The Lakers have one of the strongest social media presences in the NBA. Sure, they have a large audience that comes with their powerhouse brand, but their digital team does not rest on their laurels. The Lakers consistently produce best-in-class content from their beautiful crispy GIFS to their Instagram Stories on game day. And while there is a lot to take away from their approach, there is one big lesson: consistency and brand standards matter.
The Lakers are committed to putting their best foot forward all the time in digital. It’s apparent they have defined their brand standards and don’t cut corners. And as a result, they have one of the strongest visual identities and social presences in sports.
Scroll through their accounts and you’ll see. The Lakers take the way their brand comes to life very seriously (as they should). Photos are carefully curated. Watermarks are always applied. They are a team that dots their “Is” and cross their “Ts”. Below is a small sample of some of their content:
👑🚀 #LakeShow pic.twitter.com/tMozfkpZgL
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) October 16, 2018
Time to switch it up! #WallpaperWednesday pic.twitter.com/l4YPx3MWdi
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) November 7, 2018
Easy like Sunday morning pic.twitter.com/M2vn6g1lNK
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) November 25, 2018
Yes, it takes the Lakers a second more time to add the watermark. Yes, sometimes they hold a highlight to package it for a carousel recap later on Instagram. And yes, their work is always strong and consistent.
But, why does their approach matter?
First, their work is instantly recognizable.
Today, so much of a team’s brand comes to life through their visual identity. Consumption happens in a split second. Consumers scroll, tap and move through their social feeds without giving things a second glance. As they scroll, content needs to stand out.
It should be clear which team, brand or league the content is from with or without a logo. And that’s where a strong graphics package that reflects the brand comes into play. When teams put in the work to define their brand standards and their visual identity – and actually see it through in execution like the Lakers – the result is work that instantly connects with fans.
Second, they package with purpose.
We’ve fallen into a content trap in sports. There’s this idea that more is better and that we have to cover “everything”. This mindset has resulted in more stuff and less quality. And, that’s not a win for a team, league of the fans.
The teams that win in social media today have purpose and focus. They understand that they can’t be everything to everyone and instead focus on what matters most (as they have defined). Focus allows teams to put their best foot forward. It’s impossible to do it all. Once you understand that, you can produce work that matters, engages fans and is right for the brand.
The Lakers are a good example of a team that does not post just to post. While yes, the Lakers still push out a good amount of volume, they don’t overproduce (especially by sports standards) and they certainly don’t let any sort of volume take away from the quality of work. Their approach to Instagram is a great example of this.
In the past 30 days, the Lakers have averaged 3.39 post on Instagram in-feed a day (the league average is 6). Yet, the Lakers boast a 3.2% engagement rate with an audience of more than 6M … the highest engagement rate in the league.
The Lakers understand that Instagram is all about quality over quantity. They don’t fight the algorithm, and instead, let it work to their advantage. They use Stories to cover the more real-time moments and save their in-feed posts for big moments, packaged recaps and evergreen pieces. The approach is paying off.
On the flip side, the Lakers’ approach to Twitter is completely different to fit the platform. Their volume is high (25 posts in the past 30 days) and their content is packaged completely differently, with a lot more variety. It’s clear they have a distinct platform approach for each channel.
More than ever, how we curate content and package is as key as the content itself. There’s no such thing as a strong social presence without a strong creative arm today. But, we can no longer just post and pray. We have to be thoughtful, deliberate and strategic about our work. We have to define our purpose then plan, program and package like the Lakers do.
And finally, they always put their best foot forward.
Social is the front door to brands today. Everything that goes up on a channel should be the best reflection of the brand, period. While it’s easy to post and get things up, it doesn’t mean we should cut corners and dilute the quality of the work. When looking at the Lakers feed it’s clear they take pride in their brand and work. All teams and leagues should strive for the same quality of work.
In social it’s easy to get caught up in doing it now versus doing it right. There’s often a mentality that fast is best. And a result, corners are cut and the totality of everything is not thought through. In the end
Instead of being fast, the focus should be on doing it the best and with speed. Of course timeliness matter in social, but not at the sake of quality. Work that is timely, engages fans and reflects the brand is the ultimate win. It’s okay to take the extra time to get the work right. It’s okay to pause, stop and think about your publishing approach even in the middle of chaos. It’s okay to forgo the right now for a little later if it means putting something stronger forward.
Take the little bit of extra time to do it right. Take pride in everything you push out. It all reflects the brand. And, it matters.
