While the NFL tortures its fans with a lockout, the NBA is increasingly bringing fans closer to the action with an aggressive and sophisticated social media campaign. In the midst of a marquee finals match-up between the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks, the league consistently beats traditional news services to the story with constant Twitter updates and online polls created by a team of contributors, reports Fast Company.
The official league Twitter boasts more than 2 million followers and combined with all of the teams and players, there are more than 117 million fans online. Among the NBA's social media secrets: Make fans feel like insiders with instantaneous alerts, only engage in NBA-initiated conversations, pay attention to what fans want and when they want it, and be choosy with information. An NBA social networker says, "We want to give people a sense that they're here." Check out the rest of the NBA's philosophy here. (More NBA stories.)