San Francisco Giants: Emergence of a Social Media Powerhouse: Part 2

The San Francisco Giants are a team like no other. They march to their own beat and don’t let others influence them. They certainly represent and embody the city of San Francisco very well. The Giants use this same approach when it comes to social media.

There are several sports teams out there that do not like their athletes using social media and even refrain them from doing so. The Giants see it as a way to interact with fans and let their athletes get closer to the fans. During the 2012 season, the Giants organization made use of Twitter to try and get guys voted onto the All-Star team. Through the use of hashtags like “kungfupanda”, the campaign was quite the success. Pablo Sandoval ended up winning a starting spot over New York Mets third basemen David Wright. San Francisco, with a population of 800,000, was able to outvote New York City which has a population of 8 million. The use of Twitter is only a glimpse into what Srabian has done with social media.

Srabian described the way teams were marketed in the past as “corporate”. They had the feeling of a “30 second commercial format” and he wanted to change that. Srabian wanted to make the overall feel younger and more energetic in order to draw in younger fans. Knowing that social media was a major opportunity to reach these younger fans, Srabian jumped at it. For an example, Giants athletes appeared on a Youtube video with “Youtube sensation” Keenan Cahill that has nearly 3 million views. It has even been played on the scoreboard at their stadium for all of the fans to enjoy.

Srabian knows that he must go above and beyond to make sure the fans have access to the athletes and social media. This is why their stadium, which is one of the nicest in the MLB, has Wi-Fi capability for 12,000 people. This allows fans to go from being just spectators, to participants. By instagraming pictures from the game, they are sending virtual post cards to every one of their followers. These fans are creating their own stories and the Giants are capitalizing and engaging with them. All of these things help to create an atmosphere like no other. While I am writing this right now all I can think about it being at a game. Enjoying a nice cold beer, eating some garlic fries, and watching classic Giants “torture” baseball sounds just amazing. It is Srabian that has created this overwhelming atmosphere and it is the reason why Giants home attendance is back at the top of the league.

San Francisco Giants: Emergence of a Social Media Powerhouse: Part 1

It wasn’t too long ago when the San Francisco Giants were just a mediocre team. After Barry Bonds left, it seemed as if he took all of the wins with him. After having 8 winning seasons in a row they hit a bump in the road and had 4 straight losing seasons. They saw their home game attendance dropping with the lack of talent and lack of wins. For a team that has always been near the top of the league when it comes to attendance, this was definitely hard to swallow. They knew they couldn’t allow it to go on much longer and needed to do something about it.

Obviously added new talent was a major factor in the turnaround and the first thing that needed to be addressed. The acquisitions of Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, and Madison Bumgarner through the draft showed that the Giants had a game plan. Further backing this game plan was their move into a much larger AT&T Park. They didn’t care about putting up 8 runs a game, they just wanted to prevent the other teams from doing it. Sure it wasn’t flashy baseball, but it got the job done and the wins starting to accumulate. Since they weren’t the most exciting team to watch, attendance was still not where they wanted it to be.

In 2010, the San Francisco Giants had one of the most magical seasons and practically rebranded baseball. They started out as just a bunch of “outcasts” and “misfits” that came together and shocked the baseball world. After winning their first world Series in 56 years, people all over became intrigued with the Giants story. With nicknames like; The Freak, The Beard, Kung-Fu Panda, and guys wearing “rally thongs”, the Giants were definitely something special. They didn’t shy away from their title of “misfits” but rather embraced it and ran with it. A large part of this can be attributed to Bryan Srabian, the team’s first director of social media.

Rather than shying away from the openness of social media like many other teams did, Srabian saw it as an opportunity for fans to share experiences with the players. Now, many teams are following suit, but it was Srabian who paved the way. He knew that they had something special and needed to share it with everyone. It was his genius that allowed the Giants to grow into what they are today.

Most teams would see nothing good from squeaking out wins, but the Giants made it a part of their brand as “torture” baseball. This is what Srabian has done, he sees something that is unique about the team and brilliantly spins it into something special. One of the most unusual guys on the team happens to be none other than Brian Wilson, the closer. This guy lives and breathes the Giants “torture” baseball and makes you nervous every time he is on the mound, but at the same time you just know he will get the job done. Wilson became an icon for the Giants with his high velocity, high intensity, and of course, his beard. The slogan “fear the beard” can be seen all over the stadium and his beard even has it’s own Twitter with 16 thousand followers. The use of Twitter has become the norm for many athletes and so it comes as no surprise that many of the Giants are frequent users.

Brian Srabian encourages players to interact with fans because he realizes the potential social media has. It gives fans an inside look at the organization and makes them feel apart of the team.

Colin Kaepernick: Household Name Over Night

It wasn’t too long ago when Colin Kaepernick was backing up Alex Smith at the quarterback position for the San Francisco 49ers but boy does it seem like a another lifetime. Colin took over the starting job late November after Smith received a blow to the head resulting in a concussion during a game against the St. Louis Rams. Since named the starter, Colin never looked back and neither has anyone else. Maybe it was his lightning quick wheels or his rocket arm that garnered him so much attention, Then again, maybe it’s that he doesn’t look like your “normal” quarterback. What ever the reason may be, Colin has taken the media and fans everywhere by storm. And what a perfect storm it has been.

After being named the starter, bloggers and sports writers everywhere began to take notice. Immediately there was a plethora of articles regarding the “drama” in training camp between the two quarterbacks. Because of social media, Colin went from being a little known backup quarterback from the University of Nevada, Reno to the centerpiece of an elite team in the NFL overnight. His story was fascinating which made this transformation seem so authentic and tantalizing.

After gaining so much recognition, Colin was put under a microscope. There was a particular article written about him, relating him to that of an inmate because of the tattoos that cover the majority of his back and arms. This created an uproar from not only Kaepernick fans, but also his parents, who defended him in USA TODAY Sports. They say there is no such thing as bad publicity and this would definitely back that up. This attack only helped to build his number of supporters and put an even bigger and brighter spotlight on him.

Although he had the spotlight on him, he wouldn’t have become the household name he is today if he didn’t perform. He took the field not looking like the typical quarterback, and in turn, he didn’t perform like the typical quarterback. His charisma immediately became apparent when he started the new craze of “Kaepernicking”. This motion of kissing the tattoos on his bicep after every touch down became an instant hit. His fans all got involved and showed their best versions of “Kaepernicking”, especially over Twitter where he has nearly 250,000 followers. His fans weren’t the only ones he left impressed. Colin had endorsers drooling over him with not only his superstar talent, but his ability to dazzle the masses. Not only did he receive endorsement offers almost immediately, but only two months after being named the starter, he made the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Although he did lose in the Super Bowl against the Baltimore Ravens (only his 10th career start), I definitely don’t see him being a loser in the future. He is a rising star and it is apparent that the media has an obsession. I expect him to be signed to many major endorsements and to even add some hardware to an already highly decorated San Francisco 49ers franchise.

 

The Return: Adidas Marketing of Derrick Rose

Seeing a rising basketball star like Derrick Rose go down with a devastating knee injury was a disappointment for his team, his fans, and his sponsors. One of his biggest sponsors happens to beAdidas, who signed a record shoe deal with him months earlier worth $200 million. Investing this kind of money in an athlete can be a major risk. Being injured means no longer on the court dazzling fans and bringing audiences at home to their feet on a nightly basis. Adidas had to ask themselves how to get this electric individual back in the spot light? They were able to achieve this with their use of social media.

Adidas was absolutely brilliant in their uses of Twitter, Youtube, and Facebook. Their campaign had many intricate parts, but the main focus was the web series “The Return of D. Rose” which highlighted his recovery process. This allowed fans who follow Derrick Rose to be with him every step of the way and really kept him in the spotlight. With 6.6 million fans on Facebook and over 500,000 Twitter followers, Adidas obviously recognized that they signed a captivating star and capitalized on it. The web series had 6 episodes that aired from August to November. While these episodes were coming out, Adidas was busy on other social media fronts as well.

During the time of his recovery process, Adidas did much more than just the web series. They strategically debuted two new sneakers, the D Rose 3 on September 13 and the D Rose 3.5 on January 31. They also aired the commercial “Wake Up” on September 25 which now has over 1 million views on Youtube. In the information section on this particular video, there is a link to the Adidas website where they have a special page for Derrick Rose and his return. This page ties the whole campaign together. Here you can watch all of his videos, shop the D Rose collection, or decide to show your support for Derrick Rose. Currently there are over 15 million supporters that are all in for Rose through Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and even Instagram.

Derrick Rose’s injury had catastrophe written all over it for Adidas but they found a way to make it into an opportunity through incredible marketing. I know that I was fixated on everything that Adidas came up with and obviously I was not alone. They still have me on the edge of my seat waiting for their next brilliant move. Are you all in for D Rose?

Nike vs. Adidas: Internet Marketing

With the increased popularity of social media, many companies are seeing endless marketing possibilities and capitalizing on them. Social media marketing is being used in many unique and creative ways which is changing the way companies market themselves. I will compare two of the most recognizable brands today and see how they stack up against each other with not only how they use social media, but how they use Internet marketing as a whole. Nike and Adidas have been battling it out for years which is why every marketing decision they make is a crucial one. Their websites and social media presence will be my main focus when comparing these two marketing behemoths. 

Website Comparison

The first thing that I looked at was the overall design, content, and ease of navigation. Both sites have navigation tags at the top of their home page and contact information towards the bottom. Each home page is filled with similar content which is their new, most popular, and featured items. Nike’s website definitely has a cleaner look with lighter and brighter colors that seem to grab your attention. Adidas website has more information on the home page which makes it seem a bit clustered and could be confusing for some users. Overall, I think that Nike has a better website than Adidas based off looks alone, but we will see if the analysis supports that or not.

Analysis from Hubspot’s Marketing Grader shows that Nike is doing a better job at marketing online. Nike received a overall score of 90 while Adidas received a measly 74. The difference in their scores can be summed up with the fact that Adidas doesn’t have a blog or RSS feed. I found this to be extremely surprising and eye opening. Nike is taking full advantage of the resources that Internet marketing offers which is why they are doing a better job. Further analysis through Alexa.com strengthens my opinion that Nike is doing a much better job. Adidas has a global traffic rank of 5,386 and a US rank of 2,289. Nike again has better statistics, ranking in at 1,025 globally and 509 in the US. Adidas has 17,634 sites that are linked to their website while Nike has almost double that, at 32,180. Every link to their site is another way for current users and potential consumers to get to their website. This statistic alone says a lot about how well Nike has done with it’s Internet marketing.

Social Media Comparison

Another key factor in Internet marketing is social media. Obviously when we think of social media we think of Twitter and Facebook, which will be my main focus for this comparison. Both of these social networking tools have become very useful for companies. Nike has a section on their homepage specifically for social media where you can follow or like one of their eight different Twitter accounts and Facebook pages. This is very convenient and most likely leads to a greater response from their social media networks. When looking strictly at each companies main Twitter accounts, Nike as a greater number of followers coming in at 934,272. Adidas isn’t even close at a meager 57,970. Facebook popularity is a different story but same result as Twitter, with Nike beating out Adidas yet again. Nike has roughly 12 million fans and Adidas has around 11 million.

Conclusion

After taking everything into account, I have come to the conclusion that Nike has done a better job at marketing themselves online (no surprise here). Nike had a cleaner and more appealing website that had more traffic and sites linked to it. Nike had more followers and likes on their social media accounts as well. Overall, Nike has done a great job and I do not see them slowing down anytime soon.