B.A.S.S. Facebook page reaches 500,000 fans

B.A.S.S. hit a major milestone on Oct. 29 when its Facebook page, www.facebook.com/bass, reached 500,000 fans.

Birmingham, Ala. — B.A.S.S. hit a major milestone on Oct. 29 when its Facebook page, www.facebook.com/bass, reached 500,000 fans.

The company’s Facebook audience has grown more than tenfold in only two years, since October 2011 when the page had only 48,000 fans. Since then, B.A.S.S. has focused on this part of the business, dedicating staff and resources to its social media effort.

“There is a deep love for the B.A.S.S. brand out there,” said Jim Sexton, B.A.S.S.’s vice president of digital. “We’re finding new ways to serve that audience as well as build a new audience.”

B.A.S.S. now has the same number of Facebook fans as it has B.A.S.S. members. The number of B.A.S.S. members has remained steady at half a million for 20 years.

“It’s so exciting to see the same number of fans on Facebook as card-carrying members,” said Tyler Reed, B.A.S.S. social media editor. “Facebook is such a great platform for hearing from our members. It provides a method for fans to contact us easily and get a quick response.”

In addition to communicating with the company, B.A.S.S. Facebook fans post their own bass photos on the B.A.S.S. wall and share tips from specific lakes. B.A.S.S. posts tournament updates and how-to information, plus polls and contests for its fans, on a daily basis.

Fans eagerly await the beginning of each week to see whose photo was chosen for the Monday morning big bass, in which B.A.S.S. features a photo posted on its Facebook wall and shares it with its massive audience.

An additional feature is that fans can submit their bass photos to the Catch of the Week contest presented by Toyota on the B.A.S.S. Facebook page. Each week, one winner is chosen to be featured in a gallery on Bassmaster.com and on Facebook, and the winner receives Toyota gear and a Shimano reel.

The B.A.S.S. Facebook page has a rather young audience, 58 percent of whom are males under the age of 34. B.A.S.S. also has Facebook pages dedicated to its college and high school fans.

On Twitter, B.A.S.S. has two official accounts, @BASS_Nation and @BASSHowTo. The primary account, @BASS_Nation, serves as host to popular Twitter chats with Bassmaster Elite Series pros. B.A.S.S.’s Twitter followers interact as much as the Facebook fans do, sharing bass photos and tips as well as asking the company questions directly.

B.A.S.S. has ventured into other social media spaces as well, including YouTube, Google+ and Pinterest.

“This is a great time to be in the social space,” said Sexton. “We look forward to seeing our relationship with our fans grow even further.”