Comet Branding - Branding | PR | Social Media

Comet Radio #70 – The Cleveland Indians Leverage Social Media to Drive Their Biz

On Wednesday, June 2nd at 11:00 a.m. Central, join Comet Radio with special guest Curtis Danburg, Director of Communications and Creative Services for the Cleveland Indians, as we talk about how to use social media to drive fan support for sports organizations and major businesses. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.

The Cleveland Indians positioned themselves as leaders in the sports social media space early in the 2010 Major League Baseball season when they announced they would offer a Tribe Social Deck for a select group of social media users to use to cover the team at their home games. The Deck, situated atop the left field wall at Progressive Field, serves as a 10-seat exclusive section designed to engage fans and further establish the Indians brand in the social media space. The Tribe Social Deck offers the Indians organization a way to personally connect with those who significantly influence the team’s communications and reputation in the social media space.

In an effort to drive excitement in the social media space, the Indians also recently featured a head-to-head Mascot Twitter battle with the Chicago White Sox to see which team would receive the most hashtag mentions. The friendly competition encouraged fans to tweet out the hashtag #GoTribe or #GoWhiteSox, with the losing team’s mascot having to pay tribute to the winner prior to a series finale game between the two teams. The team donated $1 to Stand Up to Cancer (@SU2C) for every hashtag that was tweeted during the game.

The Indians have also successfully developed several different social media channels to connect and engage with their fan base:

Facebook

• Official Indians on Facebook Fan Page – 158,509 Fans

Twitter

• @Indians – The Official Twitter Feed of the Indians – 1,550 Followers
• @TribeTalk – The Indians PR Guy – 4,730 Followers
• @TribeInsider – The Official Behind-the-Scenes Voice of the Indians – 3,176 Followers
• @SlidertheMascot – The Official Mascot of the Indians – 600 Followers
• Several Indians Players – @Dhuff11 (David Huff) , @Gator4God (Matt LaPorta), @GrillCheese49 (Jason Grilli), @JLEWFifty (Jensen Lewis)

Blogs

• Indians Off the Field, CastroTurf, Wagner’s Compositions, The Scrappers Scoop, and View from the Booth

Curtis Danburg will be live on Comet Branding Radio this Wednesday to tell us more! CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.

Tags: Al Krueger, cleveland indians, Comet Branding Radio, curtis danburg, Laura Gainor, Mascot twitter battle, Mike Wisniewski, MLB, Sara Meaney, tribe social deck