NFL Opening Sunday #SMSports Review

NFL Opening Sunday Review

The 2014 NFL season officially kicked off in full gear on Sunday, September 7, and that means a new season of the NFL playing out on social media through its fans and teams

What follows are a few samples and observations from the NFL's activity during games on the opening Sunday of the season.

For more sportsbiz and smsports content, visit www.dsmsports.net and follow me @njh287

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Several, not all teams, consistently referred to players by their Twitter names only


Compared to last season, a few more teams are activating with sponsors in a variety of ways on social media...

Here the Bills go in-house with a merchandise offering after a win.


This came out on Twitter and Facebook during the game while tied late (ended in OT)

Highlights get a lot of engagement; spinsor gets placement here regardless of whether fan clicks through to video


This came about following the Jaguars going up 17-0.

Just about anything is welcomed by fans when celebrating a positive team performance when fan emotions are soaring


The Rams got Bud Light placement on their halftime score update graphic. Several teams disseminated halftime graphics; the Rams were the only with a sponsor logo


The Kansas City Chiefs have an in-game blog presented by KFC


I shared this on my Twitter after the Chiefs posted it following a sack early in the game.

Lucky for them and the partner, KC was still in the game (they lost) when this came out. Gotta like the “Big Mac Sack” and McDonalds combo


Game photos were prominent on Twitter and Instagram, but the 49ers stood out with touched-up photos.

Even the slightest enhancements can make these stand out and become “thumbstoppers” on social


A few teams did their best to consistently push hash tags by using them on team posts, retweeting fans, and using the hash tag on visuals like this

It is likely part of an omni-channel marketing campaign, so kudos. #HereWeGo


The Dolphins also stood out with their consistent use of #StrongerTogether across platforms.

Social media is powerful in defining a team's brand, slogan, etc. and the Dolphins utilize it effectively to push the 'Stronger Together' idea.


The Patriots offer an example (which many fans and some teams do) of including generic, more useless hash tags that serve of no use than to add personality to the tweet in some way (?)


This is a nice visual and hash tag that it appears the Bucs will continue to use (and have fans use) throughout the season to celebrate touchdowns


The Jaguars were the only team I saw use emojis in any tweets and one of the few to utilize (non-customized) GIFs to celebrate some big plays


Just about every NFL team posted a photo (often with the score, some stats on it) and a bit.ly link to the recap.

The Texans were the only ones that shared a link.Others also did multiple posts shortly after the game


OTHER OBSERVATIONS:

- The Texans and Vikings offered great video access into the postgame locker room speeches

(though, like all game highlights, videos do not play in-stream on Facebook and Twitter)

- There is very little interaction/engagement on team feeds; the Bills and Falcons RT'd fans postgame. During games, RT's by teams were of reporters, et al.

- NFL Sunday on social was mostly a Twitter and Facebook dominated world with some use of Instagram and Snapchat


WELCOME BACK TO NFL FOOTBALL

For more digital and social media in sports content, visit www.dsmsports.net, check out the Digital and Social Media Sports podcast, and follow me on Twitter @njh287

http://www.dsmsports.net/

NFL Opening Sunday #SMSports Review

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