Hockey and Snapchat: A Game Winning Goal
I have always loved the game of hockey. Since the first time my dad put skates on me and gave me a hockey stick when I was four years old, it’s been one of my passions. To this day, I still love to put the skates on and hit the ice. When I’m not at the rink playing, I enjoy catching an NHL game, whether it’s on TV or actually at the arena. Although hockey is considered one of the four major sports in America, it is still a niche sport with a seemingly limited following. Considerable strides have been made in recent years to grow interest and strengthen the fan base, but the NHL can do more. The NHL needs to expand their social media presence and reach fans on new platforms.
Hockey is considered the fastest team sport on earth, so it makes sense that the NHL utilize a “fast-paced” social media platform. That’s where Snapchat comes in. Now, I’m a brand new Snapchatter and I’m still in the process of learning how to use it, but in my limited experience I can already tell that the NHL can benefit from it. Hockey is all about excitement- crazy goals, big hits, end to end action. Snapchat is a perfect way to capture this excitement and share it with friends. A spectator could snap a photo of a big play, then get right back to the action. If the NHL were able to expand their Snapchat presence and encourage people at games to use it, the results would be tremendous.
Beyond the quick and dynamic nature of the platform, Snapchat has several features that would benefit the NHL’s social media presence. For instance, the live story feature of Snapchat would be great. The NHL could feature big games and encourage fans to Snapchat the game. The NHL could then create a live story and share it with other users, thus increasing the awareness of hockey. Additionally, the “Discover” feature on Snapchat would be great for the NHL. ESPN already has a presence on this, so it would be very easy for the NHL to implement.
Lastly, Snapchat caters to the young audience. A majority of the users on Snapchat are in their teens or even younger. That is a perfect audience for the NHL, because interest in sports starts at a young age. Most die-hard sports fans did not become interested in their chosen sport later in life. Usually, people are exposed to a sport at a young age and their loyalty to that sport lasts for the rest of their life. If the NHL intends to grow their fan base and increase the interest in hockey, they need to target a young audience. To do this, the NHL needs to get on Snapchat- it’ll be the game winning goal.
