Wow - my sixteenth blog post, it feels good to say that. Anyways, as you may or may not be able to tell by the title of my post. The Los Angeles Lakers are the first North American sports team to reach 11 million fans on Facebook.
If I would have had to guess, I would have probably not picked the Lakers to lead the category, I probably would have went with either the Dallas Cowboys or the New York Yankees. But according to this article on NBA.com, they are in fourth place worldwide, trailing only FC Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United, who are all European soccer clubs.
Apparently it has only taken the Lakers only three years to reach this status. They created both a Facebook and Twitter accounts during the 2008-2009 season. According to Tim Harris, Lakers CMO/Senior Vice President of Business Operations, “When we created our Facebook page three years ago, we did so with the intention of using the platform as a way to personally connect with our fans not only in America, but all over the world.” It has clearly been working. When I last checked the actually have 11,020,104 viewers, so the number continues to rise.
We know that they have the most, but according to this article, the Charlotte Bobcats have the fewest with only 85,000. That is a huge difference between first and last place.
I am not surprised that the Lakers are tops in the NBA, they are in a huge city and have a storied franchise. It sounds like they use Facebook the right away, by giving their fans a personal look at the team. A chance to hear from the coaches, the Laker Girls and they are even offered merchandise specials.
We have talked all semester long about how important social media is and Facebook is King (at least right now.) If you want to reach millions of people, there is no better way than adding a few pictures/videos and quick blurbs to your Facebook account. To quote a different sport movie, “If you build it, they will come”, and that is just the case with Facebook, and well I guess the Los Angeles Lakers.
Facebook is extremely popular among teenagers, but with the sports teams beginning to utilize this social media avenue, many more male adults will become users as well. Literally Facebook is not just for looking up friends anymore. With Facebook evolving to encompass all of society and their particular interests, Facebook has captured the essence of the American public: quick information fast and in one location. As other teams see the popularity of the Los Angeles Lakers on Facebook, it will be interesting to watch the competition off the court among these teams.
ReplyDeleteGeez.. that is a big big difference between first and last place. I would expect much more than 85,000 for the Bobcats. Whoever does the marketing for the team clearly needs to step it up and smell the coffee. This was a very relevant blog post and I am glad that you took the time to plain it all to us. I am not surprised that the Lakers have 11 million fans. That is quite impressive.
ReplyDeleteI can definitely see why the Lakers are on top. They have had a long history of winning and their current team seems to win a lot as well. Winning attracts fans and that is what the Los Angeles Lakers do. Kobe Bryant is also a premier player to watch so that contributes to their fan support as well. I could only dream of getting 11 million fans. It is also interesting that they are fourth on the worldwide list. Great post!
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