Dancing Penguins? No, just a hockey night on TikTok
TikTok and Pittsburgh sports teams have had a fraught relationship over the past year. Some fans think of the video service as an outlet for athletes to express themselves, while others see it as a distraction that could mean the difference between winning and losing.
Steelers fans debated whether receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster’s dancing on opposing teams’ logos on the social media platform was harmless fun or one reason the team stumbled at the end of the season.
Enter the Penguins, who have decided to go all in by officially partnering with TikTok to create and promote team content on the app. It’s the first direct collaboration between TikTok and a professional hockey team.
“We’re trying to go where the fans are and the fans are there,” Andi Perelman, the Penguins’ vice president of digital, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “New fans are there, and having a partnership with an app and a video platform that is so up-and-coming and innovative is good for the Penguins.
“We want to connect to other brands that are bringing energy and excitement. That’s what we’re all about.”
The nuts and bolts of the partnership are that the Penguins will share original content with TikTok’s usergrowth team members, who in turn will help the team optimize and advertise for maximum reach.
TikTok told the Penguins that more than 90% of video views under this partnership will come from people not already following the Penguins’ account, Ms. Perelman said.
The Penguins’ current TikTok account has about 160,000 followers. The team generally gets views in the tens of thousands with its videos. But a recent one of the whole team wearing No. 87 Sidney Crosby jerseys for the captain’s 1,000th game garnered more than 640,000 views.
Ms. Perelman said that 12second video has received 2,200 hours of watch time and that 93% of the folks who viewed it did so via TikTok’s “For You” page.
“It’s pretty wild, just the reach of those things,” she said.
TikTok wanted to work with the Penguins, Ms. Perelman said, because of the team’s success on other social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
The Penguins are aware of the downside of social media exposure, she said. Criticism last week of the Penguins photoshopping masks onto some fans’ faces in a photo taken at PPG Arena prompted an apology. But Ms. Perelman said the benefits outweigh the fallout from the occasional slip-up.
“Any time there’s something new on social media, people are hesitant and it’s hard to like new things, especially if you haven’t tried them out. ... We’re definitely not going to do anything to ruin anything on the ice with getting our players involved with our TikTok,” she said.
Penguins management closely watched the Steelers/ Smith-Schuster controversy, but Ms. Perelman said this partnership is not about a specific player or players. It’s about the team making TikTok a priority.
Few Penguins players are even on TikTok, with one exception being defenseman PierreOlivier Joseph. Ms. Perelman said players are usually happy to participate in social media antics when asked to do so.
“Athletes aren’t robots. These guys are regular people,” she said. “I’m on TikTok, and I work, and I don’t think that it impacts my job. It’s just making sure it’s not going to impact your job and you’re always representing your team, and that’s the line you walk.
“If you can get on a platform and show a little bit of your personality and put out some content so your fans get to know you a little better, that’s great.”
She said TikTok was very specific about what content the Penguins should share: “Make TikToks, don’t make ads.” And that’s exactly what the Penguins intend to do, with the added benefit of access to TikTok’s resources and analytics tools.
“For us,” Ms. Perelman said, “the goal is really to keep our fans thinking about Penguins hockey and wanting to be a part of our Penguins community as much as possible.”