How the NY Jets Social Team Prepared for Taylor Swift

Plus five recent posts I'm into, Instagram's role in restaurant popups, and more.

Has anyone else been taking comfort in Sesame Street's social this past week? I loved the below post.

sesamestreet

A post shared by @sesamestreet

In this week’s Logged On we’ve got a short interview with Perry Mattern, Senior Manager, Social Media at New York Jets, about working in sports social and how the social team prepared for the Taylor Swift cameo at their recent game against the Kansas City Chiefs. I’ll also be covering:

• 5 recent brand posts I’m into

• Nathan Allebach’s post on how brands should think through engaging with breaking news discourse

• Why Twitter removing headlines from links is really bad for publishers and media companies (plus a few workarounds)

• Instagram and restaurant pop ups

Let’s get into it.

How the NY Jets Social Team Prepared for Taylor Swift

RK: Hi Perry! First, can you tell me about your current role and any previous social (or not!) roles you've had?

Perry Mattern: I am the senior manager of social media for the New York Jets. I oversee two other full-time staff and two seasonal interns. We're a pretty lucky group because we are part of a content department that has more than 25 members, many of whom are very impactful in our day-to-day social operation. Before joining the Jets, I spent three years as a writer and digital media producer for the Washington Commanders.

RK: How would you describe your personal social media philosophy?

PM: Engagement first, and the rest will take care of itself.

In a world of platform algorithms that are relying less and less on followership to drive what is seen, good content has to come first. The best way for us to judge the quality of our content is through engagement. And on top of that, it's important to understand that "quality" comes in many different ways—sharp copy, photography, short-form video, long-form video, memes; the list goes on and on.

RK: I love that. What is something that's unique about working in sports social vs other social roles?

PM: How much we post. I'm not really sure how it came to be, but we just post a lot (the NFL team average was 348 total posts last week, across IG native, X, Facebook and TikTok combined). Sports definitely tests your ability to be both proactive and reactive.

The second is how the approval rating of consumers/fans changes so drastically from day-to-day and week-to-week...and it's completely out of the social team's control. Speaking for just the Jets, our fan base has gone through the highest of highs and lowest of lows in a span of five weeks. Being able to empathize and still try to excite the fan base through all of that is something very unique to sports.

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A post shared by @nyjets

RK: I have to ask about Taylor Swift coming to the Jets vs Chiefs game. How did you prepare for that from a social perspective? What kind of meetings or brainstorms went into that moment?

PM: It was such a unique situation because we are still here for our fans first, and she was there to cheer on the opposing team. Our weekly gameday meeting was really hard because there were a lot of different opinions on how we should handle the night as a whole (which is a good thing).

We knew we wouldn't roll out the red carpet for her, but we wanted to find ways to subtly point to her attendance like we did with this post, which was our most-engaged IG post of the night. Overall, much of our preparation went into what we could do if we won the game. Unfortunately we did not win, so those posts now rest in the content graveyard.

RK: Was there a post that came from that day that you are particularly proud of?

PM: Yes, thanks to the amazing Kylie Sturgill from our team, who thought of the way to lean into the ketchup/seemingly ranch trend before the game began. Simple, but effective.

@nyjets¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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RK: What are three tips you'd give someone who wants to get into sports social?

PM:

1. Find a way to manage an account that isn't your own. Whether that's at the high school, college, minor league level, etc—if you're able to prove that you can be trusted to manage an account of some sorts, especially during games/events, that goes a long way. Plus, you can show your actual, on-the-job creativity here. Nothing on your resume can top that.

2. Understanding the rules, knowing the team, and integrating yourself into the sports social world is a good thing. However, being a fan of the team you're trying to work for does not matter. Obviously we all end up being fans of the team (when the team is winning, the job is easier), but being a fan of the team you're trying to work for is not a prerequisite. In fact, it can be a red flag for me because I can't totally be sure what your true reason is for wanting the job. Is it to be near your favorite team/players? Or is it to actually do meaningful social media work?

3. Be a cool person. We spend sooooo much time together. Working just 40 hours a week in sports is a rarity. We're going to have a lot of fun, but we're going to encounter stressful situations. Emotionally mature and kind people are the ones you want on your team.