For today’s post we are going to be looking at the Professional Women’s Hockey League and their use of infographics on their Instagram. The PWHL uses a mix of graphics to educate their followers on game scores, upcoming games, stats, or even awards. In this post I’ll go through some of the posts that stood out to me, and what impact they may have made on followers.
Posts like this game day post are frequent on the PWHL feed because they announce each game. However, they include important information that many viewers rely on in order to watch the game. The graphic includes which teams are playing, a player from each time with a picture of them and their name, where and when the game will be played, and how viewers can watch the game live. The combination of all this information makes it easy for followers to make sure they don’t miss a game and have all the information in one spot.
This post highlights goalie Aerin Frankel’s impressive game statistics. Although the graphic shows pictures of Frankel in action, it also shares statistics, making her stand out from the other goalies in the league. If you are a hockey fan you know that a .972 safe percentage is an incredible accomplishment, so the PWHL highlighting it makes sense. These posts bring light to players that all PWHL fans may not know if they are not on their specific team of choice, but also push younger girls to want to be like these accomplished athletes.
Although posts like this are sad and disappointing to post, fans need to be kept up to date with player status and injuries. Posts such as this one help to get information out to the followers who may not watch every game, but like to be kept up to date with what is happening in the league. Even though it is not super visually exciting or overcrowded, it is simple and clean and gets the news across. In my opinion these are sometimes some of the best graphics that can be posted on social media.
This post highlights the finalists for the Forward of the Year Award in the 2024 PWHL Awards. The graphic shows the three woman who are in the running with a picture of them in their teams’ gear, their position, number, and what team they play on. Graphics like this one put all that information into one place, giving followers a one-stop-shop to see who is in the running for such big awards. This graphic is also used for other awards and finalists in this same award ceremony.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C7J-03_u-ha/?hl=en
Schedule posts like the one above give the schedule in a visually appealing, concise format. By doing this the viewers can note when games are and who they will be played between. In this case, it was for the finals so it was two teams back and forth, but posts like this are also used to point out important games for the week or what the upcoming schedule may look like. They are often crucial for followers to get their information as they may not go elsewhere in order to see what time each of the separate games will be played. These types of posts make that very easy.
Although these are only a few of the different types of graphics the Professional Women’s Hockey League uses on their social media, I think they are some of the most beneficial. They get important information across, are easy to look at and read, make things like schedules that may be boring look interesting, and help to pull the followers into what is happening in the league. Overall I think the PWHL does a great job with their use of graphics and it will be interesting to see how they continue to use them following this inaugural season.
Erin Young 
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