Let's keep moving through the Big East Conference, looking at how programs market themselves. How they are communicating to young athletes online. It's our chance to see how coaches and programs in a power conference stack up against each other -- and how they share what they stand for.
Let's keep moving.
#10 Cincinnati
The Digital Scouting Report
Strengths: You are going to find their Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube sites, as you have many ways to navigate in -- including a cool accordion style nav at the bottom. Can accordions be cool?
Weaknesses: The basketball content we need is just not available.
Full Scouting Report:
As you can see, Cincinnati is giving you constant access to YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook (along with email, mobile alerts, and others).
Before we go any further though, I want you to move with me to the bottom of the home page to this - a super cool accordion-style promotional area. Nice. As you can see, Cincinnati is elevating ways to stay in touch with the program - across Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Let's dive in.
The good news is that the Facebook page feels more like a fan site than a school site. The bad news is that means the army of 22,000 fans really aren't getting their full dosage of Cincinnati Athletics goodness - it's more of a place for fans to gather and talk about the latest game.
As a whole, Cincinnati Athletics do a nice job on Twitter (link here, shown below). They have roughly 1000 fans, and do keep it pretty updated with sharing of content posted to the site and score updates. But while this is solid, it's nothing I'd rush right home to sign up for.
Clicking into the YouTube channel (complete with a scary image below and link here), you'll see that they do a nice job of keeping this area updated with highlight packages from games across multiple sports. I'm hoping we see a lot of this come the heart of hoops season.
Let's go back to the Accordion. The Podcasts area shows off nice Bearcats branding.
Clicking in will look very familiar if you're a regular reader. Cincinnati offers up interviews with coaches across multiple sports as podcasts here. You can download individual shows or sign up for everything... as in the other programs, there just isn't a way to sign up for a specific Cincinnati Basketball Podcast yet.
And, finally, the last area of the Accordion navigation gives you access to inside info from the Cincinnati Administration. Athletic Director Mike Thomas keeps a semi-regular blog. It's pretty good, with a personal, newsletter-like feel to it. I'd like to see this get deeper by engaging fans with questions, contests, or looking for feedback.
Going back up to the top of the home page, you'll see there's a Multimedia Navigation. Here's another way to get into Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Podcasts. Nice. I'm a big fan of putting things where they intuitively fit and I believe Cincinnati has done that in the site.
The Home Page also has a callout "For Recruits." Double-clicking in gives you high-level information on the process of recruiting, but falls short 0n the opportunity to inspire or connect here.
So it's time to move on. To get serious and visit the basketball home page, here. You'll notice a bold callout for Catsvision All Access. Let's zoom in.
As you can see, there are player features and what looks like deep video potential. So I clicked in, eager to go deeper on what it means to be a part of the program....
...Unfortunately though this click leads you here, to a popup video window powered by CBS. The content is good, the message is good, you just feel like you are no longer on the Cincinnati Athletics site and you have no easy way to share this with your friends. I'd much rather see this content built into the Cincinnati YouTube page.
The Basketball section also gives you a chance to check out History and Former Athletes. Which is exciting as the Bearcats have been to the NCAA tourney 24 times including the Final Four in 1992... and they've had one of the best ever to play the game in Oscar Robertson. Clicking into history takes you to a list of results - good information, no inspiration here.
There is a little information on Oscar Robertson on the site. Solid. While it isn't the most robust of features, it does offer a glimpse into how Oscar performed at Cincinnati. I think that's a critical thing we just don't see in many college programs' sites -- I don't need to come here to see their impact on the NBA. Show me what they were like wearing your uniform, and in the process help me envision that your program can help get me to the next level.
Finally, the Bearcats offer up their Media Guide as a series of PDFs. It's here, it's just not with the most dynamic presentation. And adding that dynamic feeling to the site as a whole can help make you feel more connected to the program.
That's a wrap -- thanks for reading. Come back tomorrow as we keep moving through the Big East!
Andy
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