Big 12 College Basketball Marketing: #10 Texas

Let's continue our analysis of the Big 12 Conference. We're going to look at how programs are communicating to young athletes from a digital point of view.

We dive into this because websites and digital marketing create an opportunity for coaches and programs to share what they stand for. Young athletes are going to check you out. What are you telling them? The internet is always there, and always on.

The best coaches and programs take advantage of opportunities.

So let's keep moving. Thus far our Big 12 journey has shown us #12 Texas Tech and #11 Colorado.

#10: Texas

The Digital Scouting Report

Strengths: Texas Sports TV is cool. Texas embraces a pretty solid history.

Weaknesses: The site doesn't feel very personal - maybe because they don't connect it to their Twitter presence?

Full Scouting Report:

OK. Texas was my pick to be the best in the Big 12, here. What gives? When you hit the Texas home page, you get hit with a Texas-sized tout for Texas Sports TV.

Let's zoom in just a little so you can get a look at this player...

Clicking to launch Texas Sports.TV takes you to a pop up window, shown below. You are able then to filter this down by your favorite sport (see the basketball collection below). I was impressed that this was filled with footage from practice - there's not a lot, but still it's good inside access we'd expect to find on Texas Athletics. Solid. Note this content is also accessible from the "Multimedia" drop down on the home page.

OK, want more hoops? Let's dive into the basketball section. The image below is what I was dying to see on the Colorado Buffs site. Kevin Durant in his Oklahoma City gear. Nice. If you have a superstar leave your program, keep their future success a part of you. Hype it. After all, you are where that dream became a reality. And this image is just killer. Naturally, there's also a tout for Texas Sports.TV.

If you scroll down the page a little, you'll hit this basketball sub-navigation.

First, I'm not here to point out the obvious. But I couldn't, for the life of me find out who is on the Longhorns coaching staff beyond Coach Barnes. See the image below - that came up when I clicked on either Roster or Coaching Staff. I'm sure it's being updated, and might even be up by the time you read this... but to me this is one of those sections that's so important it should always be up, with the lights on!


OK, here's the listing Texas athletes in the NBA. They offer a list of pretty solid players. But there really is nothing about the player - what they accomplished at Texas or what they've made happen at the next level. Come on, this is something to brag about... and, witnessed by the Durant image above, I know there's potential.

Moving on to Texas Basketball History. This isn't the most deep section. But I am a fan. It's solid. Texas elevates their history and then dives into the top 100 moments of all time. It's all text and images, but it is celebrating where they've come from and I was pretty pleased to see it!

As you can see, there's a listing that covers 100 moments in 100 years. Going into each moment, and giving you a feel for what makes Texas special. Solid.

What surprised me though was that the site as a whole didn't feel that personal. I didn't see really any ways to sign up to get updates. So I did some digging and came across two Twitter sites, both of which seem to be pretty good and neither of which gets mentioned on the Texas Athletics site.

First, here's the Longhorns Hoops Twitter page, with only 180 or so followers (probably because it is hidden). They do a really nice job of updating you on the team - articles and insights. Sadly, the team also follows a who's who of other teams, from Nebraska to Duke.

And I also was able to find the UT Athletics Twitter, shown below or here. This covers all sports, with a style that is more updates and facts style than it is insights and original content. I'd love to see either of these Twitter sites linked into (or at least referenced) on the Longhorns site. It wouldn't be enough to get Texas where I had them picked, but it would definitely make the site feel personal.

Thanks for sticking with me. Come back tomorrow as we keep rolling through the Big 12.

Andy