Cavaliers (@Cavs) Dir of Digital Content & Operations Brandon Jirousek (@BJirousek) has been with the team nine years, starting as Content Manager for the team's website and email, and working with other departments to ensure that messaging was correct. He eventually took on social media duties that included the Cavaliers’ Myspace page. Jirousek said, "When I started with the team, social media wasn't even part of our world. Twitter wasn't even a thing back then."
Keeping content fresh throughout the season:
It’s definitely easier. Each individual game provides its own storyline. The playoffs are a completely different animal. There is so much more going on that we’re focused on trying to capture what we believe are fans are looking for. We want to be on the fun side of the coin and produce content that they are going to like.
On trying to not be too LeBron-centric:
On any given night, he could put up a performance that is delivering a lot of content around that performance. But we are team-centric and definitely balance it out. Certain nights, we’re not going to get in the way of that because the performance he’s having is worthy of the content we are delivering. At the same time, we don’t want to force it to where we’re just focused on him.
Managing content around back-to-back Finals appearances:
The second year has been a little bit easier. We know what to expect. Last year was new for a lot of us. Only a few on our team were around the first time the team went to the Finals (in '07). Truthfully, the digital landscape is a lot different, so even what they know from the Finals wasn’t necessarily applicable to what we were delivering. This go around, we are much better suited with everything that’s going on with the Finals to piece together our content strategy around that.
Social media account that inspires you:
There are a few brands that I really enjoy. One is Nike. I'm always interested in seeing what their different accounts are doing. I also follow other sports to see what they are doing.
Social/digital trend that excites you:
The evolution of mobile continues to excite just in terms of being able to get information to people wherever they are. I read a number of studies that say we have our mobile phone 3-4 feet away from us almost 24 hours a day. On another side of things, and something that we just jumped in to, is virtual reality content. We recently launched a VR player within our mobile app and are delivering content -- 360-degree video that lets you feel that fully immersed experience of putting your foot on the floor or seeing pregame introductions or a behind-the-scenes tour of an area of our building.
Best advice for building a social/digital brand:
Whatever you are doing from a digital or social perspective needs to fit your overall brand. You need to be able to do research on what works and what doesn’t work for other brands, but don’t think because someone else is doing it that it’s going to automatically work for your brand.
If you know anyone who should be featured for their use of social media, send their name to us at
jperez@sportsbusinessdaily.com
