Brooklyn Nets on TikTok
The 6th Annual Awards
- TikTok Presence
@brooklynnets admin requests a rematch with Patty ASAP #handheartchallenge #brooklynnets #sportstiktok
♬ Aesthetic - Tollan Kim
ABOUT THIS ENTRY
The Brooklyn Nets have made an intentional decision to lean hard into popular culture and digital trends when it comes to their TikTok account – to much success. Making a conscious effort to distribute content not focused on game highlights and instead be more playful & targeted to niches and trends so that content can be widely distributed across the platform has helped the Nets achieve their goal of reaching new audiences that aren’t traditional sports fans.
How does this represent “Excellence in Engagement”?
The Brooklyn Nets made an intentional decision to lean hard into popular culture and digital trends when it comes to their TikTok account – to much success. Making a conscious effort to distribute content not focused on game highlights and instead be more playful & targeted to niches and trends so that content can be widely distributed across the platform has helped the Nets achieve their goal of reaching new audiences that aren’t traditional sports fans. Whether identifying unique content creators in New York City to engage with players or showcasing a player’s fun side by leaning into the latest meme, the Nets have reached new demographics this season, increasing overall video views by 25%, TikTok following by 80%, TikTok video views by 448%, and TikTok engagements by 360% vs. the 2022-23 season.
Objective
A goal for the Brooklyn Nets is to cultivate generational fandom, and building authentic connections to our players is a key strategy to support that. We also prioritized positioning the brand at the pulse of culture and lifestyle. To accomplish both objectives, we implemented a TikTok strategy leaning into player personalities and internet trends. After seeing success with this approach last season – when the Nets ranked number 1 in the NBA’s aggregate social media ranking - the group expanded upon for 2023-24. This approach allowed the team to authentically capitalize on pop culture trends, as evidenced by the “SkeeYee” finish the lyric video – picked up by the New York Times – or asking players their favorite Taylor Swift lyric — picked up by USA Today. Another element of the Nets’ approach is unexpected celebrity and influencer collaborations. This led to creating the “Shoot Your Shot” series which featured a game of H.O.R.S.E. between Mikal Bridges and H.E.R., and a collaboration with Neil deGrasse Tyson highlighting Cam’s passion for space exploration. These talent collaborations have enabled the Nets to reach new audiences and create fans from other genres of culture.
Strategy & Execution
Historically, traditional sports content and coverage on social media has been highlight-driven, but the way sports fans watch and consume content has changed drastically over the past few years, particularly on TikTok. The Nets saw an opportunity to adapt their content strategy to meet the ever-evolving interests of the next generation of sports fans (as well as pop culture enthusiasts), focusing on player-driven content and showing up in unexpected ways on TikTok beyond highlights. Establishing authentic connections to players and showcasing their lives and personalities off-the-court is a way for fans to develop a deeper relationship with the brand and has allowed the Nets to capture undiscovered fans through an alternate style of content. Overall, player personality content has become one of the Nets’ top content categories with more than three-times the average post engagement for the 2023-24 season. The more than 40 videos in this category have combined for 33.8M video views and 4.1M engagements on TikTok this season to date. In addition, the Nets leaned heavily into the platform’s ever-evolving feature set like AR Filters and games to stay on top of how users interact with the platform and provide an alternate method for engagement.
Organizations
- Brooklyn Nets
Links
Credits
Manny Gomez
Manager, Vertical Content
BSE Global
Alessandro Gasparro
Senior Director, Content
BSE Global
Soheil Jamshidi
Senior Manager, Content
BSE Global
Eric Spyropoulos
Digital Strategy Manager
BSE Global
Siqi Wang
Senior Coordinator, Digital Media
BSE Global
Celebrate in NYC
Join us for the 6th Annual Hashtag Sports Awards™ on the evening of June 6, 2024 as we celebrate finalists and reveal the winners of this year's awards live during the show.
