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LAFC Establishing Rapport with Los Angeles

A team that has not yet played a home game in their home turf has already won the fanaticism of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Football Club is executing a stellar marketing campaign that is resonating deeply with the Los Angeles culture. Everything about their content contains powerful images of the city’s culture. Golden and gritty.

The LAFC have taken a city first mindset with their content. Take a look at these Instagram posts:

They have also hosted watch parties in LA with the goal of creating a strong fanbase:

These two executions have set the LAFC apart from their crosstown rival down south as they try to make their way into the competitive Los Angeles market.

The focus – developing a community and loyal fanbase. Claps for the social team who has integrated this strategy beautifully.  For now the team is still playing on the road, but once they arrive home in Downtown Los Angeles on Figueroa and King. Best believe the city will be rocking.

Rocking the gear and rocking the Banc of California stadium – their home to come for years.

Toronto Raptors Talking That 6 Language

Toronto is talking their walk on Instagram if you pay close attention to their captions. For those of you who know a rapper named Drake – that Toronto native has elevated the Raptors’ brand to another level. So much so, that he has had an influence in the way the Raptors curate their Instagram captions.

The Raptors are building a connection to Toronto. They are talking that six language. They are talking that Drake language. Take a look:

I highly suggest giving this @raptors account a follow. Only on the condition that you like hip hop’s lingo, will you recognize and appreciate their fitting captions/tone.

Drake’s role as global ambassador has inspired a cool factor for the Raptors. The number one rapper in the game has influenced an NBA social media team.

Schemin on the low and plottin on the low. Toronto’s plan.

*Notable content*

Atlanta Hawks Twitter Trolls Los Angeles Lakers

Last night Atlanta took an L on the court, but took a W on social. The Hawks’ social media team jumped on an opportunity to mock Laker fans wearing out-of-date purple and gold jerseys.

Here it is:

AT LAST! They were able to identify a current jersey – Lonzo Ball

Keep in mind I am an LA native and yours truly is a Laker fan til death, BUT I will accept creative social media ridicule. One important thing to take away from this thread is not every brand/team may get away with this troll. The Atlanta Hawks perfectly executed this in line with their social voice.

Tweets like these are supported by the Atlanta Hawks’ Twitter voice.

Here are notable tweets:

Their tweets align with the ATL attitude.

Props to the Hawks for pulling this thread off nicely. It’s a risk/reward situation and the recognition they received for this execution, resulted in a risk well taken.

The New York Yankees Doing Offseason Social Right

Posting content during the MLB offseason is difficult. There’s a shortage of real time photos and at the same time you don’t want to force anything. You want to post meaningful content. A team I notice doing a great job of posting during the offseason have been the New York Yankees. The social team has seized this challenge successfully.

Offseason Content

Baseball fans are awaiting the MLB 2018 season so it’s important to speak their language. Whether it’s stating your team is waiting for opening day, waiting to rock your stadium, or daydreaming of baseball season. Baseballs fans are antsy for their favorite sport to open for 2018. FullSizeRender 63FullSizeRender 64FullSizeRender 70

Currently, The Bronx is in snow season. The Yankees did a nice job of posting a warm and clean Yankee Stadium, then posting the currently snow filled Yankee Stadium. Awesome content showcasing what it looks like during season vs what it’s looking like during offseason.

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Hiring of Aaron Boone and Signing of Giancarlo Stanton

Capitalizing on the homecoming of Aaron Boone and the signing of the 2017 NL MVP – Giancarlo Stanton. Two big deals for the juggernaut New York Yankees.

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Great offseason content from the World Champion Yanks. It’s genuine with a balance of up-to-date and retrospective. Some takeaways – have photos/content stored for offseason use, capitalize on mother nature and capitalize on major signings.

Put a ring on this Instagram account. The Yanks know a thing or 27 about that.

#Ko8e24 – Lakers Issue the Perfect Hashtag on Kobe’s Jerseys Retirement

When the greatest Laker to play the game of basketball retires both his jerseys that he wore during his 20 year tenure in the purple and gold, it’s a great opportunity to leverage your social account.

The Lakers social team issued the branded hashtag #Ko8e24 the night of December 18th and the basketball world revolved around it. Outstanding results.

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#Ko8e24 is witty and it aesthetically implemented Kobe’s number 8 in place of the letter ‘b.’ Creativity maximized.

Issuing a branded hashtag takes a lot of faith because it can be successful with user generated content or a bust. Luckily and not surprisingly, #Ko824 gained plenty steam on Twitter from the official NBA account to opponent accounts.

Lakers social opened the conversation and previous foes like the Kings and Sixers jumped into the conversation posting content from the #8 Kobe era.

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A perfect blend of nostalgia and living in the moment was vitalized on Twitter this special night. The Lakers saw the opportunity and issued the perfect hashtag. I may have shed a tear watching these posts reminding me of my childhood during the 8 era and my adolescent-hood during the 24 era.

5 rings in two different jerseys. Kobe Bryant has always been a scoring leader in the league.

December 18th 2017 the Lakers lead the league in social ROI.

America’s Team – The Dallas Cowboys Twitter

When there’s 3 million eye balls on your Twitter account, you gotta be entertaining. ESPECIALLY when you are “America’s team.”

It was a game of inches for Sunday Night Football and the Cowboys capitalized on their win. Some classic GOAT humor for Jeff Heath, who made the game winning defensive stop.

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Really, there were two players of the game in tonight’s game of inches. Jeff and the index card that moved the chains for the Cowboys.

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When your players vocalize wins on social, it makes for an even better social presence. Organic and passionate.

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Cowboys with the fresh set of downs. Alive in the playoff hunt. And well alive in the Twitter feed.

 

Seattle Seahawks – Defining Social Media Marketing

Marketing is defined to be the process of creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers. The Seattle Seahawks are doing all four.

Creating valuable graphics. Communicating scores. Delivering them on social. Exchanging messages on social. All to the customer / 12th man.

Here are three strengths of the Seahawks’ social:

1 – Creating A Hue of Blue

The Seahawks display their branded colors to another level on their social. Across their social media platforms, they execute a beautiful hue of blue on every in game image. Like we’ve mentioned in earlier blogs, visual consistency is a great way to stand out. In addition, a perfect way to emphasize your brand.

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2 – Engaging with the 12th Man

Exchange and interact messaging with the fans. It drives engagement to the best level and it’s worth the efforts because these are your brand ambassadors. The people who will back you up in wins and losses.

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3 – Behind the Scenes

Taking you behind the action and making you feel like you are part of the game. Cannot beat that.

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Content like this will turn a prospective fan (customer) into a loyal fan (customer).

Sports fans need a sense of belonging and involving them in the conversation is necessary. Find a need and fill it. Foundational to marketing… It’s simple

The Falcons’ Culture on the Gram

The dirty birds are a confident and take all attitude kind of team. That’s the culture in the organization. Line it up with social and it speaks volumes.

Attitude is Everything

A good social media team knows their channels should align with the business objectives and culture. For the Atlanta Falcons, this arrogance and swagger is made known on Instagram without a doubt. Atlanta’s Instagram captions speak with their confident and nobody is better than our team attitude. Dirty south mindset. I appreciate the authenticity.

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Trading Card Graphic Designs

At the end of November, the Falcons wore throwback unis and created the perfect graphics for the occasion. Atlanta basically created trading cards in portrait mode. This reminded me of the days I use to collect trading cards as a kid.

Amazing creativity to create a nostalgic vibe. Appropriate approach for throwback jerseys. Old gear, old hobbies.

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It is known that any Instagram business account must possess a visual consistency and possess a branded tone. The culture should be communicated to the followers on visual and type. The Atlanta Falcons have done just that with a dark color palette and a savage tone. A tone that they will dominate the competition.

Assertive. Confident. Deliberate.

The Falcons got what they need.

The Clippers Doing 280 Characters Right.

This November, Twitter increased their character count from the traditional 140 to 280. Oh no… More like OH YES cause the Los Angeles Clippers have adopted the Twitter character increase quite nicely. The theme today – 280 Characters being done beautifully.

Integrating 280 Characters

I like brevity so when the Twitter 280 update came out, I wasn’t too big on it. It meant an opportunity for more clutter on a platform intended for concise writing. The Clippers have implemented this update to their advantage. Just because it’s more characters doesn’t necessarily equate to more type. The Clippers have integrated white space and lots of info into a Tweet.

Easy skim, happy follower.

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280 in Game Updates

From tip off to the final whistle, the Clippers are keeping you up-to-date on the B-Ball game. Social is primarily a notifier of news, but here you can consume this content meticulously. On point emojis, excellent white spacing.

Game announcements and quarter updates. Truly a timeline.FullSizeRender 42FullSizeRender 39FullSizeRender 36FullSizeRender 44FullSizeRender 35FullSizeRender 45

280 in Individual Highlights

Because the lifespan of a Tweet is about 15 minutes, it’s ok to tweet a lot. The Clippers go all out and individually highlight their player statistics. A meaningful action that probably goes a long way for the baller. I know if I got shouted out on Twitter for my performance, I would feel more motivated to put up big numbers.

Social motivating players to put in work. A good reason to have social in sports.

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That statistic emoji is so appropriate. 📊 It is now engraved in my mind as a consumer. It is now the Clippers’ emoji by association without them ever having to pay for it.

All in all. The Clippers are branding their online identity in a concise layout. #ItTakesEverything from emojis, dashes, colons, to pressing the enter key on the keyboard to get the necessary spacing.

280 is cool. Here is my highlight to you @LAClippers.

(Tip: The notes app on your iPhone allows you the ability to space your Tweets in the manner you’d like to see them.)

Fight for LA – That is the WHY for the Chargers

Last week my blog featured the Los Angeles Rams. Tonight my blog will feature the crosstown rival – the Los Angeles Chargers (still getting used to that ring).

No Angeleno was excited about the Chargers when they arrived in Los Angeles from San Diego. And I can’t blame them because the city was finished with their search when the Rams relocated to Los Angeles. Football was the missing ingredient to the “entertainment capital of the world.”

Because a strong social media monitors conversations closely, it is safe to assume the Chargers heard the outcry of not interested Angelenos. In response, social issued this “Fight for LA” campaign to win a following from LA. (Please click the link)

Let me say that being born and raised in Los Angeles myself, this video is amazing.

Things in LA are territorial. You have to earn your stripes making home in a new neighborhood. The Chargers are willing to do that. And for that I hand them respect. I hand them a follow on Instagram because they know their “WHY”.

The video provides a dialogue between the “why should I care?” fan to the Chargers point of view. It pleads respect to the city of Angels. A place where respect does not come easy. It addresses the sentiment of the LA resident and has started a story – Fight for LA

I am a fan of their storytelling and in addition to their video, take a look at their great Instagram posts:

High Resolution photos with fitting and appropriate captions.

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It’s not easy making your way to a new city and environment. I found this out when I moved to San Diego from Los Angeles. And although San Diego might despise the Chargers nowadays, the Chargers are just straight storytelling their situation. Can’t hate on that.

In a few years, both teams will be competing in the same Inglewood stadium. On these Sundays, one team will be competing at home while the other will be competing away.

In 2020, the Fight for LA will be taken to another level.