Capitalizing on History in Social Media + Sports

By Jessica Smith On February 23, 2015 In Social Media

Every team and league has history: Legacies, fond memories and moments of greatness tucked away in history vaults. And this history is a goldmine of content. People love nostalgia. Science proves it. So, are you capitalizing on it?

The other day the US Olympic social media team proved that the opportunities to unleash history are endless with a little creativity. In honor of the 35th anniversary of the Miracle On Ice, the @USOlympic account live tweeted the game as if Twitter existed 35 years ago. The event had januvia-sitagliptin.net, photos, score updates and more. Here’s a snippet of the coverage:

The results were stellar. @USOlympic tweeted 70 times, garnering more than 13,600 retweets (please note these numbers were compiled manually). The initiative is a great reminder that a little creativity and planning can go a long way in mixing up your content and coverage.

March Madness also did something similar this year to drum up excitement for the start of basketball season: They hosted #MMVault Watch Parties featuring classic title games. Fans could relive the magic on NCAA.com and follow @MarchMadness for game-action tweets. The Twitter coverage included video clips, photos, color commentary and more:

Unlike @USOlympic, @MarchMadness was not celebrating an anniversary; they were using content to drum up excitement for the season. It’s a good example of how content that focuses on history does not always have to take the “on this day” theme.

Both of these are a great example of how to leverage the stories in the history vault to create excitement and buzz. And, it got me thinking. How else can history be leveraged in social media + sports? Here are just a few ideas:

Photo Essays
Photo essays are a great way to recount the past. Focus on the story, letting pictures and strong copy tell it. Whether you use exposure.co or create a Facebook photo album that fans can flip through in sequence, a photo essay is a great way to tell the history of your team/league.

Radio Clips
Many teams have had golden “voices” over the years. And, hearing those voices again can evoke a strong sense of nostalgia for fans. How you can incorporate old radio clips into your content? Whether it’s the sound byte all by itself or mixed with photos, videos, etc., incorporating radio clips into your content strategy could be a powerful play.

Podcast Interviews
Celebrating the anniversary of title win or big milestone? Produce one or two podcasts featuring key team members from that team to recount the memories. Think about it as a fireside chat. Podcasts are all the rage right now, so I’m sure you’ll earn some extra points.

Quizzes/Trivia
Want to make the content a little more engaging? Take your facts and turn them into a quiz or trivia piece for fans to learn more. Below is a good example from the @NCAA.

 

 

Hosts a Contest
Take the engagement level up a notch and host a contest where fans can vote for their favorite all-time game, play, etc. This type of initiative would need a large digital presence where fans could replay video and read about the history, but the voting mechanism can be social. Just make sure you give fans a reason to engage!

Recreate the Moment
Photo recreations from 20+ years ago are so much fun. If you ever have a notable team together for a reunion, find a way to recreate an iconic team photo. Yes, something like this:

 

I hope these examples give you a few ideas on how to unlock history. As we saw with @USOlympic and @MarchMadness, it can be a powerful piece of your content strategy when done right. Take the time to figure out how you can leverage it creatively and strategically.

 

 

 

Have you seen any creative ways that teams/leagues have taken fans down memory lane? Share any examples you have below! 

Thanks for reading! 

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