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How Cleveland Indians Fire Up Their Fans with Social

Authors: Jess Joel Hammond
Posted Under: Social Pros Podcast
New Social Pros Cover Image
Hosted By
Jess

Daniel Lemin

Convince & Convert
Jess

Hannah Tooker

LaneTerralever
Jess

Leanna Pham

Convince & Convert
About Social Pros Podcast:

Social Pros is one of the longest-running marketing podcasts in existence (10 YEARS and counting), and was recently recognized as the #1 Audio/Podcast Series by the Content Marketing Awards.

Our purpose? Making sure that we speak to real people doing real work in social media.

Listeners get inside stories and behind-the-scenes secrets about how teams at companies like Google, Reddit, Glossier, Zillow, Lyft, Marvel, and dozens more, staff, operate, and measure their social media programs.  With 600+ episodes, the Social Pros Podcast brings the humanity of social media to the forefront, while providing incredibly useful marketing strategies that listeners can immediately implement.

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To inquire about becoming a guest or show sponsor, please email our Executive Producer, Leanna Pham, at leanna@convinceandconvert.com.

Apple Podcast Reviews:

The Social Pros podcast has quickly become a favorite in my feed! I'm consistently impressed by the engaging conversations, insightful content, and actionable ideas. I truly learn something every time I listen!

@Arlie K

This is absolutely an awesome listen for anyone in communications or social media!!

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This podcast has become one of my staple weekly podcasts for learning about marketing! Love the conversations that they have and it's always enjoyable and educational!

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Joel Hammond, Assistant Director of Communications and Head of Social Media for the Cleveland Indians, joins the Social Pros Podcast to discuss how a lean team can shine the spotlight on their fans across multiple channels with minimal paid boosts.

How Cleveland Indians Fire Up Their Fans with SocialPeanuts, Cracker Jacks, and CSI Baseball

With over 150 games in a single season (not including playoffs), managing the social calendar for an MLB team like the Cleveland Indians is a nonstop grind.
Instead of becoming worn down by the never-ending schedule of games, Joel has found an approach that harnesses the thrill of the game while maintaining a meaningful connection with fans.
Establishing a marketing team structure that provides direction while staying flexible allows the brand to react in near-real time to game outcomes as they develop. This way even the smallest of social teams can make a significant impact on brand relevance in a competitive field.
When the heat is turned up, and the spotlight is focused on his brand, instead of panicking, Joel sees it as an opportunity to show off his team’s skills and creativity. Keeping each platform’s content unique ensures fans don’t get bored and stay tuned in to each account. He even takes it one step further by engaging directly with fans on their accounts which helps keep the conversation going and earns valuable peer buy-in for the Indians brand.

In This Episode

  • Why running a successful lean social team means being structured but flexible
  • How a spotlight on the business leads to opportunities for the social team to show off their skills
  • Why relying on paid social means there is a weakness in your strategy
  • How sharing fan content leads to peer buy-in for your content
  • Why being spread across multiple social channels means having a unique set of content for each platform

Quotes From This Episode

“It’s a very difficult job, but can also be rewarding.” —@joelhammond
“I challenge my team to look at it as an opportunity for us to showcase our talents.” —@joelhammond
“We study what teams do across the league.” —@joelhammond
We share our fan’s content as much as we can. Click To Tweet
We’re always on. I don’t want to miss an opportunity to connect with a fan, and the results speak for that.” —@joelhammond
We try to have different content on different platforms. Click To Tweet
“I need to be getting four different sets of content for every story that they cover. If not, I’m going to unfollow them.” —@joelhammond

Resources


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