practice?” impersonation out loud or replayed it in your head. So, now that we have got that out of the way, let’s talk about a few social media practices. Don’t worry, I didn’t click bait you with the Iverson story. I really wanted to talk about it, but this is, after all, a professional blog and I figured it was a good tie-in.

Here are five social media practices, which while known, often seem to slip through the cracks.

  • Questions are a great way to engage your community. It makes your fans and followers feel involved. Do not just talk at them, talk with them. Keep your questions short, simple and to the point. “Are you talking about practice?”
  • Asking for a retweet, this is a practice which I know a lot of people say they are against, but when used right, it’s effective. If you have a strong opinion or emotional photo, this could be the time to rally your troops. Use sparingly, otherwise it will be like crying wolf and will have negative effects.
  • You have a story to tell, get it out there. Make sure you sure you have options for people to share your blog posts or articles through other social media platforms. It lets your story grow outside of your own site and increases readership.
  • Your social media voice should be the voice of your company, not an employee. Define it and ride with it. If the person handling your social media ends up not working there anymore, it should not be obvious to your readers. If the ball is ever dropped, it should be able to easily and seamlessly be picked up by anyone on your team.
  • You can never take your online community for granted. You do not need to fawn over them, but you need to make sure to thank them and make them feel appreciated. They are an extension of you. Online and offline, you want them cheering on your side.

Are there any memorable sports quotes you find yourself bringing up at work? What other social media practices do you think people sometimes forget or should try to improve?

As always, I welcome your comments and if you like what you read, be social and share.

Yes, practice.

Let the Madness Begin!

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By: Dallas J. Short

March Madness is upon us. If you have not filled out a bracket, time is running out, but be warned: the person who does not watch college sports will probably win. It just happens. If you do not have an interest in the NCAA Tournament, sorry, but it almost becomes unavoidable. There is still a good chance it is the big buzz around your office or by a lot of people you know, it is especially a huge deal on social media. Expect the hashtag #MarchMadness to be trending for the next 3 weeks.

While Facebook will definitely include predictions, outbursts, and reactions – people will be on Twitter and keeping with up the action in real time. According to the research Twitter has done with DB5, “75% of sports fans on Twitter use the platform to follow their favorite teams and athletes, and 61% follow their Twitter feed and/or Tweet while watching sports on TV. Nearly half (49%) say they feel as close to the action following games on Twitter as they do watching them on TV.”

Last year, Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings found that in the US, TV broadcasts of the tournament generated 14.1M Tweets and 1.6B Tweet impressions.

Even if your team was ripped off and wasn’t selected for the tourney (Miami Hurricanes, Temple Owls), this is an exciting time in sports. The college players play with not only skill, but so much passion and heart – that it is not as easily predictable as the major professional sports. Anything can happen and there will be “madness” indeed. Duke (3) was upset last year by Mercer (14) and Twitter exploded and it actually became more tweeted about than even the Championship final. Duke is a #1 seed this year, people love to hate Duke, so let’s see how they do this year. Another story to follow is Kentucky, also a #1 seed – they went the entire season undefeated, how long will the ride last?

There are so many experts and self-presumed experts on Twitter right now, it is easy to learn more about the players, the coaches, the matchups, predictions and more. It becomes fun and addictive to stay in the know and follow along as it goes. No matter if you are using Twitter for personal or professional use during #MarchMadness, you will want to be in the know.

In 2014, Twitter users were as engaged on game days as they were on non-game days, so this a great chance for brands to be involved and jump into the conversation as well. Be prepared to be locked in until at least April 7 (Championship game is April 6), fans are watching and responding, they want a brand they feel like they are watching the tournament with, not being sold to while trying to enjoy it. Brands need to respect the intensity of the game and the fans. People tend to have deep ties to college sports and it is not just a random or forced association.

As I said in my blog for Get in the Game: Tips for Tweeting on Super Sunday, this is an opportunity for you and your brands to connect and engage on a more natural level and develop meaningful interactions and relationships. With games starting March 17 and ending on April 6, this gives you a lot more time to build and strengthen those bonds with fans, followers, and possible/future fans and followers. Do not waste any more time, jump in now.

As far as who my predictions are to win? Well, we are doing an office pool and I believe in the jinx. So, let’s talk more in a few weeks. When I’m not at work, you can be sure I’ll be tweeting along. @Meddafore If you feel like throwing your predictions out there, feel free to do so. If you think there is a better platform for #MarchMadness engagement, please let me know that too.

As always, I welcome any and all comments and if you like what you read be social and share.

What to Take Away from the Donald Sterling Scandal

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By: Gina Mason

It is very disheartening that in 2014, racism is still a major issue in our society. Despite the progress that we have made, we still have not been able to completely purge the hate and ignorance of judging others based on race, religion or sexual orientation from humanity.

On Friday, we witnessed a despicable example of hatred and racism in the sports world when the NBA was rocked by a huge scandal that involved LA Clippers owner, Donald Sterling. Sterling was recorded making racist remarks about African Americans and it was later revealed that he was notorious for making similar derogatory comments. This offense received a tremendous amount of attention and made people question why Sterling had never faced any repercussions for his ignorant words and if there is a larger issue of racism within basketball.

Despite the scandal, I believe that there is a silver lining to this situation and that we as a society can benefit from his abhorrent actions. Here are a few positive things that I think we can take away from this scandal:

Awareness

There is no denying that Donald Sterling’s remarks garnered a huge amount of media attention and gave people something to talk about. Sterling’s actions had a “shock and awe” factor that generated a discussion about his stupidity and most importantly, the existence of racism today. Even though this scandal was a negative situation, the dialogue of racism spawned greater awareness for the issue and made us all more cognizant that racism is still prevalent within sports as well as our culture.

Unity

In times of adversity people come together and we saw that this scandal not only unified the players in the NBA, but also some of America’s biggest influencers. Following the release of the tape, we witnessed the players (both current and retired), coaches and front office personnel from around the NBA create a united front against Donald Sterling and racism within the sport.  Those actions also spurred politicians, celebrities and influencers to get behind the cause to voice their disdain for Sterling and his actions. All of the people who spoke out against Sterling aided in spreading the message that these actions will not be tolerated in sports or our society.

Zero Tolerance

I believe one of the most important things that we can take away from this scandal is the zero tolerance statement that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver made against racism. By banning Sterling, he sent a message that goes beyond the confines of the NBA and set an example that such actions will not be tolerated in sports, business or our society. I think that children in America can learn from this and will realize that hatred or discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated under any circumstance.

In a world of negativity and hate, I do believe that we can learn from situations like this and grow as a society. There are so many people who follow professional sports and I believe that this has sent a strong message against racism to people around the world.

What did you think of the scandal? What did you take away from the situation? Do you feel that there will be a positive outcome from these negative actions?

As always, I welcome your comments and if you like what you read, be social and share.