New York Islanders Social Media Audit
The New York Islanders are a professional hockey team in the NHL, residing within the Metropolitan Division, inside of the Eastern Conference. I am quite literally the world’s biggest Islanders fan. Don’t believe me? Have a look at a shrine I built for their playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Suffice it to say, when it comes to Islanders fans, there are none much bigger than I am. My reason for choosing them is my life practically revolves around them at times, but nevertheless. The team has a social media presence on all major platforms, being Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, and LinkedIn. In my blog today, I have decided to focus on their largest presences, being Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Tik Tok.
Starting with Twitter, The New York Islanders Twitter account currently has just below 600,000 followers and is verified. The account is used quiet often, especially during the season with game days being full of content. Currently, two days since they were eliminated, they have posted just once in that timeframe. That lonesome post is a graphic, made to say thank you to the fans for their support this season.
Overall, there is a lot of content there. During the off-season, and even some off days, they will do things such as posting a location, and giving a gift basket of merchandise to whoever arrives first. Little things like that are very personable and endearing. However, the account is almost never replying to anybody, and that is an area I would like to see improvement, as it could significantly boost their overall engagement numbers.
Moving on now to Instagram, the official Instagram of the New York Islanders currently has 436k followers. This account is verified, and it is as active as the Twitter is. However, all of the content is the exact same. The largest issue is, by far, the lack of standalone posts. The only photo posts recently are final scores in games, along with some basic arena photos. They utilize Reels and Stories significantly better than normal Instagram, and have found a way to post every goal the team has scored as its own Reel, sometimes multiple from different angles. It is an extremely vanilla experience that lacks true personality, and I think the team could benefit from differentiating their social media strategies from team to team in different way. It is strong at maintaining the theme of the team’s colors, Blue and Orange.
Switching gears into Facebook, the official New York Islanders Facebook Page has 310k followers. The Facebook page, like their Instagram account, is extremely bland. The posts are very robotic, and just don’t have that personal touch. They appear to use the exact same posts that they do on Instagram, likely utilizing the double-post feature that exists for Facebook and Instagram. In order to see growth and improvement there, they need to, as I said for their Instagram, make it unique! There is something to be said for uniform branding, but it’s a whole nother thing to just be the same thing everywhere on social media, where it just bores people and you get less engagement per brand.
Lastly, the New York Islanders TikTok Page currently boasts just 65.3k followers, and when you look at the account, it’s absolutely nothing special. Occasionally, they will use a trendy sound that is going viral on TikTok, but the content is just the same goals being shown as they are on other platforms. Once again, it is absolutely just cookie cutter material, and their low follower count is indicative of that. Overall, this is really where they need to become unique. Teams like the Boston Bruins have their players often act out very popular sounds, at lunch or random places. The Maple Leafs, before every practice, answer random questions as they walk to the ice. Whereas the Islanders content on TikTok is… goals that someone could watch on YouTube, or videos of the players walking off of the team bus. It is a total snoozefest, and leaves so much to be desired.
To summate, the Islanders social media presence as a whole needs significant work. There are hints of brand personality on Twitter, but everywhere else is so run of the mill it isn’t worth the time of anyone who is casually interested or looking to be interested in a team.