Communications Audit

Introduction
This communications audit examines the Phoenix Suns social media platforms levels of activity
and audience engagement. This research will help figure out what tone the Suns have in their
social media presence and how and what content fans engage with most. The research period is
from Aug. 19 to Sept. 17, 2023.
 What kind of tone does the Suns social media have?
 Do they keep the same tone on every platform?
 What content do fans seem to engage with most?

Methodology
To get the answers to these specific research questions research databases like Muck Rack and
Social Blade were used. Through Muck Rack, over 101 articles had mention of the Phoenix Suns
which allowed us to see what the media was saying about the Suns from the research period of
Aug. 19 to Sept. 17, 2023. Through Social Blade we were able to track the live follower counts
from this respective period and analyze the change in followers from the start and end of the
period. We also analyzed hundreds of social media posts and all accounts to determine how and
how much audiences engaged with the organization online.

Social Media Analysis – Phoenix Suns

Twitter: As of Sep. 17, 2023, the Suns twitter account has 1,734,955 followers and follows 768
accounts. In order to obtain a sample of what the average number for all 131 tweets averages
every fifth tweet was analyzed, counting threads as one tweet. After analyzing 25 tweets, each
post averages around 1,498 likes and 248 retweets. In general, the Phoenix Suns twitter
account posts a lot more images to their account than written information. They also are very
fond of engaging with the fanbase by reposting fan art, posting what celebrities attend or have
attended Suns games this past year and seek engagement with their posts. The tone of the Suns
page is very inviting, and community based. Their twitter page actively seeks engagement and
comments from its fan base. Their following list ranges from local media personalities such as
Dan Bickley, all Arizona Sports social media accounts, players both current and former, brand
partners and celebrities. Their most successful tweet during this time frame was an image of
Drake wearing purple and orange in support of the Suns at his latest Phoenix concert. This post
received 1,135 retweets, 15,900 likes, 125 replies and 4.6 million views. A trend that the Suns
twitter seems to have been that they get the most replies on posts that either unveil something
new or show Kevin Durant and or Devin Booker. The posts with the least all around engagement
 tend to be practice images and highlights. The most important influencer that has been
interacting with the Suns lately is Drake. Drake brought Devin Booker and Kevin Durant out at
his recent phoenix shows and twitter engagement was high on posts that showed images from
that night. Drake also spoke at his show and stated that he would be attending Phoenix Suns
games which could potentially spark up more interaction on the Suns social media.

Figure 3. Twitter interactions on images of Drake in Suns colors

Figure 1. Twitter interactions on images of Booker and Durant Figure 2. Twitter interactions on practice images

Instagram: As of Sep. 17,

2023, the Suns Instagram
account has 3,349,246
followers and follows 161
accounts. Through 81
posts, the Suns Instagram
receives an average of
around 50,843 likes and
259 comments per post.
They also received a
total of 4,118,436
likes and 20,994
comments. On Instagram,
images dominate
posts with only around 16
out of 81 posts being reels. The content that is seen on the Instagram of the Suns is the same
when it comes it images and videos. However, the big difference between the two is the tagging
feature that Instagram has. This feature allows accounts like the NBA to share videos that
appear on multiple accounts and because of this it appears as if the Suns post more videos and
images on their Instagram. The overall comments on the Instagram of the Phoenix Suns are very
supportive. Most comments relate to the excitement for the season to begin and usually talk
about something that they liked from what is being posted. Most negative comments are seen
when big accounts like the NBA share tagged posts with the Suns. The overall tone of the posts
is positive and exciting, each posts seems to get you riled up or excited with what the team has
going on. The Instagram of the Suns gets a lot more engagements in the form of comments
when compared to their twitter. Some of the most successful posts that the Suns posted was a
reel showing Kevin Durant at the US Open tennis tournament. This post received 5.4 million
views, 339,000 likes and 430 comments. Their least successful reel during this period was a
video showing fan art of Durant and Booker. The reel received 178,000 views, 7,699 likes and 62
comments. It seems that not many people are interested in fanart images or videos on either
account. Their most important influencer on Instagram was also Drake. The three reels that the
Instagram account posted featuring Drake in Phoenix for his last concert with Booker and
Durant received a combined 2,075,000 views, 163,800 likes and 825 comments.

Figure 4. Picture of most successful post.

Traditional Media Analysis – Phoenix Suns

After analyzing 101 articles based in Phoenix, Arizona, on the traditional media research
database Muck Rack, I found that outlets that mentioned the Phoenix Suns most were blogs
and newspapers. These included The Valley of the Suns, which mentioned the Suns 34 times,
The Arizona Republic, 24 times, and KPNX-TV which mentioned them 13 times. According to
Muck Rack, 59% of sentiment written was positive, 16% negative and 24% neutral. The overall
tone from the Newspaper articles is informative. The articles are very straight forward and very
fact based when it comes to comments surrounding the team. The blogs however, had a more
engaging and entertaining tone to them as they felt a little more in depth and personal. Imagery
in the articles is usually pictures of players on the team with majority being pictures of Booker
Durant and Bradley Beal. Some of the most reoccurring reporters were Duane Rankin from the
Arizona Republic and Luke Duffy from the Valley of the Suns. Rankin is a more fact-based
reporter who covers the team and info directly form the team. For example, when the Suns
unveiled their new home court, he wrote and covered a story on it. Duffy is a more opinion-
based reporter who writes about predictions and players or moves that he believes the team
should pursue. Headlines from his include Phoenix suns should purse discarded Lakers big man
(Duffy, 2023). It was interesting to see that despite how often blogs published articles about the
Suns, newspapers tended to get larger numbers of engagement with The Arizona Republic
getting 1,918 total engagement and KMPV- FM getting 2,029. Blogs like Valley of the Suns
received 78 and The Bright Side of the Sun received 224 total engagements.

Social Media Analysis – Los Angeles Lakers

Twitter: As of Sept. 17, 2023, the Los Angeles Lakers have 11,827,479 followers on twitter and
follow 80 accounts. From Aug. 19 to Sept. 17, the Lakers social media account posted around
220 tweets. To narrow down the numbers similarly to what was done with the Suns, every fifth
tweet was taken into consideration, counting threads as one and not counting retweets, to
obtain a sample of what their numbers would look like for 220 tweets worth of data. After
sampling 32 tweets each post averages around 10,028 likes, 1,127 retweets and 76 comments.
The Lakers twitter account is very similar to the Suns in that they post a lot more images and
videos than written tweets. However, one big difference I noticed is that the Lakers is more
engaging with other accounts using the quote features, retweeting and tagging other accounts.
The Lakers twitter account tone is also strongly community based. For example, on August 24th,
the community seemed to be really brought together by the Lakers social media to celebrate
the memory of Kobe Bryant and showed a lot of support for his family. They did this by posting
threads of Kobe’s highlights, throwback images and images of him with his family. Their most
successful post this period was a video showing the origin of Bryant’s iconic 2001 finals image of
him and the Finals trophy. This tweet received 1.9 million views, 41,800 likes, 9,131 retweets
and 185 comments. Their least successful post was a quote tweet showing support for
California in the Little League World Series. Images and videos of Bryant tend to dominate
engagement with photos of Lebron James in close second.
Traditional Media Analysis – Los Angeles Lakers
To analyze the traditional media coverage of the Lakers, muck rack was also used.
Similar to the Suns coverage, articles were limited to the name Lakers appearing in the
headlines and the location being based in Los Angeles. It was surprising to see that
even after using similar filters to what was used when researching the Suns, only 18
articles were shown. According to Muck Rack, there was an even distribution of
sentiment among the articles with 33.3% of sentiment being Positive, 33.3% Negative
and 33.3% neutral. Of the articles written between Aug. 19 and Sept. 17, 2023, in
contrast to Suns coverage, every article was written by a different reporter. These
reporters wrote for publications like Lake Show life, La Opinion, Clutch Points and the
Los Angeles Sentinel. The most reoccurring publications were Clutch Points and the
Los Angeles Sentinel. According to Muck Rack, Clutch Points received 177 total
engagement while the Los Angeles Sentinel received 0 engagement. A large majority of
the publications talked about the signing of Christian Wood, new professional basketball
player for the Lakers, and the new Kobe statue being unveiled outside of the Crypto
arena. The overall tone of these publications was informative. These publications were
both based strictly on sports media however, Lake Show Life is strictly centered around
the Lakers. The publications also had very similar headlines and seemed to publish the
same story but on different days.
 Figure 7. Lakers Headline examples.

Figure 8. More Lakers headline examples.

Example Competitor Analysis Table

Competitor Analysis from Aug. 19 – Sept. 17 Client Competitor

Facebook
Total number of followers 2 million 22 million
Total number of page likes 1.9 million 21 million
Average number of posts per day 3 2.5
Number of posts during 30-day research period 98 77
Average number of engagement (likes and comments) per post 1,718 18,302
Average number of comments per post 223 824
Average number of likes per post 1,494 17,478
Average engagement rate .07% .08%
Percentage change of followers in the past 30 days 0.21% n/a
Tone of posts Engaging
Instagram
Total number of followers 3.3 million 23 million
Average number of posts per day 3 3
Number of posts during 30-day research period 81 82
Average number of engagement (likes and comments) per post 51,102 190380
Average number of comments per post 259 548
Average number of likes per post 50,843 189,832
Average engagement rate 1.54% 0.83%
Percentage change of followers in the past 30 days 1.1% .65%
Tone of posts Energetic
TikTok
Total number of followers 683,700 2,000,000
Total number of views 1,241,600 2,189,500
Average number of posts per day .6 .4
Number of posts during 30-day research period 17 12
Average number of engagement (likes and comments) per post 7,270 21,912
Average number of comments per post 213 1,913
Average number of likes per post 7,057 19,999
Average engagement rate 1.03% 1%
Percentage change of followers in the past 30 days 1% n/a
Tone of posts Comedic Trendy and
entertaining
Twitter
Total number of followers 1,734,955 11,827,479
Average number of posts per day 4 7
Number of posts during 30-day research period 130 220
Average number of engagement (likes and comments) per post 1,525 1,104
Average number of comments per post 26 76
 Average number of likes per post 1,498 1,028
Average engagement rate .09% .009%
Percentage change of followers in the past 30 days .26% .26%
Tone of posts Engaging Engaging
YouTube
Total number of subscribers 60,200 607,000
Total number of video views 22,223 n/a
Average number of posts per week 6 n/a
Number of posts during 30-day research period 25 n/a
Average number of engagement (likes and comments) per post 934 n/a
Average number of comments per post 6 n/a
Average number of likes per post 44 n/a
Average engagement rate .07% n/a
Percentage change of followers in the past 30 days 0.84% 0.5%
Tone of posts Entertaining n/a

Conclusion
This communications audit provided an analysis of the Suns social media posts and
traditional media coverage surrounding the team, along with an analysis of its rival the
Los Angeles Lakers. After analyzing the Suns social media, I found that they maintain a
different tone on each of their respective platforms. Some of these tones ranged for
entertaining, comedic and energetic. Their most dominant social media platform overall
was Instagram. On Instagram the Suns maintain an energetic tone. Each of their posts
engages the audience and gets them riled up using both captions and imagery as well. I
believe that this is what has led them to average over 50,000 likes on their posts when
compared to their closest runner up in TikTok that averages 7,000 likes a post. Fans
seem to engage most with posts that feature their star players and or celebrities
interacting with their star players. For example, in their top posts on each respective
platform each post featured either Booker, Durant or Drake. Traditional media coverage
about the Suns was generally informative pieces surrounding the team with topics
ranging from discussing their new broadcast voice, Jon Bloom, and analyzing its off-
season additions.
Works Cited

Duffy, L. (2023, September 7). Phoenix Suns should pursue discarded Lakers big man. Valley of
the Suns.
https://valleyofthesuns.com/2023/09/07/phoenix-suns-pursue-discarded-lakers-big-man/