Number of Sponsored Posts per Platform

Facebook – 72

Twitter – 81

Instagram – 12

Types of Sponsored Posts

A majority of the posts that are sponsored on all three platforms are player transactions. Most of the Browns transaction posts were sponsored by Fifth Third Bank, which is the official bank of the Browns. Something the Browns do called “Browns Mailbag” where fans send in questions to be answered, were sponsored by VividSeats. Game Rewinds were sponsored by Ford, learning about new players was sponsored by Arby’s. Player Transactions were the only sponsored posts to be consistently posted on all three platforms.

Engagement

I did not notice a big change in engagement on sponsored posts, at least due to the sponsored nature of the post. The Browns signing Austin Hooper generated more engagement than a post about mock drafts. The type of content is what influences the engagement, not the sponsored vs. non-sponsored. The rest of the sponsored content, such as what is featured below besides the Austin Hooper news, all received relatively similar engagement numbers.

The most valuable content to sponsor is player transaction news. This is typically the blockbuster news and the content that most fans follow to see, especially in the offseason. These posts often get the most engagement on them from fans, sharing the news and it is just the most exciting posts in general. A big opportunity for the Browns to sponsor content is from their podcast. They post about their podcast on Facebook and Twitter, and they could either have a “Presented by…” or have certain content they talk about such as draft coverage and have those segments be sponsored by local/official brands of the Cleveland Browns.

New-School, Classic, Tough, Cohesive, Overcoming

These are the five words that I use to describe the Baltimore Ravens brand prior to looking at their social media. Though the first two may contradict themself, I believe that the Ravens are both new school and classic. With the emergence of Lamar Jackson as their franchise quarterback, the Ravens have moved to a “newer” style of football. Though, when I think about the Ravens, they seem to be one of those hard nosed, classic football teams, especially being a member of the AFC North. The city of Baltimore embraces toughness. Thought to be one of the tougher cities in America and with football being a tough guy sport, they go hand in hand. That is why toughness comes to mind when I think about the Baltimore Ravens. The new look Ravens have embodied their slogan “Big Truss” all the way from Lamar Jackson and Mark Ingram to Justin Tucker. Big Truss essentially means to trust everybody in the organization. This embodies their cohesiveness as a team and organization as a whole. My final word was overcoming, because of Lamar Jackson. Jackson was thought by many to not be a franchise quarterback, and he has proved everybody wrong. The Ravens organization has supported Lamar as their quarterback and he will be their franchise quarterback for the foreseeable future.

Consistency, Authenticity and Personality

On Twitter and Instagram, the Ravens stay true to their brand. For their tweets and captions, they rarely use hashtags. This differs from many teams who use their own slogan in every tweet or hashtag. The Ravens are authentic in a way that they promote their players. The Ravens social team posts their players doing community events as well as quotes from coaches and players.

Their personality across platforms is quite the same. Their graphics on Instagram and Twitter both use a gothic-like font, as well as the same edits on pictures. The way they use the platforms varies, as it should. Twitter is used for more video content like interviews and and press conferences, as well as game updates and news. Whereas Instagram is more for pictures of the athletes and quick highlights.

Eye-Catching Content

The Ravens Instagram does a tremendous job at making their profile pop. Their colors, purple and black, are not bright and flashy. With the right edits and pictures, they are able to make their profile pop and catch users’ eyes. Below is a screenshot of their Instagram profile.

Fan Interaction

The Ravens do not interact with many fans on Instagram, but they did respond to a few fans and other accounts on Twitter. I was surprised by this, as Instagram is the easier platform to respond on. I did not see them reply to any comments on Instagram, but saw them reply to a few tweets.

Flashy, Community, Team, Original, Creative

The Ravens have become a flashy team in the NFL with weapons such as Lamar Jackson, Mark Ingram and Hollywood Brown. They are able to post exciting highlights with their marquee players, who are all relatively young and new to the team. They also post a lot of team oriented posts as well as posts around the community. Such as Chris Wormley (pictured above) reading to children, or out shopping with kids. They post a lot of original content, including highlights and graphics that the Ravens production team created. They are also creative with what the post, such as funny posts or creative captions.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
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The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.