NBA Best Practices: LA Clippers Show the Power of a Strong Facebook Profile Picture

In today's world, visuals are becoming incredibly important. They become your identity, because often times people don't have the time for your words. So the question is how do you maximize this? How do you leverage the power of Social Media to align with the right visuals?

The LA Clippers show us one huge piece of the puzzle.

The journey starts and ends with the LA Clippers Facebook page, linked here. You'll notice the picture of Blake Griffin that has become the Clippers' identity. It's powerful (that's an understatement). And it is fitting for their brand.

Let's zoom in for a minute....

You can get this image for yourself, here.

But the real value here is that you'll see this picture every time you see a post by the Clippers. In Facebook terms, every time they post, this picture will show up on your news feed (if you follow and interact with the Clippers, naturally). It's one of the best examples I've found of a powerful visual identity for a squad. And it's a learning we can all look to apply.

How could this be better? This picture was posted in November. I love it, but feel like the Clippers could turn this into a franchise. Every week, choose a new picture that can become their identity. It'll generate a feeling of currency. And it'll generate another News Post (the Clippers have updated their Profile Picture). Most importantly, if done well, this will create an opportunity for fans to update their Profile Picture with this image.... Further connecting the identity of the team to the identity of a fan base. And what a statement from a team that no doubt has a fan base itching for the energy that they are finally feeling!

Come back tomorrow as we check out another best practice from the NBA. And as always, you can follow me on Twitter (I'm @pawlow34) or on Facebook (Digital Hoops Blast).

Thanks!

Andy

NBA Digital Disciple Series: 5 Learnings from the LA Clippers

30 teams. 7 weeks. 2 bloggers. 1 mission: to share our learnings of how NBA teams uniquely leverage digital tools to build fan community.

As students, or disciples of the game, we'll supply you with the doctrine - 5 takeaways per team - and then raise you one enhancement suggestion for each learning that's highlighted. (One way to make the great even greater)

Then, we'll wrap it up, pick a winner, and send you on your merry way to spread the gospel.

Cool?

Thus far, we've covered the NJ Nets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Washington Wizards, Sacramento Kings, Philadelphia 76ers, Golden State Warriors, and the Detroit Pistons.

Our full schedule is available here.

Let's move.

Let's take a look at the digital connections made by the LA Clippers (link here)

1. Fan of the Game

I saw this concept and got a little giddy. There's so much potential here -- we see this in stadiums when the fan of the game wins a pizza or a premium seat or something... And it's elevated to the website, linked here.

But I clicked in and got not literally a Fan of the game, but rather lots of Fans from lots of games. Still cool, but maybe it could be a little more clear? That said, there's something immensely powerful about driving fans to Clippers.com after the game to get their pics.


Plus One: This will be a controversial one. Don't see this as a profit center. See it as a marketing opportunity. Consider a partnership with Snapfish or Kodak, where fans can simply buy them for the market rate, rather than the prices below.

And, consider posting these to Facebook, where fans can tag themselves or take the pic with them - driving big numbers of eyeballs to the Clippers goods.

2. The Clippers TweetMixx

There's something great here. The Clippers have created a Twitter channel, linked here and shown below. It features an Insider channel from Baron Davis, Blake Griffin, Craig Smith, DeAndre Jordan, Rasual Butler, plus the Clippers staff. There's a "Chatter" tab that shows you the buzz from the fan community.

And, as you can see below, there's the ability to grab this and take it with you.

Plus One: How could we take this channel of Clippers experts and bring them together around events? Perhaps encourage fans to follow the Clippers Insiders during Draft Day, the Playoffs, or even March Madness? Bring fans together with the experts in big moments of time to create community.

3. Hub for all things Twitter & Facebook

The Clippers leverage their website to become a hub for all of their Facebook and Twitter pages (and as you'll see below, there's a bunch of them!) Fans can easily come here and figure out where to head next, thanks to the hub being established. Solid stuff.

Plus One: I'd love to see the Clippers pull in feeds from these sites here. Rather than just being a list, provide access to the latest posts so fans understand what they get. Or, if they aren't wanting to leave Clippers.com, you can give them a dashboard of goodness right in this space!

4. Clippers Preferred Restaurants?

Seriously. I saw this and it got my mind moving, so I had to post it. Linked here, you'll see that the Clippers are elevating partner restaurants onto their site under GameDay experience. Fans think of the sport as entertainment, so pairing key restaurants in this space makes sense.

Plus One: What if it wasn't just partner restaurants? What if this was an interactive guide to the favorite places to eat of each of the Clippers athletes? That'd be powerful stuff! Now you can see where they like to go to grab a nice meal or for a simple burger... You elevate restaurants, and you connect fans to players in a different way!

5. My Clipper Nation Tab Design

Finally, I liked the tab structure that My Clipper Nation implemented. As you'll note below, they offer access to Clippers.com, Photos, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and YouTube via tabs at the top of the page. I don't know, maybe it's because I always seem to have multiple web browsers open, but this style of navigation feels very much like iGoogle, and that's comforting to me. Well done.

Plus One: If you click on any of these tabs, it opens a new window. What if My Clipper Nation was something that let you easily move from piece to piece, all in your same experience... your same window. It'd feel inclusive and comfortable, rather than sending you into different directions. And it would keep you locked into My Clipper Nation!

That's a wrap.

I hope you're enjoying this ride. Check out Peter Robert Casey tomorrow (here) as he takes on his hometown NY Knicks. And click here to follow me on Twitter.

Andy