NBC Sports uses Snapchat account to promote ‘Winter Classic’ hockey game

By allowing NHL analyst and former player in his own right Jeremy Roenick to take over the account on Thursday, the media outlet hoped to give hockey fans a more intimate look at the makings of a great game. This isn’t the first athlete NBC Sports’ has allowed to manage its account — in fact, it has an ongoing program that features different takeovers of various social media accounts. Yesterday, that Snapchat account also featured footage from the yearly “Fan Fest” in addition to the alumni game between ex-Boston Bruins and ex-Montreal Canadiens. And today, as the game gets underway, you can get up-to-the-minute updates with videos and photos from the match up.

“Oftentimes, the angle that we take on the social media side is: What do viewers want from us that they may not be able to get from our league partners, or teams or the athletes themselves?” said Lyndsay Signor, director of social media marketing at NBC Sports, in an interview with Digiday. The outlet is going to have to get creative to compete with main rival ESPN, which also maintains a popular Snapchat account of its own.