NBA Best Practices: Los Angeles Lakers Deliver Pre Game Energy Via Facebook

It’s been nearly two seasons since Peter Robert Casey and I broke down the Digital NBA Landscape.  The landscape has changed and teams have evolved.  It’s time for us to take another crack at things.

Our mission:  To share Best Practices of how NBA Teams are leveraging digital and social, and give you thoughts on how to apply that in your world.

Here’s a look back:  Warriors | Celtics  | Clippers  |  Nets 

Next Up: the LA Lakers.

Facebook strategy is always an interesting one.  What do you post about?  How often is too often?  Is there a good model to follow?  These are great questions that many people ask.  In today’s edition of NBA Digital Disciples, we’ll check out a road map laid out for us by the Los Angeles Lakers.

Let’s start on the Lakers Facebook page, here.  As you’ll note in the gallery below, the Lakers are aware of a key Facebook fact:  The majority of time your fans see your posts is inside their own news feed, rather than on your Facebook page.  What that means is that context and timing are incredibly important.  Your updates are showing up in and amongst updates of friends…  thus being timely is critical.

On a recent Game Day (as most days are in this shortened season), the Lakers brought a camera and went to interview Assistant Coach Darvin Ham to breakdown the matchup against Cleveland.  As you’ll see in the images below (or by watching here), the setup is intimate and they do a pretty good job of breaking down the style of play the squad will face that evening.  This post hit fans feeds during the Lakers Shootaround, 2:50 pm.

So, if you’re going to the game (or tuning in), the post gets you at just the right moment — giving you great insight and connecting at the same moment the squad is preparing.

 

But the Lakers weren’t though here.  As you’ll note in the image below, moments before tipoff they deliver a powerful visual from the court.  We see the players finishing their warmups and the starters for both squads.  Again, perfect timing coupled with a valuable post.

 

Which becomes the answer to many questions people ask.  The right number of posts depends on the amount of value that you can offer.  Timely access and insight go a long way to giving value to those who follow you.

The Lakers model is one that works for most teams.  Start with the daily routine of your team(s).  Find smart ways to give fans access to the team, to insight, and to emotion that happens through this routine.  And don’t underestimate the impact a little time with your Assistant Coaches, Sports Information Staff, or of course Players and Head Coach can offer!  Bring these pieces out and you will no doubt pop out (in a good way) in the news feeds of your fans.

That’s it for today.

We’re back next week — Monday at Peter Robert Casey’s blog (here), then back here at Digital Hoops Blast on Tuesday.  As always, you can follow me on Twitter (I’m @andypawlowski) or on Facebook, here.

Thanks.

Andy