The Bucks are using a "carefully-crafted" social media strategy meant to engage fans "locally and internationally without undermining the box office or broadcast audience," according to James Nelson of the MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL. The Bucks take to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and their home page with "highlights while games are underway," but the clips "extend far beyond the action on the court and the teams." The captions "carry references to video games, music and the personalities of players and high-profile fans in the seats." Bucks Chief Digital Officer Mike Grahl said, "The goal with the casual fan was to get them more interested. And then maybe we can get them to a game or to buy a cable package." Nelson noted the NBA gave the Bucks "permission to cut and post their own video clips" in '14, after the team signed F Giannis Antetokounmpo. Bucks Digital Communications Manager Nick Monroe said that until that point, the team "received whatever clips the NBA sent -- and often they were highlights of the opposing team's heroics." The social media team uses "special editing software that gets separate clips of plays moments after they take place." The TV broadcast and in-arena videos "feed into the system." In the first year under the Bucks' control, visits to the team's home page "went up 571%." Grahl said that in the past two seasons, social media engagements from game action highlights "have increased 122%." He added that the highlights have "delivered 482 million social media impressions over the past three seasons" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 3/19).
