The Presence Of The NHL On Social Media
After doing a social media audit on the National Hockey League’s Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter) and TikTok pages, I was surprised about how different the pages looked. Since it is all their social media, I was assuming the majority of the posts would be similar across apps. To my surprise, many posts were vastly different, and I did not see a lot of repeat posts.
The first page that I looked at was Instagram. The Instagram page has 6.5 million followers, the second most out of the four. The majority of the content is highlights from the games going on that day. The main demographic of Instagram users are people between the ages of 18 and 34. That demographic is the future when it comes to spending money on teams and buying season tickets. If the younger audience is able to develop a love for the game through watching highlights, it will pay dividends in the future. Instagram is the only app of the four that I personally use on a daily basis. While I do not follow the NHL, I follow the NFL and NBA, and I can say that a lot of their posts are similar. The use of highlights is very frequent throughout Instagram, regardless of the league.
The second page that I looked at was Facebook. Facebook is the only page to have a bio other than “where hockey lives,” as it is “the best hockey league in the world.” Facebook is used by the oldest demographic that actually uses social media. This is typically people in their 30s and 40s. People that age are just starting to get season tickets, as they are a lot more financially stable than those in their 20s. A majority of their posts are about players, current and past, telling stories about things that have happened in their careers. This appeals to the generation that enjoys hearing stories and wants to relive the memories made by their favorite players growing up.
The third page that I looked at was X. X has the highest number of followers of the four with 6.9 million. X typically posts highlights and news. That is the site where news typically breaks first. While the NHL account is never the first to break the news, they post about various signings and trades. The people on the app are already usually looking for news, therefore the NHL account posts up-to-date news.
The final page that I looked at was TikTok. TikTok had the lowest number of followers at 2.7 million, which is what surprised me more than anything. TikTok is the only app of the four that I do not have an account for, but the target demographic is people my age, 20-year-olds. The TikTok page primarily posts player interactions, something that engages the newer generation. It is very important to get a young audience engaged, as they are the future viewers. Getting them engaged at a young age is an investment that the NHL is trying to capitalize on through social media.
While all the pages were different, they were all tailored to their target demographic in order to maximize the usage of each platform.
