Executive Summary
The New Zealand Breakers is a professional basketball club that competes in the Australian National Basketball League (NBL). Although the team has a large social media following, there is still room for improvement. The organization can expand its social media footprint by adding more interactive material and campaigns on Twitter and YouTube. The team’s competitors, such as Perth Wildcats and Adelaide 36ers, have a strong social media presence. They often interact with their followers by posting game highlights, behind-the-scenes videos, and interviews with players.
Two key messages, “Champions on and off the court” and “Join the Breakers family,” could be used to promote a distinctive brand identity and develop a devoted fan following. The team must create a more cohesive social media strategy and regularly produce and share content. They could collaborate with local influencers or community groups to extend their reach and increase engagement by launching competitions or promotions.
Introduction
Auckland, New Zealand, is home to the New Zealand Breakers, a professional basketball club. In2003, the club was established, and it has since competed in the Australian NBL (Sky Sport Breakers, n.d.-a). The Breakers have won the NBL title four times and are recognized for their emphasis on player development and community service (Sky Sport Breakers, n.d.-a).
The team has a large online following with active Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube profiles (Sky Sport Breakers, n.d.-a). They have a significant fan base across all their channels, with Facebook being the most active. The team is moderately active on social media, updating followers with the latest information and providing exclusive behind-the-scenes videos (Sky Sport Breakers, n.d.-a). The regularity and frequency of the New Zealand Breakers’ social content should be improved, and engagement could be increased with more interactive material and campaigns.
The New Zealand Breakers have significantly influenced social media, but areas for improvement remain. They have a vast and active fan base on social media networks such as Facebook and Instagram, with 91,000 and 34,600 followers, respectively (Sky Sport Breakers, n.d.-b; Sky Sport Breakers NZ, n.d.). They often provide aesthetically beautiful and informative videos, including game highlights, behind-the-scenes footage, and player interviews.
Nonetheless, there is room for improvement, such as expanding their social media footprint, especially on Twitter and YouTube, and adding additional opportunities for audience participation (Sky Sport Breakers, n.d.-a; Sky Sports New Zealand Breakers, n.d.). They have 53,000 followers on Twitter, but their posts receive less interaction (Sky Sport New Zealand Breakers, n.d.). For instance, they might employ user-generated content and form partnerships with influencers or other sports teams to increase their exposure and audience size.
Competitor Analysis
Examining how their rivals successfully use social media before developing a social media plan for the New Zealand Breakers is crucial. The Perth Wildcats are one such rival, active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube (Perth Wildcats, n.d.-a, b, c, d). The Wildcats have a huge social media following and often interact with their followers by posting various material, including game highlights, behind-the-scenes videos, and player interviews (Perth Wildcats, n.d.-d).
They support user-generated content and routinely hold social media contests and campaigns. Adelaide 36ers have a vast social media influence, which is another rival the organization should note (Adelaide 36ers, n.d.-a). They have a strong online presence and utilize Instagram to communicate with supporters and promote their team, the Adelaide 36ers (Adelaide 36ers, n.d.-b). TheAdelaide 36ers often publishes updates and interacts with followers on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube (Adelaide 36ers, n.d.-c, d). These are teams that the New Zealand Breakers might emulate to improve their social media presence.
Essential best practices for social media usage include maintaining a consistent brand voice, utilizing a variety of content formats, engaging with followers, and staying current with social media trends and best practices. Organizations should develop shareable content that stimulates interaction and user-generated content (Shahbaznezhad et al., 2022). Moreover, having a well-defined social media strategy and a regular content creation and sharing schedule is essential. Effective social media use ultimately requires a deliberate approach, a thorough understanding of the target audience, and a willingness to experiment and adapt based on data and feedback.
Comparing the New Zealand Breakers to their rivals, it is evident that they need to make some changes to their social media strategy. The Adelaide 36ers basketball club is one rival that stands out regarding effective social media use (Adelaide 36ers, n.d.-c). It is a top Australian NBL competitor and has developed a devoted online fan base.
They often interact with fans by releasing video highlights from games, behind-the-scenes material, and community projects. They consistently provide high-quality material regularly, which is one of their strengths. The New Zealand Breakers, in comparison, have shown a fair amount of inconsistency in their social media activities, which has hindered their potential to develop a sizable fan base.
The New Zealand Breakers could adopt some of the Adelaide 36ers’ most excellent strategies on social media to increase their online image. For example, they may create a publishing schedule that is more reliable and concentrates on producing more behind-the-scenes material. They may consider extending their reach by collaborating with local influencers or community groups. (Lim & Rasul, 2022) Moreover, they might use social media to boost engagement by launching competitions or promotions that compel followers to share their stories and images.
Key Messages
Two key messages for the New Zealand Breakers could be “Champions on and off the court” and “Join the Breakers family.” These messages were selected based on the organization’s ideals, objectives, supporters’ preferences, and key driving forces. The team’s devotion to becoming champions in basketball and the community is emphasized in the first message, which emphasizes the team’s commitment to greatness on and off the court. By extending an invitation to join the Breakers family and participate in the team’s success, the second message aims to foster a sense of inclusion and belonging among fans and followers.
Channel Selection
The New Zealand Breakers’ leading social media platforms are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Facebook is a popular social media network with a large user base that allows users to interact with friends and followers (Appel et al., 2019). Instagram is a platform with a solid visual emphasis that is especially well-liked by younger demographics, making it an excellent choice for reaching this market (Appel et al., 2019). For real-time information and interacting with supporters during games and events, Twitter is a fantastic medium. TikTok is a rapidly expanding platform that is incredibly popular among Generation Z, offering an extraordinary opportunity to create engaging, short videos to promote the team and interact with fans.
The key social media outlets for the New Zealand Breakers were determined based on several factors. The target audience must be identified to determine the most active area (Nawi et al., 2019). Facebook had a more diversified user base, whereas Instagram was known to be popular with younger viewers. Thus, these social media platforms may be essential to the organization.
Second, it was determined which channels would best serve each type of material by examining the content strategy. For instance, longer-form material, such as interviews and behind-the-scenes videos, was found to function best on YouTube, while game-day updates and highlights were best suited for Twitter (Yang et al., 2022). The organization’s resources were considered to determine which platforms they could maintain a regular presence on. These elements led to the conclusion that the New Zealand Breakers’ primary social media platforms were Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
Content Plan
Developing engaging content that interacts with supporters and keeps them updated should be the top priority of the New Zealand Breakers’ social media strategy. Game day updates, including live tweets and articles that provide in-game updates, should be a significant component of this material. Together with brief snippets of post-game interviews with players and coaches, photos and videos of game highlights may be shared online. Social media provides a straightforward and accessible way for fans to see their favorite athletes in action (López-Carril et al., 2020).
The New Zealand Breakers should provide behind-the-scenes material and game-day updates to offer fans a closer peek at the squad. The social media team could include videos of training, warm-up exercises, and locker room humor. Fans may access brief interviews with players and coaches to learn more about the team’s tactics and objectives. These posts may improve engagement and loyalty by making followers feel like a part of the team.
The New Zealand Breakers may utilize Twitter to provide rapid, real-time updates on the score, player statistics, and key plays during the game. Twitter’s short-form format is ideal for delivering fast updates, and its hashtag system facilitates straightforward organization and search for content (Smith et al., 2019). The team might include images and brief video clips to enhance the updates and provide fans with a more engaging experience. The group may consider utilizing Instagram Stories to show fans what it’s like to prepare for a game and celebrate afterwards. Instagram’s Stories feature has a strong interaction rate with younger viewers and is built for short-form, transient content.
The New Zealand Breakers might utilize YouTube for longer-form material such as interviews and behind-the-scenes films. After Google, YouTube is the second-largest search engine, offering an excellent venue for video content (Lee Ludvigsen & Petersen-Wagner, 2022). The team might publish behind-the-scenes videos of practices, team activities, game day preparations, and interviews with players, coaches, and staff. The team might utilize Facebook to provide more extensive information, such as in-depth game analysis and profiles of players and coaches. Facebook is valid for engaging a larger audience due to its broad user base and shareability capabilities.
The decision to post-game day updates on Twitter was based on the platform’s real-time nature and the ability to share short, concise updates quickly. Twitter is renowned for being a ready source of the most recent news and information (Kapidzic et al., 2022).It is the perfect platform for game day updates that must be distributed quickly and effectively.Furthermore, Twitter’s hashtags simplify organizing and tracking updates regarding a particular game or event.
A strategic choice was made based on YouTube’s emphasis on video content, such as posting relatively long content, like interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. The biggest video-sharing website in the world, YouTube, is renowned for hosting various content, including sports.The New Zealand Breakers can showcase their team interestingly and engagingly using YouTube’s features, giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at the team’s activities and personalities. Additionally, the ability to monetize YouTube content can open up new revenue possibilities for the organization.
The New Zealand Breakers must consider the volume of material they can realistically generate and the optimal times for publishing to maintain a regular and exciting social media presence. The team should choose a suitable number of pieces of content to create each week or each month, since it may not be feasible to make updates every game day or every hour, for example.This can include establishing precise posting targets, such as 3–4 posts per week on Facebook and 5–6 posts per week on Instagram.
The New Zealand Breakers should consider the times each site allows publishing. It can include looking into their followers’ engagement trends and selecting the best times to publish in light of these findings.Facebook posts could perform better during the weekdays, but Instagram posts might get more interaction on the weekends and at night.The New Zealand Breakers may increase their social media impact and engagement by carefully weighing realistic content requirements and publishing schedules.
The New Zealand Breakers have several options at their command to increase participation from their fan base. Social media polls and surveys are one way to get fan feedback on various team-related issues (Rossini et al., 2018). Examples include asking fans for their thoughts on possible deals or even just who their favorite player is. Fans will feel more connected to the club and have a vested interest in its success if they are given a voice in team decisions. One alternative is to use user-generated material by asking supporters to submit game-related images, videos, and personal accounts. Challenges and competitions on social media may help achieve this goal, with victors getting items like tickets and team gear.
The group may utilize social media to give supporters access to certain content or data. Making-of videos, in-depth interviews with players or coaches, and in-person question-and-answer sessions with the team are examples of this content (Shahbaznezhad et al., 2022). If the team gives its followers access to unique content and information, it can grow its fan base and encourage more devotion and participation.Finally, the team may use social media to advertise charitable or community outreach initiatives, providing fans with extra opportunities to support the team besides game days.
Evaluation
Several important variables will be monitored to assess the New Zealand Breakers’ social media performance. Engagement metrics such as likes, comments, and shares will be closely watched to gauge audience involvement with the team’s material (Drivas et al., 2022). To ensure the team is connecting with and developing its following, follower growth and audience demographics will be monitored.
Website traffic from social media outlets is a crucial indicator to watch. The team can identify the content attracting visitors to their website and change their social media strategy as necessary by monitoring website traffic data. To identify areas for improvement and to play to their strengths, the team’s social media performance will be compared to that of their rivals. The New Zealand Breakers may continuously enhance their audience engagement and social media strategy by frequently tracking and evaluating these variables.
The potential of likes, comments, and shares to gauge audience participation led to their selection as essential indicators. The more likes, comments, and shares a piece of content receives, the more engaged the audience is with the brand (Drivas et al., 2022). Increased brand recognition and loyalty may result from this interaction.
Reach and impressions were chosen as the primary metrics since they reveal how many people see the content. This statistic may determine how well the organization’s content and reach perform. The likelihood of interaction increases as the reach and impressions increase.
These increases in metrics are crucial as they show that the organization is performing better on social media. Since they may provide information on the direct influence of social media on business results, conversion measures like website clicks and ticket sales are chosen as essential indicators. These analytics may be used to determine how well the social media plan is working to increase website traffic and ticket sales.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this article has emphasized the significance of social media for sporting organizations, especially the basketball team, the New Zealand Breakers.It has analyzed how the team currently uses social media, highlighted how major rivals successfully use it, and suggested which social media platforms and content the team should operate. Together with a plan for encouraging fan and follower interaction, the report includes a set of metrics for measuring the team’s social media success.
The key themes center on the significance of knowing the target audience, creating material that appeals to their preferences, and the need for consistency and strategic planning in social media use.The New Zealand Breakers may improve their social media presence, interact with fans, and eventually grow their fan base and income by implementing the advice presented in this research. Sports organizations must adapt and maximize their use of social media platforms as social media continues to play an increasingly significant role in sports marketing.
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