NHL Social Media Audit
Team Canada wins 4 Nations Face-Off
〰️
Team Canada wins 4 Nations Face-Off 〰️
by Tolome Mazariegos
Players get into a fight in the 4 Nations Face-Off opening game
Section 1: Audit of Brand Accounts
The National Hockey League is considered to be the world’s premier professional ice hockey league. Through their social media accounts, they share game updates, images, videos, announcements, promotions, and more with their fans. Here, I have conducted an audit of their Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok, LinkedIn, and YouTube accounts.
Instagram:
Followers: 6.8 Million
Top Content: The content type that nets the most likes and views on Instagram is videos revolving around players. These videos may be player interviews or simple captures of one player’s interaction with another on the ice.
Key Takeaways: Player Q+As, trivia games, reaction tests, play montages, and reaction videos all tend to net high engagement. Fans like getting to know their favorite players better, and this is particularly well-evidenced on Instagram.
Facebook:
Followers: 5 Million
Top Content: On Facebook, I found that the top-performing content consists of posts that announce or relate to game wins. Fans like to be informed of who won the most recent game, and they also enjoy having a place online to celebrate or discuss with other hockey fans.
Key Takeaways: Game updates and announcements find the most support on Facebook. These come in the forms of images with simple copy as well as videos.
X
Followers: 7.2 Million
Top Content: The most engaged-with content on X was posts that made important announcements about games. Similar to Facebook, users showed special interest in seeing results and outcomes.
Key Takeaways: The NHL makes use of the largest range of content forms on X. They use short videos, long form videos, images, and all kinds of announcements and promotions. It is to good effect, seeing at X has the most followers out of all the NHL social media accounts.
TikTok:
Followers: 2.9 Million
Top Content: The most popular content on TikTok was videos of players training and showing users their routines. Videos featuring kids also did especially well.
Key Takeaways: TikTok users continue the trend of enjoying content that shows “behind the scenes” footage of players. It also has a focus on special moments with young fans.
LinkedIn:
Followers: 188k
Top Content: The most popular content on LinkedIn has to do with hiring new employees. Announcements and promotions also did especially well.
Key Takeaways: LinkedIn is a social app aimed at business and networking, so it makes sense that users would go here for career opportunities. It is also a good idea to provide updates here similar to the ones found on Instagram and X, however, because fans always want to stay in the loop.
YouTube:
Followers: 2.3M
Top Content: YouTube has found the most success posting humorous and unique content featuring less well-known contributors to the sport, such as the “mad (ice) scientist.” Discussions between players also do well here.
Key Takeaways: YouTube has the advantage of long-form videos and livestreams. Like the other sites, users enjoy player-focused content.
Team Canada celebrates after winning the 4 Nations Face-Off
Section 2: Observation of Social Media Care
Next, we’ll look at the kinds of inquiries and comments the NHL gets in comments and mentions, as well as how they respond. The NHL’s TikTok account has the most instances of creator-consumer interactions in the comment sections. The videos with the most NHL responses are the videos that have gone viral, and less popular, more recent videos have little social care showing from the NHL. Typically, responses to fans are short and simple. They often reply with emojis expressing agreement with the commenter, or they may just favorite a comment. In one instance, a fan asked if the NHL could wish his brother Luca a Merry Christmas since Luca had been having a hard year. The NHL replied with “Merry Christmas Luca!” This is one instance of great social media care, but unfortunately this is not as common as it could be. Replies like this humanize the brand and show others that the brand isn’t just responding when they “need” to in order to fight negative comments.
On other social accounts like Facebook, LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Instagram, I unfortunately did not find any examples of customer care in comments or mentions. This a major area of improvement for the NHL.
Section 3: Observation and analysis of Social Media Comments
The NHL has room to improve when it comes to social media care, but we can get ideas for how to improve their impact by looking at what consumers have to say. For this section, I analyzed a selection of comments across the NHL’s social accounts to see what people had to say.
Fans’ comments highlight passion for the game, criticism of rule enforcement, and admiration for players. Some express frustration against officiation: “Easy to win when you get no calls against you the entire game. Ridiculous officiating.”
Fans admire players with respect and understanding of the culture surrounding hockey: “The fact you are such a hockey fan makes my admiration for you so much more.”
Consumers also appreciate when the NHL spotlights employees. “So refreshing to see this side of the social media impact... what a role model for other young women everywhere!”
In addition to these examples, fans play into the rivalry between the US and Canada, as well as referencing current politics. “Canada is still the 51st state!” “Ask them what will happen if they're attacked by foreign nations...”
Some fans also criticize videos made by the NHL, such as a recent “Top Ten Goals of the 4 Nations Face-Off” video. “This is the worst ranking I’ve ever watched.” “How is Kempe's goal not on here???”
Section 4: Closing Analysis and Learnings
The NHL, while not as popular as other sports leagues on social media, has a significant online presence. Top-performing content across the board tends to consist of videos centered around players as well as posts containing important updates about games. When it comes to social media care, the NHL is unfortunately lacking. TikTok provides the most examples of interaction in comments, but this is rare on other sites. When analyzing social media comments, I found instances of admiration, appreciation, rivalry, frustration, and criticism.
Having laid out general social account information, observing instances of social media care, and analyzing social media comments, I will now conclude with learnings and recommendations for both the NHL brand and a competitor brand, the NFL.
Learnings and Recommendations for the NHL:
The NHL does not interact with fans on social media very much. TikTok is the only platform where this can really be seen.
The NHL should devote time and energy to responding to fan comments across all accounts in a timely, friendly, and professional manner.
Fans like player-centered content the most.
The NHL should produce more social media content that focuses on players. This includes videos of interviews, players talking with one another, players interacting with one another on the ice, players interacting with fans, and players participating in fun games like trivia.
Fans are critical of choices made by refs and NHL video creators.
The NHL should respond to these critical comments by acknowledging frustration without disrespecting officials. They should also start making user-driven “fan-favorite play” content, informed by polls on their socials.
Learnings and Recommendations for the NFL, a competitor:
Like the NHL, the NFL misses out on the opportunity to respond to and interact with fans through social media comment sections.
The NFL should make a concerted effort to respond to fan comments consistently. They should take special care to respond to critical comments.
Fan reactions to NFL highlights and rankings are generally more positive than the NHL’s, but there is naturally still criticism and argument in the comments.
The NFL should keep their highlights and rankings videos as they are, but introduce a player-based system for highlighting the best plays as well.
Like the NHL, the NFL is not taking advantage of new social sites like BlueSky.
The NFL should get a head-start over competitors by joining new and popular social apps and establishing a presence there.
“To win the game is great. To play the game is greater. To love the game is greatest of all.”