Patrick and Regina Manansala follow the Golden State Warriors on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. On Sunday, before the Warriors' playoff game win at Oracle Arena, they used the "insider" social knowledge they'd gleaned to snag special souvenir rally towels.

"I asked the guy at the door are you giving away anything and he said no, but we knew they were giving away towels from (checking) social media," said Patrick Manansala, 33, one of the first of an enthusiastic swarm of fans who showed up at a Warriors Facebook check-in table as soon as the doors opened two hours before tip-off.

Through social media, the American Canyon couple feel like "part of the team," said Regina Manansala, 32.

The Warriors have stepped up their social media game to take advantage of the spotlight afforded by the team's second playoff appearance in the past 19 years. As the only NBA team in the heart of the tech-rich Silicon Valley, the Warriors' embrace of social media is not only a natural, it's a no-brainer.

"We have a mantra here that we want to be the most digitally fit team in the NBA," said Kevin Cote, the team's director of digital marketing.

The Warriors, just as many tech companies in the area do, are using various forms of digital and social media to create their own direct-to-consumer news and information channels.

Over the past two years, the Warriors have been expanding the team's social presence to reach fans wherever they are, including on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest, SoundCloud and Tumblr.

Constant video stream

The team is also now using Twitter's new Vine app to post instant six-second video clips with exclusive action both during and between games.

It also uses content from an in-house TV reporter and its broadcasting department to produce a constant stream of video on YouTube. One early-season send-up of Psy's ultra-popular "Gangnam Style" had more than 3.2 million views.

"We view ourselves as content creators now," Cote said. "It's not just about all the good news. We're still employees of the team, but we want to be trusted sources."

The Warriors also aggregate fan-provided Twitter and Instagram photos marked "#WarriorsGround" for display on the main arena scoreboard and on the Warriors.com website.

The team leverages social media for promotional events, such as a Social Media Night, which included players wearing practice shirts with their Twitter handles printed on the back, and a giveaway of 10,000 fingerless texting gloves.

Digital expansion

In the past two years, the team has also expanded its digital media marketing staff from two to five. During Sunday's crucial playoff win against the Denver Nuggets, the digital team members sitting near press row spent the entire game splitting their attention between the on-court action, their laptops and their mobile phones.

They churned out tweets faster than star guard Stephen Curry - who has 580,000 Twitter followers - could drain three-point shots.

"When new ownership took over, they not only realized how important digital was at the time, but how it was going to continue to grow," Cote said. "We didn't want to be people who just sold tickets. We also wanted to provide them content, not just with fluff pieces, but to be authentic and transparent."

The Warriors have added about 200,000 new social media followers this season, which is a team record. On Monday, Golden State had 429,500 Facebook followers and nearly 193,900 Twitter followers.

Still a ways to go

Still, the Warriors, currently working to pump up support for a new arena in San Francisco, have far to go to be in sports' social media big leagues.

In the NBA alone, the Los Angeles Lakers have 16.3 million Facebook fans and 3 million Twitter followers, and the Warriors don't rank among the top 15 teams in those categories, according to data complied by Coyle Media, a technology and sports business marketing consulting firm.

On a global scale, soccer powerhouse FC Barcelona has 42 million Facebook fans and 15.9 million Twitter followers.

Locally, the NFL's San Francisco 49ers have 384,605 Twitter followers and 1.8 million Facebook fans, while the Oakland Raiders have 248,839 on Twitter and 1.9 million on Facebook.

Baseball's San Francisco Giants have 1.7 million on Facebook and 419,341 on Twitter, while the Oakland Athletics have 377,766 on Facebook and 108,118 on Twitter. Hockey's San Jose Sharks have 527,951 on Facebook and 137,405 on Twitter.

Winning helps

But the size of social networking numbers alone doesn't directly translate to ticket sales, said Coyle Media President Pat Coyle.

"When the team wins, you sell a lot of tickets and you get a lot of followers," he said. "When you're not winning, it's more smoke and mirrors. You get only the most loyal fans."

However, he said marketing through social media can help a team in ways that can't be measured in exact numbers, because it taps into the "word of mouth" promotion that fans are already doing, such as sharing photos of themselves attending games.

"The challenge is how does the team capture that word of mouth to drive people to the next game?" he said.

Cote said he has also seen how the Giants have used social media to energize the team's fan base during their World Series runs and has been hoping for the same kind of opportunity for the Warriors.

"We wanted to be ready when the spotlight was on," he said. "This year, we've taken it to another level. Luckily, the team on the floor has taken it to another level too."

Benny Evangelista is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: bevangelista@sfchronicle.com