I am a student of the internet. I like to think that I have a Ph.D. from Google, Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit. The endless volume of information available at your fingertips enables all of us to become experts in and truly explore our interests. And I have always used the internet as a resource to do just that. From scrolling through Twitter to consume new ideas that pop up within the marketing community, browsing the NBA subreddit for post-trade reactions to teaching myself how to use Adobe Photoshop on YouTube, I’ve been able to dive deep into my passions and build out extensive knowledge of technology, marketing, and consumer trends. While I didn’t know it yet, all of the time spent obsessing in this space served me well in taking a simple idea viral.
Heating Up
Like most other basketball super-fans during the COVID-19 quarantine, I was at home casually watching Episode 10 of The Last Dance and one specific scene really caught my attention. (For those who don’t know, ESPN released a 10-part documentary on Michael Jordan and the 1997–98 Chicago Bulls season this past May.) Jordan walks onto the team bus holding his Walkman, wearing classic over-the-ear headphones, bobbing his head, and vibing to his music. There was something about seeing Michael Jordan, the ruthless competitor famously known for punching teammates in practice, jam out to music that made this one-of-a-kind guy oddly relatable.
The next morning, I was scrolling through Twitter (as I do most days) and came across a thread where users were debating what Michael was actually listening to during this scene. While one user claimed that it was confirmed that Michael was listening to an unreleased track by Kenny Latimore, another user argued that the world would never know. Reading this thread sparked an idea; I figured that I could superimpose various popular songs over the clip of Jordan ‘jamming out.’ We might not know what Jordan was really listening to, but we could have some fun trying to guess.
Skills Developed
I had to act quickly. A huge factor in the success of social media is timeliness — wait too long, and this scene from The Last Dance would be yesterday’s news. I pulled out my computer, got to work on iMovie, and quickly put a clip together of Jordan dancing to Mr. Brightside by The Killers and posted it to an account called @JordanJamming.
The account took off. Within two days, we had 40K followers and my first several posts reached 20M people. It seemed like the whole world was talking about what I had created:
Twitter’s Head of Product, Kayvon Beykpour, professional golfer Justin Thomas, Mero of Showtime’s Desus & Mero and other prominent personalities were expressing their love for the account
Some of my favorite artists like Liam Payne, Quinn XCII, Anderson .Paak, and Gryffin used the clip to promote new songs
Jordan Jamming has since been featured on a variety of major news publications like ESPN, Complex, Men’s Health, Fox Sports and more
Sports organizations like the Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues and the New Jersey Devils joined in on the fun and posted their own versions of the clip
Dozens of colleges like the University of Kansas, Texas A&M, and Louisville hopped in on the trend
And United Airlines even got involved
Throughout the process, I learned a lot about the link between relevant content and reach. To keep the momentum, I had to 1) be wise with my song selection and 2) be intentional about how the song would relate to my target audience. I made an effort to diversify genres to reach people of all different music tastes. Chances are, Jordan jamming to a Kanye West song would make waves in different circles than a Vanessa Carlton or a Tame Impala song. And similarly, if I could post songs that would resonate with the fan bases of popular figures on social media, the Tweet might be able to reach even further. For example, the song Electric Avenue is both universally loved and is the theme song of Barstool Sports’ popular podcast, Pardon My Take. When @JordanJamming posted Electric Avenue, my followers tagged @PardonMyTake, which led the show’s co-hosts to reply to my Tweet and helped to exponentially increase the Tweet’s reach.
Despite the success I had been seeing on the account, not everything worked out perfectly and I definitely made some mistakes. As you’d expect, some tweets lagged in engagement, performance fluctuated and I was reminded that the internet can also be unpredictable. In one particular tweet, I posted ‘Save Dat Money’ and tagged artist Lil Dicky (an avid Twitter user) in the hopes that he would reply (he didn’t, and the Tweet was one of my least successful). This is a perfect example of the idea that not all relevant content is created equal. Compared to the Pardon My Take example above, which was characterized by a natural flow of relevant content -> fan base -> influencer -> greater reach, the Lil Dicky example was far more forced. It’s not surprising, then, that when the Tweet failed to reach Lil Dicky, the post suffered without the support of a broader fan base or audience. I quickly understood that genuine content that resonates with my audience will outperform content shared in the hopes of soliciting a celebrity reply, and I wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
I also found out that simplicity is powerful and effective. Twitter is full of content that can be overwhelming to a user but Jordan Jamming was easy to consume. With the consistency of the content (other than the song, of course), users understood the clear purpose and were able to easily engage. Create a niche market and dominate it.
@JordanJamming exemplifies what a creative, albeit simple, idea can become in today’s digital world. Thanks to an alley-oop from the GOAT himself, I have a unique story to tell and gained some valuable experience in content creation, audience building, and influencer marketing. I’m grateful for the opportunities that have come my way as a result…and I’m just getting started.
