Episode 103 Snippets: Dan Marrazza of the Vegas Golden Knights

Best of the Digital and Social
Media Sports Podcast
Episode 103: Dan Marrazza
On episode 103, Neil chatted with Dan Marrazza, Senior Writer and
Twitter Voice of the Vega Golden Knights NHL club.
What follows are select snippets from the episode. To hear the full
interview, check out the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, and at
www.dsmsports.net.
You can also follow me on Twitter @njh287.
@njh287; www.dsmsports.net

Dan’s Career Path
Grew up in New Jersey loving hockey from an early age, loving the New
Jersey Devils, and played in prep school. Went to college studying
sports media, where he was also involved with the hockey team
“3-14 years later, I think of the not just professional experiences…but
also the people I’ve met. I don’t know if I would have gotten to know
them if it wasn’t for hockey. It’s something that went from a hobby to
something that has given me livelihood, as well.”
The passion Dan has for what he does really shines through

Dan started by working with Stan Fischler, a longtime hockey
writer, as an intern
After Dan graduated college in 2009, he got an internship with the
Trenton Devils of the ECHL, where Dan got his first experience
with running a team’s social media. Over his career, he developed
an instinct and voice for Twitter, in particular
Dan had been working for the NHL league office in NYC on a
contract until late 2015, and he began doing freelance writing,
getting published on several major sites (SI, ESPN, NHL.com,
among others)

“By doing a lot of those things…I became a little more
known…The assignments I would do were so big, my name
got linked to them.”
Someone Dan knew from his career connected him to
someone with the Vegas club a couple weeks before the
league was formed, and Dan was hired three days before
the official announcement of the team’s formation came in
June 2016, with 0 Twitter followers and no name. They are
now at over 160,000 followers

On starting social media from scratch
“I think what some people don’t understand on the outside maybe
don’t understand about social media is it’s not just winging it, fly by
the seat of your pants…In any organization, (it’s important) to be
on the same page (with all parts of the organization)…
“An early task (with Vegas) was ‘How do we all get on the same
page?’…in the beginning, we approached it with ‘We are the
platform…This will be a place where information will exist and this
is where people will see how the organization is being built…’

Dan talks about the major early moments with the hiring of
the GM and many other staffers
[Dan notes the early days were about information and
promoting the growth of hockey in the community]
Dan talks about the turning point being when the team name
was revealed; it was also tough to secure the social handles,
while keeping the name a secret! Everything was ready to flip
over immediately

“Around Christmastime last year, I would say we kind of started to
find who we wanted to be…”
[Dan recalls a tweet last year involving Reid Duke, the first and
only Vegas Golden Knights player at the time, showing Reid Duke
playing pregame soccer by himself)
“That was something that took off tremendously…that was pretty
tongue-in-cheek, that was pretty self-deprecating…It really helped
us find who we were.”
“It ended up being a twelve month process…to evolve a brand
voice from scratch to be what it’s known to be when we begin
playing games…”

Establishing the voice
“We knew we wanted to be fun because the way we look at it is it’s very important that, if
we’re the first major league sports franchise for the city, that we have a voice that matches
the people who are there…If you’re going to be the hokey team for Las Vegas, you have to
be fun…
[Dan tells about the origin of the Reid Duke tweet and how the success of it was an
important moment for the Golden Knights]
“ I think one of the attractions that a lot of fans have with us…most people alive today were
not there at the beginning of (more storied franchises)…and they can say (they get to see
this team grow up)…”

“Even if I’m the one pressing the buttons on these tweets, I’m not
(solo)…”
[Dan talks about PR and communications being enmeshed with social
helping to establish a good line of communication with hockey ops]
“It’s always easier to be told to stop asking than to be told why didn’t you
ask? I still take that approach sometimes because this isn’t the Dan
show, it’s the Golden Knights show…If I’m going to tweet something,
where it’s…just a straight video, I’m just tweeting it and that’s it…[Dan
talks about recognizing the risk vs. reward of something going badly or
the tone not fitting]…

“I think I have a pretty strong compass on what is something that should
be discussed and what is something that should not be discussed. The
way I look at it is when in doubt, discuss it…It’s not about agreeing on
everything, it’s about discussing it…
“If we are not very confident that this tweet is going to work and there’s a
chance it will not, we’re not doing it. Because one tweet can come to
define you…When you (talk about ideas), you get an organizational
consensus…We’re always doing it together, because that’s how you
(build) team cohesion…”
[Dan also talks about the importance of being true to the team, helping
foster trust and relations with hockey ops]

Helpful Tool: Genius Scan, mobile app for easy document scanning and faxing

Early objectives for Dan in his role
“I started off with what the objective was not. One thing I did not have was a number of
followers I thought we should have. Personally I’m of the belief that that’s not the metric that
is the most valuable .It can be valuable, but it’s not necessarily the most important…(Dan
notes there was no bar for expansion teams nor a team in Vegas)

“I didn’t want to look at it as comparing ourselves to anyone else…I think two objectives
is…when I go on Twitter, the metric that I measure is…’Am I making fans?’ If you peel back
all the other stuff – ‘We want to get web traffic. Well, what’s the purpose of web traffic?
Because people will get to know more about our better team. [Why?]…So they become
fans. Same thing with likes and retweets. Why do we want more followers? So more people
can be fans of our team. So the core of it is to make fans. And that’s something that I still
operate with…”
[Dan talks about getting replies on Twitter from the Cubs and Rockies, appreciating the
interaction and valuing that for the Golden Knights]

“One of the philosophies that I’ve gone with is…unless the tweet is indecent, I try to reply
to it with the best of my ability…The reason for that is…[fans will engage with a responsive
team]…One of the big parts of the philosophy is to be social…It’s social media, it’s not anti-
social media…and that means talking to people…Other fans see that, too, and you
become more relate-able and build good will…
“Bigger picture…by the time we start playing hockey, I hope people know what our voice
is…I think if we are able to have a voice in place, then once we start playing games, we
become relate-able to fans that have followed us every step of the way…We want people
to be on that journey with us…We want to be on that journey together…To get a voice that
was distinct…it’s not easy to do…The thing I’m most proud of is that we continue to
engage with people… “

“Even though we’re still 31st in followers by quite a bit…I feel we’ve accomplished a lot of our
objectives by just having people know who we are, and know what we’re about, and by being
(engaging)…”
“If you go to a party with 20 people there, and all you do is talk about yourself all the time…no
one is going to like you. I think companies are the same way…I think if we go in this party that
is Twitter dot com…and we’re only going to be talking to other people about ourselves, nobody
is going to like us…And that is the metaphor I’m going to remember about (the importance of
making it a two-way conversation)…”

The other social platforms for Vegas Golden Knights
Dan controls the team’s Facebook and Twitter while Alyssa runs
Instagram and Snapchat, discussing the goal to have a similar brand, but
to interact on each platform uniquely and appropriately
“The way we’ve looked at it is ‘Let’s build each platform for itself.’ Not
about matching it across platforms (with exceptions of news content, but
even then it is presented differently)…It’s about catering to the audience
on each…analytics and data can help you with that, but it’s also a lot of
trial and error…Twitter…this is where we go to be social with fans, to get
as much information as we can out, and to connect with people in that
way…

Share-able Stat: In the US, Snapchat still has a considerable
lead over Instagram Stories for the 13-17 and 18-25 year-old
demographics.

The movie Dan can quote the best and his favorite hockey movie of all
time
Movie he can quote the best  either Billy Madison or Happy Gilmore
Favorite hockey movie  “I grew up on Mighty Ducks…but still Slapshot,
as somebody who has worked in minor league hockey…But I’m going to
go against the grain…and if you told me I could watch one hockey movie
tonight, it would be Youngblood…It’s ‘80s music, it’s Keanu Reeves as a
Canadian goalie…”

Dan’s favorite movie location Dan has visited and the most
obscure/random one he has visited
Most random  The Golf n Stuff from Karate Kid
Most obscure  Robert De Niro’s house in the movie Casino
Favorites he has visited  Billy Madison’s house in Oshawa, Ontario
(it’s a museum for antiques)
The site of Slapshot
Other cool places (he hit up on his drive moving from New Jersey to Las
Vegas)  the Field of Dreams, the prison from Shawshank Redemption,
the Sandlot (in Salt Lake City)

Dan’s favorite story he wrote in his time as a full-time writer
“The biggest break that I never had…is four years ago I got hired by
NBC Sports (on a contract)…to be their primary web producer and a lot
of writing…for Olympic hockey…”
After his contract expired, he had a good network of connections and
sought to land a big story to jumpstart his freelance work
Dan ended up doing a story about Mike Danton, a former NHL player
who went to jail and then attempted reform after getting out

“Nobody had really interviewed him…I was like ‘Where is this guy? What is
he doing?’…I Google him and found that he was playing professionally in
Kazakhstan…He had put his life back together, he had a couple kids; a
family man…You gotta give somebody credit…who comes back…The
problem was ‘How do you land that interview?’….”
Through an old connection, Dan got connected to Mike and was able to
interview him. The story got picked up to run in Sports Illustrated (dropping
the same day LeBron announced his decision to return to Cleveland, via SI)
Dan emailed the story to ESPN and it ended up opening doors for Dan to
freelance at ESPN and beyond from there

“And now I’ve got a lot of the interviews done, but I still have to do a couple more. Now I’m
[thinking] ‘Do I write a story or do I write it as an oral history?’…The thing I hate the most about
an interview is that I do them all now [with a recorder]…Transcribing is just a pain in the ass, and
it takes forever. But it’s much better to get the actual complete quote than what you wrote down
quickly. So I’m going through those quotes and now I got to think in my head ‘How is the
approach going to be? Where am I going to start? What are the most interesting things and the
comments they’ve said? What are the funniest stories? And where should we go from there?’
That’s fun.
“And now do I need to do an interview, as well, with them?...Just to add that to the story. It’s an
interesting process…And then there are some stories where it’s just ‘Boom.’ You get it and you
write it quickly…you write in a couple minutes. Other times, it takes a couple weeks…
[Jim also considers how a video can be good, but may cannibalize reading the story]

Share-able Stat: 5.2 million – the # of views on Facebook
Live alone in the ~ 24 hours encompassing Nike’s
#breaking2 event that streamed on Twitter and Facebook of
runners trying to run a marathon in under two hours.

Dan’s favorite tweet from the Golden Knights in his time with the team so far
“Some of things that I send out I don’t personally think are funny, but I know are what the
public thinks are funny. So it’s not about what makes me happy, it’s about what the
audience wants. The one that gives me giggles whenever I look at it was…a lot of people
probably remember Dart Guy, the Maple Leafs fan…every game he kept getting shown on
TV…so what we ended up doing was we photo-shopped him…[turning his Leafs color into
Golden Knights colors]…

“During a Maple Leafs-Capitals playoff game, we tweeted
out ‘We don’t have players yet, but our fans are already
excited for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.’ It was an obvious
Photoshop of Dart Guy, but in Golden Knights colors. I don’t
know what it was that made me giggle about it. The point
was that we weren’t trying to fool anybody. It was intended
or people to know (we Photoshopped it)…but “

The coolest influencer/celeb that has interacted with the Golden
Knights on social media
Lil’ Jon – he tweeted a hat and some Golden Knights stuff and the
Golden Knights replied in Twitter with ‘YEEEEAAAAHHHH’
There are many others, including some New York Mets players
(the Mets AAA team is in Las Vegas), who also asked on Twitter if
they could come to a game [and Dan had the cool realization that
these pro players were talking about the Golden Knights and
Golden Knights Twitter]

The best sports event that Dan has ever attended
When Dan was 6 years-old, he got to attend the Eastern Conference
Final game when Mark Messier scored a hat trick after guaranteeing the
Rangers would win the Cup
The other game was Game 6 of the 1993 World Series when Joe Carter
hit the exciting game-winning home run to clinch the Series for the
Toronto Blue Jays
Three days later, Dan would go to his first hockey game, where he fell in
the love with the sport – seeing the Montreal Canadiens (with Patrick
Roy) play the New Jersey Devils (backstopped by rookie Martin Brodeur)

Dan’s favorite spot he’s been in Vegas and the most random/strange thing he saw in Vegas
Strangest thing  “I think I saw in Old Las Vegas (Fremont Street, Golden Nugget, et al.)…I saw
two characters dressed up as Hello Kitty and they were going to fight each other on the street
corner…I think that was most the surprising thing I’ve seen in Las Vegas…”
Favorite  The Mob Museum  “IT’s artifacts from mob movies, mob TV shows, and even real
life. When you walk in there, they have a wall from the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre that was
actually taken from the building in Chicago…and it even has bullet holes in it (from the gun of Al
Capone)…To boot, the museum is located in an old courthouse, that is one of the oldest
buildings in Las Vegas. And that court house is where mafia trials used to be held. So you
actually sit in the court room and they play video clips of things that actually happened in that
court room…”

The biggest lesson Dan has learned so far running digital and social media
for the Golden Knights
“I would say this is a lesson I already knew, but it’s always a reminder – it’s
that there is only one position in sports that has more immediate negative
feedback if you make a mistake – and that’s goaltending…Social media may
not be quite like that, but especially between screen shots…especially when
you’re a visible brand…
“It’s jut always to remind yourself that this is a very big brand, a lot of people
are seeing it. And you have to be on your game at all times. You can’t have
a bad day…because if you have a bad day and you make a mistake that’s
too big, it’s something that has the ability to blow up…

“The second one, and this is a big picture one, is always be nice to
everybody…The way I say it is – even if you’re not a nice person…being
nice is always going to help you. It takes no skill whatsoever…For one, I
find that for me it makes me a happier person to try and do that…at the
same time, a lot of opportunities that I’ve been granted over my career
has been based on (being nice)…If you make a habit of being nice, there
are only two things that can happen – you’ll have more friends…you’ll
have more connections, and you have the possibility of having more
things work out for you in your career. And, in turn, you’ll have the
opportunity to help people in their careers, which can be very personally
satisfying to be involved in that.”

The best food Dan has had in Las Vegas the food Dan misses most from
back east
Food Dan misses most from the east coast  Taylor Ham & cheese (also
known as pork roll by some): “For a single guy that doesn’t cook so well…it’s
so easy (to make), it’s so unhealthy, it’s so delicious, and I love it so
much…”
Most delicious Vegas food  From a restaurant called a Carmine’s Italian
Restaurant [in Caesar’s Palace], who gave the staff a bunch of food after
one of their ticket reps sold season tickets. (“Enough food to feed two
hockey teams…Meatballs the size of my fist…”

The player on the Golden Knights that Dan is most excited to
interact with and the team he’s most excited to tweet against in-
game
“There are two players I’m excited about – Marc Andre-Fleury is
well-known…everything you hear about him, he’s that and more.
Some athlete get it, some athletes don’t get it. He just gets it. He
gets that he’s an ambassador. He has an electric personality. Not
to mention the fact that even a smile from doe well on Twitter…
“The player I’m most interested to actually see play is a player we
signed from the KHL – Vadim Shipachyov.

“He might not be a household name…at this point. He’s 30 years old, he has never
played in the NHL. However, in the KHL, he led the league in assists last year (and has
played with several NHLers)…He’s a playmaking center, more of a setup guy than a
goal scorer…He’s somebody that’s so interesting to me…(because) for us, a lot of
these (roles and leadership spots) are up for grabs…This is a guy that has such a high
ceiling that people would not be familiar with right now…”
The team Dan is most excited to tweet against in-game  “Probably the LA
Kings…The reason I would say the LA Kings is all respects where respect is due…A lot
of what a lot of us od in social media was founded on the success of the LA
Kings…Even though what we do, what others do, is not quite the way the LA Kings do
things, it’s still of the same genre, and they started that. And to their credit…even as
(their staff has changed) they have maintained the standard…”

Dan’s Social Media All-Star to Follow
Denny’s (@dennys) -> “I don’t know what it is about Denny’s,
some of the stuff seems so deadpan, so ‘this isn’t funny,’ but
when you read it out loud, I laugh. One of them was ‘Boy, it’s
Tuesday. I sure would like pancakes.’ It was something that
was just that, nothing else…I laugh at the stick figure emojis
they used to draw a house of pancakes with syrup getting
poured…Pure entertainment standpoint, Denny’ makes me
laugh, as does @Wendys.”

Where to find Dan and the Golden Knights on digital and
social media
@GoldenKnights on all social media
Dan is @DanMarrazza on Twitter – “It’s a lot of dad jokes. It’
a lot of movie filming locations. And some hockey.”

Thanks so much again to Dan for sharing his time, expertise, and
experience on the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast!
Hear the full episode on iTunes, Stitcher, and at
www.dsmsports.net.

Episode 103 Snippets: Dan Marrazza of the Vegas Golden Knights

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Plus de Neil Horowitz

Plus de Neil Horowitz (20)

Dernier

Dernier (20)

Episode 103 Snippets: Dan Marrazza of the Vegas Golden Knights