SEC College Basketball Marketing: #3 Florida

Let's continue our journey, looking at how programs are communicating to young athletes (or fans) from a digital point of view. Websites and digital marketing are the great equalizer -- a place where every program can 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.

Thus far we've seen #12 Alabama, #11 Mississippi State, #10 Auburn, #9 LSU, #8 Vanderbilt, #7 Ole Miss, #6 South Carolina, #5 Arkansas and #4 Georgia.

Let's keep moving.

#3 Florida

The Digital Scouting Report

Strengths: Coach Donovan.com gives you a chance to hear and feel what it's like to play for UF... he is also fantastic on Twitter.

Weaknesses: The UF Athletics site is needing an infusion of energy from either or both of the above sites.

Full Scouting Report:

When I hit the Gator Zone home page, here, I was a little underwhelmed. There was a lot of UF Football, as you'd expect, but for a program built upon speed and cutting edge innovation I was hoping for more life on their site.

First, I moved to the Multimedia button, hoping for something lively here.



I clicked into Game Audio and came to this window. As you can see, there is a lot of content around basketball, but also a need to organize and brand it a little stronger. "Miscellaneous Press Conferences" isn't very compelling, but "Coach Donovan's Final Four Press Conference" would definitely be intriguing.

Podcasts allows you to separate and sign up for either or both of Gator Football or Gator Hotline. Cool. I'm still wondering what is a part of each though -- Is hoops a part of the Gator Hotline?

The Facilities menu offers you the ability to take a virtual tour of the O'Connell Center, even letting you tailor your tour by checking out the Locker Room, Stands, and Film Room.




See images below - while these are pretty small in size, they are super cool. For some reason I like the fact that there are players in this locker room tour.

Moving on to the hoops home page, here, and you'll see this is a definite extension of the home page. This is a program that won back-to-back National Titles in 2006 and 2007 and there's really no mention of this. Seems like a big miss. I can't imagine that being left out of any key recruiting message. But let's look at what you do get here...

You get access to the media guide (shown here) which can be downloaded as a series of PDFs but can't be checked out online.

Gators in the Pros offers a unique way of including not just NBA but NBDL, CBA, and International players. Solid, however all we get is a text list, not any specific stories about their stay in Gainesville, the impact the program had on them (or vice versa), or for those who played under Coach Donovan any updates on that experience.

Somewhat frustrated, I clicked on the "Billy Donovan" text at the top of the page. It took me here, to an entirely different experience I never dreamed existed. Cue the music!

I entered. And you are hit right away with the messaging I had been hoping to feel through the Gators Site. The Coach Donovan home page pumps in headlines on the Gators from the media, along with key videos.



I moved into the Coach Donovan area - where you get hit with 2 nice messages. First, you can listen to one of Coach's pre-game speeches to his team. That's powerful. You get a great feel for what it's like to play in a big game for this program.

And, second, much lower in tech but very powerful is this - a bio of Coach Donovan's career as a player. Many coaches played in their pre-coaching days. But not many elevate this. It is an extra way to signal that you understand life as a player. And to be a little vulnerable. Nice.

Moving on to the Family (love that name - how much better is it to brand your team as your "family" rather than "player roster"?) and you see a nice and clean layout that includes simple imagery, text, and video reels for players. Nice!

This same pattern is extended to the Assistant Coaches. Solid.

I clicked next on Billy Ball.


First up, Player Development. And again I was floored. This is fantastic. The topics and the branding. Check this statement: "Florida has had 8 NBA 1st Round draft picks under Donovan after only 2 before him." Wow.

This section (as you'll see in the next two images) gives you an overview of those players who left UF and made it to the next level. What got me really fired up was the tabs for "Parent Testimonial Monitor." Sadly, the button didn't work for me. But I can see their plan of adding parent insights into the site. Now that's powerful!!!




Coach Donovan elevates Championships. You can take a video and photo tour through their titles in 06 and 07, and watch as they visit the White House. Fantastic!

Life as a Gator
Life As a Gator is a pretty cool addition. The map below shows places the Florida squad has competed -- lots of dots around the globe. The not so subtle message: If you go to UF, you experience the world.

And, as you'll see in the images below - they give you a tour of the O'Connell Center and Practice Facility. Amazing - I just wish they would work with the UF Athletics site to create a combined tour of these spaces that was incredible. Or pump in player/coach insights about the facilities. What do they love the most about playing there?

And, finally, Academics. Coach Donovan gets you high level info on the UF Academics programs, before funneling you on to the school site for this info.

What I didn't see anywhere, on either Coach Donovan's site or the UF site, was any mention of Twitter or Facebook. It's especially weird when you see what Coach Donovan is doing. See his Twitter page, here. He's got over 5300 followers, is very active, and is very authentic - giving you a positive spin on the team through his eyes. Definitely worth a click of your time.

This feels like something that could pump into both sites and keep them fresh and lively. I'd also love to see Coach Donovan use his Twitter feed to drive more fans to both sites. They have an incredible foundation at Coach Donovan.com that could really enhance the UF athletics site if they brought these together!

That's a wrap.

Come back tomorrow as we keep up this trek through the best two in the SEC... Kentucky or Tennessee?

Andy