Photo by Thomas Levinson/MLB Photos
A social media junkie’s dream, and a job every baseball fan wishes they had!
In its third season of existence, the MLB Fan Cave has taken MLB’s social media presence to a whole other level. Over 25,000 baseball fans applied this year to become a Fan Cave Dweller and live for a season in the MLB Fan Cave on 4th and Broadway in the heart of New York City.
Fan Cave Dwellers have one goal: watch every baseball game throughout the entire MLB season and document their amazing lives as Cave Dwellers across many different social media channels. The cave dwellers blog, post videos, take photos through instagram, tweet and post to Facebook everything that goes on in the cave as well as add their own baseball commentary during the games. But being all over every social media channel is not what makes the MLB Fan Cave so successful – there are a few different elements that make this a brilliant social media strategy for MLB.
The MLB Fan Cave
Real People.
Unlike the celebrity sports journalists of ESPN and SportsCenter, the members of the Fan Cave could have been you, or your neighbor, or your buddy Kyle – they were ordinary people who had to compete with thousands of applicants to become cave dwellers. These people are baseball fans just like you or me who provide their own commentary and allow you access to their amazing lives as cave dwellers. The beauty of social media is the “social” aspect of it all – these 9 cave dwellers are entirely accessible and easy to interact with.
Reality TV at its Finest
Our society loves reality T.V.: American Idol, The Voice, Survivor, The Apprentice – we can’t get enough of these shows! What better way to appeal to our love of competition and un-scripted entertainment than to make it a competition to become a member of the Fan Cave? Not only did these nine cave dwellers have to compete just to be there – they could be voted out of the Fan Cave by MLB fans at some point during the season. By the end of the season, only one will remain as the 2013 MLB Fan Cave winner. If you’re not just in it for the celebrity appearances and the wealth of baseball content, you’re in it to see who will win. And just like American Idol or any other reality T.V. show – if you’re following these cave dwellers on social media, you’re likely to begin identifying a favorite and routing for them.
A Perfect Blend of Pop Culture & Baseball
A truly skilled social media person or brand knows how to interweave their messages with pop culture. They know just what their fans and followers like and they can incorporate that into their everyday content to add some flare and interest to their social media presence. Not only does the Fan Cave bring in the biggest names in MLB, they host concerts and bring in other celebrities to interact with the cave dwellers and fans. They’ve had performances by Nas, OneRepublic, The Fray, Ziggy Marley and many more big names. According to a post on MLB.com, since the Fan Cave’s first season, they’ve had more than 400 celebrity visitors including nearly 200 current MLB players.
Ultimate MLB Access
Aside from celebrity visitors and the hilarious videos they put together with MLB players, the Fan Cave has something even more powerful at their fingertips: MLB access. This is MLB – which means that there is a wealth of old photos, old scouting reports, videos and stats at their fingertips to share with fanatical baseball fans. The newest trend in Fan Cave posts has been sharing old scouting reports on the page. Their post of Derek Jeter’s scouting report has 998 shares, 3,876 likes and 204 comments (and those numbers keep going up)!
They’re Good at Social Media.
I just have to point out the obvious here, if the cave dwellers weren’t funny and interesting we wouldn’t follow them! Part of the reason they were chosen was their social media savviness and their personalities. Their ability to gain fans and followers, create engaging and interesting content, their social media personality and ability to engage fans, and amount of content they produce are all factors in the competition to be the last Fan Cave Dweller standing (or dwelling?).
You can find out more about the MLB Fan Cave on the website: MLBFanCave.com where you’ll find videos, blogs, photos and more! You can also follow them on Facebook, Twitter @MLBFanCave, Instagram (MLBFanCave) and Google+. The cave dwellers also have their own Twitter and Instagram accounts, which you can find here.
If you’re already a fan, tell us who your favorite Fan Cave Dweller is by leaving a comment. Make sure to like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @SportsNetworker
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