Cleveland Indians Case Study: Size of Social Media Following Doesn’t Matter

The Cleveland Indians are making national headlines for their creative social media marketing initiatives.  The club was recently voted “MLB’s most Twitter-friendly team” by ESPN the Magazine.  Here is a more in-depth look at the team’s social media promotions:

The Cleveland Indians are working to develop “an interactive and engaging social media presence,” said President Mark Shapiro (Source) .  Here are three ways the team is working to establish this social media presence: 

•  More access to players, coaches, and front office executives through Twitter.  Specifically, club President Mark Shapiro and GM Chris Antonetti have joined Twitter.

• The team is also launching the Indians Social Suite, a suite for games that caters to social media users.  This is a great way of incentivizing social media engagement by fans, while simultaneously bringing social media fans together.

• Finally, the team is offering special ticket offers through Facebook and Twitter.  Again, this is a great way of incentivizing social media and rewarding loyal fans.

Despite these efforts, the team still has a relatively small social media following.  Should this small following dictate the effectiveness of the campaign?

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