With a Finals showdown against the Liberty, the Lynx are taking their digital strategy to new heights, emphasizing creative content, social media, and fan engagement.
The WNBA Finals matchup between the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx is underway, with both teams notching a W at Barclays Center.
After recently speaking to New York Liberty’s Chief Digital Officer, Boardroom also spoke with Mike Grahl, Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx Chief Marketing Officer, and Matt Stanton, Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx Vice President of Digital.
“The growth of women’s sports has allowed an opportunity to push our digital efforts forward. With the wave of opportunity, we have been able to elevate the content we are providing fans through long-form video, vertical video, and personality-based content showcasing that our hoopers have so much more to offer than buckets,” Grahl and Stanton told Boardroom in a joint statement. “We still focus a lot of our efforts on showcasing their incredible athleticism, but we spend an increasingly greater amount of our content and storytelling on the human side.”
Here’s an inside look at how Grahl and Stanton are using creative storytelling, social media campaigns, and more to boost the Lynx‘s brand digitally.
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This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
MICHELAI GRAHAM: Can you share the vision behind the Lynx’s overall digital strategy and how it aligns with growing the WNBA brand?
MIKE GRAHL AND MATT STANTON: There is a changing of the guard happening in Minnesota where we are looking more towards the future than our championships past. With a new level of interest in women’s basketball, we have a golden opportunity to build a younger fan base and evolve into an entertainment and lifestyle brand versus a basketball team. We are looking to accomplish this through entertaining social content with widespread appeal, drawing people in, and relying on our marketing efforts to turn that intrigued audience into fans of the Lynx who ultimately engage to the level of consistently tuning in, buying merch, and attending games.
Our digital strategy is centered around informing, entertaining, and ultimately engaging our fans. If we do those things creatively, thoughtfully, and timely, audience growth, which is our overall organizational and league priority, is a natural byproduct.
MG: How is the Lynx using technology to enhance the fan experience in-arena, particularly during the Finals?
Grahl and Stanton: One of the biggest areas of impact is information-sharing around the games. We went into Game 5 of the Semi-Finals with the potential that our season would be over or that we’d be playing in the Finals 48 hours later. As soon as the final buzzer sounded, we were on sale with Games 3 and 4 [of the Finals], using all of our owned and paid channels to hype fans to get loud at our house.
With quick reactions being the theme, we build out game guides for how to watch, listen, and other pertinent information for our fans (and anyone curious). For home games, we utilize our Lynx app and Know Before You Go page to make sure fans are aware of things like street closures, door times, and other key information that will help make their experience enjoyable.
MG: How is your franchise’s mobile app being used to enhance the in-game and at-home experience for fans?
Grahl and Stanton: We were early adopters of mobile ticketing dating back to 2015. Fans have, in turn, adapted and adopted a mobile-first mentality. What started out as buying, reselling, and transferring tickets quickly expanded into mobile food and beverage ordering and in-seat delivery off of mobile orders.
Our team app is a communication vehicle used for mass or segmented communication through push notifications and in-app messages. Gamification is a feature inside our team app that provides entertainment to fans at home and in-arena. The Match Game, presented by Xcel Energy, can be played along with an in-arena contest from the comfort of home or on the go. Our innovative streaming radio partnership through iHeart delivers 15-minute pre-shows streamed inside our team app throughout the playoffs to inform and build excitement for postseason games.
MG: What role does social media play in amplifying the Lynx’s presence?
Grahl and Stanton: Social media is one of our most important tools for engaging and growing our fan base. It allows us to take fans behind the scenes and make them feel part of our organization. It allows our brand to show off our personality through creativity, tone, and voice.
MG: Which platform are your fans most active on?
Grahl and Stanton: Instagram accounts for over 50% of our total engagement this season, and we’ve leaned heavily into TikTok, which is showing valuable returns. We’ve experienced 220% growth in TikTok followers, driven primarily by vertical videos created by our game night creators.
MG: What digital innovations do you foresee becoming a bigger part of the WNBA experience in the next five to 10 years?
Grahl and Stanton: Innovation follows interest. The rising popularity should bring new ideas to teams both internally and externally.
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