The NHL on Facebook
Posted by Alex Selicha on April 20, 2008
Today’s social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace are helping not only the NHL, but all sports leagues, keep and grow their fan base. As is pretty well known by now, these sites are free to access and they allow users to join one or more networks to easily keep in contact with friends, notify others of things going on with themselves, and interact with other people.
Watercooler Inc., a company who has developed all of Facebook’s entertainment and sports applications, has brought these sites to the next level. The company works with leading entertainment and sports partners to bring their content and brands to the millions of users across leading social networks. Concentrating on the sports aspect, Watercooler Inc. has developed team specific applications that allow fans to interact with fellow fans, share activities and photos, and build a connection with those who have similar interests. On their profile, a user can choose to support his or her favorite teams from a number of major sports such as: NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, soccer, college football, college basketball, and others.
This snapshot from Facebook is an example of the Los Angeles Kings Fans application that can be integrating into ones profile. Each team in the league has their own application on Facebook and those that add this application have access to its many features:
* Quizzes - Challenge your friends to see who knows more about the Kings!
* Trivia Challenge – Show everyone who’s the biggest fan with the biggest Kings trivia game anywhere!
* Waves – Rally the faithful to stand up and support the Kings!
* Smack Talk – Taunt your friends on their Wall year round!
* Discussion – Before and after every game, talk about everything with other Kings fans!
* Who’s Going - See which friends are going to the next game!
* Photos - Add Kings photos to your profile page!
* Become a Kings ‘Legend’ -Recruit your friends and make Los Angeles #1!
These features are a great way to entertain fans and allow them to connect with others; however, the NHL has no control over the content of these applications. Users just build onto the already established application by adding their favorite pictures of their team, joining in on chats, and becoming active in their team’s network. And unfortunately, the NHL has not paid much attention to these social networking sites. For example, the league has created a MySpace page, but it has not been updated since the end of the 2007 Playoffs (http://www.myspace.com/nhl). These sites are a great opportunity that the league needs to take advantage of in order to increase its popularity and profits.
The reason why I believe that these sites are a great opportunity is because of their ability to advertise to a targeted audience. If the NHL decided to partner with Watercooler Inc. and gained control over their online content on Facebook, they would be able to advertise tickets, products, events, and other things directly to their fan base. And more specifically, each team would be able to advertise precisely to their particular fans, who will be the most interested in what they have to sell. This form of advertising is known as the bullet method and is much less expensive then the buckshot approach which is when an advertiser shoots out ads all over the market in the hopes of grabbing anyone’s attention.
Using social networking sites would nicely complement the NHL’s existing online achievements and open up new channels for the league to advertise through. Most importantly is the fact that the current Facebook online community has over 69 million active users worldwide. If the NHL taps into this network, there is no saying how much it can improve the league’s profits.
