Alabama Athletics: The Balance Between Branding and Humor
Published on Dec. 12, 2024 at 3:53 p.m.
By: Jane Blissett
The bar is high for Alabama Athletics — with national championships in multiple sports, elite players and coaching staff, and a standard to win and defy expectations. The teams and athletes who are destined for greatness need to be showcased for the world to see and social media is here for that!
Using social media, Alabama Athletics is able to present itself as something for anyone to enjoy. In recent years, the trend of humor in sports media has increased, allowing new fans to be captivated by the sports world.
Alabama Athletics has fallen in line and capitalized on the humor trend as well, featuring humorous content on its teams’ social media pages to engage new audiences while simultaneously maintaining the Alabama brand.
The initial rise of humor
The culture of the internet within the past decade has shifted. A space where people primarily posted important information has changed into a creative outlet. The internet today is filled with memes, funny posts and trends on various social media platforms. Now, brands and sports are using trends for promotion.
These internet content approaches have become prominent in the sports social media world, where a team’s staff members can join in on the fun, such as writing funny captions, making trends applicable to important content, and creating memes for players and teams. Posts including humor add a sense of relatability for the audience.
Taylor Sweeney, the assistant director of digital marketing for Alabama Athletics, believes that the increase of humorous social media content started with TikTok.
“I think there is still a mix of informational content, but it comes in more long-form content, whereas humorous content is more short-form,” explained Sweeney. “We find ourselves shooting funnier short-form content and keeping it just on TikTok.”
UA’s brand personality
While staying with the trends is crucial for those working in social media, it is important to recognize that the brand comes first.
“I think if it’s a vibe match essentially to the other platforms, we will choose what we use on everything,” said Sweeney. “For certain sports, that also applies because certain teams will be a little bit more serious than others depending on the time of the season.”
Sweeney said that Alabama’s brand image is the most important thing about UA’s social media accounts.
Ensuring that the Alabama standard is not diminished through content is the main priority — social media should assist in building the brand and spreading awareness, she noted.
Engaging different audiences
Funny posts, however, can be a miss to viewers, especially when sports pages are typically informative of the game.
“Understanding our audience and that not everything is going to appeal to all of our fans — for us, we have to balance that and find a happy medium that is both entertaining and appealing,” said Sweeney.
Trends on social media that people follow are translating into the sports industry, which can lead people into the realm of Alabama Athletics. Using viral audios or post structures can seamlessly move from one area of the internet to another.
While new fans are now following different Alabama teams on a variety of social media platforms, this increase of content is engaging the core audience that UA Athletics was built around.
Content creators for UA Athletics have tapped star athletes and different teams for social media campaigns, allowing fans and students to get to know the fun side behind the sport.
“Something that we find entertaining is walk-up questions with the teams,” explained Sweeney. “Not only does this content resonate with our core fans, but it also engages our new young fans. This content also does a good job of showcasing our players’ personalities that wouldn’t otherwise be shown on TV.”
With a large portion of Alabama Athletics’ audience being students attending the university, a key factor is getting students’ opinions and thoughts.
Jen Smith, the assistant director of communications for gymnastics, rowing, track and field, and cross country, said she heavily relies on the input of student assistants.
“Our students always do a phenomenal job of either making us aware of a trend, or even coming up with a way that we can make said trend unique to us and our teams, and still fit within the trend itself,” said Smith.
Balancing humor and professionalism
A key point in creating funny content for social media is ensuring no lines are crossed. UA Athletics prioritizes delivering critical information while maintaining a fun tone.
“Not every trend is going to be a good fit for our account,” said Sweeney. “Sometimes we have to prioritize our professional image over humor because of how big our name is.”
Smith believes there is a time and place to utilize trends and humor. “It’s a fine line at times, but we all do a great job of understanding the moment we’re in and taking the appropriate, mental steps prior to hitting send, if it’s something we think that’s pushing that imaginary boundary,” said Smith.
Change of content between sports
With the success of many Alabama sports teams, it is very important for social media administrators to highlight the individual wins and awards of sports and athletes. Smith noted that each sport has their own code for social media.
“It’s very important that each of those programs has a unique and distinct voice, catered just to them,” said Smith. “The best way to achieve that in a genuine way to understand your team’s messaging within its own bubble.” Smith explained the necessity of presenting information in the correct tone in order for messaging to stick with the target audience.
Leveraging the digital landscape presents a great public relations opportunity for the Crimson Tide. Through Alabama Athletics’ posting of engaging, accessible and sometimes humorous content, both longtime supporters and new fans can easily discover information that not only meets their needs but also entertains and connects them to teams and athletes on a deeper level.
