Interview with Moose Web Content Manager

This past week we had a chance to sit down with the web content manager Eric Postma with the Manitoba Moose and he was able to share his insights into some questions we had about how sports teams utilize websites.

The first question we asked is if he could briefly explain to us what he and his team are responsible for. Postma responded with, “Basically any content on the site”. This ranges from news stories, player statistics, logs, video, highlights, online ticket sale, and the overall organization of the website. Postma also explained that he pulls resources from other departments, such as Communications, who are responsible for writing articles, as well as the Graphic Design department.

Mr. Postma joined the Moose organization approximately two years ago and had to face some unique challenges when upgrading the Moose site. When asked to walk us through the changes he made and what they meant for both the site and the fans, he informed us that he was responsible for rebranding because “the previous site was five to six years old and focused mainly on programming and coding”. He enlightened us on how the Moose organization wanted to make the website accessible and easy to use. They accomplished this by “performing studies, focus groups and surveys to find out what fans wanted from the new site”. These studies found that fans had a “high expectation for the site, especially the main page”, and it was Postma’s job to deliver.

Next, we asked him what he felt was the most used or popular feature of moosehockey.com. Postma felt that the “news and game summaries are the most used”, explaining that, “the Moose are not as well publicized in the city when they are on the road so people come to the site to check out highlights and videos”. He also explained to us how online ticket sales are a well-used feature on the site stating that, “it is a well-used tool that has to be there”.

We asked him if the growth of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace played a role in the marketing of moosehockey.com, and he explained to us that even though they have a wide-demographic of fans, “the biggest demographic if 35-50 year old males so [his] team can get away with not updating these sites as frequently”. Postma has taken the initiative to post links to these sites on the Moose homepage, and occasionally updates them, he hopes that they will primarily be taken over by the fans.

There are some teams in the League where hockey is not as well-marketed, such as Florida, Atlanta, or some of the southern states, so we asked him what types of online strategies the League is using to market the sport in these areas.

“We’ve been blessed in Winnipeg with people who are familiar with hockey”, he says, “So it’s never really been an issue here”. Though his department does call-in meetings with other teams in the League, Postma says that, “it’s never really been something we’ve had to deal with”.

“People have to have an appetite for it”, he says. “If people don’t want hockey, you can’t force it on them”.

So the AHL is using a strategy known as “cross-promotion” to market hockey in other sport demographics. Postma tells us a story of how the AHL’s Lake Eerie Monsters teamed up with the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers to bring hockey into a different sport market by bringing Shaq (O’Neil) to one of the Monster’s games.

“Getting the idea of hockey to other markets by tying it in to other sports”, says Postma, is something that can be very successful when looking to promote the sport of hockey to a wider market.

Our interview with Mr. Postma was really enlightening and we feel that he provided us with a lot of insight into the team’s existing, successful website and to how they are working towards making it better. We also learned, for our own blog, that one of the most important things about online sports is bringing the stories to the fans in the quickest, most efficient manner. Through Mr. Postma’s experience with the Moose, we have learned how the organization and other sports organizations are taking advantage of the internet and using it to provide their audience with an exciting hockey experience.

We would like to thank Mr. Postma for his time and we hope to take his advice and use it in our own project.