DeMar DeRozan may have been an All-Star, but basketball has always been a team game. The 30 franchises that make up the NBA 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 Toronto Raptors. Stay tuned to for ongoing coverage of the #NBADigitalSeries.
Since the Rudy Gay trade, the Toronto Raptors were expected by many to start the rebuild process all over again. They brought in nominal players that were not expected to contribute or gel seamlessly with the team. Kyle Lowry–arguably the best point guard in the Eastern Conference this season–was on the brink of being dealt ahead of the trade deadline.
However, in spite of these changes that could have led to turmoil, the Raptors rebounded nicely and are battling the Brooklyn Nets in the opening playoff round. This mid-season, newfound success, likewise, has only brought a greater emphasis throughout their digital efforts.
The groundswell of playoff support permeates within the team’s website. The initial splash page highlights a video montage under the “northern uprising” marketing slogan, which is conveyed with a smooth greystone backdrop, Terrence Ross going up for a dunk, and sponsorship by the Bank of Montreal. The home webpage is powered by Bell and the main menu tab at the top doesn’t offer additional specific widgets–atypical compared to most NBA teams. The simplicity in navigation directs users to separate and compartmentalize pages within the site. Although each of the team’s social channels appear as buttons on the right-side of the homepage, the top tab entitled “live” hosts all of these properties, livetstream content, game day experiences, contests, and their MasterCard rewards program. Ticket sales aren’t prominently displayed as they’re featured in the bottom half of the site within its own hub; rather, there’s been a stronger push for original content as evident by hashtags of “#RaptorReturn”, “#MusicMonday”, and “#ThrowbackThursday”–the former as a webisode and the latter two as different segments of their blog.
As what’s conventional practice, the Raptors’ social media outlets simply support their online work.
On Facebook, the same silhouette used on the splash page appears on their cover photo that’s updated to recognize winning the Atlantic Division, which promotes DeMar Derozan instead of Ross and includes hashtags for “northern uprising” and “RTZ”. The volume of 752,000 has access to some of the team’s other social accounts, sans Twitter, and redirected to Ticketmaster for tickets. The biggest initiative at the moment, though, consists of prompting fans to make sure they have “like” this page in order to enter a contest to win a pair of courtside seats for the first home playoff game. The copy is quite simple and straightforward, which doesn’t invigorate the fans as a whole based on the tone. Hashtags and Bitly links are used often for discovery and redirect to team’s site. Original graphics aim to inform about broadcasts before games and post-game scores as well as timely accomplishments.
Twitter, on the other hand, the Raptors present a more interactive, yet personal touch. Their 395,000 followers respond well through the “#RTZ” hashtag, which the team makes sure to acknowledge them by retweeting fans while building community in the process. This same hashtag has been used several times to funnel one-day-only giveaways. The tone is informative and conversational at times. They utilize this platform frequently to redirect to their original content. As for monetization, they’ve integrated branded graphics and indirect tweets with respects to a sponsor’s name; also validate any merchandise sales through leveraging what fans organically tweet about.
Meanwhile on Instagram, the Raptors have steadily grown this medium and are closing in on 100,000 followers. They usually post about twice per day with a decent mix between behind-the-scenes and originally produced graphics. Video is used at an appropriate rate and tends to show a funnier or poignant moment. The same strategy as Facebook when it comes to final scores and key accomplishments is applied here, too. What’s interesting, though, is their willingness to use a lot of hashtags, particularly more generic ones like “#NBA”, “#Basketball”, and “#Toronto”. This tactic does bode well to increase likes and overall visibility of posts.
Yet, the most notable digital offering the Raptors have done this season belongs to their all-access video series, Open Gym, that’s presented by BlackBerry.
The team decided to release this series on their site and YouTube. This strategy is unlike what’s the norm for anything produced for television, which, in this case, simultaneously aired on NBA TV Canada. Usually, this type of content doesn’t become available in its entirety online; at best, only segments of it do. BlackBerry receives a ton of exposure through these various outlets. These videos have averaged close to 16,251 views per each of the nine episodes, which isn’t bad since the team has a little over 17,000 subscribers. At the same time, though, more virality could’ve possibly occurred had this production been originally intended to fit this platform and an overarching strategy that aligns with it.
With regards to a mobile app, it should be noted that their app isn’t available to download in iOS or Android domestically, just in Canada. This decision makes sense initially insofar as keeping and driving hyperlocal support. There may not be enough interest in outside markets to grow this property by a large margin. The NBA is a global game, though; and there might be opportunities to expand to cities jointly with players or based off internal international sites, particularly as they have increased brand awareness due to this playoff performance.
Atimi’s, one of the leading sports apps developers, Vice President, Scott Michaels has worked with the Raptors in the past and offered this take that encompasses mobile expansion: “I think here, you will see teams that move too slowly will find that the fans are going to have an expectation to have a great, high-quality app to support team. Those that are slower will have the benefit of getting to see what has worked in the market. And that time is now. Those that continue to wait are simply ignoring what could be a significant driver of fan engagement, ticket sales, sponsor support, and revenue.”
The Raptors aren’t going quietly into the night against the Nets. The team’s general manager lit a fire for their rabid fan base. Everything they have done to this point has, in one way or another–however subtle it sometimes may be–differed from peers across the league.
There’s reason they’ve lived up to and to follow their ongoing campaign: “#WeTheNorth”