How the New Jersey Devils Became #2 in the NHL in Fan Engagement
In Convo with Areto Featuring Special Guest:
Marc Ciampa, New Jersey Devils’ VP Content
Last month, we had the great pleasure of chatting with Marc, our partner at the NHL’s New Jersey Devils. To celebrate the start of the 2023-24 NHL season, we wanted to share that conversation with you here.
In this video, Marc explains how for the 2022-23 NHL season, the Devils’ social media fan engagement skyrocketed to #2 in the NHL, and talks about how tackling spam and abuse with Areto helped make that happen.
Lights, camera, action! 🎬
(Full transcript below video)
While using Areto, the New Jersey Devils saw a 78% increase in fan engagement, leading them to #2 in the NHL for fan engagement.
Transcript
Marina:
My name is Marina Bannister and I'm the Director of Public Relations for Areto Labs. I'm pleased to be joined today by Kasey Machin, the COO of Areto Labs, and Marc Ciampa, who's the VP Content of Prudential Center and the New Jersey Devils. Kasey and Marc, thanks for joining me today.
What drives the Devils’ content team?
Marc:
Fan engagement is really kind of our biggest driver when we look at this past season, we were second in the league for fan engagement, which, I attribute that to Areto Labs because when there's spam, when there's comments, things like that there's less engagement for us, because people don't want to go into the comments, particularly on Instagram, which is one of our biggest drivers of engagement rate. But if you have the ability to filter those out and get rid of those, people are going to be more likely to want to jump in.
In terms of online abuse & spam, what drives the Areto Labs team?
Kasey:
Being able to auto-moderate some of that stuff allows social media teams to do what they do best. And that's to engage and produce really good content. As we've seen with the New Jersey Devils, anyone who follows hockey knows that they've done just a really incredible job, especially these past few years. And we've seen that obviously, working with them over the last eight months.
Where does tackling online abuse fit into the Devils’ strategy?
Marc:
Particularly, when you talk about our Hockey Is For Everyone nights, last season, that was a big pillar for us. So Pride Night, Black History Night, Gender Equality Night, that sort of thing. When games like those come up, there will often be a spike in comments that need to be handled. Our organization also has a strong DEI group. And they've come to us in the past with concerns over comments that are seen on our feeds.
What does tackling online abuse enable?
Kasey:
To be able to grow your audience in a way that really abides by your community standards, but also generates a welcoming and safe environment for people all across the spectrum from all kinds of backgrounds that might not be your traditional hockey fan.
How important is tackling online abuse in the NHL?
Marc:
When you look at online abuse as a whole, the NHL and its club teams, they rallied around a number of great causes, for example Bell Let's Talk in support of mental health, Hockey Fights Cancer, that sort of thing. I see this as the next horizon, an opportunity to combat online abuse and try to get ahead of the curve with it.
Other than rising to #2 in the NHL in engagement, what results are the Devils' seeing by tackling abuse and spam?
Marc:
Areto Labs has been so useful for us. Not only does it save our social team an hour and a half per game, after eight months of partnership with them, we're seeing a 78% increase in authentic comments per post which is amazing!
How do I become more like the NJ Devils?
Marina:
If you want more information or to be connected with either of our panelists, go to www.aretolabs.com, or you can also email hello@aretolabs.com and we will triage your request accordingly.
