COMPANY SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYSIS MKTG 4520 | BURTON FALL 2013 BECCA MORROW
Company Analysis of The Boston Red Sox
By: Becca Morrow November 30th, 2013
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Table of Contents I.
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………….Pg. 3
II.
Red Sox Nation……………………………………………………………………………………………….Pg. 4
III.
Company Website Analysis……………………………………………………………………………..Pg. 5
IV.
Social Media Platforms……………………..…………………………………………………………….Pg. 6 i.
Facebook……………………………………………………………………………………………..Pg. 6
ii.
Twitter………………………………………………………………………………………………...Pg. 7
iii.
Instagram……………………………………………………………………………………………Pg. 8
iv.
Google Plus………………………………………………………………………………………….Pg. 9
v.
Pinterest…………………………………………………………………………………………….Pg. 9
vi.
Tumblr………………………………………………………………………………………………Pg. 10
vii.
Vine………………………………………………………………………………………………..…Pg. 10
V.
Social Sites Not Being Utilized……………………………………………………………………….Pg. 11
VI.
Red Sox News……………………………………………………………………………………………...Pg. 12 i.
World Series Win……………………………………………………………………………….Pg. 12
ii.
Player Contracts………………………………………………………………………………..Pg. 13
iii.
Philanthropy……………………………………………………………………………………...Pg. 13
VII.
Crowdsourcing…………………………………………………………………………………………….Pg. 14
VIII.
#GetBeard…………………………………………………………………………………………………....Pg. 15
IX.
Campaign Analysis………………………………………………………………………………………..Pg. 16
X.
Social Media Strengths…………………………………………………………………………………Pg. 17
XI.
Social Media Weaknesses……………………………………………………………………………...Pg. 17
XII.
Suggestions………………………………………………………………………………………………….Pg. 18
XIII.
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………Pg. 18
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Introduction The Boston Red Sox are one of the oldest franchises in Major League Baseball. Established in 1901, the Red Sox have granted sports fans several decades worth of baseball entertainment and history.1 Baseball is known as America’s greatest pastime. It is a sport with an enormous fan base that continues to spread this day. The Red Sox are one of the most established franchises, and are categorized as a classic ball team. Throughout their history they’ve employed several baseball legends such as Roger Clemens, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Carl Yaztremski, Carlton Fisk, Cy Young, Jimmy Fox, Bobby Dorr and Curt Schilling. The Red Sox have won eight World Series titles, including three in the past 10 years after an 86 year hiatus. This famous losing streak is often referred to as the “Curse of the Bambino,” an era that occurred after the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees following their World Series win in 1918. This has proven to cause much friction and a bitter rivalry between Boston and New York ever since. Over time, the Red Sox still held a firm foot in the world of baseball and became a well-established team. Their home field is Fenway Park, standing at over 100 years old. The Red Sox are highly respected by many for the fact that they aren’t infatuated with profiting off the team like others have been accused of. The Red Sox as a brand has undergone major reconstruction in the past three years in particular. After coming off one of their worst seasons ever in 2012, the Sox knew something had to be done to make Boston a winning brand yet again. "Every franchise, every brand goes through rough times. No one is immune to the hills and valleys," team president and CEO Larry Lucchino said, according to MLB.com. "We've had a long run of success. We've created very high expectations for the franchise. Sometimes those high expectations are not met, and the result is a reduction, a hit to the brand and to the team and to the fan base. If it's broke, we'll fix it."2 After The Red Sox’s 2013 season, that strategy has proven successful, and much of it was accomplished through the use of social media. Brands are often built on emotion, and this is definitely the case in the Boston Red Sox.
"The History of The Boston Red Sox." FenwayTicketKing. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. "Red Sox Reimagined as a Winning Brand." Red Sox Reimagined as a Winning Brand. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. 1 2
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Red Sox Nation Back when the Red Sox were establishing their franchise, they had one obvious target market; the male residents of Boston, Massachusetts. At the time they were emerging as a ball club, sports were never an interest to women and communication boundaries made it hard to reach much further than the city or state limits. People became loyal to the Red Sox because they were the home team, and that was the mentality. Today, the Red Sox have an extensive target market that encompasses baseball fans of all ages, genders, and demographics. You can find Red Sox fans throughout the entire New England area, scattered over the U.S and Southeastern Canada and other international countries. Many are unaware of the Boston Red Sox’s large market that has been established in Japan. This is large in part to the Red Sox signing an array of Japanese pitchers over the past ten years such as Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hideki Okajima, Takashi Saito, Junichi Tazawa and 2013 American League Championship Series MVP closer Koji Uehara. This is a very smart target market to establish because of the cultural loyalty that the Japanese employ. It has opened a huge opportunity for merchandise and ticketing sales that the Red Sox have benefited from. Women have become a huge market for the Red Sox as well. A 2006 article stated that according to survey data, female participation in New England sports has skyrocketed over the past 5 years, landing the beginning of this growth right around 2000. According to the survey, 77% of women in Boston in 2006 described themselves as Red Sox fans, and now that the Sox have two more world championship titles since that data, it is safe to assume that number is well into the 80-90% range. In fact, according to Sasha Talcott of the Boston Globe, there has been such a dramatic increase in female fandom that the Red Sox's audience now nearly evenly split between men and women, which follows the pattern of Boston’s general population. 3 Boston, among other MLB and professional sports teams, has created an entire line of merchandise for women, including shirts cut for women’s bodies and a tickling line of clothing that includes pink hats, jerseys, and t-shirts. This marketing strategy has proved to be widely popular and no doubt profitable for the Red Sox. Red Sox Nation is a term that is meant to encompass the Red Sox’s entire fan base. It has become a popular hashtag used to bring Sox fans together and exhumes the passion and emotion that is associated with being a Red Sox fan. The term Red Sox Nation suggests the team’s wide reaching audience and never-ending range of fandom. In short, the Sox’s target market consists of the most loyal and passionate fans in Major League Baseball. 3
Talcott, Sarah. "Boston Women Root, Root, Root for Home Teams." Www.boston.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.
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Company Website The official site of the Boston Red Sox is a branch under MLB.com. The official tag is www.boston.redsox.mlb.com, but typing in either variation of redsox.com or bostonredsox.com will redirect you to the official site. The first thing that caught my eye when I entered the site was the photographs used on either side of the page. At that point in time there was a shot of Fenway Park and a shot of the team celebrating their recent World Series win. There is a lot of content on the homepage, which can be a bit overwhelming, but it is well labeled and organized and shouldn’t pose any problems for users of the site. All of the websites under Major League Baseball are organized in the same fashion. The content varies from team to team, but each site has a bar at the top that contains the headers; News, Video, Scores, Stats, Schedule, Roster, Community, Fans, and a link for the team ballpark. On the left there are links to MLB related content such as Tickets, Mobile, Shop, MLB.TV, Fantasy, and Teams. The main difference between each team’s site is the photo content used as the background of the home page. Advertising does have a presence on the home page. This is somewhat bothersome, but understandable. It doesn’t take away from the site, but it can be a distraction from the content that users come to look for. The ads for ‘Frozen Fenway’ are currently the most noticeable. This event is a new tradition that happens once a year. Fenway is temporarily turned into a hockey rink for college teams to compete at. This type of advertising makes more sense for the type of people that are expected to visit the site rather than the John Hancock advertisement on the bottom right side (although they are known as a long time sponsor of the Red Sox and Fenway Park). There is also MLB shop advertising, which is only present at the moment because of Black Friday sales. The allotted advertisement space is also consistent between all MLB team websites. There is an area of the home page that is dedicated to connecting with the Red Sox through social media, and some MLB mobile content. This section is sort of hidden at the bottom, but if you’re looking for it, it’s not hard to find. It is important content to have on the website so that the fans can connect with their favorite teams and players. Overall, the site is very useable and follows the suit of their brand while appealing to their target market.
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Social Media Platforms Facebook The Red Sox have 4.1 million Facebook likes. Only one team has more likes on Facebook than Boston; the New York Yankees stand at the top with 6.5 million.4 The amount of daily content posted on the Red Sox’s Facebook page has decreased significantly since the season ended after their World Series win. They went from posting several (5+) times a day to just a few times a week. This is the nature of their brand, though. The same would have happened if they had been eliminated at any point during the post season. The further into the post season the Sox advanced, the more content was generated on social media. The Sox are very strategic in keeping up their social media buzz. The type of content they post is often very clever and enticing. They consistently use the latest trends to further engage their audience. The Sox are also very good about posting pre-game matchup fliers, asking for user generated content, and posting photos with catchy tag lines that are all consistently designed. The cover photo that they are currently using follows the same design of the photos that were posted throughout the season. This shows that the Red Sox are effectively using consistency in branding. The clever header on the photo is a play on words of a quote from their all-star player David Ortiz. It uses less colorful language, but clearly references the celebratory ‘Duck Boat Parade’ that went on through the city after the Sox won the World Series last month. The Red Sox have also taken full advantage of Facebook’s timeline feature. They have added plenty of historical landmarks dating back to the team’s founding. This provides a cool feature that allows long-time fans to reminisce upon team history. It also allows new fans to do a little digging of their own into Red Sox trivia.
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"MLB Teams on Facebook." Www.fanpagelist.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.
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Twitter The Red Sox have quite an involved Twitter page, as well. They have the third most followers out of major league baseball teams at 673,000 and are surpassed by only The New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies. They post an average of 23 tweets a day, and according to a Tweetails analysis, their most used word is Farrell, the last name of their general manager.5 They follow about 50 people on Twitter. Around half of them are verified players or other important baseball accounts, but a significant amount is comprised of unverified fans, which is a very smart move on their part. Fans are often overjoyed when a significant verified person on Twitter follows them, so this is a great relationship building technique. The Red Sox also reply to a good number of tweets sent at them, which continues to strengthen ties between fans and the brand. They post much of the same content as they do on Facebook, but it is not word-for-word the same. They have consciously put in the effort to tailor their message to the platform they are using, which shows they are no rookie in the world of social media. The Red Sox use a variety of hashtags to promote their brand on Twitter. A few of these have been around for a while, but some are more recent. The most popular hashtag that the Red Sox use is #WinToday. This is a simple message, yet powerful. It is characteristic of baseball’s 162-game season; taking one game, and one win, at a time. Other popular hashtags include #GetBeard, #BeardNation, #RedSoxNation #WorldSeries, #ForYouBoston and #BostonStrong. The Boston Strong campaign was started after tragedy hit the city during the Boston Marathon. Although this wasn’t a Red Sox campaign, they were avidly involved in the healing of the city and the use of this hashtag was a big part of that. The Red Sox also have a Japanese Twitter account. This is surely aimed at their large international market, and is a very interesting concept. They have nearly 10,000 followers. It’s hard to tell if the content is the same as the official Red Sox Twitter page, but they do retweet much of that account’s content. The official Red Sox Twitter tweets about five times as often as the Japanese Twitter page. A major difference that I noticed was the background pages. While the official Red Sox Twitter page as features photos of David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury, the Japanese Red Sox page features Junichi Tazawa, Koji Uehara, and David Ortiz. The Japanese Red Sox account is not verified, but I am not going to question its legitimacy.
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"Tweetails Analysis." Tweetails.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.
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Instagram The Red Sox’s Instagram is one of their best utilized social media sites. They have very talented photographers on their staff, and clever writers to go along with them. Instagram revolves around photo sharing. Photos are one of the best ways to evoke emotional responses, and because the Red Sox brand is built on emotion, this is an excellent outlet for them to reach their fans and maintain those strong relationships. The Red Sox have over 253,000 followers and 1,100 posts. Their Instagram receives a lot of traffic and interaction with followers (usually over 20,000 likes per post), proving that this is outlet is worth their effort. They have demonstrated that they know how to effectively use Instagram and gain followers. If Instagram had a ‘regram’ function, they’d have a much greater reach and probably a significantly higher number of followers. The content that the Red Sox post on Instagram is different than what is posted on their other social media. Though they will include some content on Twitter and Facebook, they generally post a lot of unique photos on their Instagram that you can’t find anywhere else. They also include video content, which is a recently added feature of Instagram. This type of content provides cool behind-the-scenes videos of the Red Sox Clubhouse and dugout during games. Content like this is what the fans really love. They want to feel included and a part of the team and the Red Sox have successfully found creative ways to accomplish that. This social media outlet is more popular with the younger audience. It was originally only available as a smart phone app, which is why there are so many younger people using it. The Red Sox have tailored this content to the type of market they are posting to by using popular and trendy hashtags such as #SorryNotSorry, #ThrowbackThursday, #StartedFromTheBottom, #Latergram, #Murica, and the list continues. The proper use of these hashtags appeals to the younger generation of fans and builds their reputation as a progressive brand. 8
Google Plus The Red Sox have a presence on Google+, though it is not one of their stronger social media sites. They have 371,000 plusses and 4,800 people in their circles. This social media account seems to get lost in the bigger ones that get posted on regularly. The last post on Google+ was from October 28, 2013 when Jonny Gomes launched a 3-run home run to tie up the World Series 2-2, sending the series back to Boston. Two days later, the Sox won the World Series, which is a monumental event in Red Sox news and there was no acknowledgement of it on Google+. They had been doing a pretty good job of regularly updating throughout the post season up until that point. My guess is that through all of the excitement, no content was created for Google+ and it fell into the shadows over the past month. Before they dropped off this social media cliff, they had made a good point to post at least 2-3 times a week. Much of their content includes game recaps and is identical to Facebook posts. Pinterest Yes, baseball teams can have Pinterest accounts, too. This social media site is highly underutilized by the Red Sox. Though they do market their merchandise toward women, you can bet that they don’t have many working on their social media team. They have about 100 pins spread across 14 boards. The boards do have clever titles and themes, but the content for them has not been recently updated. The most recent pins were from Red Sox spring training, nearly 9 months ago. There are also many photos of players, though none of the ones we love from the 2013 roster. There are plenty of links to Red Sox merchandise, also, which is a great outlet to grow sales. However, with only about 6,000 followers and only about 10-50 repins a post, they aren’t reaching enough people for this to be a viable social media outlet. My guess is that they threw in the towel a little early. Whoever attempted to set up this account doesn’t exactly understand Pinterest. Women are the primary users of Pinterest. They want to see content such as babies in cute red sox clothes, kids craft ideas, recipes and tailgating tips, wedding planning ideas and fashion/beauty tips. Some of the content on the Red Sox Pinterest page does have hints of these themes, but not nearly as much as they could have. The Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs have proved that baseball brands can succeed on Pinetrest; both have over 1 million followers each. The Red Sox’s half-hearted attempt at breaking into the world of Pinterest is sort of obvious and deterring to potential followers. There are many other creative ways that the Red Sox could improve their Pinterest, but hey, at least they have one. 9
Tumblr At first I was confused as to what the point of this account was. I don’t fully understand Tumblr to begin with, but to me it didn’t seem to be a place for baseball teams. It definitely is an interesting choice for the Red Sox to employ, but after further investigation, I came to the conclusion that it must be standard for all MLB teams to have a Tumblr. In fact, the MLB must require all teams use the same exact platforms as each other. The only difference is how successfully each team implements their content. The Red Sox Tumblr page consists of photo after photo riddled with hashtags as captions. There doesn’t seem to be as much creativity thrown into this outlet as there is on their Facebook and Twitter pages. It probably takes a back seat to their social media with more of a following. The company website advertises their Tumblr page as a ‘unique take on your Boston Red Sox.’ They’ve created a very different atmosphere, probably at an attempt to break into younger, quirkier markets. They call their Tumblr page “Fenway 360°” which suggests that it is a totally new perspective than their other social media sites. It seems that they began posting on Tumblr this past April. Since then, there is a clear bell curve in the amount that they’ve posted month to month. They posted 32 times in September, but only two and five times in May and October, respectively. It seems that they are still trying to get the hang of Tumblr. I can’t tell how many people actually follow them but after looking at a few of their posts, they are getting between 20-60 notes per post. Overall, I would bet that they would never consider this type of outlet if the MLB hadn’t been requiring it. It doesn’t get nearly as much traffic as their other social media sites and is probably being run by someone who doesn’t understand Tumblr, much like their Pinterest account. Exposure is exposure, though. They just need to learn how to better utilize the specific tools in each platform. Vine The Red Sox recently began getting in on the popular new social media Vine. They have around 52,400 followers and nearly 200 posts. They link all of their Vines to their Twitter account to get traffic to the account. Every baseball team I searched for also has a Vine, though none of them are linked to MLB.com. This may be because Vine is only a mobile app and has not yet moved to a physical web page. These videos are much like the ones that they create for Instagram, showing behind the scenes looks into the lives of the sox players in the clubhouse. Some of the best vines they posted were from the post-World Series win champagne celebration that featured popping corks and players shot-gunning beers. The Red Sox definitely know what content is appropriate for each of their social media outlets. 10
Social Media Not Being Utilized Flickr The Red Sox do not have a Flickr page. This site is mainly used to post and share large numbers of photos. Because they already use Instagram and post many albums on Facebook, it doesn’t make sense for them to have a Flickr account. No team in Major League Baseball uses this site, which leads me to believe that they couldn’t if they wanted to. There must be strict regulations on teams using social media; either they all must utilize a certain platform or none of them can. Also, the Red Sox are wise to not share thousands of their photos all at once. There are plenty of people who would use the photos for other activities without their permission. Flickr uploads are often large file sizes that are able to be used for multiple projects and graphic design files, and if the Red Sox openly shared the files that their photographers worked so hard to capture, there is potential for property theft. Facebook and Instagram photos provide some protection from this as they are generally compressed to sizes that usually render them unusable for professional endeavors. YouTube The Red Sox do not have an official YouTube channel, either. This is a bit surprising as YouTube is a video content based site and is one of the most popular websites in existence. The Sox have plenty of video highlights that they could upload to the channel and would not have any problems generating new content. The Red Sox do have many places where you can find their videos, such as the company website, Facebook page, Instagram, Vine and even Twitter. The problem I see is that they are all scattered over these platforms and their video content doesn’t have one complete library where fans can find exactly what they’re looking for. The MLB has proven to be somewhat of a gatekeeper on what social media platforms teams can or can’t have, but I feel that they could push for a YouTube channel and the need for it would be realized. It is a tremendous opportunity that the Red Sox are missing out on.
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Red Sox News World Series Win The most prominent Red Sox news is, of course, their recent World Series Championship title. Though they won the series over a month ago, they are still getting all of the press that they can out of it. The series went to six games and proved to be a very exciting and emotional win for the city of Boston. The team did so much to heal the city and bring Bostonians together, as they all now follow the motto ‘Boston Strong.’ Much of this was discussed at various angles in the press. The Boston Globe described it best in their day-after-the-win article stating “Boston Strong, at least a variation of the theme, hit a crescendo Wednesday night on the Fenway lawn.”6 This event was extra special because it was the first time the Red Sox clinched the World Series at home since 1918. The catchphrase ‘Party like its 1918’ soon found its way onto signs and t-shirts throughout Boston. ESPN had plenty of highlights to show all week and Boston newspapers kept the Sox on the front page for quite some time. Their post-win celebration continued all month long, though the parade only lasted one day. The parade itself was an emotional rollercoaster, as players rode on duck boats through the city that began at Fenway Park, traveled through the city, took the same route as the Boston Marathon did (in honor of the tragedy that struck the city in April) and ended in the Charles River. There was an enormous amount of press coverage on the event. Sox reporter Ian Browne said in a press release, “While most championship parades take on a sense of community – particularly in a city like Boston – this one was probably at an even higher level.” The moment that received the most press coverage was when the duck boats stopped at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Red Sox left fielder Jonny Gomes stepped out of his duck boat with the World Series Trophy and placed it on the ground at the finish line. He then draped a Red Sox jersey stitched with ‘Boston Strong’ sandwiching the number 617, the city’s area code. God Bless America was then played over loud speakers and the thousands of people in the crowd all began to sing along. This moment was quite surreal for the Red Sox and the city of Boston. Jonny Gomes commented on the event afterward saying “That was something kind of unexpected on my end, but I was glad to be a part of it. We’ve been playing this game for a long time and we’ve been fortunate enough to wrap it up with this. One thing Red Sox Nation and the Red Sox have done is not let what happened out of sight and out of mind. We’re still doing what we can to keep them honored as they should be.” 7
Shaughnessy, Dan. "A World Series Win That No One Predicted." BostonGlobe.com. Web. 02 Dec. 2013. Browne, Ian. "Red Sox Celebrate with Emotion-packed Parade." Redsox.mlb.com., 2 Nov. 2013. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. 6 7
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Player Contracts Now that the 2013 season has finally come to a close, and there is about 70 days until pitchers and catchers report to spring training, the only thing left to discuss is player contracts. Who will be resigned, who we will pick up from other teams, and what our 2014 roster is shaping up to be. The team didn’t rest a minute after the last piece of confetti fell before they were back to the drawing board to strategize for the next season. What people want to know most is who will be staying and who will be leaving. Those who are up for renewing their contracts are at the top of the news totem pole. This includes long-time beloved starter Jacoby Ellsbury as well as recently added Sox star Mike Napoli, catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia and shortstop Stephen Drew. According to a news report by Ian Browne, “Just how active the Red Sox will be in pursuing other team’s free agents will depend greatly on how successful they are in re-signing their own.”8 Philanthropy The Red Sox have been involved in a lot of charity work recently. One major event was how a few of the Sox players shaved their beards off in honor of Movember, a popular charity that raises awareness about prostate cancer. David Ortiz’s beard was auctioned off on eBay for nearly $11,000. Popular New England sponsor Gillette asked the players to join other sports stars in shaving off the beards for charity. The release included a statement from Ortiz, who said, “I’m glad that the beard that helped me throughout the Series can now help raise funds for a great organization like Movember.”9 The photo above shows the display case that was won on eBay, containing a ‘beard ball’ trophy and the razor used to shave it off, making it one of the most unique pieces of sports memorabilia to date. The Sox also have their own foundation which they use to raise money for five cornerstone programs, including; Red Sox Scholars Program, RBI Youth Baseball and Softball programs, The Jimmy Fund and Dimock Center. According to the foundation’s website, “Each year the Red Sox Foundation also makes a limited number of small grants to select nonprofits in New England on a rotating basis and we also work with Front Office members, sponsors and volunteers of Red Sox Nation on a variety of community service projects.”10 Over the past decade, the Red Sox Foundation has raised over $52 million, making them by far the most charitable team in Major League Baseball.11
Browne, Ian. "No Rest for Red Sox as They Look to Build '14 Squad." Redsox.mlb.com. N.p., 1 Nov. 2013. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. 9 Reidy, Chris. "Red Sox ‘beard-ball Trophy’ Auction Will Benefit Movember Charity Drive, Gillette Says." Www.boston.com. N.p., 21 Nov. 2013. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. 10 "Boston Red Sox Foundation - Official Team Charity." Boston Red Sox Foundation. Web. 02 Dec. 2013. 11English, Bella. "Sox 1st in Standings — in Charity." Www.boston.com. N.p., 7 Aug. 2012. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. 8
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Crowdsourcing The Red Sox are avid users of crowdsourcing. They regularly ask their Facebook and Twitter followers to submit videos and photos taken at home games. One of the more unique videos that was compiled by the Red Sox was a montage of video from the last out of Game 6. The tagline reads “Koji Uehara closing out Game 6 of the World Series, seen by the Fenway faithful and composed entirely of fan-submitted footage.”12 The Sox asked also asked their fans that footage be sent in for a similar video comprised of clips of David Ortiz’s legendary Game 2 of the ALCS game-tying grand slam. The same was done for Shane Victorino’s ALCS Game 6 grand slam. These types of videos allow fans to relive the experience and get a different perspective of the incredible team history being made, from the viewpoint of the fans in the stands. They’ve also been asking for videos from fans living or serving overseas for a future video compilation. The Sox will often post photos of the ballpark and ask users on Facebook to tag where they were sitting during the game from the previous night. This is a great way to get Sox fans involved even after the event experience has ended. It also poses a great opportunity to show off and share with people on Facebook that you witnessed that game. In addition, the Sox use hashtags that get the fans involved in creating content. During their post-win celebration parade, they employed the use of #MyParade in hopes that followers of their Instagram would tag photos of themselves at or watching the parade. This worked beautifully, and the Sox posted a collage of fan created content that was tagged with #MyParade. Again, this is a strategic move on their part. They want the brand to be built by the fans, and by using consumer generated content, they’ve accomplished that. Over the Monster is a Red Sox community blog that revolves around discussing all things Soxy.13 Though there are plenty of blogs about the Sox out there, this one seems to be the most legitimate. It is not officially affiliated with the Red Sox, but their updates are very timely and they keep up with the latest and greatest of all Soxdom. Over the Monster is regularly posted on by three main writers who have lately been covering all of the roster movement discussions. There are two sections, however, that are completely comprised of fan posts and photos. This allows anyone who really wants to contribute their own opinion on the Sox and get published online, start comment conversations, and network with other Sox fans. This concept is a great example of how Boston fans can interact and share their impassioned opinions with the rest of Red Sox Nation. 12 13
"Koji Closes out WS Game 6." Wapc.mlb.com. N.p., 27 Nov. 2013. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. "Over the Monster, a Boston Red Sox Community." Over the Monster. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.
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#GetBeard The Red Sox’s most prominent social media campaign this fall was not something that was planned in a board room meeting. Probably one of the most beloved trends of Sox history was the iconic Boston Beard. Every starter on the Red Sox roster grew a beard going into the tail end of the season and they soon became good luck symbols as they headed into the playoffs and further developed into a relentless internet and city-wide trend. Sports Illustrated said “A year after losing 93 games, the Boston Red Sox are cruising into the playoffs and doing so with an army of unified beards.”14 The beards grew to exponential proportions and soon the whole city of Boston was covered in facial hair. I first noticed the beard trend being brought onto the Sox’s social media platforms in late July/ early August. Red Sox social media propelled the trend into fame by using various slogans and hashtags such as #BeardNation, #FearTheBeard, #BeardStrong and #GetBeard. The Sox created a graphic of the silhouettes of famous Sox beards with funny nicknames for each style and asked fans to identify ‘who wore it best’.15 The trend caught like wildfire and soon the beard became a fashion accessory that was necessary for all Sox games. It isn’t limited to men, either. There have been many photos up online of female and young sox fans painting on beards or even wearing fake ones. In fact, the Sox implemented a Beard Night at Fenway Park, offering $1 tickets to all fans with beards.16 The players embraced the trend and started tugging on each other’s beards when they scored a run or had a great play, replacing the traditional congratulatory ‘butt tap’. Some of the more superstitious would even rub their bat on others’ beards before going up to the plate. The beards are unlike any other trend seen in Boston, and it became a way for Red Sox Nation to connect and cheer on the team.
"The Hirsute of Happiness." Inside Sports Illustrated. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2013. Red Sox - Timeline Photos." Facebook.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2013. 16 Berg, Ted. "Red Sox Offering $1 Tickets to Fans w/ Beards." usatoday.com, 18 Sept. 2013. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. 14
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The beards have also found their way onto various t-shirts, adorned a duck boat used in the championship parade, covered the team mascot Wally the Green Monster, and been placed on prominent statues throughout Boston of past Red Sox all-stars like Ted Williams and historical figures including Paul Revere. Once the series was won, a couple of the players shaved their beards off for charity, demonstrating how the seemingly silly fashion trend has come full circle. This wildly popular trend helped set the Sox apart from all other teams in Major League Baseball, and the year of the beards would have gone down in history with or without a world championship title to go along with it.
Campaign Analysis Overall, I believe the campaign was a huge success. Whoever set it into motion had keen instincts on picking up social trends and capitalized on it. The campaign boosted fan involvement to new levels and was probably more successful than anyone had planned for it to be. The further the Sox went into the post season, the more buzz there was about the beards. The campaign seemed to run itself after a while, which should be the ultimate goal for any social media campaign. Social media revolves around the people who use it and as long as they are willing to embrace your campaign, you have succeeded. The Sox fans took it one further, creating new and interesting ways to incorporate the beards. There were several internet videos I saw that featured bearded Bostonians and thousands of photos to go along with it. The beards have solidified themselves in Boston pop culture history. Though the season is over, the era of the beards may not be. Plenty of northerners are keeping their facial hair as it has now become somewhat symbolic of the emotional triumph the Sox went through in the post season. Social media was a huge reason as to why this trend grew to such great and meaningful proportions. 16
Social Media Strengths The Red Sox utilize certain social media better than any Major League Baseball team that I’ve seen. They are progressive and they know how to appeal to their audience. Though they may not have as many Twitter followers or Facebook likes as the Yankees, they clearly have a better grasp at what sort of content to post. The Red Sox brand is adapting to more modern appeals while the Yankees insist on maintaining their ‘timeless’ (and boring, if you ask me) social media image. They are ahead of the competition in that sense, and will continue to adapt to all of the ways social media will inevitably change in the future. According to a study by Emory University that analyzed brand equity in Major League Baseball, the Red Sox are tied with the Dodgers for having the ‘best’ fan bases based off of many figures tying in revenue and team statistics. They also studied social media equity in the MLB by developing a model that predicts social media following based off of market size. Here the Red Sox are crowned the winners.17 The Sox have a very loyal fan base and they are breaking into younger markets through the use of their social media tactics, ensuring a bright future for Red Sox Nation.
Social Media Weaknesses Truly, there are only a few minor weaknesses that I can identify with the Red Sox’s social media, and I’ve addressed most of them already. One thing that really stuck out to me is how unbalanced their efforts are across their social media spectrum. You can clearly tell how much maintenance goes into their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. Everything else takes a back seat and is not updated as regularly as their major platforms. This is probably because they have a much larger following on certain platforms, but if they fail to maintain their other accounts properly, they’ll never gain an adequate following. Another weakness would be how their video content is not all collectively kept in the same place. They generate many different types of videos with selective purposes and audiences. However, they are scattered all over the internet and various platforms, which makes it sort of user unfriendly.
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"Best Fans in MLB." Emory Sports Marketing Analytics Sportsmktprof. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.
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Suggestions A major hole in the wall is how underutilized their Pinterest is. They need to find someone who understands how that platform works and use it to their best interest. Since nearly half of their market is women, they should make the effort to have a better presence on the social media where women spend most of their time. There is much more potential to Pinterest than some companies may think there is, and the Red Sox should better utilize this outlet. The Red Sox should also jump in on the YouTube bandwagon. It would be the ideal place for them to manage all of their video content. YouTube also allows easy sharing on multiple social media outlets and would reduce the headache for Sox fans looking to see a certain video.
Conclusion In closing, I believe the Red Sox handle their social media and online presence very well. They’ve proven that they are willing to adapt to change and be ahead of the curve when it comes to marketing skills. The fact that they had such an amazing season definitely helped their online identity, which complemented their field presence nicely. Red Sox Nation is an ever-growing community and having a social media identity that reflects that is crucial. The Boston Red Sox are more than a brand, more than a team, and more than a bunch of beards. They are an influential and inspiring entity of sports culture and they will continue to prosper because they have such a firm grasp on the concept and operation of social media techniques.
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