This is the best ad I’ve seen in months.
The chronically bad Minnesota Timberwolves NBA franchise has this sign in the Twin Cities airport:
Bravo. Talk about an ad that’s chock full of truth and authenticity. The team’s record for the last five years:
2009-10 (14-60) so far
2008-09 (24-58)
2007-08 (22-60)
2006-07 (32-50)
2005-06 (33-49)
In fact, the Timberwolves have won a playoff series only one time in their 21 years of existence. Thus, acknowledging the mistakes of the past is certain to resonate with a fan base more prone to eye rolling than belief that “this will be the year”.
And That’s Where the Story Ends
But, the genius of this approach begins and ends with the sign. The ad asks us to visit timberwolves.com/manifesto. Doing so reveals finely honed, groan-inducing marketing copy that clumsily tries to build a bond via forced humor and shared humiliation.
But then it gets even worse.
A visit to the main T-Wolves Web site finds absolutely none of the humility and forthrightness that made the original ad so compelling. Instead, it’s the standard sports franchise drivel, including ads for home equity loans above the team logo. Yep, that’ll get fans in the seats.
But, the team does reference a series of social media outposts via a tiny murderers row of icons (my favorite is “Linkedin..coming soon”. So, I turned to the team’s Facebook page, where NBA rules have not yet been codified, and team’s have more leeway than they do on the official Web site.
If Your Story is Inconsistent, At Least Leverage Your Content
Ouch.
The Timberwolves on Facebook page has no mention of a manifesto, not even a link on the Info tab. Why isn’t the Manifesto it’s own tab?
And perhaps most inexcusably, they haven’t even gotten a Facebook URL, and now facebook.com/timberwolves and facebook.com/twolves have been poached. But, facebook.com/mntimberwolves appears to be available, and their Twitter handle is @mntimberwolves. They need to snap up that Facebook name pronto.
In the team’s defense, they do have a nicely executed Events tab, and the Wall seems to be pretty active, with a variety of contests for fans.
But, it’s widely disparate content usage across social outposts that’s the real mystery.
On Facebook, there are just six videos total – the most recent added MORE THAN A YEAR AGO. I couldn’t believe it, given how many video assets a professional sports team has. I know they have restrictions on posting game footage, but there’s a lot more that can be done. So, I peeked at YouTube.
Voila! 213 videos on YouTube, the most recent just five days ago. It’s a good mix of coach-speak, highlights, community service footage, and cheerleader features. What I can’t fathom is why those videos aren’t added to the Facebook page every time? The Facebook page has a not-too-shabby 13,000+ fans, but most of the YouTube videos have just a few dozen views.
Unfortunately, the same lack of content leverage applies to photographs as well.
The team has a lot of photographs on Facebook (and also some on Flickr). However, the photos in each location appear to be different, and the file names on Flickr are straight from the camera (tough to rank in search engines when your photo is named “CIMG1537″).
Consistency and Leverage
I didn’t start out looking to slam the Timberwolves’ social media program. I started out writing a post about a fantastic ad. But then I pulled on a loose thread, and the Timberwolves’ messaging sweater unraveled instantly.
I take three lessons away from this examination:
First, if your ad agency is going to come up with a nifty new concept, you have to support it throughout your digital world. In the age of the real-time Web, when every customer is a potential reporter, and there’s no place for brands to hide, you cannot rely on sloganeering. If you’re going to run ad that says “quality is job 1″ then quality better damn well be job one, and every place you have a presence online better sing from that same metaphorical hymnal.
Second, if you’re going to invest in a bunch of social media outposts, even if you don’t have a clear social media strategy, you should take every opportunity to link them together. The videos aren’t annotated to drive traffic to Facebook. The YouTube channel is barely mentioned on Facebook. The Twitter background includes zero evidence of any other outpost.
Third, if you’re producing content, atomize it and distribute it as widely as possible. If you have a photo gallery, it should be everywhere. Your Web site. Blog. Flickr. Facebook. Linked from Twitter. At a minimum. Social media takes too much time and effort to not use every bit of leverage at your disposal, and creating content and uploading it in just one place is a tragic lack of synergy.
Sorry to the T-Wolves. I hope they improve on the court and online.
Readers, what’s your takeaway?
Consistency is key and you’re right. What is surprising is the lack of utilizing each resource to its capacity. In my opinion, this is the difference between good or great.
Jay, do you think this is a result of a lack of strategy, leadership, or clarity on the objectives? I’m trying to understand how such a great campaign could have a foundation that is so unstable.
Jay as a lifelong T-wolves fan (the team’s life not mine), and a person involved in social media I have to say, awesome!
I have been a displaced fan my entire life, never having lived in Minnesota myself (my mother hails from MN but I grew up in SoCal) So I was always looking for a place to talk Twolves with other fans. I got hooked on the Star Tribune Twolves message board in 2002 and haven’t looked back. Although I don’t post very much at all these days, I still read the threads on Twolvescentral.com (Star Tribune kind of killed the boards) on my iPhone every day.
Which leads me to what I think is a huge miss by most sports franchises, including the Twolves: the message boarders. In a world where company employees from Legos reward their most die hard fans by engaging with them in their online communities, what better vertical to do something similar than with professional sports?
To help you understand what I mean by die hard: During the McHale era I would spend hours a day nerding out by keeping up with the team’s payroll on HoopsHype, NBA trade regulations, and RealGM’s fantasy trade checker to propose deals that other die hard fans could agree with or tear apart… While also agreeing with or tearing apart their trade scenarios and talking about the team in general.
All this for, as you point out, a flailing franchise that has had one magical “woulda coulda shoulda” season in its 20 year existence. But I wasn’t the only person doing this, and by no means was I doing it any more than anybody else in the community. There were 20-30 of us posting regularly to make the community great and countless others lurking through the threads. Talk about a focus group…
I can tell you as a fan that David Kahn’s transparency and approach to fans in general is a lot better than Kevin McHale’s ever was, but I still think it would be easy to embed somebody from the Wolves front office, PR, or Marketing department into communities like Twolvescentral.com to give die hard fans as much of the behind the scenes insight allowable, while also just being a fan amongst other fans.
I totally agree that repurposing content across social networking platforms is a necessity, and that saying what you mean and meaning what you say across every channel is very important. I also think that there is a lot of potential in the often overlooked message board communities that existed well before both Facebook and Twitter.
@jaybaer is on a roll this week! Another great post: Get Your Social Media Story Straight http://bit.ly/cpQh5o
More great info from @jaybaer… Get Your Social Media Story Straight…. http://bit.ly/aE0nEb
RT @kimbergjohnson: More great info from @jaybaer… Get Your Social Media Story Straight…. http://bit.ly/aE0nEb
Get Your Social Media Story Straight – This is the best ad I’ve seen in months. The chronically bad Minnesota… http://ow.ly/16WYCz
Reading: Get Your Social Media Story Straight http://bit.ly/cCDpSF
Goed verhaal: over het belang van cross-channel consistentie in uitingen http://bit.ly/aZ3QUS
goed verhaal! consistentie over alle vlakken als je social media inzet. http://bit.ly/b39okt
Get Your Social Media Story Straight: http://bit.ly/9IayX4
RT @cargillcreative: Very smart and to the point… "Get Your Social Media Story Straight" by @jaybaer http://bit.ly/cCDpSF
Get Your Social Media Story Straight – http://bit.ly/aUqyQG
Get your Social Media Story straight…. http://ow.ly/1tyDM
Today's must read: @jaybaer provides lessons from the Wolves "re-re-re-re-re-re-building" campaign: http://bit.ly/cCDpSF
RT @arikhanson: Today's must read: @jaybaer provides lessons from the Wolves "re-re-re-re-re-re-building" campaign: http://bit.ly/cCDpSF
Great topic/analysis. Telling the right story is a strategy, not a tactic. It has to be a holistic approach, not simply an isolated push.
Thanks for the read.
Great topic/analysis. Telling the right story is a strategy, not a tactic. It has to be a holistic approach, not simply an isolated push.
Thanks for the read.
Great topic/analysis. Telling the right story is a strategy, not a tactic. It has to be a holistic approach, not simply an isolated push.
Thanks for the read.
Bravo Mssr. Baer!
Not only chock full o' value, but an imaginative process to ultimately retain the TWolves as a client. Congratulations, and I'm sure this will lead to more…
Nice post from @jaybaer on getting your social media story straight. http://ow.ly/1tzh6 Twolves fans, its gonna get better!
New @jaybaer Get Your Social Media Story Straight http://bit.ly/aaTlWa
New @jaybaer Get Your Social Media Story Straight http://bit.ly/aaTlWa
New @jaybaer Get Your Social Media Story Straight http://bit.ly/aaTlWa
RT @jaybaer Get Your Social Media Story Straight http://bit.ly/cJLdwZ #SMM
Get Your Social Media Story Straight: This is the best ad I’ve seen in months.The chronically bad Minnesota Timber… http://bit.ly/aaTlWa
RT @jaybaer Get Your Social Media Story Straight http://bit.ly/cJLdwZ #SMM
Get Your Social Media Story Straight http://bit.ly/aaTlWa #ConvinceandConvert
C&C Blog Post – Get Your Social Media Story Straight http://bit.ly/9JLQnr RT Please
Not surprising that this comes from the team that drafted three point guards in the last draft – traded the best one (Ty Lawson), kept the worst one (Johnny Flynn), and won't be able to sign the one with the best hair and most international intrigue (Ricky Rubio).
Also – how long will this self-serving mea culpa campaign fad last? TWolves, Dominos, United, JetBlue, GM, etc. Seems to me that these apologies are a mile wide, but an inch deep…
RT @InnovateAZ: Get Your Social Media Story Straight: This is the best ad I’ve seen in months.The chronically bad Minnesota Timber… http://bit.ly/9IayX4
RT @sharonmostyn: lessons from the Wolves "re-re-re-re-re-re-building" social media campaign: http://bit.ly/cCDpSF via @jaybaer
Get Your Social Media Story Straight http://ow.ly/1tzrC
RT @ioninteractive: lessons from the Wolves "re-re-re-re-re-re-building" social media campaign: http://bit.ly/cCDpSF via @jaybaer
If you're a social media marketer AND especially if you're an NBA fan, you'll enjoy this from @jaybaer: http://ow.ly/1tzNL
RT @ioninteractive: RT @sharonmostyn: lessons from the Wolves "re-re-re-re-re-re-building" social media campaign: http://bit.ly/cCDpSF v …
RT @azsocialmedia: C&C Blog Post – Get Your Social Media Story Straight http://bit.ly/9JLQnr RT Please
RT @jaybaer: Get Your Social Media Story Straight http://bit.ly/9FL0CT
I heart this! RT @JasonFalls: Getting your story straight (and admitting flaws) – Important lessons from @jaybaer http://cot.ag/daVait
Love this post from @jaybaer: "Get your social media story straight" http://bit.ly/bStxtU
Great expose from @jaybaer on how a super idea can be terribly, terribly wasted: http://ow.ly/1tBnU
Great post! RT @ShellyKramer: Every person with a client "dabbling" in social media should read this http://bit.ly/bStxtU
Great post! RT @ShellyKramer: Every person with a client "dabbling" in social media should read this http://bit.ly/bStxtU
RT @shellykramer: Every person with a client "dabbling" in social media should read this | Get Your Social Media Story Straight | http://bit.ly/bStxtU
Many arts orgs are just as guilty of this! Take note. – Get Your Social Media Story Straight | http://bit.ly/bStxtU (via @ShellyKramer)
I've always been a great believer of showing clients 'look what went wrong when…' case studies. It's not an admission of ineptitude – and clients are always more scared of failing than they reveal. I must have used the Edelman WalMart 'flog' example 20 times in pitches and workshops! As always – great piece Jay.
Get Your Social Media Story Straight | Blogging and Content Creation | Social Media Consulting – Convince & Convert http://ff.im/-ivyeA
I've always been a believer of sharing 'look what went wrong when…' examples with clients. They are always scared of failure and if you can then show what learning's were acquired and how a new approach actually worked then this adds credibility. I must have used the Edelam WalMart 'Flog' example 30 times in presentations and workshops!
As always – a great piece Jay. Thanks.
RT @jaybaer: Get Your Social Media Story Straight http://bit.ly/9FL0CT (great piece on the importance of followup, too)
RT @shellykramer: Get Your Social Media Story Straight | Blogging and Content Creation | Social Media Consulting – Convince & Convert http://ff.im/-ivyeA
RT @jaybaer: Get Your Social Media Story Straight http://bit.ly/9FL0CT