The story behind the Chicago White Sox’s new social media approach
Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2025 8:05 am
Every social media manager knows that behind every brand meme are multiple strategy discussions and layers of internal approvals—and sports is no exception. So how did the White Sox get buy-in for a relatable and self-aware social media strategy that navigated on-field challenges? To put it simply, they worked as a team.
An X post from the Chicago White Sox (@whitesox). The post shows a meme of a car chinese student data speeding away from a highway sign. The sign offers two options: 'Post final score' or 'Literally anything else.' The car is labeled 'Admin,' indicating the social media manager is choosing to avoid posting the score, likely because the White Sox lost."
“Our team did a lot of internal advocacy to showcase the potential benefits of talking about losses in a relatable way while taking eyeballs off of players and the front office,” says Brogdon “Our roster saw a lot of new faces added before 2024 season, so early on our strategy was dedicated to getting to know them. We want to humanize them so fans look at them with a sense of empathy and respect.”
As September arrived and the possibility of making history became real, Brogdon and his team took some time to get everyone on the same page. These efforts called for a bit of managing up, along with a solid proof of concept.
At one point, the social team even created memes on the spot during a meeting with the front office’s senior vice president of communications to show what the strategy could look like in real time.
“We would literally go into meetings with printed out memes to share as examples during presentations,” shares Brogdon. “We had to prove that our ideas were grounded in best practices while breaking our normal cadence. We wanted to move forward with a more relatable version of our existing brand voice, but wrapping that up in a presentation that appeals to executive staff takes some time, effort and energy.”
An X post from the Chicago White Sox (@whitesox). The post shows a meme of a car chinese student data speeding away from a highway sign. The sign offers two options: 'Post final score' or 'Literally anything else.' The car is labeled 'Admin,' indicating the social media manager is choosing to avoid posting the score, likely because the White Sox lost."
“Our team did a lot of internal advocacy to showcase the potential benefits of talking about losses in a relatable way while taking eyeballs off of players and the front office,” says Brogdon “Our roster saw a lot of new faces added before 2024 season, so early on our strategy was dedicated to getting to know them. We want to humanize them so fans look at them with a sense of empathy and respect.”
As September arrived and the possibility of making history became real, Brogdon and his team took some time to get everyone on the same page. These efforts called for a bit of managing up, along with a solid proof of concept.
At one point, the social team even created memes on the spot during a meeting with the front office’s senior vice president of communications to show what the strategy could look like in real time.
“We would literally go into meetings with printed out memes to share as examples during presentations,” shares Brogdon. “We had to prove that our ideas were grounded in best practices while breaking our normal cadence. We wanted to move forward with a more relatable version of our existing brand voice, but wrapping that up in a presentation that appeals to executive staff takes some time, effort and energy.”