The NBA remains ahead of the curve with respect to social media, and with the Heat having the fourth-best following among NBA clubs, Senior Dir of Interactive Media Lauren Cochran (@MiamiHeat) has plenty on her plate in South Beach. Cochran, who is in her sixth season in Miami, said, “We are in the business of making moments for our fans and entertaining our fans. We would do that at any cost.” Her insight comes from well over a decade of experience running social media for big-league clubs, having spent eight seasons at Wells Fargo Center working for the Flyers. Cochran was happy for her former club and the response the team got recently -- particularly on social -- with the intro of new mascot Gritty. Cochran: “It was something the marketing team had talked about for years. Just the fact that it was so polarizing, whether people liked him or not, was just as much of an ingenious marketing move as you can put together. They created a personality and a voice for him that I think is really working.”
SOCIAL SNAPSHOT
Must-follows: Bleacher Report. They are super creative, always looking outside the box. It helps raise our bar as well.
Favorite apps: I am addicted to my Twitter account.
Average time per day on social media: It makes me really sad to think about it. If I had to guess, I’d say about 10 cumulative hours in the day.
Keys to success:
To the credit of the Heat, the organization has established itself as a respected franchise in the NBA. We are trying to provide the content that our fans are craving. Everybody always says, “We have the most access to our team, the most behind-the-scenes that anybody can get.” We really leverage that to provide a meaningful experience for our fans.
Shifting focus when there is big news:
Part of our job is being nimble. We can be prepared and planned going into any given day, but we make sure we are not tone deaf to a situation if we have to change our plans. We have to be reactive. Due to the social nature of our job, we have to listen to what fans are talking about as well.
Plans for Dwyane Wade’s retirement:
We are going to give it the attention it deserves. We are setting ourselves up to be very prepared when the time does come. We have bulked up our coverage and are now sending more bodies on the road to make sure any of those great moments are captured. We also are putting a lot of thought behind the timing and the release of that stuff and the package that will come out when that time does come.
Collaborating with his Wade's wife, Gabrielle Union:
I don’t know that it’s a collaboration, but she is certainly here a lot and has been a participant in what we’ve done. Aside from her attendance and maybe her reaction to some milestones that we’ve had, we haven’t had to leverage that relationship that much. We’d love to work with her. She’s great and Dwyane Wade’s entire team has been great about working with us.
Operating AmericanAirlines Arena feeds:
I have an amazing team that helps execute this. It’s a lot of man hours. It’s living and breathing what’s going on around us in this building, outside this facility and in the entertainment industry. We have four full-time staffers and are bringing on another part-time staffer. That person will help manage accounts and make sure we are as engaging as we want to be as we grow and as more content becomes available and more resources become available to put out great content.
Following more than 148,000 accounts on Twitter:
We started doing that in the beginning. If we are going to make a fan’s day by following them, why not? What’s the hurt to us? If that can be the thing we can hang our hat on, we are going to do it. Even if it’s as simple as wishing someone a happy birthday or acknowledging their idea or giving them a virtual high five -- we are there to do that.
Monitoring and organizing followers:
It’s a lot of time spent on social listening, sifting through mentions and looking through keyword searches. We spend a lot of time on it because it is a high priority of the organization.
Preferred content of sponsors:
We often have access to exclusive content people can’t see anywhere else and can often times be the first to put out some content. Our sponsors want to be a part of what fans are consuming, whether that be an amazing highlight reel, a memorable moment, a milestone or something that is customized for them. That’s what we are working on now -- how do we create that branded content that is authentic, that fits and that doesn’t feel out of place on our account.
Listening leading to action:
Last year, the Heat released the Vice Uniform City Edition jerseys, and by all accounts, it was our most successful uniform launch. But we can’t take all the credit, because the genesis of that uniform came from our fans posting on social media. There was a huge consensus and appetite for it from our fans, so we got to work. It is a true testament to the impact of listening to your fans.
If you know anyone who should be featured for their use of social media, send their name to us at jperez@sportsbusinessdaily.com.
