Super Bowl Sunday or Social Media Sunday?

I had mentioned previously that when it comes to sport, social media is a major game changer in how the world sees a particular team or an individual athlete. Some teams have a very professional social media presence while others have a more interactive presence. Some teams will allow their players to engage in conversation with fans on their personal accounts, while others want to keep it more of a one way dialogue. Another reason why social media is important to sport is that it keeps casual fans updated on team performance at practice, in games, or during the off season. For example, I would consider myself a casual Atlanta Falcons fan-I root for them because I am from Atlanta but I could only tell you two players names and how I am still upset about their super bowl performance in 2017. In order to sound knowledgeable on their performance and other notable news/changes, I always go to social media first. It is a quick and fast way to read about anything going on involving their team in 280 characters or less. If its interesting enough I now have a base of what to look up on google based on that tweet.

While this is true, It hit me where it hurts

The reason I bring this up is because it is super bowl Sunday! The day where all the casual fans come out from the dark and try to update themselves about "their team" on Instagram, Twitter and/or Facebook. They will look at the main team account, some of the biggest players accounts, and a personal favorite memes! Memes are a fun and light-hearted way to make fun of a situation to get more interaction to a teams page. When the Saints played the Rams in the playoffs, social media was going crazy. The Rams had a slow start to the game and then showed up after halftime to win. However, I am sure every football fan knows that the Saints could have won if it was not for a bad call from the referees after a helmet to helmet hit. The amount of memes and tweets going out after that play and the game was insane! I actually did not even watch the game but was able to get a clear understanding of what happened after simply scrolling through twitter. I also got a good laugh at the reactions of the tweets and images I saw on social media.

When comparing the Patriots and the Rams social media accounts for the Super Bowl, there are a lot of similarities in how they show off the team. There are a lot of videos and updates from practice, some individual interviews with top players, Super Bowl graphics and interactive stories for fans to engage in (Instagram story voting or question asking). When comparing two star players, Tom Brady has a more personal presence and shows off more about his everyday life versus Todd Gurley whose account is more focused on the Super Bowl, his training and traveling.

Teams are effectively using social media as a tool through different strategies designed to create an active community of followers. Creating this content and interaction can not only allow teams to enhance and grow their brand, but can also energize existing fans and inform them of all events and news. Teams have the unique ability to use their players to promote their brands and engage with fans. By allowing fans the opportunity to interact with players via social media, teams can grow their followings and increase hype around their franchises and by training players how to effectively use their social media, players can help produce exciting content to help market their team.

I am excited to see the social media activity around this super bowl as there has been so much controversy around the teams, the halftime show and the location. I am also interested to see if social media usage increases and the viewing of it on TV decreases? Of course I will be looking for the funniest memes about the game, especially if the Patriots win (again). It will also be interesting to see what the teams official page will be posting during the game and after, and to see the dynamic of their content change weeks after the super bowl is over.

If you can't tell, I do not want the Patriots to win...