Roger Arrieta
LOS ANGELES–While the Los Angeles Dodgers were winning the National League Western Division championship and leading the Major Leagues in attendance last season, the team’s popularity also reached record numbers in the world of social media.
Dodger Stadium was the most visited Major League park as the Dodgers led the majors with a season total of 3,743,527 fans. Dodger Stadium was the most checked-in sports venue in the United States and ranked fourth on the list of most checked-in locations in the United States in 2013, according to Facebook.
In addition, Dodger Stadium ranked eighth worldwide as the most Instagrammed location of 2013.
The Dodgers led Major League Baseball in total growth throughout the 2013 season on Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram. The club’s total growth of 193,483 on Twitter was good for third in Major League Baseball.
“Our 2013 marketing campaign was ‘A Whole New Blue’ and it truly is,” said Dodgers Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Lon Rosen. “Our fans are back at Dodger Stadium and that extends across all social and digital platforms. We anticipate these numbers will continue to grow in 2014, thanks in part to the improved connectivity at Dodger Stadium.”
Based on social interactions per post, the Dodgers ranked first in the Major Leagues in engagement per fan on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr during the 2013 season.
In 2013, Instagram was the club’s most engaged platform with @Dodgers accumulating 30,849,622 likes, 373,072 comments and 309,314 new followers.
From January to October 2013, @Dodgers saw a Major League-leading 1,588,291 retweets, a 274% increase over 2012.
Nearly two million Dodger fans (1,948,182) follow Dodger players on Twitter, with reliever Brian Wilson (@BrianWilson38) being the most followed Dodger.
MLB Network announced its Social Media Awards for 2013 and the @Dodgers took home three awards—Best Team Promotion for the Vin Scully Takeover; Snapshot of the Year featuring Clayton Kershaw and Sandy Koufax following Game 4 of the National League Division Series and #BestBite featuring former Dodger Nick Punto and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Danny DeVito.
Hall of Fame announcer Vin Scully, who will be heading into his 65th season with the club in 2014, did a tweetcast which resulted in 434% new @Dodgers followers over the daily in-season average; 56,868 mentions of @Dodgers and 19,643 #Vin Scully mentions.
Dodger outfielder Yasiel Puig earned honors as the Socially Savvy Rookie and #SAW (Stop and Watch) Player of the Year. Puig was an active contributor to Instagram once he joined the big league club in Los Angeles.
Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) provided the 2013 data.
