We received a lot of positive feedback on our initial look at “Pinterest & Professional Sports“, so now that the hype around Pinterest has died down a little we’re taking a second look at what’s happening in the category.

Just as in our previous study – to see how professional sports teams have activated their brands, we did a search on every team from the following leagues: MLB, NASCAR, NBA, NFL, NHL, WNBA.

(All account information & stats as of March 22, 2012)

Statistics:

# of Teams on Pinterest by League: (02.16 Study #’s)
• MLB – 28 (23) [Inactive down to 7 from 21]
• NBA – 21 (9)
• NFL – 15 (6)
• NHL – 15 (4)
• NASCAR – 6 (2)
• WNBA – 1 (1)

Leagues on Pinterest:
• MLB is still the only league with an account

Teams with the Most Followers:
• 1,379 – Detroit Red Wings
• 1,288 – Boston Celtics
• 1,245 – Pittsburgh Penguins
• 1,116 – New England Patriots
• 1,113 – Hendrick Motorspots

Teams with Most Boards:
• 25 – Charlotte Bobcats
• 21 – Portland Trail Blazers
• 20 – Detroit Pistons
• 17 – Milwaukee Brewers
• 15 – Boston Celtics, Anaheim Ducks

Teams with Most Pins:
• 454 – Detroit Pistons
• 399 – Hendrick Motorsports
• 310 – Washington Redskins (WOW)
• 294 – NY Knicks
• 270 – Portland Trail Blazers

Combined Totals for all Teams (86): (02.16 Study #’s)
• 12,743 = # of Followers (1,796)
• 644 = # of Boards (159)
• 6,069 = # of Pins (1,191)

Best Practices:

Couple Updates on our previous list:

1. UPDATE – Register Your Brand Name Username!!!
Pinterest is by far the worst social media channel in terms of protecting brand usernames. In our previous post we noted to contact help@pinterest.com, but it’s obvious that nobody is manning that email account. We have in fact tried to contact it numerous times related to this issue, and have never received a response.

Business Insider had a good article that also highlighted the problem: “Pinterest’s New Problem: Brand Squatters Are Screwing Over Big Companies”. From this article we tried to contact Pinterest’s Community Manager Enid Hwang, but have not received a response.

Pinterest clearly has a major problem in this area, just like Facebook and Twitter before them did (do), so you would have thought they would have learned from their predecessor’s, but until they get their internal operations up to speed – brands (big and small) appear to be at the mercy of the squatters.

3. UPDATE – Always Start Your Boards with Nine (9) Pins So They Look Complete
Since our last post, Pinterest has changed the setup of the boards to showcase the most recent pin, and below that include the next four pin thumbnails. Lesson from this is if you have a posting strategy where you’re pinning multiple images a one time, remember to leave your most attractive/exciting photo for the most recent pin position.

9. NEW – Don’t Integrate Outdated Boards
We have no idea why, but numerous teams have integrated the “Sports Brands on Pinterest” board.  The board lists a total of seven (7) teams and it’s clearly not being updated. Our post from over a month ago listed 45 teams so you can tell just by that how outdated it is.

Also find it interesting that teams are so willing to send their users over to other team’s boards and act as a traffic generator for them. If you want to promote the other pro/college teams in your city and see if they’ll reciprocate on their account that would be the best approach.

Best Board Ideas:

With so many new teams joining up or activating their accounts, we went back through all the team’s boards and here’s a few other ideas that caught our attention:

Trail Blazers, Oilers, Panthers – Pet Showcase
http://pinterest.com/pdxtrailblazers/pinwheel-pets 
http://pinterest.com/nhloilers/pet-pride
http://pinterest.com/panthersnfl/panther-pets
• It’s an obvious board category so we’re surprised every team didn’t have one – photos of pets dressed up in team gear.

Portland Trail Blazers – Kicks
http://pinterest.com/pdxtrailblazers/kicks/
• Really like this board by the Blazers – photos of player’s shoes. Check out the pin of Clyde Drexler’s Kangaroos . Along the lines of a historical uniform board, this board has a lot of potential.

Minnesota Timberwolves – Timberwolves Exclusive
http://pinterest.com/mntimberwolves/timberwolves-exclusive/
• Saw a lot of these types of boards from the teams, and really like the concept if in fact this is the only place on the web you can find it, but they’re uploads from Flickr. No team had truly “exclusive” pins under this type of header (ie Behind the Scenes). These types of photos should be user uploaded and truly be exclusive – that’s a real reason to come to your board repeatedly.

Patriots, Vikings, Panthers – Facebook Timeline Covers
http://pinterest.com/nepats/facebook-timeline-cover-photos/
http://pinterest.com/vikingsfootball/facebook-timeline-cover-images/
http://pinterest.com/panthersnfl/facebook-timeline-cover-photos/
• Related to above Timberwolves example, and cited in our last post using Georgia Tech as the example.

Denver Nuggets – Nuggets Pride
http://pinterest.com/denvernuggets/nuggets-pride/
• Example of a half-right move by Denver. An individual board should be dedicated to Facebook cover photos, Twitter/YouTube backgrounds, etc. – anything related to social media accessories should be in its own board. Don’t muddy the water with merchandise, just keep it focused and simple.

Denver Nuggets – Logo History
http://pinterest.com/denvernuggets/logo-history/
• Good job on showcasing the team logos AND adding the years. Saw a couple teams just putting up the various logos with no reference to when they were used. Also a note on how the size of images can affect your boards – notice how Denver’s logos are all pretty much different sized. Boards look cleaner and more professional when all the images within are sized the same.

Dallas Mavericks – Texans are Pinning it Big!
http://pinterest.com/claireisabel/texans-are-pinning-it-big/
• Really good engagement example. The Mavericks have integrated a user’s board that completely relates to their immediate fan base.

Washington Wizards – Dunks
http://pinterest.com/washwizards/dunks/
• Great example of creativity, just like Blazers’ “Kicks” this is a very cool category. Think how cool this board could be by showcasing the Wizards all-time dunks and let fans vote on the best. This really goes back to just breaking down your sport and listing out all the possible boards – the key is how creative you are in breaking it down.

Boston Celtics – Kevin Garnett Gear
http://pinterest.com/bostonceltics17/kevin-garnett-gear/
• Nice job of retailing by the Celtics with boards specific to player’s merchandise.

Charlotte Bobcats – Gerald Henderson #15
http://pinterest.com/nbabobcats/gerald-henderson-15/
• Great job by the Bobcats with individual player boards w/ interesting content.

Detroit Red Wings – Social Media Fans of the Day
http://pinterest.com/drwsocialmedia/social-media-fans-of-the-day/
• Great example by the Red Wings of exclusive social media integration. Notice it doesn’t say uploaded from NHL.com or RedWings.com – exclusive content is key.

Edmonton Oilers – Newest & Cutest
http://pinterest.com/nhloilers/newest-cutest/
• Similar to pets with team gear, this is a no-brainer for every team – babies in team gear. Another key to a board like this is you really play to the Pinterest majority user base: women.

New England Patriots – Creative Pats Baking Ideas
http://pinterest.com/nepats/creative-pats-baking-ideas/
• Good example of unique fan integration and like Edmonton really plays to the majority user base.

Denver Broncos, WOW Redskins – Health and Wellness
http://pinterest.com/denverbroncos/health-and-wellness/
http://pinterest.com/wowredskins/health-and-wellness/
• Interesting concept for an NFL team board. We get why Washington Women’s Club would include it, but not sure about Denver other than just copying the idea.

Arizona Cardinals – New Nike NFL Apparel
http://pinterest.com/azcardinals/new-nike-nfl-apparel/
• Love the forward thinking by the Cardinals! Nike debuts their new gear on April 3rd, and the Cardinals are fully prepared to showcase it – should have included details in the description field.

Milwaukee Brewers – Brewers Uniforms
http://pinterest.com/brewersbaseball/brewers-uniforms/
• Another no-brainer board category that all teams should have, but also an example of how photos matter. Gotta believe the Brewers can find better photos to consistently showcase their uniform over the years. When it comes to the images you choose to post think about this quote from Coach Wooden: “The difference in the championship and merely good team is often the perfection of minor details.”

Milwaukee Brewers | Non-Game Day Events at Miller Park
http://pinterest.com/brewersbaseball/non-game-day-events-at-miller-park/
• Great showcase of stadium and non-game day events. Notice the full use of descriptions as well on the pins.

Milwaukee Brewers – Ballpark Fare
http://pinterest.com/brewersbaseball/ballpark-fare/
• Another creative board concept by the Brewers in showcasing the unique food you can get at the stadium.

Stewart Haas-Racing | Danica Patrick
http://pinterest.com/stewarthaasrcng/danica-patrick/
• Great example for all racing teams on how to showcase individual driver sponsors.

Washington Huskies – Overall Account
http://pinterest.com/UWAthletics/
• Not really sure any one board floored us, but wow – Washington did a great job giving an overall overview of their brand.

Oregon Ducks – Nike
http://pinterest.com/uoregonducks/nike/
• Oregon has a clear advantage with this board concept, but props to them for utilizing it and showcasing their unique partnership with Nike. Have to think this board has huge potential.

Oregon Ducks | What’s Hot – Top 10 Online Items
http://pinterest.com/uoregonducks/what-s-hot-top-10-online-items/
• Great job by the Ducks of retailing – would just try to make sure they’re pinned in proper order for ease of use, and also so the #1 item is showcased on the main Pinterest profile page.

Team Directory: