Los Angeles Lakers: No Game 7 Needed, Social Media Champions for 2013

Well even though the NBA Finals are coming down to what should be an exciting Game 7, all 32 teams are on an equal playing field when it comes to social media. Payroll, superstars, and a Zen-master coach don’t factor in on the Facebook and Twitter battlefields.

With that being said, the Los Angeles Lakers are crowned the social media champions for 2013!

So even though the Lakers had incredibly high expectations to start the season, which, well, didn’t pan out as expected, they are the best, according to Unmetric. 

But how exactly did the Lakers win?

For one, they added an impressive 3.2 million Facebook fans in this past year alone. A reason for this spike could be their engagement levels. Last year they rarely engaged directly with their fans on Facebook, yet this year they have added a more personalized appeal to their page.

Some other interesting findings from the report include:

• San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets had the most proactive tweets about their teams (97 percent).
• In 2012, the Memphis Grizzlies were the biggest losers. This year the team stepped up its game with the highest number of admin posts and fastest average reply time on Facebook.
• Brooklyn Nets dubbed fastest growing team on Facebook, while Toronto Raptors dominate Twitter.
• In terms of content, teams posted most frequently about players and game schedules; however, fans were most excited to talk about posts that prompted them to Like or Share. 

Interesting to note how unremarkable the Heat’s following is despite their media attention and big-name players. They also do little in interacting and engaging with their fans to promote a bigger following.

It’s also incredibly ironic how social media correlates with the Heat. Though LeBron James has by far the largest Twitter following of any NBA athlete, he can’t hold up the team by himself.