Social Media Strategy Review: Kolkata Knight Riders

Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chawla owned Kolkata Knight Riders made news even before the tournament began owing to its superstar owners and the initial presence of a certain Saurav Ganguly. The team managed to win the tournament in the 2012 edition and has managed to reach the final again this year. Boasting the likes of Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Jacques Kallis and Sunil Naraine, the side has also been quite active on the social media.
Facebook
On Facebook, the Kolkata Knight Riders have around 8 million fans. This season of IPL has seen their fan base increase by almost three millions since the inception. The team has managed to gather fans from almost all parts of the world with Pakistan and Bangladesh following India as the country with most number of Kolkata Knight Riders fans. Turkey also makes an appearance in the list of ten countries with most Kolkata Knight Riders fans which could be due to Shahrukh Khan’s popularity in the middle east.

Most of the content shared on the Facebook page is in the form of photos except for the live match coverage that keeps the fans updated. The use of #KingsMen, #KorboLorboJeetbo and #OneTeamOnePledge is quite popular and makes it easier to keep a track of the tweets/posts pertinent to the team.


The page allows fans to post their opinions which are visible to whoever visits the page. The fans make use of this feature often to make their feelings regarding the performances known. However, the page admins never respond to anything that is posted on the page. Every update on the Facebook page over the last seven days has received an average of 65,336 likes, 3,087 comments and 1,960 shares. Even in this, updates that have carried images have received the maximum interactions.
The team also holds competitions from time to time which help in keeping the fan engagement at a high level. Another unique thing about the content is “Seiko Moment”, which captures candid moments of the players and is sponsored by Seiko watches, official team sponsor of Kolkata Knight Riders.

Twitter:
On Twitter, Kolkata Knight Riders have around 472K followers. The content being shared is almost similar to that being posted on Facebook but the updates are more frequent and concise. In all, 15,076 tweets have been sent thus far in addition to uploading 953 images/videos.

As is evident from the picture, Kolkata Knight Riders has been creating buzz in their desired age group with 72% of mentions coming from people between the 13-20 age group. They could perhaps work on getting mentions from the 21-40 age groups. While talking of mentions, it is evident that the number of mentions received on matchdays increases when being compared to days when the team is not in action.
Also, the sentiment thus far has been largely positive owing to a strong performance on the pitch in this edition.

YouTube:
Kolkata Knight Riders is very active on its YouTube channel and has more than 17,400 subscribers. Since joining the platform in 2011, their videos have received over 1.9 million views. The videos that are posted are categorized in various playlist as per the kind viz. KKR Training, 1 Minute With, Press Conference, TVCs, Cheer Team etc. This makes looking up for a particular video very easy. The videos posted provide the build up to the games and also provide exclusive reviews post match. They also provide an insight into the lives of the players as they prepare for matches after matches in the tight schedule of the IPL. The length of the videos is generally from 2-5 minutes meaning people can easily watch them anytime! The recently posted Pharell Williams “Happy” song featuring KKR players garnered 40,000 views in few hours of being published.

Kolkata Knight Riders recently launched their very own version of HAPPY by Pharrell Williams

Instagram:
Instagram is used to share behind the screen images that provide a personal touch to everything and everyone involved with the team. The Instagram account has 12,524 followers and has made 220 posts that receive around 750-1000 likes per post.

Google Plus:
The club is active on Google+ and has 149,400 followers on the platform. The content posted is similar to Facebook and Twitter but the frequency of updates and fan engagement is less as compared to other platforms. But when compared to engagement level that other teams have been able to achieve on this medium, Kolkata Knight Riders has done well.

Mobile App:
In addition to aforementioned platforms, Kolkata Knight Riders also have mobile app for Android. The app gives information like latest score updates, league standings, schedule etc. along with detailed information of the squad, statistics, pictures and videos. It also allows you to set alerts for the match and provides a widget for the home screen. The Android app has been downloaded 10,000-50,000 times and has been rated 5 star by 2,384 users while only 228 users have rated it as 3 star or less.