Looking at the San Antonio Spurs' Social Media Presence

I’m an NBA lover. Much to the chagrin of my friends, growing up my team was the Milwaukee Bucks (think Ray Allen, Sam Cassell, Brandon Jennings, and Andrew Bogut eras). I adopted the Bucks because my dad was from Wisconsin and their 2001 playoff run was just so darn magical (my first season as an NBA fan) – I couldn’t walk away.

As Milwaukee spent most of the 2000s and early 2010s as an NBA after run, I stuck with them –  eagerly hoping one day Milwaukee could someday, somehow relive their 2001 run.

This all changed April 2015 when I moved to San Antonio. I loved the Bucks, but I just couldn’t deny the San Antonio Spurs. San Antonio was now where I lived and worked, it became home and, well, home trumps a city thousands a miles away I’ve never lived in (no matter how much of a connection I had to the Bucks).

Beginning in April 2015, the Spurs became my new love, my new #1. Since then, following the Spurs has been whirlwind – so many great games, so many heartbreaks, so many farewells, and so many mysteries (See: Kawhi Leonard).

With San Antonio a few games into the new year, I thought what better topic to blog about over the next few months than the San Antonio Spurs, their social media presence, and what their content’s success tells me Tribu should be doing.

Let’s jump right in on what I want to highlight today:

Post-Game Highlight Video Clips: The Power of the Entertaining Muted Video

Video is great – but gosh, you have to do it right on social. The Spurs kill it in their multiple post-game highlight videos.

Following the Spurs’ November 7th battle against the Miami Heat, they posted four videos. One of which was a highlight reel summarizing the work of San Antonio’s two stars of the game, Patty Mills and Davis Bertans.

Click here to view the video.

There’s a few things this video does really well:

1. It gets to the point – no silly animations to start, no coaches interview – it just blasts right into the action (in this case, a sick trey by Patty Mills).
   The first few seconds of a video are just so critical on social – you’ve got to generate that entertainment value right off the bat, otherwise users are going to keep scrolling and all the work put into the video will go to waste.
2. It doesn’t rely on sound. The reality is people are checking their phones at the office, in the classroom, or hanging out with friends – you have to assume the end user will watch your video on mute. The Spurs do just that – providing a thrilling video that doesn’t require any audio.
3. The copy above the video gets straight to the point – summarizing what to take away from the game – in this case, Patty Mills and Davis Bertans scoring 20 and 19 points respectively, and what it means big picture (that these were their best scoring games of the year).
   As the end user, I get what I need and know what to look for in the video – no time wasted.

Such a simple formula, yet so well done – great work on these post game highlight videos, Spurs marketing!
Stay tuned next month for my next look at what the Spurs are doing well on social and what tactics brands should adopt for themselves.

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