Search Marketing Blog
Nothing But (Inter)Net!
Posted by Kent Schnepp on 01.21.2009
The fortuitous winds of success are once again blowing through the great Pacific Northwest. Our hometown NBA team, the Portland Trail Blazers, is currently experiencing an incredible ascension, both on and off the court.
It was only a few short years ago that Blazer fandom hit rock bottom here in Rose City. The team’s roster was riddled with players of questionable character (to put it politely), ticket sales were at all-time lows, and rumors of bankruptcy swirled throughout the league. Today, however, the franchise is on-track to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2002-2003 season, due in large part to its upgraded group of core players. Rather than filling-out its roster with troubled individuals such as Rasheed Wallace, Bonzi Wells and Zach Randolph, the Blazers now boast highly likeable, tremendously skilled players, such as Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Greg Oden.
On the court, the team is climbing its way up the standings. However, in an important off-court arena – one we at EngineWorks especially admire – the franchise is already atop the NBA leader board: Social Media Marketing.
Connecting with Fans
In a tech-savvy city like Portland, it stands to reason that fans would leap at the opportunity to participate in fervent online discussions about this young, likeable team. Currently, several devoted blogs, Twitter.com accounts, and Facebook groups are dedicated to the Blazers, offering online venues for fans to voice how pleased they are with their new team. Nobody could be happier about this online fan love-fest than Dan Harbison, Interactive Marketing & Media Director for the Portland Trailblazers.
Our Search Specialist here at EngineWorks, Tyson Braun, had the opportunity to sit-down with Dan at a local Starbucks coffee shop to discuss how important a robust presence within online social communities has been to the resurgence of the franchise. Harbison joined the Blazers in 2005, and from the beginning, he imagined a Web site that enabled fans to better connect with the team and its players. However, with the despised “Jail” Blazers era still lingering, and rumors of the team’s poor financial status, the timing for a fan-engagement campaign could not have been much worse. “We didn’t know what was going to happen”, Dan recalled, “So, we had to put the ideas on hold.”
Dan began making small strides to improve the team’s tarnished image by slowly testing Social Media Marketing strategies. The first victory came when he persuaded Blazers TV announcer, Mike Barrett, to create a blog. As many businesses realize, a blog can be a great way to interact with customers, as well as improve search rankings for relevant keywords.
On the Blazer’s site, Barrett’s blog, along with the ‘Center Court‘ blog by Casey Holdahl, has been a big hit. Fans can post comments about his observations, and feel closer to their team. In addition, the Blazer organization benefits by reading these comments, and improving their product for this once-neglected fan base. “I’m very impressed how well (Mike Barrett) has kept up with it,” exclaimed Dan. “Writing a good blog can be very challenging.”
I am a Trail Blazer Fan
The initial improvements began to be realized in 2006. Owner, Paul Allen, re-invested part of his fortune into the team, front-office personnel were improved, and troublesome players were traded away. The timing was perfect for Dan to implement his plan for a vast online fan network. He connected with Steve Loughlin of Affinity Circles, a San Francisco based company specializing in creating social networking sites, to begin work on a site for the Blazers. “That’s when we really started pounding the pavement,” proclaimed Dan.
Dan says he was inspired by the now famous Apple computer ads that depicted typical computer users declaring their allegiance to the brand. In those ads, individuals presented their “every man” computer needs, and then stated that “I am a Mac user.” The ads reminded Dan of many Blazer fans, jaded by the low-character teams of recent years, but itching for a come-back. He wanted them to proudly declare “I am a Trail Blazer fan,”, and thus set out to make it happen.
In January 2007, the Blazers launched the first site devoted to a single team in professional sports history: I Am A Trail Blazers Fan. The site has been a success in every facet of measurement: increased ticket sales, highly engaged fans, and effective two-way communication with its target audience. Dan’s goal was to create a space where fans could ‘talk Blazers,’ or meet-up online to volunteer, play hoops, or attend a Blazer game.
In short, Dan gets it.
Social Media is all about interacting with your consumers, listening to what they want, and giving it to them. Dan didn’t have anything to do with the prophetic draft-day choice of Brandon Roy. However, he has allowed fans to fall in love with him through Roy’s “featured profile” on the site! He didn’t help Greg Oden rehabilitate his knee after his season-ending injury last year. But, he did include fans in the process through an innovative “Rehab Blog.” Other NBA teams have followed Dan’s lead, launching similar sites to iamatrailblazersfan.com. However, no other fan base has embraced online networking and social communities quite like the fans here in Rip City.
As a founding board member of Search Engine Professionals of Portland (SEMpdx), we at EngineWorks have been privileged to have Dan present at our SEMpdx SearchFest, the premier search engine marketing conference in the Pacific Northwest. His passion is obvious when he delivers his messages on integrating fan experience through social media. Not to mention the fact that there is no shortage of enthusiasm or ideas among Dan’s interactive team for inventing ways to directly communicate with their engaged online community.
Call ‘em the Portland Internets
Before this season, ESPN Columnist Bill Simmons, identified the steps the Blazers were taking to win back its fans through online social media, and how the roster was perfect for it, by stating the following:
“These guys bring everything to the Internet bandwagon table: youth; likability; a real excess of talent; foreign stars; a rabid fan base… Rookie of the year dark horse and potential NBA heartthrob Rudy Fernandez (a cross between Paul Westphal and Antonio Banderas); a superb group of beat writers; multiple players who translate well to YouTube clips; a shrewdly run front office that spends its riches correctly… A top three (Greg Oden, Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge) that ranks off the charts on the Good Guy Scale and might have broken the record for a professional sports team… There’s just a lot going on with the 2008-09 Blazers. They were made for blogs and message boards and YouTube and losers like me who watch the NBA every night and everything else. Call ‘em the Portland Internets.”
Social networking is a cultural phenomenon that is changing the way consumers use the Internet. Smart businesses are engaging these networks to reach potential customers and loyal audiences. In the case of our hometown Portland Trail Blazers, they are doing more than just participating… they are creating online social communities. To learn more on how Social Media Marketing can advance your client acquisition strategies, simply give us a call.
contempt 01.29.2009 at 9:48 am
Getting over the fact that you’re a Trail Blazer fan, it was a good read ;)
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