As we draw deeper into the 2013 AFL and NRL seasons and nearer to the Super Rugby finals, a number of Digital Cheer Squads are up and firing – with fans racking up the mountain of points on offer!
What is Digital Cheer Squad?
Digital Cheer Squad is an online frequent flyer rewards system that grades a fan based upon the support they show for your team or brand via Twitter and Facebook.
It’s a great way for sports teams to connect with fans and sponsors in the continually growing world of social media.
Let’s check in with some teams using Infographics built using Infogr.am to highlight what is happening behind the scenes.
Auckland Blues – #TrueBlueHQ
Auckland Blues have done a great job engaging Blues fans with True Blue HQ take a look at some of the results they have got for the presenting partner Barfoot & Thompson, New Zealand’s largest privately owned real estate company.
Impressively, #TrueBlueHQ fans have received over 10,000 points simply from interacting with major sponsor Barfoot & Thompson on Twitter. Fans are able to gain points simply by following and mentioning the @BarfootThompson on Twitter, as well as retweeting their tweets, if you take a look at @BarfootThompson mentions they is a lot of love from Blues fans, we are looking forward to being able to say “Real Estate company sells house via Twitter activation”.
One thing that’s clear from this infographic – a goal after the final siren to win your team a game of footy doesn’t do your online popularity any harm at all! Nic Naitanui does a great job engaging fans on Twitter and Instagram, The Swoop has helped the Eagles profile their growing roster of players active on Twitter.
North Queensland Cowboys – #CowboysSocialClub
North Queensland Cowboys launched #CowboysSocialClub last week and fans have produced some really impressive numbers so far when it comes to sharing content on Facebook.
Posts on the official Cowboys Facebook page have received nearly 700 likes from #CowboysSocialClub fans while around 11,000 points have been distributed to fans who have gone on to share these posts with their Facebook friends. Giving fans an extra incentive to share official team content helps the Cowboys maintain a strong online brand and presence.
South Sydney Rabbitohs – #SouthSydneySocial
The Rabbitohs’ Digital Cheer Squad – #SouthSydneySocial – was launched last night, and we’ll be sure to bring you an update on how that’s tracking in the coming weeks. Early returns are good with fans registering around Australia and a few international fans from the Rabbitohs wide fan base.
Follow @DigiCheerSquad on Twitter to see fans from all teams firing up.
Stay tuned for more teams launching soon, so keep an eye on SportsGeek’s Facebook and Twitter accounts so you can be sure to sign up as soon as it drops!
Interested in Digital Cheer Squad for your team? Simply contact us
According to a survey by U.K.-based online bank First Direct, there are 12 social media personalities, ranging from “ultras” to “virgins.” The “ultras,” for instance, are deeply infatuated with sites like Twitter and Facebook.
Dr David Giles, an expert in social media behaviour and a Reader in Media Psychology at Winchester University, said: “Most people using social media will display a combination of those personality types, and they may even behave differently on Facebook, for example, to how they behave on Twitter.
Last week, in one of the year’s biggest sports news stories, Sir Alex Ferguson called it quits on his illustrious 26-year career at Manchester United. Ferguson’s popularity on and off the pitch has been well documented (including on Sports Geek Podcast 002), and the online response to the news from fans and players past and present, was understandably overwhelming.
The bosses work ethic, his desire to win + to make us better players were unrivalled. Thanks boss. — Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) May 8, 2013
Sad day for football.The Great Man RETIRES. One of the GREATEST managers ever.SAF is 1 of the most infuential people that I have met #KING — Tim Cahill (@Tim_Cahill) May 8, 2013
As we’ve come to expect when significant sports news breaks, social media goes into an frenzy. Within five minutes, the official Manchester United Press office tweet announcing Ferguson’s retirement had been retweeted 5,000 times. An hour later, that number had grown to over 100,000. It wasn’t long before the #thankyousiralex hashtag was the number one trending topic worldwide, as reported by Head of sport for Twitter in the UK/Europe @LewisWiltshire:
Fans were also encouraged to leave messages of support via a custom Facebook application, which to date has been clicked more than 240,000 times from a number of locations around the world, as explained in Sports Geek Podcast.
Facebook numbers, WOW!
The announcement was handled extremely well by Manchester United’s media team, who were able to incorporate their respect and appreciation with a number of Facebook posts that oozed class and a strong sense of fan engagement:
But the most heart-felt sign of fans’ appreciation came before his side’s penultimate match of the 2012-13 season, where players from both Manchester United and visiting team Swansea City joined to form a guard of honour:
This year was Golden State’s first time in the playoffs since their incredible run in 2006-07. The years between appearances resulted in placing of 3rd and 4th in their division and missing the playoffs. Sean was lucky enough to be in town just as they clinched for the 2013 playoffs. Their absence over the past couple of years has elevated fan excitement and the Golden State Warriors have used this to their advantage and have taken to Social Media to interact and engage with their fans through an exciting competition.
The Playoff Ticket Scavenger Hunt is a contest which the Warriors ran giving away a range of prizes in the ten days leading up to their first home playoff game. The contest revolves around all social media and digital platforms for the Warriors including: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Mobile App, Insider email, Insider mobile and Youtube. Each day there would be clues and challenges published on one of these platforms, which required you to respond to win.
Having a contest which incorporates all digital platforms has given the Warriors an opportunity to develop and improve their reach with their fans. If fans wanted to increase their chances of winning, the best opportunity is to sign up or follow all of the Warriors 8 digital platforms so they don’t miss out on the clues or challenges posted. This in turn possesses as an incredible opportunity for the Warriors to develop their fan base in a digital sense, but more importantly allows the organisation to interact and engage with followers in the future.
Let’s now look at how the Golden State Warriors used their Social Media platforms for the Playoff Scavenger Hunt.
Day 1: Engaging Facebook Fan Base
The Warriors started the scavenger hunt contest with Facebook, which has the most amount of followers at 458,384. Starting with their most popular platform is a great way in informing their largest base of followers of the competitions commencement. It also allows for Facebook users to become aware of other social media platforms the Warriors use regularly throughout the season.
The day 1 challenge started off with an easy assignment for followers which required them to ‘LIKE & SHARE’ the below post. Winners were chosen at random and announced the following day. The post received 6,983 likes and 6,815 shares.
Day 2: Driving a Twitter frenzy
Following Facebook the @Warriors took to Twitter, their second largest following at 219,348, for the hardest challenge in the competition. The Warriors did warn that this challenge was ‘Extra Challenging’ in their first tweet. The challenge required followers to find a clue within their ‘Gameday Photo Galleries’ from the season.
Followers on Facebook who don’t have twitter received a clue via a photo post of Stephen Curry wearing a ‘@warriors – #letsgowarriors’ t-shirt. The picture also featured the twitter logo over the top of the Warriors logo. For followers on Facebook who don’t know what twitter was, hand no idea what the clue was, as comments of “blue jays carrying them over the bridge” and “a mocking jay?” featured throughout the comments section. Other fans where nice enough to direct those lost to twitter to follow the challenges instructions.
This is where the challenge gets tricky. There are 24 galleries per page and 17 pages of gallery photos since the start of the season with numerous amounts photos in each gallery, I guess the Warriors really wanted fans to work for their tickets. I have to be honest I didn’t manage to find the clue through the galleries as I gave up after close to an hour of searching, as did many others who didn’t have time to search.
Day 3: Driving Fans to Mobile App
Day 4: Everyone loves Bobbleheads
The day 4 challenge was for Oakland residents to head down to a specific Lucky Supermarket and find a Klay Thompson bobble head. Once found you were required to take a photo with the bobble head and post it on Twitter or Instagram with the #FoundKlay hash tag.
This is a simple challenge which incorporated Lucky Supermarkets, who are the official grocery store sponsor of the Warriors and the Oakland Raiders. A great way of using sponsors in the social media competition to increase brand awareness for the grocery store.
Time is running out on Day 4 of the Scavenger Hunt, but some bonus prizes might be on the way later tonight… | twitter.com/warriors/statu…
Instagram was the sole target of the day 5 challenge via their account @officialwarriors. The challenged prompted fans to be as creative as they can while impersonating player Kent Bazemore’s famous three point celebration named ‘Bazemoring’. The photo had to be tagged with #bazemoring hash tag for winners to be picked. Entries featured poses on top of cars, outside Oracle stadium and where ever the opportunity presented itself for fans.
Kent Bazemore is known as the NBA’s number 1 towel-waver and bench hype machine, who continually displays his game long energy celebrating player’s shots. This signature move of celebrating 3’s was used by the Warriors as a Facebook check in competition for fans at a home playoff game to receive a 3 point foam finger, drawing on the ‘Bazemoring’ and ‘Splash Brothers’ hype. This is another impressive opportunity which the Warriors have used to their advantage to engage and interact with their fans. The Winner of the challenge was announced on Twitter and can been seen below
The Warriors Pinterest page has the least amount of followers out of all social media avenues used for the Warriors. As a result the scavenger hunt competition stands as a great way of promoting and increasing followers. The challenge was for users to create a ‘board’ labelled ‘#DubNation’ and required you to post 20 things that creatively display your Golden State Warriors pride.
As Pinterest is continually growing and relatively new to sports teams, the ways in which teams interact and engage with fans and supporters is different. Pinterest has a large female following and the inclusion of this platform in the scavenger competition is an excellent way for the Warriors to reach their female fans and supporters. Check out our Sports on Pinterest board.
Day 8: Share and Like the team you love on Facebook
We are back on Facebook with the 8th challenge looking at fans relieving their favourite moments from the season. To officially enter the challenge followers needed to again LIKE & SHARE the post and provide a comment on their favourite moment.
An easy challenge to complete which provides an opportunity for fans to talk about the amazing season the Warriors are having so far and continues the hype and excitement leading into game two of their round 1 matchup against the Denver Nuggets.
I thought i should also provide my favourite moment of the season. I feel sorry for the rookies . . . . .
Day 9: Crowdsourcing fan video on YouTube
The final day of the Scavenger Hunt continued on from the favourite moments challenge from day 8 and fans needed to get the camera out for YouTube. An extra two tickets were up for grabs and fans needed to film a 30sec clip of a re-enactment of their favourite play, people #Bazemoring, the Landry flex, putting up some 3-point goggles or wearing some Warriors merchandise.
This challenge was promoting their YouTube channel and needed fans to submit their videos via the Warrior’s website. Riding their playoff excitement fans really produced some impressive videos in the short time they had. Below are two of my personal favourites
Day 10: Integrating Adidas with Twitter and Instagram
The Warriors weren’t done yet and threw in a BONUS day, giving away a Harrison Barnes jersey. The final challenge used Instagram and Twitter once again getting fans to take a photo of themselves with a mannequin wearing the jersey at the Adidas store in San Francisco. Once again we see an opportunity for a sponsor to be involved in the competition.
Final notes
In summary most of the challenges were fairly easy to follow and complete, the only challenge which maybe and should have been altered was the day 2 challenge. This could of been improved with the inclusion of a clue indicating which date the gallery clue might be from. This could have saved a lot of time for followers and been more engaging and positive, as many people commented that they had given up as it was too hard.
The challenges throughout the scavenger hunt were fair as most challenges were not a race. This made each challenge available to all fans and supporters as everyone who entered had an equal chance of winning. The majority of the challenges were different as some involved appearing at stores and then using Instagram to the basic sharing and liking posts on facebook.
Using their most popular social media platforms as the primarily avenues to inform followers of clues and challenges was a great way of promoting other developing platforms such as Pinterest and their Mobile app. Drawing on key moments through the year such as the #Bazemoring poses, continually keep fans excited leading into the playoffs.
The only question which remains is, how active will these users be if they have only signed up to win playoff tickets, will they be influencers in the future?
What did you think? Let me know in the comments.
"First of all, great post Curtis I like how you followed the promotion from the fan's point of view. Great job by Kevin Cote as his team at the Warriors for executing a campaign like this to engage in midst of a exciting (and very busy) playoff run."
First of all THANK YOU, I was blown away with the response to SGP 001! Thank you so much for the tweets, likes, comments, texts and yes even the plus ones. Humbled by the feedback and look forward to speaking with you on future podcasts.
In this podcast I discuss the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson from Manchester United on ABC Grandstand Digital with Francis Leach. On HarfTime with Tony Schibeci filling in for Harf we discuss the some of the social media and digital tools we use at Sports Geek and recommend to out clients. We are also joined by BJ Scott on a Clarity call discussing Linkedin and how I built Sports Geek using Linkedin.
More specifically, in this podcast you’ll find out about:
How many fans said #ThankYouSirAlex on Twitter and how much traffic was generated from Facebook
What to do when you accidentally tweet big news too early
What tools do we use at Sports Geek
How to save Instagram photos you like to your Dropbox
Kevin Love signs autographs for fans to kick off the Get Closer campaign
The Minnesota Timberwolves, like many other professional sports organisations, use multiple social media platforms to engage and interact with their fans and supporters. Recently, the team has used to their YouTube channel to support and promote their innovative ‘Get Closer’ season-ticket renewal strategy.
The campaign draws on sports fans’ desire to be as close to the action as possible, but also embodies a sense of appreciation for fans who have continually shown their support. Driven by the hash-tagged #GetCloser slogan, this theme of ‘appreciation’ is consistent across all mediums, and herein lies the strategy’s uniqueness and effectiveness.
Instead of promoting season ticket renewals directly or giving away merchandise, the Timberwolves are showing how they have and will continue to give back to their fans and the community through, player/fan events and behind the scenes access. This gives us a sense that the fans are as important as the players are which is particularly evident through their recent series of videos on YouTube:
Behind the scenes access:
As you can you see from the videos above, Minnesota gave season ticket holders an opportunity of a life time to be part of their campaign commercials. The videos portray fans with players in a real life conversation discussing topics not relating to basketball. This shows another side of the players rather than their athletic abilities which are usually on display for the fans, but insight on a personal level, in a very comical way (Andrei Kirilenko’s ‘Get Closer: AK’ was a personal favourite).
There are also a couple of videos which give fans a behind the scenes access of their jet, inside the TV Truck, interview with Wolves radio host Alan Horton and Player outing coverage. There is also a special playlist dedicated to season ticket holders who have renewed their membership with a special message from individual players, again going above and beyond for their support.
As we can see Minnesota has been very active and measured through their Youtube channel when showing fan appreciation and continually offering an experience even when the final buzzer has sounded.
To improve the campaigns effectiveness and reach the Timberwolves have effectively used their other digital platforms. Facebook was used to show the benefits and access the Wolves give to their fans which is the experience unlike another teams offer:
Twitter was also used with the #GetCloser hash tag to group and follow tweets:
Last but not least Google+ and Vine have also been used to support the season ticket drive:
One final note, Social media platforms all have their own unique way of engaging and interacting with followers and users, this provides opportunities for Sports organisations to establish deeper connections with fans and supporters. The Minnesota Timberwolves have executed a thorough campaign involving a range of platforms to show how they give back to their fans who give so much.
"Love this promotion by my mates at Timberwolves, despite a difficult season on court the Timberwolves make sure the fan is the centre of everything they do. Congrats to Ted Johnson, Jeff Munneke and Bob Stanke for a great campaign."
At Sports Geek we are constantly testing new apps to make the life of our clients easier, here is a list of some of the tools we use daily, weekly and monthly. If we have forgotten any we will add them to our List.ly list, please add yours we love finding out about new tools.
Lists = Ranking. List Posts = Traffic. We help bloggers & brands curate, crowdsource, and engage readers via live embedded list content inside blog posts.
For the 2012-2013 season, we have rated all but one NBA venue as an above average stadium experience. Our ratings are meant to measure the overall fan experience of attending a game.
The sale of Instagram to Facebook for a cool billion in the spring of 2012 was the ultimate Silicon Valley fairy tale: 18 months from launch to offer. But, for co-founder and C.E.O. Kevin Systrom, it was more of a roller-coaster ride, with several missed opportunities, at least two "aha" moments, and one major reboot.
Many people recall childhood dreams of wanting to be a doctor, lawyer or even president of the United States. Not so for Ricky Engelberg, experience director of digital sport at Nike and longtime enthusiast of the brand.
posted 04/29/2013 by Tracy Keller Mobile Marketing is Picking Up Steam in the Sports World Fans no longer have to sit on the sidelines rooting for their favorite team; they can get into the game with the latest fan engagement trends in mobile marketing.
Nathan Mendenhall As marketers, it is our jobs to assure our clients that the time and money that they are investing in social media is not in vain. Therefore, we are constantly tasked with searching for studies and statistics that suggest that social media is still heading for world domination.
Last month, Foursquare's CEO Dennis Crowley addressed rumors that Foursquare's growth had become stagnant, which he said simply weren't true – in fact, they consistently see their numbers grow by 10-30% each month. However, he did admit that Foursquare was no longer the "shiny, new thing" in the world of social media.
If you think that piece of plastic above is just a toy, you'd be wrong. It's an actual gun. That fires standard handgun bullets. That's 3D printed. Yes, printed. It's the first entirely 3D printed gun, previous 3D printed weapons have just been specific parts. Welcome to the future.
As the drugs scandal continues to plague Essendon, its 'hardcore' fans have stood by the club and embattled coach James Hird. AAP/David Crosling When the drugs in Australian sport investigation was announced in early February, much was made of the importance of protecting fans from the actions of wrongdoers.
Advertisers are perplexed and a little angst-y. I know this, because I work in advertising. Wait. Don't stop reading because I admitted that. This isn't about advertising. It just happens to start there. "Teens Are Leaving Social Media in Droves Oh My God We're Doomed Hold Me" A few weeks ago, that was basically the subject line in every advertising industry newsletter.
Tonight the NRL clubs with the two biggest membership bases do battle at Suncorp Stadium to kick-off round eight.
Currently second on the Telstra Premiership Ladder, South Sydney this week won the race to be the first NRL club to reach 25,000 members for 2013. Comparing that with social media statistics, the Bunnies have one signed up member for every five Facebook page likes – a brilliant conversion rate!
Congratulations Members. For the first time in club history we’ve reached the 25,000 Member mark! bit.ly/11WCNiO#standabovetherest
The Broncos are right on their tail with 24,703 signed up members, and are expecting to reach the 25,000 mark later today. Additionally, they have the edge when it comes to raw total social media numbers on a club versus club basis, with more fans on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Sports Geek takes a look at how the teams stack up when it comes to the social space:
With more than 35,000 expected to flock to Suncorp Stadium tonight, it should be a great battle on and off the field with even more tweeting, liking and posting on social media.
As we draw deeper into the 2013 AFL and NRL seasons and nearer to the Super Rugby finals, a number of Digital Cheer Squads are up and firing – with fans racking up the mountain of points on offer!
Auckland Blues have done a great job engaging Blues fans with True Blue HQ take a look at some of the results they have got for the presenting partner Barfoot & Thompson, New Zealand’s largest privately owned real estate company.
The West Coast Eagles are in their 3rd season with The Swoop, they launched in 2011.
North Queensland Cowboys launched #CowboysSocialClub last week and fans have produced some really impressive numbers so far when it comes to sharing content on Facebook.
