Content marketing
While with the Orlando Magic for the 2015-16 season, we focused on re-engaging our social following that was quite large, but had grown quite frustrated with losing ways on the court -- and nothing to really engage them off of it. With nearly 7 million fans across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, we used new strategies to entertain them using these channels. A few examples:
#AirGordon
Considering that the team was just a bit under .500 near the All-Star Break, we had to find ways to keep our fan base engaged through unique content. Little did we know that Aaron Gordon was going to provide us all that we needed with his epic performance in the Dunk Contest. In that moment, the contest became our NBA Finals and we treated it as such, focusing on keeping the #AirGordon campaign going as long as we could, and in as many unique ways that we could. We tied in holidays, famous objects and fan-driven thought so that they'd feel proud sharing the content. Click on any image for original post.
Hidden camera tricks
The Orlando Magic had traditionally been quite conservative in their approach to social media, so getting the organization to do a hidden camera was a removal from the norm. This hit on three key strategies for us: Player personality development; viral content production; partner opportunities. Click on image for full video.
Knock-knock. Who's there? Interest.
So much of the team's personality had been hidden in recent years, yet there was a resident comedian on the team in Dewayne Dedmon. In preparation for #NationalKnockKnockJokeDay, we utilized his skills to celebrate the holiday, helping him grow his personal brand and connect with fans, too. Click on image for full video.
#FanArt Fridays
Key to our core strategy or re-engaging our fan base was to actual have an ongoing conversation with those fans. One tactic we executed on was to recognize their stellar artwork surrounding the team. Fans started to organically compete to get recognized, with the art getting better and better over time. Click on any image for original post.
Hashtag holidays
Another part of our strategy was to pay attention to trending topics, and hashtag holidays gave us an advance heads up on content to work on. There were also topics, such as the Running Man Challenge, that fit into this category, but quick thinking to execute. Incorporating the Magic brand into a viral topic allowed us to grow in new ways. Click on images for full video.
Going viral
We all wish it was that easy, to "go viral." But, alas, it isn't. Yet, we never stopped thinking about different elements that made us unique at the Magic, and put them on display in hopes that our content would stand out from the crowd. With Stuff, we put in a little effort to stage unique content; with the flying cars, all we had to do was turn a camera on. Viral content doesn't always take time, it simply takes thinking about what will cause an emotional reaction, thus shareable. Click on images for full video.
Being a part of the community
Monitoring and managing communities are at the core of any social media manager's job -- but actually being a member of that community is lost on many. With the Magic, we committed ourselves to feeling what our community was feeling, albeit losses on the floor or events such as the Pulse tragedy. Click on images for full video & posts.
Exclusive opportunities
While with Golfweek Magazine, we faced an uphill battle in 2010, as we looked to gain traction with our digital offerings, but were bleeding money and were close to shutting down our digital operations. After an extensive dive into the data analytics behind golfweek.com and the publication's social media channels, it became apparent that developing a relationship with Tiger Woods would prove fruitful. With EA Sports located in Orlando, we showed them how we'd like to promote the upcoming release of Tiger's video game. This helped us land our first one-on-one with arguably the best golfer in history. You can find the entire series of videos -- used organically on YouTube -- by clicking here. Here are a pair of examples (click to play):
Rebuilding a brand
From November 2017 to June 2018, I inherited social media responsibilities at Jeunesse Global. In the midst of international events, it was important to showcase the lifestyle and wellness brand in a beautiful way. Since, we have used Instagram to engage our audience in new ways -- focused on the beauty behind our products and distributors' lifestyles. See the feed here.
