We set out to create social accounts that engage our current audience while also bringing in a new audience through our content, our voice and our humor. We want people to look at our channels and say “wow, i can’t believe this is a professional sports team.” It’s not about shock value, but more about relating to our audience and being part of internet culture, rather than a team account *trying* to fit in, we want it to feel seamless. Our objective is to entertain, engage and grow all while being authentic and organic regardless of the content.
Our strategy has multiple layers, but is always rooted in our voice and style. I often ask the group “how can we make this more US?” or “yes, but do it more in OUR voice.” These might seem like typical questions, but for @Chargers this is at the core of who we are. Whether it’s a trending meme, final score graphic copy, a branded content piece or a community activation .. this is at the center of it all. Staying true to our voice and style is at the core, and right there next to it is the other question we are constantly asking … “how do we cut through the noise?” How do we make shareable, relatable content? We tap into internet culture, we stay on top of the ever-changing instagram algorithm, we push boundaries many brands and teams aren’t willing to push. We strive to be different but not just for the sake of being different. We tap into any area we can … an opponents hashtag or saying, a 10 year-old meme that fits perfectly with how the entire NFL is feeling about Tom Brady’s retirement announcement, etc.
It’s who we are and that’s our strategy.
Our strategy resulted in engagement + growth. We finished third overall on social in engagement rate in the NFL for the 2021 season and we netted a 13% growth rate across social vs. the league average of 4%.
Specifically, we saw some of our biggest spikes in growth happen after wins because we were prepared to capitalize on these moments and used our voice, humor and memes to make the biggest splash. Our “win memes” on Instagram alone resulted in 3,609,640 impressions (750,000 coming from non-followers), over 2 million shares and nearly 7,000 new followers directly from the posts themselves. On Twitter we garnered over 9.5 million views on our win memes, far outreaching our organic audience.
Overall, across Twitter and Instagram , meme related content earned us over 70 million+ impressions during the 2021 season.
