How one media company utilized two social networks differently

In the third section of his book Social Media Strategy, author Keith Quesenberry talks about the differences between social networks, blogs and forums. He breaks down what certain social mediums, like Facebook or Twitter, can offer a company when it comes to using the medium for marketing.

This reminded me of my first summer internship at Cox Media Group, two summers ago. Before I got to start writing for the newspaper (the Dayton Daily News), I shadowed their social media team for the first two weeks of the summer. I picked their brains on what they posted, when they posted, and as it pertains to this chapter, how they posted when it came to networks like Facebook and Twitter.

In reality, the way they approached Facebook and Twitter were quite different. As the book describes, there are different audiences on each platform. Here were some of the key ways in which the Dayton Daily News social media team differed their usage of each platform:

1. Not just local news

As a media company that pays to use AP content, the Dayton Daily News website would pick up national stories that might gain local interest. These are largely human interest stories, and while they have little news value for the local consumer, they will often get clicks because they catch the consumer’s eye.

On Facebook, the newspaper would mix posts like these in with posts about local news (which were actually written by Dayton Daily reporters). They would post one or two national AP stories an hour, along with one or two local stories during the same time span. Because they had a much demographically wider audience on Facebook, and because people tend to interact with the company more in that medium, they figured that this would be a good way to sustain interaction -- through human interest stories.

2. Just local news

Meanwhile, Dayton Daily would use Twitter much differently. They would rarely post AP content on Twitter, as they mostly stuck to posting locally written stories. They took more of a ‘news’ approach to their Twitter account, as they would provide updates on stories and retweet their own reporters who were covering a live event.

But in general, they did not use Twitter as much for human interest stories. They believed that their Twitter page was less about consumer engagement and more about pushing news, so that’s what they used it for.

3. ‘Live coverage’

As mentioned earlier, Dayton Daily would cover live events with Twitter by retweeting their reporters, who were live-tweeting an event from their own account. They did not use Periscope or any other video platform, just threads of tweets.

Facebook, however, was different. Instead of making tons of posts about an event, they would do a ‘Facebook Live’ video for it. These would often be a big hit because consumers could see the event as it was happening and could also react to it in the comment section. But this difference in platform usage highlights one of the main differences in the way they handled each network: on Facebook, it’s less about lots of quick posts and more about one, more encapsulating most. On Twitter, meanwhile, live-tweeting through a thread of multiple posts is encouraged.

This is because the algorithms of each network provide for different platforms. On Facebook, there is no timeline, so the most current posts don’t always float to the top. Therefore, live-posting an event would be pointless. Meanwhile, the opposite is true for Twitter.

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While these were the central differences between how Dayton Daily utilized Facebook and Twitter, there were some things that remained constant between both platforms: the way they handled reader comments, the key local stories that would be posted, and the way in which they represented the company as a whole. While the content differed, the branding was largely the same between both platforms.

How ‘The Ringer’ has mastered the concept of being a ‘strategic business unit’ on Twitter

In my last post, I talked about the concept of a ‘strategic business unit,’ noted in Keith Quesenberry’s book Social Media Strategy, which means that a company’s three facets -- operations, marketing and customer service -- all use the same branding message.

I described one national, mainstream media company that stands out when it comes to having an exceptionally tight-knit ‘SBU.’ That company was The Ringer, a sports and pop culture website that uses Twitter as its primary social media vessel.

In this post, I will break down five things that The Ringer does on Twitter to push their brand. I will also talk about how these things exemplify the brand unity amongst the company’s different facets.

1. Making it ‘fun’

As I discussed in the last blog post, one of the central ideas behind The Ringer is that it takes a ‘fun’ approach to sports coverage. Their articles take a fresh, often lighthearted look at sports, which separate the brand from 99 percent of sports media, which often clings to archaic perspectives. While their ‘operations’ side certainly pushes this idea of ‘making sports fun to read about,’ The Ringer furthers this approach on Twitter.

They make jokes, post funny GIFs, and poke fun at themselves consistently through the platform. Last week, when UMBC shocked the sports world by becoming the first 16 seed to ever beat a one seed in the NCAA Tournament, they changed their Twitter name to “UMBC Fan Account” and incorporated the school’s logo into their avi. This is just who they are, and everyone knows it.

2. Incorporating their employees

One of the things that makes The Ringer unique is the way in which it markets its writers. Rarely do big-name news organizations sell the personalities of their writers like The Ringer does, as they use their personalities (which are often ‘fun’) to drive readership.

The Ringer does this through Twitter as well, as it will interact with its writers playfully to enhance the brand. They will talk trash to, poke fun at, and compliment their writers through the medium. This is another example of the connectedness between all three facets of the company’s brand.

3. Producing innovative content

As mentioned in my last post, The Ringer and Bill Simmons are known for producing content in a way that is fresh, new and creative. The Ringer, for example, has paved the way for the culture of sports podcasting. They started it, and now it seems as if every analyst for every network is required to have a podcast to keep up.

The website also uses innovative methods of storytelling, and this innovation is carried over onto the company’s Twitter page. The Ringer will consistently use videos, live YouTube shows, and other multimedia methods to display content via Twitter. While some companies are starting to do this more frequently, The Ringer has led the way.

4. Not being afraid to go viral

Most organizations seem to act as if they’re ‘afraid to go viral.’ What I mean by that is they will not post memes or other trendy topics, instead choosing to only post content. Although I’m sure that they would like to go viral in order to draw attention to their organization, they do not seem willing to post humorous, potentially viral tweets to do so. They may think that doing so would be unprofessional or ‘not by tradition.’

The Ringer, however, thinks otherwise. By posting memes and tweets that gain viral attention (even though they might not directly publicize links or content in that tweet), they draw readership and enhance their brand’s presence. As with many other concepts, The Ringer understands the importance of ‘catching fire’ via social media networks like Twitter. Once again, they’re ahead of the game.

They use this as not only a way to attract readership and publicity, but also in order to keep their brand unified. Their content deals with pop culture’s most trendy, viral topics as well, which is reflected by these posts.

5. Completing the circle

While The Ringer’s tweets clearly portray the same brand as their content, the same goes the other way around. The website’s writers also cleverly embed tweets from both the HQ account and the accounts of other Ringer writers to help tell their stories, thereby ‘completing the circle’ of branding unity.

Not only do they use social media to enhance their brand, but they use it for content as well. This shows just how consistent the mindset is between The Ringer and all of its staffers on how to portray and push the brand, in every way possible, through all available platforms. It is just another reason why The Ringer is the smartest and most effective SBU in sports media.

When it comes to being a 'strategic business unit' in the sports media world, one brand stands out...

In chapter five of his book Social Media Strategy, Keith Quesenberry discusses a concept that is pivotal for businesses to understand if they wish to establish a consistent branding message through social media: having a ‘strategic business unit.’

Quesenberry defines the concept as having all three sides of a corporation’s structure (the operations, marketing and customer service sides) on the same page when it comes to how their brand will be portrayed. A strategic business unit, or an “SBU,” is “a fully functional and distinct unit that develops its own strategic vision and direction,” Quesenberry says.

By having consistent branding throughout the different facets of a corporation, ‘silo syndrome’ would be avoided. Quesenberry defines silo syndrome as “when a department or function, like marketing, develops its own culture and has trouble working with other functions such as operations, customer service or sales.”

If a company can establish the same attitude, goals and voice through all of their platforms, they will be seen as a strong, unified brand that people can latch onto. One company that has mastered the concept of being a ‘strategic business unit’ is The Ringer, a sports and pop culture website run by Bill Simmons.

The Ringer was founded two years ago by Simmons, who holds a unique position in the world of sports media. For those who don’t know, Simmons began as a blogger back in the late 1990s. After being hired by ESPN in the early 2000s, Simmons brought several groundbreaking ideas to the world’s biggest sports news magnate, such as the '30 for 30' documentary series and Grantland, a sports and pop culture blog.

What made Grantland special was that it thought about sports differently. Simmons hired a cast of young, up-and-coming writers to make sports content fun again. Their content was creative and off-the-beaten-path, as they avoided some of the archaic constructs of typewriter journalism and produced stories that would make the reader excited to play along.

When ESPN let Simmons go (and subsequently rendered Grantland extinct) in the fall of 2015, Simmons set out to continue this brand by creating his own website, The Ringer. While many of his writers at Grantland were hired quickly by other publications after their time at ESPN (as their Grantland experience had helped them make a name for themselves), Simmons now has an equally talented cast of writers at The Ringer to push more creative content. They still think about sports differently, in a very unique and specific way, and they push the envelope on content ideas like never before.

I know what you’re thinking: This is all great, but what does it have to do with SBUs?
Well, as it turns out, The Ringer has one of the tightest-knit strategic business units among mainstream sports media corporations.

Their brand, as described earlier, is one of ‘fun.’ Their goal is to approach sports coverage in a fun, innovative way that changes the way people think about sports. This brand shines through clearly in the way in which The Ringer uses social media.

By using their Twitter account to not only post content, but also push the personalities of their writers, interact with readers and take innovative approaches to content itself, The Ringer does on social media what they aim to do with their website (aka, their version of ‘operations’). Their approach to customer service is interlinked with their approach to writing, which is interlinked with the way they market their content.

In my next blog post, I will examine specific ways in which The Ringer pulls this off, perfectly exemplifying what it means to be a ‘strategic business unit' in the sports media world.