A GIF-t To All Followers

As social media is evolving, NHL team Twitter accounts can no longer expect to keep their followers interested with formal and aloof tweets. These accounts are forming their own personalities to distinguish them from the other 29 teams.

In this article, it states that media users form bonds and connections with various media personalities on Twitter. These bonds are often based on certain constructs, such as social attraction, attitude homophily, perceived realism, and affinity. Social attraction refers to whether or not someone would form a friendship with this type of persona. Attitude homophily is how similar a user feels to the personality based on likes, attitudes, and beliefs. Perceived realism is how genuine the voice of the account feels to the user, and affinity relates to how much the user enjoys the personality. All of these motivations go into whether or not a Twitter user will want to follow or not follow a certain NHL team account.

The @BlueJacketsNHL account has become one of my favorites because of its unique personality. One of the ways that the Columbus Blue Jackets account is setting itself apart from others is its use of GIFs. According to this article, GIFs, or “graphics interchange formats”, were created in 1987 by CompuServe, an Internet service provider. These short loops of video are becoming increasingly popular on social media platforms. One of the main reasons that GIFs are so popular is that they are an easy way to enhance text-majority messages. The CBJ Twitter account is using GIFs to turn plain and simple tweets into something hilarious and entertaining.

.@Indians happy #NationalCatDay to you, too pic.twitter.com/kc9ehpNMQY

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 29, 2014

The account is using GIFs in a wide variety of tweets. The #NationalCatDay tweet obviously has nothing to do with any kind of hockey content. But the tweet emphasizes a unique, interactive, and original brand image. The CBJ account also incorporates GIFs into tweets about the team. The GIFs on their own have nothing to do with hockey, but the CBJ account has creatively found different ways to integrate them. This shows that the account wants to discuss hockey, but also wants to distinguish itself using its funky personality.

first period recap: pic.twitter.com/pgiS2COeF9

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) November 1, 2014

The use of amusing GIFs is a way to enhance the social media relationships shared on Twitter between followers and teams. The CBJ account can show its humorous and playful personality, which over 185,000 followers are enjoying daily. The account has a mix of informative links, game photos, and funny comments, giving it a more authentic and genuine feeling. These features can help give followers the constructs that they are looking for in a social media personality.

#NonGameNight pic.twitter.com/k2vPqAAIl6

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 21, 2014

Hockey Fights Cancer With the Help of Social Media

From mid October to mid November, the NHL promotes its annual Hockey Fights Cancer initiative. According to the website, the initiative was founded in 1998 and has raised over $14 million for cancer research institutions, children’s hospitals, player charities, and cancer organizations. The league raises money by accepting donations as well as selling Hockey Fights Cancer themed gear including t-shirts, hats, and socks.

   

This article discusses how sport has become an influential part of society. Various sports have incredible followings and leagues are using this fan enthusiasm to promote important causes, such as the fight against cancer. The NHL can use the platform of hockey as well as their most popular athletes to inspire and motivate people to help with charity and philanthropy. The league, teams, and individual players can gain support from many constituents such as the media, the communities where they play, other famous figures, and hockey fans.

The NHL is using social media to spread the word about the Hockey Fights Cancer initiative. According to this article, all 30 teams host a Hockey Fights Cancer Night during one of their home games. The Detroit Red Wings hosted their Hockey Fights Cancer Night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Red Wings used their Instagram account to share a sneak peak photo of goalie Jimmy Howard’s Hockey Fights Cancer themed mask in order to promote the game. Teams have also edited their team logo Twitter photos to appear lavender, the color of cancer awareness.

   

Another way the NHL is promoting their initiative is through the hashtag #HockeyFightsCancer. On the website, the NHL asks its fans to get involved by downloading and printing out an “I Fight For” sign. Fans can write who they are fighting for on their sign, then share their picture on Twitter or Instagram and use the #HockeyFightsCancer hashtag. From there, any photo using the hashtag will be shared on a timeline on the Hockey Fights Cancer website. The website features some of the most prominent athletes in the NHL, such as Henrik Lundqvist, Sidney Crosby, and P.K. Subban.

The National Hockey League Player’s Association, or NHLPA, also created a Hockey Fights Cancer video. The video features even more hockey stars, such as John Tavares, T.J. Oshie, and Wayne Simmonds. Featuring players on the Hockey Fights Cancer website as well as showing them fill out their own “I Fight For” signs inspires fans to download a sign and share it on social media. The NHL can use its platform as a popular sport, the celebrity status of its players, and various social media channels to push the Hockey Fights Cancer message and get many people involved.

A Club Just For Kids

The Chicago Blackhawks have recently debuted one of the cutest things I have ever seen, an app called Club Blackhawks. According to this article, the app is geared toward an unconventional demographic in the hockey fan base – kids ages 6 through 13.

Blackhawks Senior Director of New Media and Creative Services, Adam Kempennar, said, “This is a passionate demographic that is largely underserved because they’re not quite ready for platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.”

The app has many features that make it a beginner, kid-friendly social media application. Each user has a newsfeed titled “My Locker” where kids can post their own comments and pictures. There is also “My Card”, where each user gets their own digital card that displays an animated, customizable picture of them in a Blackhawks jersey. There are also Badges that can be won after answering trivia questions, posting content, and when the Blackhawks make the playoffs.

    

Media consumption is becoming increasingly popular among children and adolescents. According to this article, the average 8 to 10-year-old spends approximately eight hours a day on various media channels, and it has become the second leading activity for children and teens, the first being sleeping. The amount of time spent interacting with media only increases with age. Around 84% of children and teens today have Internet access, and approximately 75% of 12 to 17-year-olds have their own cell phones. This information illustrates that young children are accessing media and that there is an audience for interactive yet kid-friendly apps.

People may be worried about children and young teens using inappropriate or unsafe media, but the Club Blackhawks app is well structured and incorporates parent involvement. In order to create an account, children need to input their parent’s email address. The guardian will create their own account with the Just Be Friends Network, the company that created the Club Blackhawks app. Only then can the child receive a verification code and create their account. There are also club rules, including “I will be kind”, “I will be safe”,”I will play fair”, and “I will keep it clean”. From there, any parent or guardian can see that the app is appropriately designed for young children.

  

Blackhawks Senior Executive Director of Marketing Pete Hassen said about the app, “We wanted to find a creative way to allow our younger fans the same access to the organization as our older fans.” Through the Blackhawks Club, young fans can experience the sport they love while gaining knowledge and experience with a type of social media. This can help prepare them to embrace and understand different types of social media platforms in the future, while showing them appropriate content for their age.

Pins for the Win

NHL teams are working to meet fans where they are through social media. An example of this is NHL teams creating Pinterest accounts. This article describes Pinterest as a type of social collecting. On this largely visual site, users customize their homepage by creating various themed boards and finding different pins that fit into each category. As the third most used and the fasting growing social network, Pinterest is interactive in that you can follow other user’s pages, and see their pins in your newsfeed. A recent update to the site now allows users to message each other, and directly send pins to one another to discuss and share.

Another characteristic of Pinterest is that 80% of its users are female, according to this article. Women are responsible for 92% of all pins on the site, and one in every three female Internet users in the U.S. uses Pinterest. Women have been shown to continuously use the site even after four years, and are also becoming more active with each additional year. This active female population, combined with the NHL’s desire to meet its female fans where they are on social media, creates a great opportunity for the NHL and its teams.

Through Pinterest, NHL teams can connect with a portion of their female fan base more directly and can market their gear and memorabilia. The active participation by Pinterest’s female users makes it a good investment for NHL teams. Teams can create their own profiles and connect with these fans that are regularly using the site. By pinning their own gear and creating different boards about their products for sale, teams are making it easier for these Pinterest users to engage with the team and see all the available merchandise. Women also purchase over 70% of all licensed sport merchandise, reinforcing the need to meet female sports fans where they are on social media.

   

What I like most about the NHL’s participation in Pinterest is that the accounts are not entirely based on earning profits. Teams are making their Pinterest pages more personal and entertaining, rather that simply trying to sell something. For example, two common themes for boards I’ve seen are food and weddings. The teams aren’t selling food or wedding supplies, but these are themes that are very popular among Pinterest users. By creating these boards, teams are showing that they want to share popular and interesting content for fans to enjoy. Teams also have created boards featuring real life fans, pictures of the players, and DIY projects.

    

NHL teams have worked to create well-rounded Pinterest pages that go beyond selling a product. Each account is able to display a variation of pins that represent many different aspects of what makes up their team image. This effective use of the social media site helps each team seem more personable and approachable, and lets fans interact with them even further.

Go Behind the Scenes in a Snap

NHL teams across the league are finding new ways to establish their presence in the social media world. One of the most recent additions is the application Snapchat. Snapchat is a messenger-type app where teams send out a combination of photos and short videos on their Snap Story that followers can view for a limited time by holding their finger to their phone screen.

    

Initially called Picaboo, Snapchat was first available in the iOS App Store on July 13^th, 2011, according to this article. Created by Evan Spiegel, CEO, and Bobby Murphy, CTO, the app reached 100,000 users by April of 2012. According to The Wall Street Journal, as of August 2014 Snapchat had more than 100 million monthly viewers. Approximately two-thirds of those viewers were using the app daily, and the company was estimated to be valued at around $10 billion.

Snapchat has many characteristics that make it a success. Compared to Facebook, Snapchat is much more personal, with users interacting mostly with people in their phone’s contact list. The app also has a young audience, with the median age of users being 18 years old, compared to Facebook’s average user age of 40.

The importance of NHL teams utilizing social media to connect with their fan base can’t be underestimated. This article emphasizes how new marketing platforms available through social media allow teams to connect with fans on a more accessible and intimate level. Teams can continue to foster this more personal environment by sharing valuable content that gives fans a deeper, behind-the-scenes look into their favorite sport. This helps strengthen the relationship between the NHL and its fan base, which is a necessity for the success of the NHL as an organization.

Snapchat is set up perfectly to promote this personal environment that teams are looking to create. Because Snapchat is generally used to communicate with one’s personal friends, adding an NHL team to a “My Friends” list makes fans feel like they have the inside scoop on valuable information. This feeling is enhanced by the fact that the various pictures and videos that teams send out through their Snap Stories don’t last forever. A Snap Story can only be viewed for 24 hours, making the content sent out that much more valuable.

NHL teams used their more popular social media sites, such as Twitter, to spread the word that they were creating Snapchat accounts. After tweeting out their username, fans could go search the username and add the team to their My Friends list in order to view the Stories. Many teams have created Snapchat accounts, like the Washington Capitals, Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Islanders, Detroit Red Wings, Winnipeg Jets, Pittsburgh Penguins, Tampa Bay Lightning, Montreal Canadiens, Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers, and the Colorado Avalanche. The National Hockey League has even created its own Snapchat account.

This move to expand social media presence outside of the more popular sites like Facebook and Twitter shows that the NHL and its individual teams are continuously working to improve their relationships with fans everywhere. The NHL is embracing new forms of communication in order to give fans the best experiences possible.

From Blackhawk to Brand Ambassador

Companies today need to adapt their advertising and marketing strategies to reflect a more interactive and consumer-focused approach. Although many companies have their own social media platforms, another way to expand their reach is through endorsers, like professional athletes. This article discusses how companies with endorsers are able to create a stronger influence on their consumers. Endorsements often lead to positive consequences for a company like more brand awareness, stronger brand reputation because of positive feelings about the endorser, and increases in purchases. All of these benefits are possible because endorsers can spread information about the company through their own personal social media platforms. Sports fans want to stay connected to their favorite athletes, and they do so by following them on social media platforms. When an athlete shares the message of a company through these sources, the message is spread to an incredible amount of people.

An example of an NHL player endorsing a company through their own social media sites is Chicago Blackhawk Brad Richards. In 2012 Richards became a brand ambassador for UNTUCKit, a company founded in 2010 that produces dress shirts specifically designed to be worn untucked.

In an interview, Richards explained why he wanted to be the face of the UNTUCKit brand.

“I really like the shirts and what the company was founded on, and knew it would be a great partnership,” said Richards. “Fit is important for sure, but comfort was the number one draw for me. The shirts look good, but they’re also incredibly comfortable, so it worked out perfectly.”

Through social media, Richards can reiterate his favorite parts about the UNTUCKit company that he emphasized in his interview. With over 191,000 Twitter followers and 51,000 Instagram followers, any message that Richards sends out about the company goes to a large audience. Richards has often created his own content about the company, sending out original tweets and Instagram pictures. He can also direct his followers to the company’s content through retweets and links.

             

Fans of Richards are likely to have an increased interest in the company because of its association with him as a brand ambassador. The company even has a shirt that Richards helped design. This partnership helps with UNTUCKit’s brand awareness and brand reputation, which can lead to increased purchases and profit for the company.

       

#FOMOH

Last year during the 2013-2014 hockey season, the NHL and Verizon launched a campaign about the subscription service NHL GameCenter LIVE. This subscription gives hockey fans in out-of-market areas the chance to watch their favorite teams on their smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other devices. Customers can choose which team’s broadcast they want to listen to, replay various parts of the game, watch in-game highlights, see clips in slow motion, as well as pause, rewind, and restart the game. Included in the campaign’s commercials for NHL GameCenter LIVE was the hashtag #FOMOH, which stands for “fear of missing out on hockey”. The NHL and Verizon updated its commercial from a one-way traditional type of media to include interactive aspects to expand the advertising possibilities.

This article discusses sports fans’ motivations behind engaging in sports related media. One of the biggest types of motivators is behavioral motivation, which includes behaviors that enhance companionship and group affiliation. For a sports fan, the sport and team they love and identify with is a large part of their own personal identity. This team identification is expressed through social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram in order to fulfill the motivations of group affiliation and companionship. By using a hashtag, a sports fan can identify themselves even further with their favorite teams, and also use it as a way to connect with other fans. The hashtag becomes an identifier that increases a fans connection to other fans, to their favorite teams, and to the sport of hockey in general.

This article discusses why it is a smart strategic move for an advertiser to include a hashtag in their ads, especially in a sports related ad. Including a hashtag allows viewers to more easily search that product, and connect with others who are talking about it. It also gives viewers the opportunity to talk about the product or program in real time, and increase their team identification by including a very specific hashtag. If a fan includes the hashtag #FOMOH in a tweet or post, they are projecting multiple messages at once. The fan is showing that they identify with the sport of hockey, as well as including themselves in a smaller Twitter community that is talking about hockey and also missing out on it. This leads to increased personal identity on social media platforms for fans.

Another benefit of including a hashtag in an ad is that the company can more easily search the viewers who are talking about their ad. The term #FOMOH has become like a slang term, and Twitter users often tweet it without even talking about the NHL GameCenter LIVE subscription. They are often just expressing their team identification, and their unhappiness that they are missing out on their favorite sport. But Verizon has often responded to tweets including the #FOMOH, creating a conversation with the client and mentioning the NHL in order to further spread their campaign. Verizon, the NHL, and the NHL subscription service gain more attention, and the companies are able to create a personal conversation with people using their hashtag.

The Kings of Twitter

As a New York Rangers fan, you may think that I would avoid discussing the Los Angeles Kings at all costs after losing the Stanley Cup to them this past season. However, I can’t help but write about the @LAKings Twitter account. Most NHL team accounts are pretty similar, tweeting about player contracts, game schedules, and play-by-play updates. But the L.A. Kings account manages to share this same information while simultaneously being one of the funniest and goofiest accounts out there.

According to this article, Pat Donahue, the Coordinator of Digital Media for the Kings, first became a full-time employee during the 2010-2011 season, when the Kings won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 45 years.  Donahue and the Director of Digital Social Media, Dewayne Hankins, began changing the personality of the Twitter account during the playoffs that season. When describing how the team’s success helped foster the Twitter makeover, Donahue said,  “…the team kept winning, and we never had to slow down.”

After that season, the Kings momentum continued, and so did Donahue. The Kings made it to the playoffs in the following two seasons, and won the Stanley Cup this past 2013-2014 season. Donahue was interviewed again in June of 2014 about the entertaining Twitter account. Donahue said that he wanted to make sure the voice of @LAKings was evolving each season. He also said that the tweets have become more “upbeat, fun and light-hearted.”

Even back in 2012 when the King’s Twitter account was just becoming popular, Donahue knew the importance of interactive social media. “Our goal is engagement,” he said. “…if you aren’t starting conversations you’re leaving out the ‘social’ part.”

The Kings were revolutionary in the sense that they created a witty personality that would willingly and constantly interact with fans of all teams. A team’s official Twitter account is a powerful way to express a team’s image, especially when some players don’t even participate in social media. With over 455,000 followers and 37,000 tweets, the @LAKings account is succeeding in social media with its unique and clever approach.

Bissonnette Bites Back

More and more individual players are taking advantage of the various interactive channels of social media to express themselves in new ways. According to this article, athletes are becoming celebrities in the sense that through social media they can connect with more people and create a representation of themselves for fans to experience. Players can personally control their own accounts and interact with others. These followers may not always be supportive or encouraging fans, but athletes can now use platforms of social media to present their personalities and opinions to a vast amount of people.

In order for athletes to be successful in their use of social media, they must keep things interesting and engaging. This article discusses how celebrities often have the most followers on Twitter because they are usually at the center of entertainment news and updates. However, having fame is not all that’s required to effectively engage in social media. The main motivation behind a Twitter user choosing to unfollow someone is seeing too many posts about uninteresting topics. If athletes wants to heighten their presence on social media outside of their own team’s fan base, they need to supply entertaining content that is original and full of personality.

A great example of this is Paul Bissonnette, former Phoenix Coyote, who has created a presence on Twitter with his account @BizNasty2point0. The Twitter handle itself exemplifies the sarcastic and humorous direction Bissonnette has taken in representing himself. With approximately 570,000 followers and over 8,000 tweets, Bissonnette’s approach to Twitter is unique in that he is most responsive to his critical followers. Having only scored five goals in five seasons, this fourth liner could have easily been overlooked by hockey fans. But his approach to social media has led to his distinguished and entertaining online presence known by fans of multiple NHL teams.

Bissonnette’s less than impressive stats are often the source of interaction between him and various Twitter users. When asked in an interview what it takes for Bissonnette to respond to someone on Twitter, he replied, “If they’re creative and it’s funny, I’ll retweet it and laugh. I’m the first guy to make fun of myself. I’ve started following people because they’ve insulted me in a very original way and it was funny.” Rather than ignoring or blocking critics, Bissonnette often joins in on the conversation and responds with just as much sarcasm.

“I think I have the advantage all the time,” said Bissonnette, “for the simple fact that I’m doing something I love and you insult me for it. I’m making a healthy living doing something I love and you insult me for it. It’s work, and I know I’m not a star player… but at the end of the day you’re following me. You’re following my life.”

Bissonnette’s candid Twitter account has gained him more attention and popularity than he would have received without it. He encourages interaction and conversation, and fans get a better sense of who he is.

Keeping Players Safe and Fans Informed

Hockey has always been an aggressive and gritty sport. NHL teams use their physical play to create momentum, tire out the opposing team, and protect their own teammates. However, not every hit is a clean hit, and that’s where the NHL Department of Player Safety comes in.

This article discusses the distinction between aggressive, legal acts and violent, illegal acts. Legal acts are what would be deemed acceptable in hockey, where a player uses force and aggression strategically for the sport, rather than to intentionally harm the other player for personal gains. Illegal acts would be the opposite, where players are intentionally trying to hurt one another regardless of the competitive context of the game. Often times it is difficult to tell in such a fast-paced sport like hockey whether a hit is purely violent or is done legally. The Department of Player Safety is responsible for reviewing these questionable hits and determining any possible punishments, like suspensions and fines for the players.

Once these decisions are made, social media is used to provide further information and explanations on each review. In an interview, Brendan Shanahan, the former Senior Vice President for Player Safety, explained how these reviews are not only for the NHL players, but for future athletes as well.

“The… optimistic hope is that we get players coming into the NHL that understand, have a greater understanding and appreciation, respect for a player when his back is turned and he’s near the boards, for body checking in a manner that isn’t necessarily targeting another guy’s head,” said Shanahan. “…the glass-is-half-full hope is that when they come into the NHL, they’ve had fewer head injuries growing up because of this- that while they play in the NHL, they are healthier and that they leave the game healthier.”

Because this type of aggression begins as early as youth leagues, it is imperative that the Department of Player Safety spread knowledge about what constitutes a legal hit.

The department is able to share this information about legal and illegal hits through social media. Their Twitter account, @NHLPlayerSafety, has over 53,000 followers. On their feed you can find tweets describing future hearing dates and fines for players. There are also informative videos that detail any review. For example, on the NHL Player Safety Youtube playlist, it includes many suspension videos. The videos clearly lay out the context of the hit, why each player was at fault, and the key points of the reviewing. The videos are available not only on the department’s Twitter feed, but a link is also provided to view it on the NHL site. The NHL also has its own Youtube page where fans can find these videos and leave comments.

Through the use of social media, the NHL Department of Player Safety has made information regarding player suspensions and illegal hits readily available through multiple vehicles.