HBHA’s Conversation With The Detroit Pistons Social Media Team!

Big day here at HBHA – We just finished emailing with the guys leading the social media charge for the Detroit Pistons!  Pretty exciting stuff and further proof that Twitter can connect franchises with fans.

Here is the story:

A few weeks ago, I got an email saying that @DETpistons was following me on Twitter.  I followed them back and immediately sent a DM asking if they were legitimate representatives of the Detroit Pistons.  There are a lot of phonies in Twitter land (not you Shaq!) and I didnt want to waste my time following the tweets of an impostor.  Long story short, the team behind @DETpistons messaged me back immediately with their contact info and credentials.  It turns out that @DETpistons is co managed by Tom Shea, Digital Account Executive for global PR firm Weber Shandwick and the Detroit Pistons’ communications staff.

Since I’m very interested in the intersection of social media and sports, I asked Tom if I could pick his brain and get some answers to a few questions that I had.  Not only did he agree, but he also said I could share the answers with all my readers.  I hope you find the answers as interesting as I did.  The Pistons social media team seems to really understand how to use social media to connect with and talk to the fans.

On that note, on to the interview questions…

HBHA: How have the Detroit Pistons fans responded to the social network, youtube channel and tweets?

Tom Shea: The fans have been nothing but enthusiastic about each platform. In less than a month, over 3,000 users have joined PostingUp and posted a ton of original content from blogs to photos, videos and more. I think that’s the ultimate compliment.

People have also responded very favorably to Twitter — piping in with their comments about a live game, team strategy and more. We try to regularly stir up conversation via Twitter and provide a personal voice for fans to interact with. There are multiple Twitter accounts with news feeds from traditional news sources — we aren’t that and we won’t attract followers that way. We want to be an entertaining voice with personality. We’ll tweet live, give followers an inside track to the team, share interesting content from across the web about the team and provide ticket offers and giveaways. With all the reasons to follow, fans have been happy. Finally, the YouTube channel gives users a recognizable, easy to find place for Pistons videos. It also allows them to embed and share anywhere.

HBHA: What are you doing to promote your existing social media tools and ultimately get fans to join the conversation?

Tom Shea: We work with a variety of destinations to promote the team and social utilities. From team bloggers, national sports bloggers, a few who also write about social media & sports, local nightlife websites & magazines, facebook groups, they all have pointed people to team properties. Also the most important way to promote these is basic of social media: relationships. We want to interact with the fans so we’ll follow those who talk about Pistons on twitter, read Need4Sheed & DetroitBadBoys and share Rasheed Wallace singing Jingle Bells. It’s that grassroots interaction that’s so valuable! There’s no getting around the leg work in social media — it takes time and work to build relationships & the Pistons organization knows that.

HBHA: Who is actually twittering?  Is it you or team officials?

Tom Shea: Doug [Wernert] and I do many of the tweets but Dave Wieme, Pistons Director of Strategic Communications, also twitters. He is most often at the game and can provide an inside track to the team, players and staff. We are also hoping to include guest tweeters like players & coaches in the future.

HBHA: What is the one social media tool that every NBA team should be using?

Tom Shea: The one social media tool every team should use: I would be a fool to not say Twitter. The possibilities for interaction, content and broad audience appeal are exciting to say the least.

HBHA: Excluding the pistons, which NBA Franchise is best using social media tools to interact with their fans?

Tom Shea: The Phoenix Suns do a great job of crafting a digital presence. They have multiple staff members who twitter on a regular basis, offer weekly web-direct videos and have one of the best websites in the league. However, I don’t think many teams are as de-centralized and spread over as number of media and as easy to connect with as the Pistons.

HBHA: I mentioned earlier that there are a lot of phonies out there.  As we know, Shaq started twittering because someone was pretending to be him on Twitter.  Even the Pistons are subject to this.  I am aware of at least one other twitter account using the Detroit Pistons name and logo.  How important will authenticity become in the next few years and how can teams prevent digital impostors?

Tom Shea: I think brand hijacking is an important thing to keep an eye on. It’s just one more reason why teams and brands can’t ignore social media any longer. The other Pistons feeds you mention are mostly RSS-fed accounts without much personality and just links and none claims to be the official team twitter feed. I think commitment to the community and a conversation will be the determining factor in questions of authenticity. Fakers don’t care enough.

HBHA: What are your thoughts on @the_real_shaq?

Tom Shea: LOVE IT. On a personal note, my favorite person on Twitter. The thought that Shaq can send a txt message and it could show up on 16k+ people’s telephone is amazing. Now that he has embraced this medium, I’m excited to see what other players follow suit.

HBHA: Can social media tools be used to increase fan loyalty during good and bad seasons?

Tom Shea: Social media tools can absolutely be used in good and bad seasons. Fans aren’t just interested in box scores but the player personalities, the community of other fans and of course, every fan has an opinion that needs to be heard!

HBHA: BONUS Q - Can the Pistons beat the Cavs or Celtics in a 7 game series?

Tom Shea:  I think the Pistons can beat them in a 7 game series… In May. At this point in the season, they are still learning to work together. Allen Iverson is too good to not break loose with regularity and the core is still capable of playing off each other better than any team in the league. I still like their depth and with Rodney Stuckey and Tayshaun Prince emerging as consistent difference makers, they have more weapons than most teams. [fin]

Lots of great takeaways from Tom here, especially on the leg work involved in social media.  Just don’t listen to him about the Pistons beating the Cavs or Celtics in a 7 game series.  Not happening!

Thank you again to Tom and the Detroit Pistons for allowing me to post this interview!