With the NBA Playoffs continuing and the Finals right around the corner, the remaining four teams have all shared the spotlight with their digital engagement strategies up to this point in the playoffs. In some cases the spotlight was clever and creative, but in other times, their strategies raised concerns as controversy arose and brought negative social media attention.
It all started in the first round for two of the teams, as the Atlanta Hawks and Houston Rockets managed their Twitter social media accounts in two different ways. The Hawks to start off, tried a new way of marketing never before seen by allowing fans to purchase tickets via Twitter with the tap of a tweet. This happened seven months after Twitter allowed products to be brought from a tweet. It offered a limited number of tickets for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference match-up against the Brooklyn Nets without even having to leave Twitter.
The Rockets on the other hand, received a lot of media attention for all the wrong reasons using their Twitter account. Houston’s social media manager, Chad Shanks, took things a bit too far when he tweeted an emoji of a gun pointed at a horse’s head (implying a Maverick) shortly before the 103-94 victory against the Dallas Mavericks that advanced the Rockets into the second round of the playoffs.
After being criticized shortly after it was sent on social media, the tweet was deleted but not before the Mavericks commented on the tweet. The official Dallas Mavericks account responded saying: “Not very classy but we still wish you guys the best of luck in the next round.” Shanks was fired the next day and the Rockets apologized for the tweet. Although social media works wonders in today’s sports world, it can also be harmful if users aren’t cautious of what they’re posting under certain circumstance. Next on the list, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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After advancing to the second round of the playoffs, the Cavs put themselves in quite a corner after playing a controversial skit during Game 2 against the Chicago Bulls that depicted an incident of domestic violence. The video was meant as a parody of a United Health Care commercial to Dirty Dancing that shows a male Cavaliers fan raising up a female Bulls fan and then throwing her to the ground after realizing she wasn’t a Cavs fan.
The intent of the skit was to promote the Cavaliers “All In” slogan, which is their official slogan for the 2015 NBA Playoffs. As what happened with the Rockets, the team apologized for airing the clip the following day after the video went viral on social media, saying it was a “mistake to include content that made light of domestic violence” on their official team website.
The use of social media or the internet in general to promote the advancement of digital engagement strategies can sometimes work against users if they aren’t careful of the content they are publishing. For the Cavs, even after apologizing for their “humorous spoof”, many fans and employees around the league are still scratching their head as to why they thought it was acceptable to mock in the first place.
Last up, the Golden State Warriors who are one win away from sweeping the Rockets and advancing to the NBA Finals for the first time in forty years, had a humorous but ethically concerning press conference involving their star player, Stephen Curry. After defeating the Rockets in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, Curry brought his two-year old daughter, Riley Curry, to the press conference after an outstanding 34 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists performance for the league’s MVP.
Riley stole the spotlight and at one time even told daddy he’s too loud and ordered him to be quiet. Social media took it into it’s own hands, as it usually does nowadays, as the press conference went viral and became the biggest topic of the night, overshadowing the victory for the Warriors.
However, as cute as Riley’s actions were, many questioned the level of ethics behind Curry choosing to take his daughter to the podium. The reason behind it was many fans and basketball analysts, including two-time Hall of Fame inductee Charles Barkley, believe children should not be included in a press conference as reporters are trying to do their job and meet deadlines to publish content of the game that just occurred. Although it did sound a bit harsh as children like Riley don’t mean any harm to anyone, it is something to think about as reporters are trying to publish stories as soon as possible with the advancement of technology and social media in our society that wants instant content.
It will be interesting to see what else happens with the remaining teams as they try to include digital engagement strategies the rest of the Conference Finals, ultimately leading up to the biggest stage of the season, the NBA Finals.