Big 12 College Basketball Marketing: #6 Iowa State

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. The internet is always there, and always on. And, as they do on the court, the best programs take advantage of opportunities.

So let's keep moving. Thus far our Big 12 journey has shown us Thus far our Big 12 journey has shown us #12 Texas Tech, #11 Colorado, #10 Texas, #9 Kansas, #8 Oklahoma State, and #7 Missouri.

#6: Iowa State

The Digital Scouting Report

Strengths: Great Social Media icons, and a really nice job with Twitter.

Weaknesses: Need to add depth inside their basketball section... Cloud Zone anyone?

Full Scouting Report:

The Cyclones home page hits you with a bold Facebook callout. Almost too bold. But what is unique at a glance is that they aren't just asking you to become a Facebook Cyclone fan. They are telling you why: connect and share with Cyclone Fans and, maybe more importantly, to win prizes. I find this super interesting -- most of us would see Facebook as a way to connect. But they are striving to make it a site you feel motivated to get back to again.

We'll check Facebook out in a minute, but for now, let's look at another entry point: the Fan Zone dropdown. As you can see, this gives you constant access to Facebook and YouTube.

Clicking into Facebook, here, and you'll see they have roughly 10,000 fans. The community is pretty active and, as promised, there are chances to win prizes. On my visit I noticed this contest: "Tell Cylclone Nation who your favorite all-time ISU student athlete is and why. Tell us under the Just Fans wall tab. The fan with the best response wins two tickets to the ISU-Colorado football game." Cool. Love this. It's simple - but very powerful. And it has the potential to make you feel you need to check back early and often.

Here's the Cyclones YouTube channel. It's a decent channel, but is more a collection of videos (all sports) than it is a deep Cyclone experience. Adding the ability to filter by sport could really help this out.

Going back to the Cyclones home page, and scrolling down shows you this -- a cool section to stay connected to the program. Love this. I just wish it was hyped at the top of the page -- rather than put beneath the Facepainting section. Simple and powerful - giving you access to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and staying connected by email and mobile alerts.

So let's visit the area we haven't yet - Twitter. Clicking on the Twitter icon takes you here, to a directory of ISU Twitter pages. Well done.



Let's check out a couple of them, starting with the Cyclones Men's Basketball Twitter. The site is maintained by Associate Athletic Director Mike Green and has around 800 followers. It's one of my favorites - really good job of providing frequent updates with a personal feel. You get to hear an insider's take on what the players are up to - with a unique voice. Really worth a follow. The only thing I don't like is that ISU Basketball is "Following" Kansas and Northern Iowa basketball (shown by the icons on the lower right). Don't send fans or recruits to your competition!

Coach Greg McDermott is also up on Twitter, and is pretty good. He isn't as active as I'd wish, but he provides good insight into the team which is what as a fan (or potential recruit) you'd want to see. Link here.

Hitting the Men's Basketball home page, gives you a pretty unique feature. Check out the Share callout on that main window. ISU makes it super easy to forward a news article to a friend, via email. I'd love to see them enable you to share via Facebook or Twitter.

You can barely see it in the image above, so I'm going to scroll down the page for you. Focus in on the videos in the image below. I love the fact that you can see video on the basketball home page. I don't love the fact that these videos aren't basketball-specific. Women's Volleyball anyone?

The basketball section also gives you access to a Recruits area. I love seeing this, though I think it's a little funny to see a small area designed for Recruits, rather than the whole experience! As you can see in the image below, it's really basic content including a message from the AD and a tour of campus. It doesn't feel like the message ISU would sit across the table from a top recruit and share. And to me that's what a program needs to do to succeed!



That's it for now. Tune in tomorrow as we move into the top 5.

Thanks for reading,

Andy