/u/MLBOfficial Communication Strategy and Community Feedback

Posted on by under Baseball, MLB, Reddit

/u/MLBOfficial has harnessed Malcolm Gladwell’s principle of “The Power of Context” to its full potential in its active contributions to /r/baseball. Given that context is massively important in an online community, /u/MLBOfficial is creates content that is timely and relevant to the baseball environment. The sender’s field of experience has seen incredible overlap with the receivers’, which was a major turnaround for MLB.

This has been no more effective in the communication process than in the realm of driving messages between /r/baseball and other platforms. In its social media creative strategy, /u/MLBOfficial is masterful in creating and sharing viral content between the subreddit and other social media platforms. For example, the Bryzzo Souvenir Co. campaign, which was highly successful in its 2016 introductory season in which the Chicago Cubs rode it all the way through the World Series, was extended through a second season that saw an “expansion” with more beloved Cubs players pitch their ideas to the “company.” One of the highlights was a cameo by now-retired fan favorite David Ross, which was a pleasant surprise and excellent segue from one season to the next. Now in full retirement, the campaign did not explicitly state who David Ross was, but instead turned him into an intern for the climactic laugh at the end of the video. /u/MLBOfficial, knowing that the peak of David Ross’s popularity was in its peak, shared teasers of the “intern” throughout its social media platforms to drive engagement to the campaign, as seen in the Snapchat screenshot below:

The account has solicited ideas from the community, indicating a high commonality between sender and receiver. In this thread from Spring Training 2017, the account asked the subreddit what it actually wants to see, and, no matter how tongue-in-cheek the request, /u/MLBOfficial actually delivered:

One of MLB’s strongest historical objectives has also been to engage users in MLB Cut 4, which is one of MLB.com’s media centers. Actual engagement on these pages is, actually, less-than-stellar, such as in the screenshot of empty comments on a postseason post:

Comparatively, the activity on /r/baseball for the same posts has resulted in a number of higher success metrics, including actual user comments and reddit Karma (the number of upvotes for a single post, to the left of the image in between up and down arrows):

/u/MLBOfficial’s first season was so successful that the manager of the account reached out to the community after the 2016 season to sincerely thank them for the participation, and let them know that the first year was just the start. The community, in kind, also thanked the account and gave them high praise:

The community is so engaged that they actually gave constructive feedback to improve the company itself:

/u/MLBOfficial is an excellent model for all brands and voices to aspire to in their integration with their existing consumers, how to share one voice across multiple properties, and increase their reach to new fans.

MLB’s Historical Voice and Inception of /U/MLBOfficial

Posted on by under Baseball, MLB, Reddit

This blog is an academic exercise meant to chronicle the official Reddit account of Major League Baseball (a.k.a. “MLB”), officially known as /u/MLBOfficial, as a study in brand and fan interaction. Subsequent blog posts will largely be focused on social media marketing, as Reddit is one of the most powerful and influential social media platforms today and has a culture all its own. Paired with the fandom of MLB and baseball as a whole, /u/MLBOfficial has put in great efforts to craft a unique brand voice and fan engagement experience.

Although MLB is progressive in its use of digital media products, such as the creation of live-game video streaming platform MLB.TV in 2002, MLB’s marketing and social voices have historically been bland and uninspiring. As a family-friendly sport with a global footprint and international business interests, MLB has always been extra careful not to offend its audience (its players are good enough at doing that on their own). On the other hand, Reddit was created to be “the front page of the Internet,” and as we all know, you can’t control or censor the internet. Reddit has become the first point of contact of viral social media stories and many of the Internet’s most popular memes.

Enter /u/MLBOfficial, who wrote his first post on the community baseball subreddit, /r/baseball, on May 6, 2015 (the account author has been confirmed to be male, but also has a team of content creators). It should be noted that MLB didn’t create the subreddit, like it would for a brand pag eon Facebook, but rather, jumped in to Reddit. Initially, the account assumed the same type of voice with generalized posts such as “Let’s talk about the greatest living players.” and “Which is your favorite All-Star Game moment of all-time?,” but soon enough, the account allowed its content and comments to develop alongside the /r/baseball culture to generate interest in other MLB properties while not becoming dull. This included jokes that are Reddit and /r/baseball-centric, using memes to make fun of players, creating media to drive traffic to other platforms, or referencing legacy posts within the subreddit.

mike trout is overrated

/u/MLBOfficial poking fun at /r/baseball culture.

/u/MLBOfficial took a planned, phased approach, with its first post stating “This is the official MLB account for reddit. The primary goal of this account is interact with you, the fans, and to simply talk baseball. Down the road, we plan on getting some AMAs, weekly features and other fun discussions.” Over the course of these blog posts, we will examine specific examples about how it has created goodwill with the fans while becoming an off-brand voice, while still promoting MLB’s business.

/U/MLBOfficial presenting to MLB stakeholders.

Chicago Cubs and Data: How Analytics led to Insights, Wins, and Revenue

Posted on by under Baseball, Uncategorized

A few weeks ago, I completed an assignment for my analytics course that I wanted to update and share with you all. It was a presentation about a case study using data, and I chose a topic near and dear to my heart, the Chicago Cubs. Being born and raised in Chicago and a data analyst made this a natural and passionate choice of study.

I was especially interested in seeing how new leadership led to increased wins and revenue. Keep an eye on slides 17-20 to see the results.

Gotta Catch ‘Em All: A Weekend with Pokémon GO

Posted on by under Nintendo

An Irregular Sunday Night

I just ran over 4 miles for the first time in my life. It’s 90 degrees outside in July.

Why?

I had five eggs to hatch paired with a lucky egg to get that 2x XP boost.

 

Some of you know exactly what that means. Some of you just haven’t played Pokémon GO yet.

 

In case you haven’t heard, Pokémon GO is a mobile game for iOS and Android devices that allows you to catch Pokémon – the same Nintendo pocket monsters that you used to catch on your Game Boy in 1998, or see in movie theaters and on TV, or see on kids throwing cards of across the table.

Oh wait, all those things are still there. The simple fact is that Pokémon has adapted through the times, moving from handheld console to trading cards and all sorts of media and merchandise.

 

Why is Pokémon GO so different?

Well, for one thing, it prints money:

Stock.png

Nintendo’s market value has increased over $9 billion in the FIRST WEEK of Pokémon GO’s release. People of all ages are downloading it and it is now the fastest-growing app of all-time. It’s more popular than Snapchat, Twitter, and Tinder, and it hasn’t even been released worldwide yet (sorry to everybody in Japan).

If you’ve only heard about Pokémon GO on the news, you may have seen something like this come across your screen:

news

Where did they find a Hitmonchan though?!

 

If you’ve actually gone about to play it for yourself, you’re more than likely to have actually seen something like this:

group

See everybody together on their phones? What’s dangerous about that?

 

Pokémon GO Has Changed the World

The incredible thing about Pokémon GO is something that isn’t going to grab any headlines or be used as fuel for clickbait. Pokémon GO has, plain and simple, changed the world.

Pokémon GO has come out of nowhere (really, because no one knew when it was actually going to be released until it suddenly appeared in Australia and New Zealand) in a time where the world most needs it. There have been nothing but awful stories of shootings, bombings, terrorist attacks, and our joke of an election so far this summer. Racial tensions are higher than they’ve ever been, people are killing cops, you can’t even go out to a celebration in America anymore without the risk of getting shot at.

Yes, there have been stories of Pokémon GO players finding dead bodies and walking off of cliffs, but none of that is actually caused by the game. This game has taken the world by storm because it brings people together. Not just rhetorically, but in real life:

group2

I went downtown with a group of friends last night to see what types of Pokémon we could find, in between stops for great craft brews, of course. What we found was that we actually spent more time out in the real world playing the game and saw that there were hundreds – literally hundreds of people – out on a Saturday night doing the same thing. I talked to dozens of people who were playing it that asked:

  • “Where did you see Gastly?”
  • “Did you hear about the Blastoise sighting?”
  • “You could farm Magikarp and Pidgey there for hours.”
  • “If you go out to the park from 1am-2am, you might get a Machamp or a Charizard.”

All this in the context of the game is one thing, but in a community that’s been built from the ground-up in a week’s time is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. All over the world, people who would have never met have banded together in teams with the same common goal: Gotta Catch ‘Em All. Hundreds and even thousands of people have joined the hunt and made new relationships doing it.

sydney

One of the first Pokémon GO meetups in Sydney, Australia.

 

Pokémon GO was not designed by a marketing department to be a “social” game, but this has been the result of people working together playing it. Pokémon GO is the only game I’ve heard of where you have to physically leave your house in order to play it. Many of the people playing live sedentary lifestyles, and Pokémon GO is helping them live active lifestyles. Some people are coming out of depression and anxiety because of playing the game. For me personally, I never ran over 4 miles at any given time in my entire live. I’ve barely managed three miles even when motivated. I’m on a huge weight-loss trend this year, and I can only see Pokémon GO helping me make further progress if I keep hunting for Pokémon and hatching eggs like I did this weekend.

This is my “happy to have hatched five eggs” face.
Let’s see how I can progress with Pokémon GO.
Worth it.
It’s also great motivation for Fitbit Challenges.

 

Implications, Successes, and Questions

There has never been anything in our culture that has had the widespread effects that Pokémon GO has had in just a week’s time. People are forming friendships, people are getting active, and businesses are thriving if their locations are PokéStops.

Did you read that last point, skeptics? Pokémon GO is STIMULATING THE ECONOMY. ALL A SMALL BUSINESS HAS TO DO TO INCREASE SALES IS PUT A LURE DOWN AND LET THE TRAINERS ROLL IN! YELP EVEN HAS A FILTER ON ITS WEBSITE FOR IT. Our presidential candidates can’t even make an economic platform that would have half the effect that Pokémon GO has had in one week.

bernie

A man can dream.

 

Being an analytics businessman, I’d be very curious to see actual data behind some of the industries that Pokémon has touched since it launched:

  • How has mobile data usage increased? How far are people going over their data limits?
  • What types of new customers are small businesses seeing?
  • How has fitness tracking activity changed with more people walking in the real world? I know mine was certainly boosted.
  • How many Pokémon-related events have businesses sponsored, like this one at Busch Gardens this past weekend?

 

In terms of Niantec/Pokémon Company/Nintendo-related data, I’m really curious about:

  • Overall app downloads, time using app, and revenue generated from in-game purchases
  • Team composition between Instinct, Mystic, and Valor player selections
  • The furthest that trainers have travelled from their homes in search of a Pokémon
  • Most popular Pokémon holding down gyms and used in battle
  • Highest density areas of players across the world

 

The insights that can come from this game for Niantec/Pokémon Company/Nintendo are nearly limitless. Nintendo has a tendency not to capitalize and cannibalize its own products’ success. Hopefully for their sake, I hope they learned a lesson from the recent Amiibo craze in that underestimating the demand for the figures led to incredible shortages – but nonstop sales – until additional production of the figures oversaturated store shelves and demand faltered on account of oversupply. Niantec has indicated that Pokémon GO has plans for the future to replicate the original games with battling, trading, and additional generations of Pokémon. Just imagine if they allowed sponsored PokéStops for small businesses or added content to keep players interested with new features like breeding or an engrossing story.

Nintendo has a golden egg in its hands, and I, in addition to millions of other Pokémon Trainers, look forward to incubating it until it hatches.

 

One last thing. If you see me out and about at a gym, be prepared:

territory