Blake Griffin is one of the NBA’s most exciting players, but basketball has always been a team game. The 30 franchises that make up the league have generated a revenue pie in excess of $5 billion. The digital age has enabled this game to reach its worldwide audience anywhere, anytime. Teams can build up their own local fan base through the sundry of platforms available.
Much like our #NFLTechSeries, this time SportTechie delves into the digital strategies–from web, social media, mobile apps, and any other technological connection–of each team and analyzes them, including insights from some of the digital executives involved. Today, the #NBADigitalSeries 2013-14 continues with the Los Angeles Clippers. Stay tuned to SportTechie for ongoing coverage of the #NBADigitalSeries.
The Los Angeles Clippers, known across the country as Lob City, are also known in the digital space for being one of the most fan-friendly and proactive teams around. The Clippers won the Fan Nation Award from NBA TV for having the most engaging social channels in the league.
Eric Patten, the Clippers’ Digital Media Manager and Communications Coordinator, explained to us that delivering a unique experience based on the available platform is key for messaging.
“As for our overall social media strategies, we try to deliver a different user experience on each platform,” Patten said. “Instagram, for example, would be a place we provide more lighthearted media, insider photos, etc. We would push “packages” on Facebook such as photo galleries and video/editorial pieces. And we would use Twitter to deliver breaking news, injury updates, and also drive fans/readers back to our website.”
Patten also readily admits that having Blake Griffin and Chris Paul around certainly make things easier. For example, Griffin (2.15 million) and Paul (2.89 million) have far more followers on their personal accounts than the Clippers (475 thousand) do. So, it’s key for the team to leverage the popularity of its players for its own good.
“In a way, you could say the emergence of Blake Griffin and the acquisition of Chris Paul in 2011-12 impacted our social media effort. Blake and Chris have had a tremendous, indirect influence on our social media, including being a primary reason we won the (NBA TV Fan Nation Award).”
Throughout the season, the Clippers are keen to engaging fans through a variety of tactics on various platforms. The team runs a Trivia Tuesday contest on Facebook where fans can earn points to win prizes. On Twitter, the team uses former players to “takeover” the Twitter accounts to drive engagement and access a new demographic. On Instagram, the team asks fans to post game predictions via a photo. Different strategies on different platforms allow for maximum engagement, and the Clippers seem to be doing that as well as anyone.
In addition, the Clippers have a great social presence on their website (www.clippers.com), having the #ClippersCompass page online. The team has gone as far as to tie in a sponsor (Sprint) to its social efforts. Being able to drive revenue through social and digital media is the ultimate goal, and it appears the Clippers are doing a good job of that.
On gamedays, the Clippers host a live game day chat on their website, so the digital efforts tend to be focused on driving traffic to that platform.
“During games we try to provide as much inside content as possible: photos, quotes, breaking news updates and results,” Patten said. “Our primary focus has been driving fans back to Clippers.com for interaction during our live in-game chat, which is one of our more popular game-day features. We also have a staff member who is responsible for monitoring our social channels throughout the game and responding to questions and helping stir conversation.”
Check out some of the Clippers social accounts embedded below.
Facebook – Fan Contests
Twitter – Behind the Scenes/In Game Action
Tip in Denver (photo) #ItsTime #Clippers pic.twitter.com/oGc0E6edtk
— Los Angeles Clippers (@LAClippers) February 4, 2014
Instagram – Dynamic Images and Post Game Scores