FanSection Blog

The  Lakers and Nuggets series is heating up, and so are their communities.  The two communities are growing at a rapid rate. The Lakers community has grown by about 4% since the series began last week.  This is impressive, but it pales in comparison to the more than 13% growth that the Nuggets community has seen.  To be fair the Lakers fans did jump on the post season bandwagon a little earlier than the Denver fans.  Last month, while the Nuggets community was stagnant, the Lakers rallied and their community grew by 7%.  As the series continues and intensifies I’m sure we will see the growth continue.  The growth stats I am throwing out could be used to back up a common sense hypothesis that fans get excited during the post season, but if you are looking to advertise in social media there are lessons to be learned from the numbers.

Fans are turning to the social web to support their teams. Because of this the fan communities are growing, the fans are excited, the experiences are engaging, and the content is viral, so the opportunities for engaging advertising campaigns are abundant. (Check out our campaign for Versus) If you are looking to advertise in social media it may not be in your best interest to try to create your own experience from scratch at an arbitrary time.  Instead look for events that naturally increase engagement, growth, and excitement.  Then find ways to integrate your brand in a way that enhances the existing experience in a community.   If you can develop a campaign with these simple principles you can successfully engage your target audience around your brand.

Fun Fact: Before the series began we promoted a poll asking fans how many games it would take their team to win.  9% of our Lakers fans active in the last month participated and 19% of our Nuggets fans!