Smack in the middle of hockey season, we take to the ice to see which NHL teams dominated the social media rink in December.
(Photo courtesy of Clydeorama)
We’re in the second half of the 2015-16 season, rocketing toward those coveted Stanley Cup playoff spots. While the teams are bringing their A-games to the ice, we dove into see how each team’s social media was ranking up in midseason.
Using our data, we calculated the total Facebook engagement for all content posted on their team sites. We added up the engagement across likes, shares, and comments. Let’s take a look at the top teams.
The Blackhawks were the only teams to surpass 300,000 total engagements. Like we saw for the NFL, article count impacts total engagement. The top 10 teams had an average of 176 articles published in December, while the bottom 10 teams only averaged 93. What insights can we glean from these midseason social wins?
Blackhawks are Top Bird
The Chicago Blackhawks’ Facebook likes total were the most out of any team, over 270,000. With quite a sizable gap, the Penguins were second, at 190,000, followed by the Sacramento Kings at 160,000. In addition to being the most liked, Blackhawks were also the most shared, with over 29,000 shares, but fourth highest in comments.
This update on Marián Hossa returning to the rink after an injury was one of the Blackhawks’ most-liked articles of December. It received nearly 13,000 likes, 1,300 shares, and 285 comments.
Fans like being knowledgeable about any changes that may impact their team. They want to be experts on what they love, and be able to feel involved in their team’s journey by engaging with these changes on social.
Team heroes, like Marián Hossa has become for the Blackhawks, also inspire big engagement from fans. Fans like being able to humanize their team by forming connections to individual players. If we check out Spike, we can see that these athletes can prompt more engagement than their teams.
Season Standings Don’t Indicate Social Success
Of the top 10, currently the Blackhawks, Kings, Stars, and Red Wings are the only ones that rank near the top of their conferences. The Maple Leafs, Canadiens, and Flames are currently at the bottom of their conferences, while the others in the top 10 of Facebook performance are middling.
Despite being the lowest in their conference, the Maple Leafs saw over 1,000 shares and 2,000 comments for their article on assigning goaltender Jonathan Bernier to the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies. Team updates generate a lot of discussion and buzz from avid followers.
While for the NFL, we saw that the teams’ December social rankings was clearly tied to their performance in the season, this doesn’t seem to be the case for hockey. But it’s only mid-season right now, while NFL teams in December are already ramping up to the Superbowl. When we get closer to the Stanley Cup, there may be a closer correlation.
Shares Go Beyond the Game
The Blackhawks were also had the most-shared content at 29,000 shares, followed by the Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens. No other team had over 10,000 shares in December on original content.
[fb_pe url=”https://www.facebook.com/nhlblackhawks/posts/10153911567139258″ bottom=”30″]
One of the highest shared articles from the Blackhawks went beyond just game time. On December 11th, Chicago Blackhawks Charities sold limited-edition, certified Chicago Blackhawks ice from their 2015 Stanley Cup victory—momentous as the team’s first win on home ice in 77 years.
[bctt tweet=”The @NHLBlackhawks were the top @NHL team on Facebook in December!”]
Across Facebook, it had over 6,000 likes, 1,500 shares, and 521 comments. Team activities outside of the game personalize the team and help build a brand. By participating in philanthropic efforts, the team cultivates an image of goodwill and leadership.
Big Changes Spark Comments
The Pittsburgh Penguins had the most comments on content from their site in December, over 18,000. The Montreal Canadiens, already beloved in our past analyses, were second (15,000) and the Maple Leafs and Blackhawks both had in the realm of (11,000). From there, the rest of the teams had half of that number or less.
The Penguins article with the most comment in in December was about the change of command. Mike Sullivan was made head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins, replacing both head coach Mike Johnston and assistant coach Gary Agnew, who were relieved of their duties on the same day.
The post had over 4,900 comments across Facebook, 1,800 on the Penguins’ official Facebook page. Fans want to be aware of all team updates, as soon as they happen. Big changes like switching coaches midseason, stir fans who are deeply entrenched in their team’s journey.
What’s Shaping This Season’s Social Media?
What can we take from these insights as we plunge into the second half of the season?
Team updates were huge for NHL in December. Much of the top content had to do with official news on the team or the individual players. Big changes yield a lot of discussion from fans, as we saw with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Â
As with many of the sports leagues, news around team heroes propel engagement, as does showing team’s activities outside of the game. Fans want to feel like they have a relationship with their team on social media, and that means teams need to build a personality.
[bctt tweet=”Team updates score big Facebook engagement for @NHL. Fans want to be experts!”]
We’ll be watching as the NHL teams go into the push for the Stanley Cup playoff spots.The NHL has embraced social media to reach their fans, so it’ll be exciting to see what social tactics see success this season. In an interesting change, it seems they’ve outsourced some of this. Beginning this month, they turned over operations of their digital properties to MLB Advanced Media in a six-year deal.
Only time will tell how this will affect their social media game.
What’s Next:
It may be midseason, but you can place your bets now by tracking social engagement around your favorite team on Spike. Take a free trial to test it out.
