@NBA Instagram's Success

ABOUT THIS ENTRY

In 2022, @NBA Instagram had its best-performing year ever and the trend is continuing through the first half of the 2022-23 NBA Season. With more than 76 million followers, the NBA’s Instagram account continues to increase reach and audience engagement. This submission details the growth of the @NBA Instagram during the submission timeframe and the strategy it takes to achieve success.

How does this represent “Excellence in Engagement”?

Over the course of the submission timeframe (Jan 1, 2022 - Feb 15, 2023), the NBA gained 13.7 million new Instagram followers (surpassing 76 million overall) and drove more than 24.7 billion video views with nearly 2 billion interactions.

Excellence in engagement is not only defined by the numbers mentioned above but the context and precedent that is set to move forward in a new world, with many evolving and new forms of content consumption. From testing AR to content creation, and everything in between, @NBA is always looking to push the boundaries of what is possible on Instagram.

@NBA is consistently among the first accounts to test new features and products (like Live with API, Live Shopping, Reels, and AR Creators Program).

We strive to innovate daily, to drive not only the industry forward but the platform forward as we often discover new use cases and ideas to implement. The content output on @NBA Instagram could not have been possible without the NBA social teams’ meticulous in-house social content creation and curation process that delivers the best moments from the league. @NBA Instagram has raised the bar for what it means to engage fans and followers on Instagram.

Objective

The objective of the NBA’s Instagram is to reach a global audience of fans where they are in real-time. @NBA provides fans with everything they need to know about the game—from on-the-court storylines such as the best teams and players to top performances and game results to off-the-court content including all the funny, sentimental, and memorable moments around the league.

@NBA leans into Instagram’s unique features to engage fans in the most optimal ways possible on the platform. By leveraging platform features such as Reels, Carousels, Stories, AR, Live, Shopping, and more, the NBA is able to tell the story of a particular moment or game and continuously educate fans on the most important storylines from around the league.

Strategy & Execution

The 2022-23 NBA Season has provided so many special moments, including LeBron James becoming the NBA All-Time Scoring Leading to the rise of young stars from Luka Doncic to Ja Morant and more. What makes @NBA Instagram so unique is how these stories come to life on the platform. @NBA Instagram covers all these moments with visuals and information for fans to learn more and grow closer to the game.

As LeBron James grew closer to the All-Time Scoring Leader mark, @NBA kept fans updated ahead of each game on how many points James needed to achieve this milestone. Once history was made, @NBA took fans behind-the-scenes with the up-close Reels of LeBron’s suit upon arrival, his getting ready in the locker room, his warm-up routine, a look at his exclusive LeBron XX PE shoes, his chalk toss, and each signature bucket leading into the moment he became the #ScoringKing with a fadeaway jumper. Then the celebration began with a video of the historical moment from LeBron’s son—Bronny James’ point-of-view leading into LeBron reflecting on this moment as the kid from Akron. @NBA Instagram is focused on delivering high-quality behind-the-scenes moments to the fans as fast as possible.

Organizations

• NBA

Credits

Andrew Yaffe
SVP, Head of Social, Digital & Original Content
NBA

Bob Carney
SVP, Social & Digital Content
NBA

Ashley Atwell
AVP, Social & Emerging Media
NBA

Justin D’Apolito
Director, Social Content
NBA

Jenny Fischer
Manager, Social Content
NBA

Adam Fedorko
AVP, Social & Digital Content Creation
NBA

Carly Nevis
Associate Manager, Social & Digital Content Creation
NBA

Jim Poorten
Senior Manager, Social Content
NBA

Samantha Linczyc
Associate Manager, Social Content
NBA

Jake Freeman
Senior Manager, Social Content
NBA

Simon Cherin-Gordon
Associate Manager, Social Content
NBA

Elias Williams
Associate Manager, NBA Social Content
NBA

Peter Richter
Director, Social & Digital Content Design
NBA

Leah Berry
Senior Manager, Social & Digital Content Creation
NBA

Jerry Jones Jr.
Manager, Social & Digital Content Design
NBA

Anthony Ottomano
Manager, Social & Digital Content Creation
NBA

Maggie Engellenner
Senior Manager, New Media Content Partnerships
NBA

Mariah Bailey
Associate Manager, New Media Content Partnerships
NBA

Kevin Esteves
Associate Vice President, Content Strategy & Business Intelligence
NBA

Iveta Karapetian
Director, Digital Content Analyst
NBA

Yisel Taveras
Associate Manager, Digital Content Analyst
NBA

John Xu
Associate Manager, Digital Content Analyst
NBA

Adam Brody
Manager, Social & Digital Content Creation
NBA