NHL Social Media Audit
By Nick Licata
Ice hockey rink
Audit of Brand Accounts
Observation of Social Media
The National Hockey League (NHL) uses varying content across a multitude of different platforms to attempt to bring fans closer to the game. In 2017, the NHL’s Chief Marketing Officer said,
"It's all through social, it's all about messaging, that's our future, and if we can't communicate in those channels we're going to have a big problem ahead of us," said the Officer, who was speaking at a high-level Conference. "Now is the time to harness these insights so that when that shift happens in scale, we're ready for it."
This message has become the rallying point for the National Hockey League’s social media pages over the past decade. The main NHL account and its affiliates have used the stepping stones of business analytics and insights to show fans a new side of hockey. As of recent, this has been done by more player-centered marketing. Previously, the NHL almost exclusively posted in-game highlights. As the smallest of the major four North American sports, the NHL social media accounts sputtered because most people didn’t know the players they were seeing in the highlights and they didn’t understand the game.
The NHL has since shifted to include more human interest in their posts. They have been posting more short and long-form content that includes players with their helmets off. This humanizes the players and makes fans more willing to root for them and engage in the post.
This concept is used by the NHL to turn “casual” fans into “avid” fans, as mentioned by the Chief Marketing Officer. It elevates the game from just rooting for a jersey to rooting for a player, which drives engagement across various platforms.
In the comment sections, engagement is posted on posts with players who do mini mic-style videos where they are showing their faces. This is compared to highlight posts. Understandably, a major highlight such as a Crosby or McDavid OT game-winner is going to trump all other posts in engagement, but it does so because it doesn’t happen often. Because it doesn’t happen often, the NHL social media accounts cannot rely on plays like that to carry engagement. The NHL’s social media accounts have to use self-sustaining human interest videos to build their fan base.
When the official NHL accounts get comments, they very rarely respond to fans. Affiliate accounts, such as the team’s individual accounts, respond often depending on the situation. However, the main NHL account does not often interact with fans on social media. Teams often have the green light to interact with any fan’s comments, but reserve the right to do some and only use it in certain situations. In some circumstances, teams and content creators will reach a monetary agreement where the creator posts a video at the game and the team will repost and comment on the video.
I audited the comments on the NHL social media accounts posts following the USA-Canada 4 Nations Championship game. Because of that, the comments are skewed and do not represent the standard comment sections. The comments mainly revolve around Canadians enjoying the 3-2 overtime victory. The most used emoji in the comment sections is the Canadian flag. In terms of trends, the most common joke-style comment is calling the USA Canada’s 11th Provice. This joke is in retaliation to the United States threatening to annex Canada. Another common bit is fans reveling in a Marchand redemption arc.
For the NHL I would recommend three initiatives to better boost engagement on the platform. The first would be to continue to post more player-centric content. This includes content in which the players have their helmets off as it reminds fans that they are regular people who have backgrounds and families. The second initiative I would implement is more call-to-action. This includes posts that compare players, teams, seasons and various other aspects. An account that does this often is the National Basketball Association. They do this through organic posts and retweets of affiliated accounts. It promotes healthy debate (which admittedly often turns unhealthy) which boosts engagement. The NBA is notorious for retired players sharing their opinions on the current generation, which many fans cite as a negative for the league. However, the National Hockey League can draw from the framework of igniting debate. The third initiative that the NHL social media accounts can implement is more short-form videos. These three recommendations come from the learnings that: fans engage more with player-centric content, fans will engage when prompted to, and that the content that gets the most impressions on social media are short-form videos.
The competitor brand that I audited is the National Basketball Association. The NBA uses its main and affiliate accounts across all social media platforms. Some affiliate accounts include the NBAPA, the NBA75 account, the team’s individual accounts and the affiliate country NBA accounts. These accounts post mainly highlights, which is similar to the NHL. They lack in their use of player-centric content, especially failing to capitalize over All-Star Weekend. The NBA does a good job of promoting debate in the comment sections by posting rankings and lists.
Overall, the NHL has a strong media presence that is continuing to grow with the game. The social media accounts should continue to capitalize on the increasingly famous players that are becoming more notable to the general public. This can be done through comparison, player-driven content and short-form videos. Rallying around the success of the 4 Nations Tournament, the NHL’s social media platforms will continue to grow with the sport’s increased popularity.