It’s finally coming – NFL Draft Weekend. For those of us who love the NFL, it has been a long time coming. The draft has some different elements this year though, and social media is a big part of it.
NFL.com is streaming live coverage of the draft throughout the weekend. And along with that, it is offering plenty of opportunities for fans to get engaged.
The site itself has a section called Fan War Rooms, which allow fans to discuss their teams draft needs, picks, etc. before, during, and after the draft. As of this writing on Friday (the draft doesn’t begin until Saturday) the war rooms have already attracted nearly 127,000 comments.
Brandweek has a great interview with the NFL’s Online General Manager, Laura Goldberg. She discusses all of the ways the draft is now a social event that fans can participate in no matter where they are.
The NFL has a Twitter stream that will be frequently updated throughout the event, from right inside Radio City Music Hall, where the draft is taking place. There is also a Facebook widget where fans can log in and keep up with news, info, and videos, and during the draft, it will be updated each time a player is picked. This just means, whether you are spending your time on Twitter or Facebook, you will constantly get the updates coming right to you.
When asked about ROI, Goldberg says, “It’s to get more people coming to our site more often and to get those people more engaged and by more engaged, it’s more page views, more videos and to have them spend more time on our site.”
Goldberg also promises that the NFL’s efforts within social media will continue to increase further down the road as well. It doesn’t end with the draft. I’m personally looking forward to seeing what else they come up with for football fans to get more involved with the NFL.
