BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — B.A.S.S. hit a major milestone in July when its Facebook page reached 400,000 fans.
The company’s Facebook audience has grown tenfold in only two years, since July 2011 when the page had only 40,000 fans. Since then, B.A.S.S. has focused on this part of the business, dedicating staff and resources to its social media effort.
“Growing our social media audience is really important to us,” said Jim Sexton, B.A.S.S.’s vice president of digital. “It’s been a great way to attract a new audience and to interact with existing fans. We have really focused on taking good care of this audience and on providing content they like.”
B.A.S.S. now has more Facebook fans than Sports Illustrated or MSNBC. “That just shows the audience for freshwater fishing is huge and growing,” Sexton said.
The B.A.S.S. Facebook page provides a platform for anglers to post their own bass photos, share tips from specific lakes and communicate with the company. 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 is 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.
In addition, 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, 59 percent of whom are males under the age of 34. B.A.S.S. also has Facebook pages dedicated to its college (Facebook.com/CollegeBass) and high school (Facebook.com/BassHighSchool) 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.
“Now we are looking forward to our next milestone,” said Sexton. He anticipates the B.A.S.S. Facebook page will reach 500,000 fans by the end of the year.