It was fun for me to follow what the XGames team as well as the social media team for Team USA were doing for the event.
I have been a big fan of the work Adam Moussa (ESPN/XGames) and Joey Maestras & Samantha Hughey (Team USA) have been doing all along. These professionals are on my list for must follows not only for my students, but also professionals and professors in the field.
Ever since Jessica Smith published this interview with Adam last year, I’ve been a fan of what XGames has done and have shared with my students and fellow colleagues this information.
This past weekend, we had the 2016 XGames in Aspen, Colorado and again, both Team USA and XGames raised the bar for social media and sports professionals and teams. From looking at their social media presence and integration on Snapchat, here were a few things I saw:
Excellent integration of emojis
As many of my friends and colleagues know, I love emojis. I love emojis especially when it comes to social media message strategies. The snaps I was looking at from both teams integrated these very well and added their own personality to the mix as well. This is one example using the ski emoji and one of the XGames geofilters on Snapchat.
Taking social media and bringing it offline
This was a great thing I saw from Team USA (props!). There are so many times where we go to events and just focus on the online community. While this is important, allowing fans and those in attendance come and meet the amazing team behind Team USA was awesome to see. The social and digital media team did an excellent job in capturing these moments on Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter.
Plus, I loved their integration of using Twitter Mirror as well (so envious!) with sharing pictures of the fan using this pretty cool device. I think this is an awesome way to connect not only with fans, but provide the human side of a brand by meeting the professionals face to face. I wish more teams in sports (and businesses in fact!) did this.
Showcasing the real personality and fun at an event
We all share our emotions and views during sporting events, but you got to see this following XGames on Snapchat. For example, we would all have this reaction if we saw these tricks done by these amazing athletes as well. This content resonates with audiences and captures our immediate attention.
Letting the athletes be the stars
Both teams really put the focus on not necessarily the event all of the time, but the athletes who were there and competing. Team USA had several athletes take over their Snapchat and share exclusive behind the scenes footage on Snapchat, which was pretty cool.
XGames had specialized filters for certain athletes and they were able to connect directly with the camera for immediate reactions to their performance. Plus, they were able to thank the fans on a more conversational and personal level here. This was very cool to see here.
Creating TRUE experiential experiences with video introductions to stories
This was one of the most impressive things I saw with the XGames Snapchat feature. They started each day with a view from one of their athletes and it looked like you were there with them. Truly captured your attention from the start and you wanted to stick around to see more content. This was a genius move and I have seen other stories like this from other sports, but XGames really took this to a whole other level.
Lessons learned to bring into the classroom and practice
There are a few things we can take away from both of these organizations and brands from this weekend.
- First, content that sparks emotion and connects with fans and other key audiences is absolutely crucial, but the timing and framing of the content is going to continue to change (and evolve) on each platform.
- Second, it’s not only about storytelling during the event, but inviting people to help create and spark further stories (storymaking) to share with others.
- Third, experiential experiences through social media, especially on places like Snapchat, are gold for social media success and it pays off to take best practices and content creation to the next level.
- Lastly, integration and sustaining a consistent brand voice to tell stories, participate in conversations, and evaluate metrics of success across platforms is going to still be key to note here.
I would like to give major props to the great teams working at XGames and Team USA for really creating a fun and wonderful experience to witness and follow online. Congrats on the success of this partnership and setting the bar extremely high, Adam, Joey, and Samantha!
Hope you all are having a great day.
Best Wishes,
