Many Sports Teams Turning to Pinterest to Reach Fans

Published: 27th Feb 12 4:57 pm
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Marian Hinton
Texas Sports Blogger
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Courtesy of Boston Celtic's Pinterest Page: www.pinterest.com/bostonceltics17

It wasn’t too long ago that most professional sports teams were creating Facebook pages and Twitter accounts in order to make the players and coaches more accessible to their fans.

However, a new form of social media has exploded on the scene, and seeing its potential, sports organizations are turning to it in droves.

The site?

Pinterest.

Pinterest, according to their site, is “a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.”

The organization’s mission is, ” …to connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting. We think that a favorite book, toy, or recipe can reveal a common link between two people. With millions of new pins added every week, Pinterest is connecting people all over the world based on shared tastes and interests.”

Pinterest began as a place for people to share their craft and decoration ideas, styles, recipes, book picks, and various other interests, but as it grows more and more widespread, people are finding even more uses for the site.

Recognizing the marketing value of the site, many sports teams have taken to Pinterest as a tool to market their organization.

One reason for this trend is that Pinterest is currently the fastest growing social media site on the internet. According to Mashable, a social media news site, Pinterest gained over 12 million users in just 10 months.

Another major benefit sports organizations see in the “virtual bulletin board” is that it allows them to reach a demographic previously unreached.

Mashable cites that  83% of Pinterest’s users in the United States are female–a demographic that has been previously difficult for sports organizations to reach.

New York Giants’ director of digital media, Nilay Shah, told Mashable via email, “What intrigued us initially was that the platform seemed to be dominated by women. We certainly thought it was a great way to engage with that demographic and offer a different type of content than can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Google+.”

Each team’s site is made up of various “boards” including, for example, player and team photos, fan photos, merchandise and memorabilia, articles, videos, and promotions. Basically, it’s a way of simply sharing a team’s culture. Fans follow the boards that interest them on the team’s site (one can follow individual or all boards), and they can also “repin” or “like” these items to their personal boards as well, thereby increasing the organization’s reach.

The Boston Celtics’ page, the largest official sports page on Pinterest with over 1,200 followers, consists of boards for tickets and promotions, apparel (babies, kids, women, and men), current player pictures, dancers’ pictures, Celtic legends, Celtic merchandise, memorabilia, and jewelry.

The Giants even have a board for tailgating stories, and team-themed recipes.

The Giants and Celtics aren’t the only franchises to jump on the Pinterest bandwagon. The Dallas Mavericks and Portland Trailblazers are two other NBA teams that have also turned to the fast-growing medium. In addition, the Pittsburgh Penguins, Denver Broncos, a few college teams, and 20 Major League Baseball Clubs (though only a couple are currently active) are some that have all jumped on board as well.

Though women are certainly the key demographic on Pinterest, for now anyway, most sports clubs have realized that more and more men are beginning to use the site and have boards to fit both groups of fans.

With the popularity of Pinterest rapidly on the rise, sports organizations will do wise to meet the fans where they are. As a result, expect to see more and more teams turn to the site as a marketing tool. In this age of social media, it’s just one more way for sports fans to connect with their favorite teams and players.

 

 

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    1. Pinterest for Dudes says:
      March 1, 2012 at 9:12 am

      [...] Well, let’s just say they’re not the easiest to find- but here are some other sports teams here courtesy of Rant Sports [...]

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