NBA Social Media Strategy by Memphis Grizzlies

“We Wanted a More Aesthetic View of Our Social Media Posts Across Our Brand”

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A photo shot from the view of a Grizzlies player who is sitting on the floor. Four of his teammates are standing around him helping him up.

NBA team Memphis Grizzlies switched to Walls.io from a competitor and have since set up multiple social media walls, all to an impeccable standard. They’ve fully integrated social walls with their social media strategy.

Social wall design follows website design

The walls are being used to showcase social content on various websites the Grizzlies are running. The content of each wall is adapted to the website it’s embedded on, and all social walls are styled to fit the look of the site as well.

Here we have two different social walls; one is embedded on Grizzlies.com, the other one on FedExForum.com. The two walls are styled completely differently, each one adapted to fit the website it’s embedded on.

Screenshot of Grizzlies.com website with the social wall embedded. The wall is styled to blend in with the website’s design and colours.
The social wall on Grizzlies.com.
Screenshot of FedExForum.com website with the social wall embedded. The wall is styled in to blend in with the website’s design and colours, for example by using tile colours in the three FedExForum colours blue, orange and purple.
The social wall on FedExForum.com.

We’ve been told that, In due time, a social wall will likely also be shown on a big screen at the Grizzlies arena. That is one way to use Walls.io that obviously excites us a lot and we hope to soon be able to tell you more about this project.

We wanted to know what drew the Grizzlies to Walls.io and how social walls are working out for them. Rolanda Gregory, Vice President of Marketing, told us about how her department is using social walls and shared some plans for the future.

Rolanda Gregory

Rolanda Gregory

Vice President of Marketing Strategy, The Memphis Grizzlies

Why did you start using a social wall and what do you hope to achieve with it?

We started using a social wall because we wanted a more aesthetic view of our social media posts across all of our brand website properties. We wanted the social walls to have a natural flow with our other website content instead of having it feel like an afterthought.

We’ve found that it’s a great way to pull in content from our various social media platforms. For our websites, the walls provide fresh, timely and relevant information that our fans find important. We are also able to post promotions and ads within the social wall content.

How did you find the process of setting up the social walls and integrating them on the websites?

It was actually quite simple. Our Marketing Technology team, led by Albert Hughes, was able to transition from our previous solution to Walls.io very quickly. The social walls also allowed for better branding and configuration of the layouts. The ability to be able to use an embed or iFrame provided greater flexibility for our websites.

How are people reacting to the use of the social walls?

The feedback has been great as the layout of the content looks much better and is easier to read.

Like the Grizzlies, you can use Walls.io’s extensive customisation features to make your social wall look just the way you need it, whether you’re embedding it on a website or showing it off on a big screen.

What other plans do you have for your social walls in the future?

We are currently working on plans to use social walls in-arena for events and campaigns. Meaning that for a specific game or event, we will display a large social wall in-arena and run a hashtag campaign to engage with event attendees.

Due to our satisfaction, we are also looking to extend social walls for our GrindCityMedia.com personalities, as well as integration into our mobile app.

Use social walls to keep innovating

How one NBA team uses social walls shows us how important it is for brands to keep innovating and how social tools like Walls.io can help with that. Social walls are a creative and dynamic tool, so keep changing it up and finding new ways to use them to implement your marketing strategy.

The Grizzlies’ plans to show a social wall in their arena is a fantastic example of that. A big wall where matches take place will let fans engage with the Grizzlies and each other at the most important point of contact. Similarly, the plans to integrate a wall into the mobile app will create another point of interaction between brand and fans, deepening the connection and brand loyalty.

A diverse group of Grizzlies fans are posing for a picture. They are dressed in t-shirts that feature the team mascot Grizz (a blue bear) and say “Memphis Grizzlies”.
Fans love finding new ways to engage with the Memphis Grizzlies, whether it’s online or offline.

Don’t be afraid to experiment

Brands with a diverse portfolio can use social walls for different websites, purposes, etc. It’s fairly easy to design and adapt each wall for its use. And you remain flexible — show a social wall on a big screen or embed it on your website. With Walls.io, you have many options.

Don’t be afraid to use social walls in many different ways. Sometimes you’ll want the social wall embedded in full width on your website, other times a sidebar widget is all you need.

Screenshot of the MemphisHustle.com website. The left two thirds of the page are covered with news articles, the right hand third is taken up by the social media wall in a sidebar. The width allows for posts to show underneath each other in a scrollable column.
Here we see the social wall on the Grizzlies’ MemphisHustle website incorporated prominently in a sidebar on the right. Social walls in sidebars are fully functional, of course, they’re just narrower.

Time to set up an awesome social wall for your own brand

Play around with the customisation options to see what you can do

Create a social wall now!

Remember, if something doesn’t work for you, you can always change it back or try something different. Adapting your social walls is easy and fast with Walls.io.