As the manufacturer of the official game ball of the NCAA Basketball Championships, Wilson wanted a way to gain traction with their position and engage with some of the most enthusiastic fans in sports. Since nearly one in four online Americans follow the tournament through social media channels, Wilson and HDC recognized the potential reach opportunity of a powerful social program.
Approach
HDC already understood the nature of NCAA Basketball Playoff fans and how they used social media to engage with each other around events. Harris Interactive found that Americans use social media during the Tournament to:
- Check scores – top reason
- Watch games
- Get info from their favorite teams
- Fill out a bracket
- Follow their favorite coach / player / team
Objectives
We proposed that the solution revolve around these objectives:
- Promote the role that Wilson’s basketballs have played and currently play in the NCAA Tournament and the National Championship Game with a tie to key brand platform elements such as “More Win.”
- Leverage Wilson’s involvement in the NCAA Tournament to create opportunities before, during and after the tournament for rich and engaging experiences, content and contests in social media.
- Engage and build sustainable relationships with NCAA basketball fans and build a community using social media platforms.
- Build a program from the ground up that would engage basketball fans and turn them into Facebook fans.
We also set specific metrics around:
- Facebook “Likes” for the Wilson Basketball page
- Measuring and tracking Facebook community engagement
- Facebook page visits
- Number of reactions (Likes & comments)
- Track page Likes
- Media consumption
Solution
Hanson Dodge Creative executed a three-tier solution that started with a content strategy which would deliver a dedicated Facebook More Win page, supported by complementary off-page tactics and a fun, highly engaging contest.
The content strategy was developed around Wilson’s new position that Wilson has been a part of more winning moments than any other brand in the history of sports. The idea was to engage people on a dedicated Facebook MORE WIN tab by discussing Winning Moments from NCAA history or history-in-the-making moments as the Tournament was going on. These discussion drivers would lead to comments and Likes and ultimately send people to register to win a Wilson NCAA Final Four Basketball. This also helped gather unique email address (the goal was to capture at least 500 by end of Tournament). We also used the Facebook page to post our videos and photos, and solicit user-generated content that would support the engagement.
We used off-Facebook tactics to support the marketing, including school outreach (all NCAA men’s and women’s teams) through email blasts, Facebook advertising and web banners.
Ultimately, we wanted to create even more excitement through a powerful and fun contest that would inspire many people to register. The hook: “Win a Wilson NCAA Final Four Basketball.”
Results
The whole program achieved an average of 0.45% post engagement / feedback (includes likes and comments for each post). This represents a 150% success rate compared to Facebook standards. Other important measurable social media activity, included:
- 22,848 Page Likes in twenty-four days (from zero)
- 1,737 Signups from contest (848 opt-ins for more info)
- 1,707,201 Post Views
- 7,707 Post Feedback (includes Likes & comments)
- 35,334 Monthly active users
- 884 Photo / video views (content consumption)
- 78 Photos / videos / posts uploaded by users (user-generated content)
- 384 total engagements on the More Win tab
- Nearly 50,000,000 impressions
- Facebook is now the #2 referring site to Wilson.com