Friday, March 28, 2014

Weekly Roundup (3/28)

Hello again,

This week, all three of my chose social media campaigns were very effective with their Twitter use, including the @ChicagoBulls. Let's start with them.

This week the @ChicagoBulls employed a successful method of fan interaction shown below.

  1.  5h
    2nd winner found! Moving on to our next location. Stay tuned…
     Expand
  2.  5h
    We’re at location two. Find us here if you’re wearing Bulls gear and win a pair of Playoffs tix.
     Expand
  3.  5h
    Winner found ()! Moving on to our next location. Stay tuned…
     Expand
  4.  5h
    Wearing Bulls gear? Find us here to win Playoffs tix!
    Embedded image permalink
     Expand
  5.  6h
    Playoffs tix scavenger hunt this morning. Watch our Tweets for location clues. Must wear Bulls gear to win.


    As you can see, the Chicago Bulls took to Twitter for a playoff ticket scavenger hunt. Fans from Chicago,who happened to be in the areas shown above were lucky enough to win themselves a pair of prized Bulls playoff tickets. Rather than simply selecting a random Twitter follower, or radio caller, the Bulls' decided to directly interact with the people of Chicago and they used Twitter to let people know. As I've mentioned in previous posts, the Bulls should be targeting casual Chicago sports fans and there really is no better way to come across one by just walking on a street in the city. It is important for an professional sports organization to not only interact with their fans, but to get the fans to interact with them as well. The series of tweets shown above accomplish just that and are the kind that the @ChicagoBulls should look back to in the future, as an effective means of appealing to their supporters.

    Next, we turn to ESPN's @NickFriedel, who has continued his stellar use of social media by providing objective analysis and commentary of the team's activities. Below is a classic @NickFriedell tweet that shows he's been doing his job correctly. 

     Mar 21
    Very poor effort from the Bulls tonight. They'll still probably win -- but they've played badly.

    Friedell's tweet comes from a game agains the Philadelphia 76ers, who have now tied a league record with 26 straight losses. The Bulls did end up winning the match, but it didn't come in the most aesthetic fashion. Throughout the game, Friedell was hammering the Bulls for their abysmal play and rightfully so. At the end of the day, Friedell was hired to critique the team and only praise them when it is deserved. The fact that Friedell tells it how it is, when it happens, only strengthens his reputation as a sports' journalist. After all, he's working in a field where your reputation is what gets you hired and fired and by checking his Twitter, you will see that Friedell is aware of that.  

    Lastly, I just want to show you what distinguishes Jason Patt (@Bulls_Jay) from @NickFriedell. The tweet below comes from a game against the league leading Indiana Pacers.

     Mar 24
    Evan Turner is horrendous


    It is a pretty basic tweet which shows Jason Patt's opinion on an opposing player; however, it is something that is expected from @Bulls_Jay and not @NickFriedell. See, Jason Patt is biased to the point where sometimes he makes false statements concerning his own beliefs. Sure, Evan Turner is no superstar in this league, but to say that he is horrendous is truly and overstatement. This Bulls ended up winning that game and Evan Turner didn't play well, but a true sports reporter wouldn't make such a generalization that a true Bulls' fan might. Although Jason Patt does have his fair share of game reactions and sports pieces, ultimately, he is a fan first and only an aspiring journalist. Like I mentioned earlier, an individual's reputation is crucial in the sports journalism field, and for Jason Patt to bolster his chances, he needs to shy away from such one-sided, opinionated tweets.

    That's all I have you guys this week, check the blog out next Friday for some more interesting social media analysis!

    Matt

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Friday, March 21, 2014

Weekly Roundup (3/21)

Hey there,

As you've all probably noticed, this week has been a huge week for basketball thanks to the annual NCAA March Madness tournament. It is around this time of the year that college basketball tends to take over the NBA, but as basketball fans, we Bulls supporters also enjoy the hype from the college ranks. The fact that the tournament is now in full swing has definitely made it seem like a quiet week in the NBA, as some of our Twitter campaigns found themselves talking more about the college game than the NBA.

Here is one Tweet from @Bulls_Jay that I  enjoyed:


 11h
Time to see if Chuck is still awake.

As I mentioned early on, Jason Patt's targeted audience are well-informed basketball fans, who most likely live in Chicago and root for the Bulls. Having said that, basketball is much bigger than just the City of Chicago and there are many key figures throughout the sport that are known on a national level. "Chuck" is one of them. Chuck, short for Charles (Barkley) is a former NBA star who is currently a TV analyst for TNT and all the Turner networks. Anyone who has seen a national TV NBA game knows that Chuck is a very comical individual. In fact, his TNT crew is known for cracking jokes about each other more than talking about the actual game. In the past few years, Chuck has worked the broadcasts for the college tournament as well. Now, @Bulls_Jay's tweet could be either a jab at Charles Barkley's old age or his lack of interest in college basketball, but it appealed to pathos and certainly made me laugh because I too have been watching the pre-game, post-game and half-time shows with Chuck, and I must say he doesn't seem right in place when talking about the NCAA. See, @Bulls_Jay knows that his followers are watching the college games as well, as there are very few NBA fans, nonetheless Bulls fans who ignore this month's games. Yet, the majority of his followers still ultimately prefer the NBA, which is what makes @Bulls_Jay's tweet appropriate. Chuck is mainly an NBA guy that NBA fans get to laugh at and with and he seems to be one of the only individuals from the NBA community present in the collegiate one for the time being. So when a late night tournament game wraps up and the commentators announce that it is "time to head to back to the studio", it's nice to see a familiar face in Chuck and if he is still awake.

Our next tweet from @NickFriedell has nothing to do with basketball, but it's the kind of feel good story that every sports fan can appreciate. In Friedells' feed, mostly composed of Bulls related tweets, I discovered one, a tweet that posted a link to an ESPN feature story of the newly hired Kansas City Royals manager, Mike Jerschielle, who overcame a long journey to be in the position he is today.

 Mar 19
This is an awesome story about never giving up on a dream. Great work .

Although this is a baseball story, it is also one about perseverance which is a theme that is shared in every sport. Aside form the the exiting home runs, slam-dunks, and touchdowns that sports fans love, we also enjoy the stories of passion and grit, which tend to occur behind the scenes. I understand that Friedell's targeted audience are mostly NBA Bulls fans, and the majority of his tweets are to be basketball related, but this recent tweet is one of the few instances where it is appropriate to move away from basketball. It is an emotional, heartfelt story and if you get a chance to read it, please do.


Lastly, we have a tweet from the @ChicagoBulls, which I believed to be very suitable for their targeted audiences of casual Bulls fans and Chicagoans:

 Mar 19
It’s exciting to see the growth of our new practice facility across from the on Chicago’s West Side.
The Bulls are currently building a new practice arena in the heart of Chicago's west side, in an important area of the city located right next to where the team plays. The move was an important one or the team, who was able to relocate the team from Deerfield, IL (a suburb north of the city) to Chicago, and they were able to do so without the use of Chicago's tax dollars. Chicagoans welcomed last year's decision, and it now seems that the building is well on its' way to completion. As I have mentioned before, the Bulls are a very important part of the city and the new practice facility will even have a community center for local fans, further demonstrating the team's worthiness. Although I labeled the @ChicagoBulls as the least effective social media campaign, this image stood out from their plethora of boring tweets and the team needs to focus on posting more intriguing ones as seen above. In addition, this was the first time that I've seen a tweet coming from the @ChicagoBulls reporting on the progress of the practice facility. Not only will Bulls fans appreciate the improvements, but Chicagoans will as well and the Bulls must always keep the latter up to date, if they want to maintain their status as a premier ball club on and off the court.

Thanks for checking in this week,

Matt





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Wednesday, March 19, 2014

The Casual Bulls Fan (3/19)


Hello Everyone,

In today’s post, I would like to talk about the main audience that the @ChicagoBulls should be attempting to reach. Now it is important to note that the organization has several types of audience; however, after keeping a close eye on the team’s Twitter interactions this year, I’ve concluded that the overwhelming majority of their followers are casual basketball fans that likely live in the Chicagoland area.

The casual Bulls fan is not always up to date with the team and that’s okay. He or she probably has a sense on how the team is doing at any point of the season, but probably doesn’t watch every game and maybe only catches them when flipping through the channels. I am a diehard Bulls fan, but my brother Mark is not. Although Mark is a fan of the team, he doesn’t nearly know any of the in-depth Bulls information that I do and he probably doesn’t care either. The @ChicagoBulls need to adhere to folks like Mark. Mark doesn’t want to see continuous headlines being posted about a Bulls charity gala or non-stop play-by-play tweets, Mark would rather see a clip of an exiting dunk or a Chicago related tweet/image that any Chicagoan could relate to. Granted, not everyone who follows the Bulls is from Chicago (the majority are), but the Bulls are a very important to the Windy City and that is something that casual Bulls fans acknowledge and appreciate. After all, when Chicago teams are playing well, you can’t deny that there is a good vibe in the city.  

The casual Bulls fan might have been drawn to the team in the 90s, due to a guy name Michael Jordan. Although MJ’s playing days are long gone and he himself is now focused on the Charlotte Bobcats (the team he owns), the Chicago Bulls should know that Michael Jordan will forever be apart of the team’s legacy. You can’t go to any Bulls game, home or away without seeing the #23 jersey, and keep in mind the last time he wore that uniform was in 1998. If old enough, the casual Bulls fan likely remembers the 90s era when the Bulls won six NBA championships and if you were to ask then, he or she probably wouldn’t use the term casual as a description of himself. For this reason, it is appropriate for the team to post flashback tweets, images of videos. They definitely catch the eye of the casual Bulls fan that may remember the good old days, or heard about it from family.

Ultimately, casual Bulls fans wants to be kept up to date. They might even be exited to learn a fun fact that they can impress their friends with later, but they probably don’t want the entire box score of a game, and unless they are intriguing. They don’t want any numbers and they don’t care to know about a normal play that occurred during a game. That kind of information is meant for diehard fans such as myself and diehard fans already prefer other sources such as @NickFriedell and @Bulls_Jay.

My advice to the @ChicagoBulls? Stay casual.

Matt
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Friday, March 7, 2014

Weekly Roundup (March 1-7)




















Hey Guys!

The red-hot Chicago Bulls continued their tremendous play
with big wins versus New York and Detroit. As expected, these great wins have
brought good vibes to the entire Bulls community, from the fans to the front
office and our three individual social media campaigns took to Twitter to let
us know.

In the past few posts, I commented on how I felt that the
@ChicagoBulls were the least effective organization thus far. Although this
week they were a little bit better in their approach, I want to show everyone a
classic example on what the @ChicagoBulls do right and wrong. Here are a series
of tweets from earlier today:

Chicago Bulls ‏‪@chicagobulls 45m 
‪#BullsTV previews tonight's matchup vs. ‪@memgrizz
(‪http://bit.ly/1k0A68w 
‪#MEMvsCHI
View summary)

Chicago Bulls ‏‪@chicagobulls 1h 
‪http://Blogs.Bulls.com :
Noah, ‪#Bulls ready for their six-game homestand that
starts tonight at 6 p.m. CT ‪http://bit.ly/1nojYiJ  ‪#MEMvsCHI
View summary
                           
Chicago Bulls ‏‪@chicagobulls 3h 
Per Tom Thibodeau, Joakim
Noah has a thumb sprain but is good to go for tonight.
‪#MEMvsCHI
Expand

As you can see, these were consecutive tweets that appeared on
the organizations Twitter feed. The first tweet (bottom) is very effective
because it broke the news that the team’s star, Joakim Noah, who was
questionable with a thumb injury, will indeed suit up and play in tonight’s
game against Memphis. There was much speculation regarding Joakim’s status for
tonight’s game, but the @ChicagoBulls’s Twitter account- the most credible when
it comes down to reporting player injures- confirmed his active status.
Following the team’s tweet, other news outlets such as our own Nick Friedell
and Jason Patt, relayed the information that the team sent out.

The bottom tweet is an example of good social media use from the
Bulls; however, the top two tweets show exactly what the @ChicagoBulls have
been doing wrong. I understand that the Bulls want their fans to read the game
previews on their own website, but two back-to-back tweets coming within 15
minutes of each other is not the correct way to attract fans. Personally, I
would just skip over these two tweets, but for the sake of this task, I
analyzed both and concluded that they basically say the same things as each
other. The casual Bulls fan does not want to see tweets popping in and out of
their timeline from the Bulls reminding them that there is a game, and to check
out the preview on their website. Chances are, the average Bulls fan is already
aware of the game and has no interest in reading up on in beforehand. Of
course, there are exceptions, but the Bulls’ must approach their Twitter usage
by adhering to the common fan, rather than the diehard. These two tweets, which
include the very same link, are likely to be ignored. Perhaps, a captivating
image or a “did you know?” type of fact regarding the Bulls and Memphis would
have been more fitting, but all the Bulls tell us with their tweet is “there is
a game vs. Memphis, but read our preview first,” and they do that twice. The
Bulls need to be better than that, if they want to improve their reputation on
social media.

Aside from the
@ChicagoBulls, our other two social media campaigns did a nice job overall this
week. Let’s start with @NickFriedell. In addition two Nick’s weekly analysis
and feedback, he retweeted a video from BullsTV, the official camera crew of
the team, that shows a behind the scenes look at Bulls’ star Joakim Noah,
during his time in New Orleans for the All-Star Game. Here is the clip below:




 Mar 5



Good stuff as usual from and the Bulls TV crew on Joakim Noah.



























This is the kind of video
that fans want to see. The clip exposes Noah as a down to earth individual,
something that fans love. The only rhetorical appeal present in Friedell’s
tweet is pathos, but it is important to note that this tweet won’t have any
implications towards Nick. Friedell shared the video with us simply because he
enjoyed it too; after all, most of his commentary is meant to be critical
towards the team. Being that this clip was developed essentially by the Chicago
Bulls, it was a bit of a shame that the team’s official Twitter account chose
not to post it themselves. One of the team’s goals should be promoting their
players as likeable individuals and this video does a great job of that. Rather
than getting fans to go to their website to read a game preview, why not
attract them with a cool video? It is simple mistakes like this that hinder the
team’s credibility.

Finally, I would just like
to comment on a tweet form Bulls blogger Jason Patt. Earlier this week, as the
team rode on its’ recent success, Jason Patt tweeted this, with a link to an
article he wrote for SB Nation:

 ‏‪@Bulls_Jay Mar 1
The Chicago Bulls are fun again ‪http://sbn.to/MEqJzf 

As soon as I saw this tweet from @Bulls_Jay, I immediately
clicked on the link and not because of this project, but because the caption
had me genuinely interested. It might be hard to see it as an outsider, but
Jason Patt’s tweet had an excellent use of pathos. “The Chicago Bulls are fun
again,” I’ll admit, it had me reminiscing on the old days. See, it is important
to know that for the last two years, the Bulls were not supposed to be good.
With our star player Derrick Rose being injured, no one expected us to have the
success that we had with him in the lineup, and truthfully we didn’t. However,
the resilience this team shows to continue to fight without its leader is
remarkable. Instead of leaving Chicago with a lousy basketball team, this group
has battled so hard to the point that it has made themselves “fun again.” Fans
know that this years’ Bulls team will most likely not win the championship, but
they’ll make the playoffs. They’ll continue to battle and battle amidst of the
adversity that they’re facing and this is what’s made them exciting. Although
the Michael Jordan era of the 90s is now a thing of the past, fans are eager to
return to the good old days three to four years ago. Thus far, this team is
doing it’s job to get us back. 





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