The most read sports social media stories from this week’s #Sports include the hilarious LA Kings Twitter account, the success of Lebron James and Kevin Durant on Instagram, how the NBA Finals will dominate the social world, some amazing statistics on the most popular social media platforms, and what CMOs can learn from social media. (more...)

This week's #SoMash is here with the top stories from last week, including the top 10 moments for social TV, Google's most searched athletes of 2012, and Starbucks leads the pack for fan photos on Instagram. (more...)

If you haven't heard that Spain won the Euro Cup, then sorry for spoiling the week-old surprise, but what you probably don't know is who won the Euro Cup on Twitter? (more...)

Baseball may be America’s past time, but football is now front and center as America’s favorite sport. The Super Bowl is the most watched event of the year. Consumers tune into "The Big Game" in such massive numbers that many of the world's most recognizable companies are willing to spend $3.5 million for 30 seconds of ad time. $3.5 million!

  Meanwhile the NBA has fallen behind the MLB, making it America's third favorite sport, but has found huge success off the court in the world wide web.   So the question becomes why is the NBA arguably more successful than the NFL in social media when it's the opposite on the field?   Here’s a look into why:   Let’s start with the how these games are played.   Football is the ultimate team sport. No team can succeed with just one star. Players need help from their teammates.   I know what you’re thinking: Tom Brady didn’t have help when he won those three Super Bowls early in his career. Really? So when he dropped back in the pocket and 250+ pound linebackers from the St. Louis Rams, Carolina Panthers, and Philadelphia Eagles blitzed him who was there to help? His linemen. And who caught those beautiful passes that Brady threw? His receivers. And what about those field goals? Brady didn't kick those. That was Adam Vinatieri. Football cannot be won alone.   Football also has the nature of being very carefully thought out and slow-paced. Quarterbacks read the defense, make their adjustment, and run the play. Every so often things break down and defenses are surprised by trick plays and offenses are surprised by hidden blitzes, but at the end of the day fans don’t expect football to be fast-paced and surprising. (Here's a crazy fact about the pace of football: During last year's Super Bowl there were only 12 minutes of actual playing...See how slow it is?)   Basketball, on the other hand, can be won with one player. NBA teams almost never have five players with 20 points (Well, maybe the 2004 Detroit Pistons). But normally that isn't how the NBA works. During basketball games, any player can take over a game and become the reason his team wins. It happens. Dirk Nowitzki won the championship for the Mavericks last year. Sure he had help, but no one doubts that it was him who did the bulk of the work. When Kobe Bryant won without Shaq, it was his victory. Not Pau Gasol’s, but Kobe’s.   Where the NFL is disciplined and meticulous, basketball is unpredictable and dramatic. The fast-paced nature of the sport makes every game creative and exciting. And the longer athletes play these games, the more they embody the culture of their sport.   Here’s a classic example: LeBron James’ “The Decision” was an over the top, unnecessary, egocentric Hollywood production that showcased many of the problems the NBA has with their superstars. Meanwhile in the NFL, this past summer, an NFL equivalent to LeBron, Peyton Manning, was released from the Indianapolis Colts and embarked a quest to find another team. Yes, it was broadcasted all over sports media outlets, but not per Peyton’s request. He wanted to make it private so that the teams involved did not damage existing relationships with their quarterbacks. He quietly interviewed with coaches and owners until he found the fit he wanted in Denver.   Yes, these are extreme examples, but they embody the nature of their sports: individual and thrilling versus methodical and predictable. Of course there are exceptions such as the quiet nature of Kevin Durant and the loud voice of Chad Johnson Ochocinco, but for the most part this generalization holds true.   So what does this have to do with social media? Everything. Basketball players are loud and dramatic like their sport has taught them to be, so they share their voice on Twitter and Facebook. They hold contests and promotions to share their brand with fans. The NBA alone has more than 15 million followers on Facebook and Twitter, which is more than the NFL, NHL, and MLB combined. That doesn’t even begin to address the individual players that promote their accomplishments and teams.   Another reason the NBA is so successful is the accessibility of the sport. With only 10 players on the court at once, players stand out in a way that could never happen on the football field where 22 players are on the field, constantly being substituted between plays. In addition NFL players wear pads, helmets, and more pads to protect themselves against the violent nature of the game, driving a wedge further between the connection between players and fans.   The proximity to the action also plays a role in accessibility. The average capacity of NBA arenas is 19,145.3, while for an NFL stadium it's 70,216.2. As a fan at a baskteball game you are only 1 of 19,000, making it much easier to see players and giving the game a much closer feel. This ability to recognize and know basketball players gives the NBA a leg up in the realm of social media. It gives fans the feeling that they know the players on their favorite teams and, therefore, makes them want to continue to interact with them far beyond the confines of the actual game.   The NBA has finally recognized this advantage and has capitalized on it. It's more than just having a fan base on Facebook, it’s engaging them. NBA teams do an excellent job of posting on the Timeline posts such as: "Thanks for coming to tonights game!" Or: "Tough loss, we’ll get ‘em next time!" Facebook has become the second biggest source of traffic to the NBA’s website when two years ago it wasn’t even ranked in the top ten. They run instagram promotions, such as the Phoenix Suns’ “Show us your game face” and the Miami Heat’s “Hot Heat Fan” contest.   The NBA makes the effort and it goes a long way even beyond social media and digital. Did I also mention that we love the league's "BIG" advertising campaign too? They are brilliantly orchestrated.   NBA Playoffs 2012 - Boston Celtics TV Ad NBA Playoffs 2012 - Finals TV Ad NBA Playoffs 2012 - OKC vs MIA TV Ad NBA Finals 2012 - LeBron James vs Kevin Durant This is where amazing happens. A champion will rise. Who comes up with this stuff? It’s incredible. It gives the average sports fan chills just watching it. It makes you want to watch the game and talk about it through social media. These ads engage fans in a way that the NFL and MLB rarely do. The NBA is playing to its strengths, and the NFL should be taking notes. Hopefully the success they have found off the court will translate to the kind of success the NFL has found on the field. Thanks to Kelley McGrath for helping!

TheScore.com has dubbed the Miami Heat the winner of its first "NBA Social Playoffs" and LeBron James its MVP. James and the Heat beat out Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in a simulation run by theScore, which analyzed the social media presence of NBA teams. The infographic below displays all the factors that went into determining the winner, including Facebook likes, Twitter followers, Google+ circles and Twitter interactions.   James clinched the top spot over Bryant through his integrated approach to social media. King James has accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Instagram, posting regularly to each channel. Bryant, on the other hand, joined Twitter for one day back in September of 2011 but quickly closed the account. According to Yahoo! Sports, Bryant's team prematurely created the account.   Here are some other findings from the infographic:  

• The team with the most overall connections across Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ was the Boston Celtics with more than 7 million.
• The team with the least overall connections was the Charlotte bobcats with just over 166,000 total connections.
• The Heat had the most interactions on Twitter with over 1 million replies, retweets, and tweets during the season. Alternatively, the Indiana Pacers had the least interactions with 212,000.
• The total of NBA team connections on their official Facebook pages, Twitter handles, and Google+ pages compiles to over 55 million.
• There were more than 3.1 million tweets about Jeremy Lin, which is more than the sum of all tweets to or from official handles of all Eastern Conference teams (2.8M).

 

The NBA All Star Game is this weekend, and fans are going to be pleasantly surprised by the digital initiatives that the NBA is incorporating to involve fans this this year. The All-Star Game is bringing back its All-Star Pulse feature, which tracks trending topics from the weekend's events on Twitter, and several other new features detailed below. (more...)

2011 was a big year for social media marketing and musicians once again blazed a trail for all entertainment industries, using tools like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ to build and grow their fan base.  Facebook, no doubt is one of the main platforms artists have used to connect with their fans. The infographic by RootMusic below shows how the top 250 musicians have used this social network over 2011. (more...)