Standing over “center” of the digital services department of the New York Giants, similar to Eli Manning when he’s calling the shots at his position, is Nilay Shah, the Director of Digital and Social Media Strategy for the Giants’ organization. Whereas Eli has oversight of the New York Giants’ offense and primarily administers the running backs, wide receivers and offensive line, Nilay has oversight of the New York Giants’ digital line. This includes their website (Giants.com), mobile app development, email marketing, and Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds.
Mr. Shah’s office, better known as the New York Football Giants Digital and Social Media Headquarters.
The New York Giants “old school” sentiment is epitomized by building their team through the draft, which is how Nilay emerged as a star on the marketing side of the organization. Nilay began as a web intern in the organization in 2004 while attending the
New Jersey Institute of Technology and with his talents recognized early by the NY Giants, he was hired full-time in 2007. And now, witness to two New York Giants Super Bowl victories, Mr. Shah has had the pleasure of using his unparalleled creativity on the big stage. The Giants haven’t had this much exposure at the forefront of the NFL since their 1986 and 1990 seasons in which they were Super Bowl champions both of those years, which, oddly enough, were both separated by four years just like the victories in 2007 and 2011.
Coupled with the legendary status of the organization, the social media programs and trends have rapidly emerged in recent years and contributed to this explosion. More and more people, specifically fans, want to feel actively involved in their respective team because of the access social media has granted its users. With the click of a button, a picture on Instagram can make the fans feel like they are on the field, and with a mention on Twitter a loyal fan can feel directly involved in the conversation. And that’s exactly the goal of the Giants organization, which is masterfully orchestrated and executed by Mr. Shah.
“At the end of the day, our main purpose as an organization is to make our fans feel a part of the organization, so from a digital perspective we try to get all of the information out to them,” said Nilay.
These methods of disseminating information include the use of social media, the operation of the Giants website, and mobile app developments. Each of these avenues has proven phenomenally successful in recent years. The New York Giants mobile app was launched only a year and a half ago and it already has 500,000 active users. The New York Giants social media campaign has been arguably unrivaled in its creativity and originality. Communication to fans whether it’s through emails, news on the websites, photos on social media, or updates on the mobile app has never been more efficient. And this is all a direct reflection on Nilay’s and the Giants’ deep personal consideration for the fans.
“The year of the lockout we thought, ‘What can we do for the fans? They’re left out,’” said Mr. Shah. And for the first time in the history New York Football Giants’ organization, the fans (images of them) were put on the tickets for the regular season games. Nilay and his team got over 10,000 people to enter the contest to be put on the tickets. These fans submitted stories and photos, but only a handful of them were able to bask in the glory of being printed on a New York Giants game ticket. And for those that didn’t win the contest? They received a 25% off coupon to the Giants online store. This accomplishment wasn’t the first groundbreaking media-related success for Nilay and the Giants organization.
They were also the first NFL team to integrate Twitter in-game broadcasts. It was made possible thanks to Nilay’s wife! One night when they were watching the television show ‘The Voice’ he saw her tweeting into the show and thought it was an interesting idea. So as soon as he could get it done, he found a company that did live tweeting and it is now another fundamental part for how the organization communicates with its fans. Nilay continued his dynamic mission of trying to become the “first” in the NFL for using various methods of communications.
Thanks to Nilay Shah and New York Giants Broadcast Department, the fans can view practice live!
The next innovative social media tactic came during one summer at New York Giants training camp. After realizing that the attention span of social media users was getting shorter and short, the play-by-play breakdown was shifted to tweets. Every time a highlight play occurred, or a play that involved a significant player or outcome, a tweet was sent to inform the @Giants followers. Then Mr.Shah thought, “Yeah, it’s good to read about a play, but wouldn’t it be great to see it?” So the Giants Entertainment team contacted a company named “SnappyTV” who worked with the NCAA to broadcast the best plays for each game. It was previously difficult because it took almost an hour after training camp ended to get the clips of the plays out on the website. Nilay didn’t think that the process was as effective as it could have been due to the high-demand for timeliness on social media. “SnappyTV” was able to help Nilay and his team stream practice live, where they can clip in and out the best plays. “We get that up seconds after it happens, “said Mr. Shah. “The great thing about this is we can use it with social media and link it to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.” Ever since employing this new system, the Giants have seen over 700,000 views on the clips.
AND Nilay Shah didn’t stop there! He wanted to make fans feel involved on a whole new level. He knew how much the fans meant to the team and vice versa, so after the Giants’ last Super Bowl Victory following the 2011 regular season, he consulted the team’s management and pitched the idea of using augmented reality to give the fans something special. “When I presented the idea about the virtual Super Bowl rings, there was a little bit of a concern about the exclusivity of the rings,” Mr. Shah recalled. But the main goal of the organization is to make the fans feel as involved as possible.” The new initiative saw immediate success when over 50,000 fans took pictures with the virtual rings in a two-week span. “We’ve been lucky. When management sees a good idea and it’s fan facing, they’re all about it,” he said.
The social media campaign is continuing to find ways to make their tactics more creative, timely, and involving. All of the information and content regarding the organization is pushed out through the website, all the while, Nilay and his team need to make sure the information is compatible across all platforms, whether it’s a tablet, iPad, SmartPhone, etc. And as mentioned before, the attention span of social media users is getting shorter and shorter, so Nilay and his team need to constantly display the information in different ways depending on the platform it’s sent out on. “We have a separate RSS feed for our mobile content, which is a shorter form so it’s easier to read on your phone,” he said. All in all, the social media initiatives, mobile apps, and new website developments are catered to the fans because their loyalty is an important catalyst for the success of the New York Giants organization. And just like Eli Manning, Nilay Shah enjoys buckling down during crunch-time situations and delivering to the fans what they deserve. Play after play, game after game, and from one season to the next.
Well done Nilay and company!!!
Comments
One Response to “Digital and Social Media Directing”