There’s no better time to check the social media accounts of your favorite sports team than when that team is winning and you want to bask in the shared experience with other fans.
The vibes are especially good right now for the Seattle Mariners, who less than a week ago dispatched the Detroit Tigers in an earth-shaking 15-inning thriller, and this week jumped to a 2-0 series lead against the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series.
Game 3 is at T-Mobile Park Wednesday, and a team behind the scenes will be ready to react to the next big play on the field or fan moment in the stands in hopes of transferring the energy in the ballpark across the city and region and as far as the internet will take it.
“This home stretch of the season and then into the postseason has been a really fun time for us,” said Tim Walsh, senior director of digital marketing and social media for the Mariners. “It’s cool because we have a lot more eyeballs on our content now, and it allows us to really showcase what we’ve been doing this whole season, and even more so over the last few years.”
Walsh joined the Mariners in 2020 after managing social media for more than four years with the New York Mets. A Long Island, N.Y., native, he said it’s become evident during his five years that Seattle is a baseball and sports city. And he thinks the Mariners’ unique collection of players and personalities, combined with an energized fan base, make his job especially enjoyable.
Walsh works with teams across the Mariners organization, managing social accounts for everything from the Mariner Moose to T-Mobile Park to the farm system. Content creators, videographers, graphic designers and others all funnel their work to the social team for use on channels including Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and more, in search of a coveted young demographic.
“Instagram in particular for us this year has been awesome,” Walsh said, adding that the Mariners passed 1 million followers this season. “I feel like the team playing well, combined with a really good strategy and a really good group of people producing the content leads to tremendous success from a social standpoint, in terms of engagement growth and the numbers that we measure ourselves by.”
The goal is to provide a mix of content to reach many different types of fans and to serve a variety of purposes for the organization. As the only team to never reach a World Series, there’s a lot of emotion around what the Mariners are trying to accomplish, and the social feeds capitalize on that to engage fans. The hype video below is a good example.
Walsh also enjoys pushing a casual “group chat mentality” that can be a relatable tone to strike, leaning heavily on memes, pop culture references and trending content. Here’s a strange and simple example that drew 26,000 likes and elicited this comment: “Mariners social media manager is my hero.”
The late season and playoffs have been filled with a number of viral fan moments, spotlighted by the social team and other media organizations. There was the fan who caught Cal Raleigh’s historic 60th home run ball and unselfishly handed it to a little kid, or the fan in Detroit wearing a “Dump 61 Here” shirt when he caught another Raleigh smash and got himself a meeting with Raleigh and a trip to Seattle.
“One of the things we try and do is weave our fans into all of the content that we’re sharing, because they are so important. They create an incredible home field advantage, unlike anything else in baseball,” Walsh said.
Taking fans behind the scenes is also important. The Mariners have experimented with GoPro cameras in the announcer’s booth to catch personalities such as Rick Rizzs calling the action. But a video last Friday night (below), captured from the perspective of pitcher Luis Castillo exiting the dugout to join his team’s celebration on the field, drew national applause.
Walsh credits the players for letting the social team get close to the stories that matter to fans, like when a “hidden camera” captured Julio Rodriguez getting called up to the big leagues or when rookie Cole Young got his news and made an emotional call to his family.
“Some things are going to do better than others, but I think we’re not afraid to fail,” Walsh said. “I think that’s really important in the social space — trying new things and not being afraid to do things that might not click or resonate in the way that you were hoping for.”
As much as the social team prides itself on reacting to key plays or viral moments of each individual game, Walsh is equally proud of the preparation his team puts in to be able to move quickly. Captions, scripts, graphics and videos that are prepared in advance enable the team to be ready for the unpredictable.
“We don’t want to get too far ahead or jinx, but we have to prep, to be ready for what’s next and to tell those stories in a fun, unique way,” Walsh said. “So that when a crazy moment happens in a game, or fans start wearing shoes on their head, we’re able to jump on it.”
Related:
- Seattle vs. Toronto: As Mariners and Blue Jays battle on field, which city has the better tech hub?
- Will the Mariners make the playoffs? Seattle data geek runs all the numbers with new website
- ‘Blue screen of death’ at the ballpark: How the Mariners tapped a tech nerve in viral rally video
