Week 2B: Business Research

Business Research

Bakersfield College (http://www.gogades.com/landing/index)

Bakersfield College is a community college in Bakersfield, CA. I am specifically looking at their athletics website because that is the field I am in. The school has 20 sports, so they are a large school which employs a lot of people to keep the department going. They use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube and they use the platforms regularly. Bakersfield has a section on their main page showcasing their social media and they have links directly on their website.
  • Instagram
    • Last Post: 9/8/2020
    • Followers: 2,129
  • Twitter
    • Last Post: 9/8/2020
    • Followers: 2,844
  • Facebook
    • Last Post: 9/8/2020
    • Followers: 3,291
  • YouTube
    • Last Post: Two Months Ago
    • Subscribers: 124
They do a good job of posting quality content that people want to see. They post a mix of photos and videos to keep users engaged. It seems they use all of their social media platforms regularly, but they post the same content to each of the platforms. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if you follow them on each platform, then there is nothing new about what they're posting. Overall I think Bakersfield has a strong social media presence. Bakersfield uses YouTube to stream games and that is about it. Because they post good content, they have a good social media presence. 

University of Alabama (https://rolltide.com/index.aspx)

The University of Alabama is an NCAA Division I school in Alabama. Their athletic department is known for its football team. While they are located in Alabama, they have fans everywhere because of their dominance. They have 15 sports and also employ a lot of people to keep the department functioning. Looking at their website, they do not display their social media anywhere. 
  • Instagram
    • Last Post: 9/4/2020
    • Followers: 218K
  • Twitter
    • Last Post: 9/8/2020
    • Followers: 384.6K
  • Facebook
    • Last Post: 9/8/2020
    • Followers: 1,020,564
  • YouTube:
    • Last Post: 9/7/2020
    • Subscribers: 3.3K

While Alabama posts regularly, they retweet a lot of content on their Twitter account, so they interact a lot in that sense. They do not interact with their followers though. On Facebook, they utilize videos more to put a face to the people behind social media. They use their Twitter account to share pre/post-game interviews with players and coaches, as well as other feature videos. 

Kansas City Chiefs (https://www.chiefs.com/)

The Kansas City Chiefs are a part of the National Football League. They have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube. To find their social media, you have to scroll to the bottom of their homepage to find a list and they are linked to each other. 
  • Instagram
    • Last Post: 9/8/2020
    • Followers: 1.6M
  • Twitter
    • Last Post: 9/8/2020
    • Followers: 1.5M
  • Facebook
    • Last Post: 9/8/2020
    • Followers: 1,780,583
  • YouTube
    • Last Post: 9/8/2020
    • Subscribers: 118K
The Chiefs post a mix of photos and videos. In their videos, they look at who the athletes are behind the facemask. While the Chiefs do not directly interact with their followers, the followers interact with each other. The content speaks for itself. They also do a good job on Twitter by retweeting information when necessary, which is different from Alabama's twitter account. They use their YouTube account to post feature videos like "Sights and Sounds" and "Tailgating at Home". 

Major League Baseball (mlb.com)

Major League Baseball (MLB) is the home for all of the American professional baseball teams. They have Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Tik Tok, and YouTube. All of their social media accounts can be found on their website with links to different platforms. 
  • Instagram
    • Last Post: 9/8/2020
    • Followers: 6.6M
  • Twitter
    • Last Post: 9/8/2020
    • Followers: 8.6M
  • Facebook
    • Last Post: 9/8/2020
    • Followers: 7,763,617
  • YouTube
    • Last Post: 9/8/2020
    • Subscribers: 2.53M
  • Tik Tok
    • Last Post: 9/8/2020
    • Followers: 1.7M
MLB is one of the first businesses I looked at which actually had a Tik Tok account. They use that platform to post more comical content to attract younger fans since that is who uses the app. Because they are already a strong brand that people recognize, they have no problem gaining new followers. They also post different content across their platforms because a lot of their fans follow them on different platforms. It is nice to see because it makes the fans want to follow all of the accounts so they can see everything, which I think is a great idea. They mainly use their YouTube channel to live stream games.

Real Madrid

Real Madrid is a professional football club with a huge fanbase. Most sports fans know who the team is whether or not they watch the sport. They are one of the best sports social media accounts. To find their social media accounts on their website, you have to scroll to the very bottom. 
  • Instagram
    • Last Post: 9/8/2020
    • Followers: 90.9M
  • Twitter
    • Last Post: 9/8/2020
    • Followers: 34.7M
  • Facebook
    • Last Post: 9/8/2020
    • Followers: 109,863,919
  • YouTube
    • Last Post: 9/8/2020
    • Subscribers: 5.93M
Because of their large fanbase, they are on top of their social media accounts. They post multiple times a day on their various platforms to keep people involved. Real Madrid posts a lot of behind the scenes posts because people like to see what is happening with the team when they are not playing. 

Takeaways


My main takeaway from the organizations I looked at is to keep posting. It's okay to post multiple times throughtout the day to keep people engaged in the content being produced. The organizations that had more than two posts a day had larger followings that go beyond the name of the brand. People follow them for the brand, they keep following for the content. 

Another takeway is to not be afraid to think outside the box when it comes to content. Those who posted something different or had a catchy name for something seem to be more successful. Everyone likes to do behind-the-scenes content, but finding a way to make it different from everyone is extremely important. While these businesses don't directly sell a product, they do sell entertainment value.

I chose to look at teams from all different levels to see what was different at each level, but it is all the same. It's sports and at the end of the day sports fans always want more. More content, more facts about their favorite, and more knowledge on what is happening when they can't be there to see something with their own eyes. While my own brand is only beginning, I now know what it can become. I may not be successful at the beginning, but it will get there with the right content. I just have to keep posting creative content. 








Comments

  1. Marla HopeSeptember 11, 2020 at 3:05 PM

    Hi Cara,
    I like the layout of your post. It is simple to compare all the school’s stats. Thanks for sharing what kinds of photos and videos the schools are posting. Is it more interesting to post about the games or interesting stories about the players—how they made the team, what motivates them, etc.? I agree, thinking out of the box is great—related, but unique. Is the school posting to social media or the teams themselves? Just curious as these could offer different opportunities to engage their audiences. Sounds like if you recruit help from followers to share, that would make your job easier and you can gain more engagement.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CaraHeiseSeptember 11, 2020 at 7:38 PM

      Hi Marla! Thanks for your reply. I should have made it clear in my post, but I will put it here. I chose to look at the department accounts instead of individual sports/teams.

      Delete
  2. BerthaSeptember 11, 2020 at 11:17 PM

    Hi Cara! Your post had great aesthetics. The social media information was easy to find and read through at a glance. I was most interested by your "takeaways" section. I thought you were insightful in discovering what it takes to keep followers returning to a social media sight. Also you posed a really good question about how to make something interesting and unique when every other business is doing something similar. You mentioned it about behind-the-scenes content, but that really is the big question for any business using social media.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BerthaSeptember 11, 2020 at 11:18 PM

      *social media site. Now I see why the professor says to proofread and then hit send, ha.

      Delete

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