Dodgers Social Media Coordinator Matt Mesa (@Dodgers) is in his second season with the team, but in that short time has distinguished himself. His experience building websites, love of photography and degree in journalism come together on the Dodgers’ social media channels. This includes creating from scratch the design and interface for an overlay for fans to use on Instagram when the team reached one million followers on the platform. Dodgers Digital & Print Content Dir Jon Weisman said, “He’s able to bring a level of creativity that few in the world of sports can match, let alone anywhere.” As for the effort behind following Vin Scully as he headed into retirement, Mesa said, “I haven’t had time to process it, but it is bittersweet. I was in the hallway outside of his booth (at AT&T Park) as he made his exit into the elevator. Having seen that and knowing what that means, it’s very, very bittersweet. At the same time, I feel very grateful to be in the position that I am to be in that spot at that moment.”
SOCIAL SNAPSHOT Must-follow: On Instagram, The Rock. Favorite app: Instagram Average time per day on social media: Twelve hours a day.
Chronicling Vin Scully’s final season:
It’s been everything. It’s been incredible just knowing that no matter what I put out, if it was Vin-related, it would do well. That’s how I’ve tackled these last couple games. Being able to be there and cover something so historical has been incredible.
More popular -- Scully- or player-related posts:
Vin Scully. These past few weeks, those posts have done numbers that I haven’t seen since clinching (with NL West). It was the same day, but those numbers are about the same. If you just look at (Sunday), we got swept by the Giants, yet our most-engaged tweet was of Vin Scully when he read his letter to the fans. On a day like that, I don’t think you’d expect to have 20,000 re-tweets.
How the Dodgers measure social media success:
It depends on the platform. I’ll know when a post does well, especially after a win. Typically, on Instagram, we’ll be at right around 40,000, 50,000 likes. Other times, you want to see how many comments you got. It depends on what we were trying to do in that particular case. If it was something creative and not a recap, we want to see if it drove what our goal was. Did it drive re-tweets? Did it drive comments? Did it drive people to use particular hashtags?
Platform on which the Dodgers have their strongest presence:
Probably Instagram. For the longest, we were the most-followed account. But as far as engagement, we are way above whoever is in second. Our numbers are much higher on Instagram than on the other big platforms.
Accounts that provide inspiration:
Being in L.A., I always see what the Lakers are doing. Their following is huge and global. Just seeing how they tackle certain things. For example, these past few weeks, I looked to see what they did for Kobe’s last game -- what their numbers were like, what they did, how they performed, how we can do better than that and how we can take it a step further.
Fans turning to social media to close Spectrum SportsNet void:
I’d like to think so, but it’s really hard to tell. I’d imagine a lot of people get their highlights from us. They definitely get their what’s-happening-at-the-moment from us. I don’t know how the numbers compare to other teams that do have distribution, but with a lot of the in-game engagement stuff, it has to do with winning and losing. Even with distribution, I don’t know if the numbers would be down or up. I think they’d stay the same.
