NCAA Seeds Marketing: What We Could Learn from #10 Saint Mary's

We're in search of inspiration- things that all of us can take and apply into our worlds. Then we will apply a "Plus One" method to make each inspiring thing even better. Thus far, we've looked at top seeded Duke, #2Villanova, #3 Baylor, #4 Purdue, #5 Texas A&M, #6 Notre Dame, #7 Richmond, #8 California, and #9 Lousiville.

Let's go.

South Region #10 Seed Saint Mary's: What's Inspiring about Saint Mary's Athletics Marketing? (Link Here)


1. The Gael Force Student Fan Club
This is pretty cool. It's a loyalty program for students. As you can see below (or here), the Gaels introduced a sweet concept - earn points by attending athletics events and then have those points add up to something. What's that something? One of the top choices in the housing or graduation plot lotteries. So you take school spirit and you award it with an amazing prize that costs next to nothing? And the info's online? Cool.



Want more reason to believe? Check this picture.


Plus One: The big question is how do we better apply the Gael Force online? Meaning how do you portray this passionate fan base in a way that inspires kids who haven't yet chosen Saint Mary's? I think it needs to start with visuals and sound from the student section. Let us feel that passion. And then look to add in ways to bring that to life -- potentially via a Gael Force Facebook page?


2. Gaels Basketball on Facebook
Not many programs are elevating their basketball team to the point where they get their own Facebook page. But Saint Mary's does just that. Linked here, you'll see that the Gaels have a basketball fan base of just shy of 1500.



Plus One: Photography. The gallery of photos is only 14 strong. Here's an area the Gaels could win. Take pictures of each game and upload them as galleries. Add a gallery for the Gael Force student section. And pump in the best photos into the wall.


3. Bold Photography + Share Functionality Dominates our windshield
Click right into the basketball page, here, and you'll see quite a window. Big, bold photography grabs you and gets your attention. The Gaels show us that great photos can really suck you in (in a good way) into a website.



Plus One: More. It's that simple, really. The Gaels have a great layout that can deliver a brand statement. But that statement needs to be reinforced by photography that is updated, and timely. I'd also like to see the share functionality expand to make it easy to share via Facebook or Twitter.

What's next?

We'll continue our journey Friday with a breakdown of #11 seed Old Dominion.

As always, you can follow along on Twitter - I'm @pawlow34.

NCAA Seeds Marketing: What We Could Learn from #9 Louisville

We're in search of inspiration- things that all of us can take and apply into our worlds. Then we will apply a "Plus One" method to make each inspiring thing even better. Thus far, we've looked at top seeded Duke, #2Villanova, #3 Baylor, #4 Purdue, #5 Texas A&M, #6 Notre Dame, #7 Richmond, and #8 California.

Let's go.

South Region #9 Seed Louisville: What's Inspiring about Louisville Athletics Marketing? (Link Here)

1. A Basketball Museum

History. Sometimes we see it as a less than glamourous topic. But sometimes it can be a difference maker. When you dive into the Louisville athletics site, here, you will quickly note the "Recruits" button. That page gives access to a lot of info on the University, but to be honest nothing beyond the ordinary. Then you notice it -- a little hidden gem shown below. This gem tells you there's access to a basketball hall of fame. Which I had to check out...

That hall of fame contained a photo gallery on this section that gives you access to a visual look into the history of the Cardinals. It's fantastic stuff, but really it's just a starting point.


Plus One: Where could we take this? We have the visuals. Now give us the insights. Add in text, quotes, interviews, or bonus content. Why are these teams and athletes honored? What are the criteria for making it to the Hall of Fame? Right now we are recording history. But this could become an inspiration and a reason to push that next HOF member into Louisville Red.

2. Kuric Blog

The summer doesn't mean you can't keep an audience coming back. Louisville has access to their student athletes year-round and is taking advantage of it. They have identified a pretty cool idea -- following basketball player Kyle Kuric and his sister (soccer player Katie) as they travel to Egypt, here. It's simple, but a powerful reminder of the human connection and of the connection that exists between student athletes across sports. Being a former student athlete myself, I think this is a forgotten thing -- that there is a bond that happens across sports. You are all putting on the team jersey and doing that puts you into a unique circle that's often left off.

Plus One: How can we keep the concept going through the season? Could you tell of the basketball team through the eyes of the soccer (or volleyball) team? And vice versa? These individuals have a bond and Louisville has uncovered a way to do this that needs to be amplified!

3. NCAA Tournament Blog, in pictures

Pictures. Oh how I love the power they offer. Linked here, you will see that Louisville offered a simple photo recap of their NCAA tourney loss to Cal in photos, both color and black & white. The result is touching and powerful.

It's powerful because of the intimacy. No one else gets this level of access. It's powerful because of the simplicity. These are big, powerful images, without words. You draw your own conclusions. And it's powerful because of the storytelling. These images, in succession, tell you the story of what happened. So emotional, and that's what connects us to you.

Plus One: Do this, always. Could we get a photo recap of every practice? Of every game day? It doesn't take 30 pictures a day -- the strip above (3 pictures) can do it. The U of L has opened up my eyes to the power pictures can offer over the course of a season.

What's next?

We'll continue our journey Wednesday with a breakdown of #10 seed Saint Mary's.

As always, you can follow along on Twitter - I'm @pawlow34.

NCAA Tournament Basketball Marketing: What we can learn from #8 Seed California

We're in search of inspiration- things that all of us can take and apply into our worlds. Then we will apply a "Plus One" method to make each inspiring thing even better. Thus far, we've looked at top seeded Duke, #2Villanova, #3 Baylor, #4 Purdue, #5 Texas A&M, #6 Notre Dame, and #7 Richmond.

Let's go.

South Region #8 Seed California: What's Inspiring about California Athletics Marketing? (Link Here)

1. Live views of campus inside the recruiting guide

There's no doubt that the gorgeous views of the Bay Area are one of the draws to attend Cal. Thus I was pleasantly surprised to not just see a photo gallery inside the Cal Recruiting section, but actually a live camera view (linked here).

It's a little ironic that this view is a cloud of fog but (as you can see below), they also offer time lapsed views when it isn't a dense wall of grey in front of you.

Plus One: The live view idea is pretty cool, but where I see the potential is in expanding the time lapsed views. Perhaps find a way to combine the time lapsed views with testimonials from student athletes on what the Cal experience meant to them! Same visuals, but give us the emotion that comes with sound.

2. Cal NCAA Tournament Central

This is something that just doesn't get old to me. Cal pumped in their 2010 NCAA Tourney preview right into the nav of their basketball pages. Linked here and shown below, you get a full on preview of their upcoming matchup (that's naturally no longer upcoming). But I think just like you would hang an NCAA tourney banner in the gym, you should also virtually hang one on the website. And that is what this could become...


Plus One: Keep this up. But update it with photos and testimonials from the Bears on their experience this year. Over time, hopefully they'll add more and more of these banners to their site, and it will become a visual experience that hits recruits with a powerful taste of success.

3. A great social media directory

Want to know what options are out there to follow the Bears? Well click no further than right here, where you get a look at the Cal Athletics accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. It's a nice one-stop shop to see everything in one handy web browser.

Plus One: Give access not just to the "official" Cal sites, but also to the bloggers and twitterers who cover the programs. If you can give access to the point of view of the unbiased, you'll connect more and more fans (and recruits) into feeling the beat of your program.

That's a wrap.

What's next?

We'll be back to continue our collegiate journey Monday with a breakdown of #9 seed Louisville.

As always, you can follow along on Twitter - I'm @pawlow34.

NCAA Tournament Basketball Marketing: What we can learn from #7 Seed Richmond

This fun ride continues. We're in search of inspiration- things that all of us can take and apply into our worlds. Then we will apply a "Plus One" method to make each inspiring thing even better.

Let's rejoin our coverage of the NCAA Tourney's South Region. Thus far, we've looked at top seeded Duke, #2Villanova, #3 Baylor, #4 Purdue, #5 Texas A&M, and #6 Notre Dame.

Let's go.

South Region #7 Seed Richmond

What's Inspiring about Richmond's Athletics Marketing? (Link here)


We've broken down Richmond's marketing before, here. But I was excited to hit the site again to see what's new and inspiring...

1. Pumping new signees through YouTube

The Spiders kill it on YouTube, linked here and shown below. They post early and often and it is with content that provides real value if you are a Spider fan. As you'll see below, they even compiled a highlight reel of incoming recruits. That's hot stuff, and it's exciting to find here!

This highlight reel is also accessible via a link that is pasted in the men's basketball section.

Plus One: The challenge is that the Spiders only have 112 subscribers on their YouTube channel. So they need to think of how they can maximize viewership and not simply rely on having an action packed YouTube channel. A couple suggestions I have are to:

• Take these YouTube clips and embed them into Facebook (as you'll see in a minute they do a nice job here) and the Spiders site.
• Lead with this content. What if we could have the same recruiting highlight video on the site on signing day? And what if the highlight package was the way we revealed this to the world? Great content that's timely builds loyalty in a BIG way!

2. Spiders Toolbar earns you PreyGround points

I was a little hesitant on this at first. Click in here, and you can see that the Spiders have a system to download a Richmond-customized search bar to your web browser. People already have my standard web search browser and to offer your own version of something like that felt a little bit forced. But then I checked it out.

The copy says it well: "Here's your chance to prove you are the #1 Spiders fan. Download the toolbar and every time you search, not only will you earn points but you will raise money for Richmond athletics."

Hmm. I like the idea of enabling fans to earn money for the program by doing something they already do (searching). It made me look a little deeper. What are these points?

Preyground points. The leaderboard of who's the biggest fan. You can earn points from downloading the toolbar and points for attending events (different values for conference games and non-conference games). The most passionate fans win Richmond gear (see the list below) Nice.

Plus One: I'd love to see the most passionate fans get elevated even further. Maybe the current leader (from the student list) wins a chance to sit on the bench for a game? Kind of like the Yellow jersey in cycling, it could be a status of who is leading at any given moment.

3. Mooney's Looneys on Facebook

Linked here, Richmond sets up a passionate fan base with a 1,100+ Facebook fan nation. The title has me going -- rather than calling this Richmond Basketball, it is entitled "Mooney's Looneys". Nice. That keeps us in the aspirational frame of mind that is no doubt why fans love going to games. And as you can tell from the image below, they are active on Facebook, drilling us with relevant stories on the program that just connect us even closer with the Spiders. In short, they brand the page well and then hit you with relevant information that keeps you coming back.

Plus One: Elevate the fan here. Why not post the Preyground point leaderboard and photo gallery right here, in a tab on the Facebook page? That could be contagious - as more and more fans go to check out who is the most passionate. And those images would support the Mooney's Looneys brand we all want to see!

That's it.

What's next?

We'll be back to Friday with a breakdown of #8 seed California. As always, you can follow along on Twitter - I'm @pawlow34.

Andy

NCAA Basketball Marketing: What we can learn from #6 Seed Notre Dame

It's time to shift back to college basketball, full time.

I'm going to pick up my breakdowns of this year's NCAA Tournament field, from a marketing point of view. We're in search of inspiration- things that all of us can take and apply into our worlds. From the NBA Digital Disciple Series we just completed, I'm going to apply a "Plus One" method to make each inspiring thing even better.

Can you hang with me?

Let's rejoin our coverage of the South Region. When we broke camp, we had looked at top seeded Duke, #2 Villanova, #3 Baylor, #4 Purdue, and #5 Texas A&M.

Let's go.

South Region #6 Seed Notre Dame

What's Inspiring about Notre Dame Athletics Marketing? (Link here)

We've broken down the Irish marketing efforts previously, here. Today I'll call out 3 inspirational things that Notre Dame does.

1. Coach Brey's Photo Stream

I'm a fan of the move to have CoachBrey.com, a new addition since the our last visit to the site (check it out here). Although it doesn't contain a lot of information yet, it does give us something with crazy potential... In the bottom right hand corner, you'll notice the Flickr icon, which takes you here.


Clicking in here takes you to Coach Brey's photostream. It is ironic that the first stream of pictures are all of the cheer squad (I'm sure his players would appreciate that!) But if you scroll down a bit, you do get into action shots of this year's squad.

Plus One: What if these pictures were only pictures uploaded by Coach Brey from his mobile device? It could become an inside access look into the Irish program. Coach Brey sees things that none of us get access to and I think it could become a serious spot to get the latest vibe on the team.

2. A DEEP athletics blog

Notre Dame offers two of the most critical components to having a successful blog. First, it's elevated and easy to get to. As you'll see below, the Blogs are pumped directly into the Men's Basketball page. While I wish this would be only men's basketball posts here, you can gather the potential in one quick glance.

But the Irish don't stop here. So, if you click here or look below, you'll find that ND has one of the deepest blogs I've come across yet. In fact it's almost overwhelming the quantity of information now at our fingertips.

Plus One: With all of this information and a great foundation, it becomes even more valuable to structure it so it's easier to consume. I'd love to see ND do two things: Separate things out by sport and add some visuals! That way we could have a deep and personal connection with our sport!

3. Coach Kelly miked up?

What? A football post here? Well, in a word, yes. Notre Dame took football coach Brian Kelly and miked him up for their Spring Practices and then aired it online. Just click in here or look below and you'll get a glimpse into the approach. You definitely feel closer to the program by hearing something normally reserved for players and assistant coaches. It's pretty powerful stuff, and I believe it could be applied to Hoops...

Plus One: The film & video crew at Notre Dame helped drive this experience with Coach Kelly. They are up on Twitter, here. And I believe they have the talent and creativity to help expand this to hoops. How could we apply what's worked well with Coach Kelly and apply it to basketball? I'd love to see all the coaches get miked up for a practice. Yes, that means the assistants and Coach Brey. Why? It's not about simply taking football and applying it to basketball. It's about what makes hoops unique -- and that includes all of the one-on-one attention or position (bigs vs. guards) attention that comes packed into every basketball practice. This could become a powerful statement on how the Irish develop talent.

That's it.

What's next? We'll be back Wednesday with a breakdown of #7 seed Richmond. As always, you can keep in touch via Twitter. I'm @pawlow34.

Andy

Twitter: 5 Things NCAA Programs could steal from the NBA

We've spent the past 7 weeks or so checking out the best digital marketing practices from the NBA. The question for this week is simple but powerful: what does this mean for college basketball marketing? What are the best practices we've seen at the NBA level, that college programs should take into consideration?

I'll do my best to answer this question over the course of a few posts. Here's the 3 part plan of attack:

Monday 6.14: Websites (Posted here).

Today: Facebook (Posted here)

Friday 6.18: Twitter

Then, next week, we'll return to our breakdowns of the NCAA Tournament landscape.

Ready?

5 Things NCAA Basketball Twitter Pages could steal from the NBA

1. Be Authentic

When you click into the Dallas Mavericks' site, you get an enormous but beautiful billboard for Twitter, shown below and linked here.

Clicking in, you are given easy access to the Mavs on Twitter, layed out by Team, Dancers, Front Office, and Players. What I'd like to hone in on though is their description.

"Want to follow the Mavs on Twitter but don't know what Twitter accounts are official? Following these insiders will give you information before anyone else..."

You'll note below that other Mavs accounts (from the mascot to the web team) are up on Twitter and available to connect with you. The tone is very non-corporate - very much a feeling that you are joining the authentic Twitter sites and you are getting valuable info.

NCAA Impact: Who all is available to cover your team? Think a little outside the box - beyond coaches and the team sites. Now put them all into one forum and tell the story of why a fan (or recruit) should follow.

2. Get Followers Involved

The Spurs do a great job on Twitter, linked here. The power of what they do is combine a great voice with great giveaways in a way that is easy to get people involved. (You don't need to be a web developer to play a role in this!)

There's nothing that makes a fan tune in to your Twitter channel (or radio program) like thinking they have a chance to hear/feel passion and maybe win some stuff. As you'll see in the post below, the Spurs have Twitter-only giveaways. This one is fantastic.

So they get fans to celebrate the team and they giveaway a monster prize (playoff tickets) if you act quickly (10 minutes). Fans essentially make your ad campaign for you. Brilliant. Then, as you can see below, the Spurs post pictures of the winning fans -- even showing off that fan's Twitter handle.

NCAA Impact: Find easy ways for fans to share their love for your program. Contests are addicting, and will bring out the emotion-- which is what you want that recruit (or fan, of course) to feel!

3. Give hype to the experts

The Phoenix Suns deliver quite a visual experience around Twitter, here. This page (shown below) elevates players and official sites, in a visual way that lets you see and digest the thoughts of the experts, in one spot. Fantastic!

NCAA Impact: Elevate all your Twitter streams into one page, like this one! Fans don't have to go into Twitter, and your site becomes alive by stealing this visual masterpiece from Phoenix.

4. Use the hashtag

The hashtag. A word that didn't exist before Twitter, and one that many of us (including me) are struggling to figure out. The Minnesota Timberwolves get it. If you click into their site, here, you'll see that they are elevating everyone who Tweets with their hashtag (#Twolves) right into their site.

NCAA Impact: To do what Minnesota did, it takes two big steps: 1) identify a common tag that you and your fan base could do and 2) get all of your internal and media partners to start doing it. If you can start internally, fans will catch on and you'll start creating quite a network of energy around your program.

5. Make it Fun

Who says the internet can't be a place to ignite fan spirit? The Phoenix Suns want fans to turn themselves (the virtual versions of themselves) orange. Check it out here or below -- the Suns give you a step-by-step guide to making yourself Orange... and then branding it! And, then they do this to their player and official pages -- meaning if you turn your Twitter image Orange, you'll be tying yourself more closely to the team you love!

NCAA Impact: Make it easy for fans to turn their Twitter profile pictures close to your program. What if a recruit announced his decision not by Tweeting but by changing his Twitter picture to your logo? What if there was a wave of fans who were visually posting, tied to your program? You can choose a color update like Phoenix or simply have a lot of imagery available for fans to take and apply to their own network.

That's a wrap.

We'll shift back to covering what's hot in the world of college hoops next week, and we'll be applying a lot of what we learned to recognize what's inspiring.

Don't forget to follow along on Twitter - I'm @pawlow34.

Andy

Facebook: 5 Things NCAA Programs could steal from the NBA

We've spent the past 7 weeks or so checking out the best digital marketing practices from the NBA. The question for this week is simple but powerful: what does this mean for college basketball marketing? What are the best practices we've seen at the NBA level, that college programs should take into consideration?

I'll do my best to answer this question over the course of a few posts. Here's the 3 part plan of attack:

Monday 6.14: Websites (Read this one by clicking here).

Today: Facebook

Friday 6.18: Twitter

Then, next week, we'll return to our breakdowns of the NCAA Tournament landscape.

Ready?

5 Things NCAA Basketball Facebook Pages could steal from the NBA

1. Timing is Everything

The Lakers have an enormous footprint on Facebook, here, with nearly 1.1 Million fans. But to me one of the reasons they have grown so big is they recognize the value of what they have in front of them.

Moments after Ron Artests put back pretty much sealed the fate of the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference Championship, the Lakers posted a gallery of photos from that play. The result? An ignited fan base.

NCAA Impact: What can you offer, in real time, that others can't? If you can answer this question you create a reason for fans to follow you -- checking back early and often.

2. Leverage Exclusive Access

The Minnesota Timberwolves (linked here) offer you not just timely information but they go behind the scenes. As you can see in the gallery below (or here), they offer you the chance to go back stage as they workout prospects before this month's NBA Draft. You can't get that information anywhere else, and as a fan... wow.

The LA Lakers take post practice media sessions and cut them into tiny chunks that are easy to share on Facebook. See below (or here)- they offer the chance to watch inside access, quickly, in the comforts of your Facebook feed.


NCAA Impact: It's not about how much you share. It's about finding something you get to see or hear that no one else does, then offer that up to the fan base. Is it an exclusive interview? Photos from a team meal or the bus? This isn't about fanciness, it is about impact.

3. Get More Mileage from your social media car

One of the biggest arguments against using Twitter is the statement that not everyone is up on Twitter and, thus, not everyone could participate in this. As you can see in the link here, the New Orleans get after this in a very innovative way! Pay close attention to the Share button.

Essentially, the Hornets take their Twitter feed and pull it into a tab inside their Facebook page. Then every Tweet comes with an accompanied "Share" button. So you simply click "share", you get access to your list of friends with whom you can share the latest. Who would have thought there'd be an easy way to effectively re-Tweet inside Facebook?

The LA Lakers take their podcasts and drop them into their Facebook page as music tracks, shown below. I love that you can check out podcasts right inside Facebook -- no need to run over to NBA.com (or iTunes) to find these!


NCAA Impact: Success in Facebook is doing a few things, really well. Look at Facebook as a place to pull in your Twitter feed and your Podcasts/radio shows. And make sure you add in the ability to quickly share what's posted -- taking that step saves your Fans time!

4. Learn from your audience

There's power in the right numbers.... If you learn from them! If you let yourself be vulnerable, you will have powerful results.

The Phoenix Suns actually embed a survey right into their Facebook page, as a tab. Click into it and answer a few questions at your leisure -- it gives the Suns great info to better understand their fan base!

Meanwhile the Portland Trail Blazers want to get better, and are asking their fan base for input, here. They posted a survey to learn a little about who is going to their Facebook page, what else they like, and why they go. This is something great, as the more you understand what fans want, the more likely you are to be able to delight them.

NCAA Impact: Take the time to ask your fans who they are, what they love, and how you can make them happier. The only thing you're out is the fact that you now have suggestions that might cause you to adjust what you're doing -- but that will connect you all to each other in a DEEP way!

5. Show Emotion

Emotion must be deep in Texas!

The Dallas Mavs are pretty active on Facebook. Their fan page is home to 108,000 passionate fans, here. But what I was drawn to wasn't the size of the fan base but rather the personality and emotion in the interactions.

Take a look at the post below. "A story from Marc Stein that everyone who cares about the Mavs should read..." They aren't just sharing links, they are sharing insight and a little emotion. And the fans (50 of them) liked this.

Similarly, I love what the Houston Rockets have going on in Facebook. Nearly 100,000 like the Rockets on Facebook (you can join them by clicking here). There's a lot of great things about the style the Rockets deliver on Facebook, from highlight reels to celebrations for all things good in the franchise. But most powerful to me is the emotion in the communication.

Check this example to accompany their year end highlight package. "Miss the Rockets? Me too. Here's some video of the finer moments in 2009-2010." The result is below. 103 people like it and 33 comment. That's a nice viral stream of activity from a simple post. Great work here.

NCAA Impact: Share passion. Don't be afraid to love your team. Your fans do, and by you showing love, it will remind you all that you are in this together!!!

I hope you've enjoyed this one. Don't forget to tune in on Friday as I take you through the things NCAA programs can learn from the NBA in Twitter. And you can follow me on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

Websites: 5 Things NCAA Programs could steal from the NBA

We've spent the past 7 weeks or so checking out the best digital marketing practices from the NBA. The question for this week is simple but powerful: what does this mean for college basketball marketing? What are the best practices we've seen at the NBA level, that college programs should take into consideration?

I'll do my best to answer this question over the course of a few posts. Here's the 3 part plan of attack:

Today: Websites

Wednesday: Facebook

Friday: Twitter

Then, next week, we'll return to our breakdowns of the NCAA Tournament landscape.

Ready?

5 Things NCAA Basketball Websites Could Steal from the NBA

1. Leverage the power of experts

We all have experts around us. We just don't always realize it. This is an area I think many NBA squads do extremely well -- they identify an expert voice and tell you what's new with the team through the voice of people who have access to the program that the average fan doesn't have. The Utah Jazz excel at this through their Broadcasters Blog, shown below and linked here.

Think about it, there's perhaps no one better suited to cover a team than their announcers. You have a couple people who are privy to inside information and access to players/coaches/trainers that we all would love to have. They are good communicators. And they travel to the same places the team goes. The Jazz deliver this in a blog headlined by announcers Craig Bolerjack, Pace Mannion, Steve Brown, Ron Boone, and David James. It's authentic, and available often.

NCAA Impact: Who has access to your program, through practices, road trips, locker room pep talks, and game day shootarounds? Your website could become a platform for them!

2. Photography is really powerful

Sounds simple huh? I can't speak enough to the impact great photography can have on a website. I saw this up and down the NBA. Photo by photo adds up!

The Grizzlies elevated Team Photographer Joe Murphy. Murphy was asked to choose his favorite photos of the team in the 2009-2010 season. This is all covered on the site, here and pictured below, in a feature entitled "Behind the Lens." Clicking in and you get a thick gallery of shots of the squad in all facets -- locker room, weight room, in game, and in the community.

As you'll note at the bottom of this image is a caption that goes into the specifics of what was striking on the picture, according to Joe. "I love how the kid is peeking over to get a look at the book..." Brilliant.

The Spurs offered Spirit Photography Contests. The Spurs offered fans a chance to submit their Spurs spirit via photography, with the winners posted on the site. Wow did they ever! Amazing stuff here.

The Kings delivered a Weekly Photo Blog. I've never seen anything like this one! The Kings created a photo blog, which publishes new photos every Thursday. See this here. You can then click in and share any photo you want, as you can see below.

NCAA Impact: How can you make sure the photography is a priority? How can you encourage others to share photos? And how can you give access to photos from places fans (and thus recruits) don't normally get access

3. Find success. And celebrate it.

Perhaps no part of the NBA journey was more rewarding than to look at the teams that didn't make the Playoffs. Why? Because they had a tougher marketing challenge -- they needed fans to see them as on the rise. As successful. And as something you'd want to be a part of. The Kings finished with the second-worst record in the West. But they found the reason to hope: Rookie-of-the-Year Tyreke Evans.

Hit their home page and you get stopped with a message of success. There's a splash page (shown above and you can find it here) for Tyreke Evans and his 20/5/5 rookie season...

This features a 4 minute highlight reel, that lets you feel the excitement the Kings have for the future. Doing this not only paints the team around success, but also shows the team that they will elevate the successes!

NCAA Impact: What is success for the program? Or, better yet, what makes you love them? How can you elevate this, week-in, week-out. Don't let wins or losses define whether or not you can define your program as successful online. And make sure fans (and recruits) see it. It may not require a roadblock like the Kings delivered. But it just might.

4. Use your website as a hub of social media

Access. Not everyone has the time to go to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or whatever else comes up. So a fan (or recruit) hits your site. Don't see the website as a highway, pointing you in the direction of another place to visit. The NBA did a great job with this -- witnessed in many places, of which I'll highlight a couple.

The Mavs delivered a Texas-sized callout for Twitter, shown below and linked here.

Clicking in, you are given easy access to the Mavs on Twitter, layed out by Team, Dancers, Front Office, and Players. I especially like the description, "Want to follow the Mavs on Twitter but don't know what Twitter accounts are official? Following these insiders will give you information before anyone else..."

You'll also note below that other Mavs accounts (from the mascot to the web team) are up on Twitter and available to connect with you. This whole set up has a feel of inclusiveness. Solid.

The Timberwolves found that social media was the key to their site feeling alive -- check the image below or click here. You can see not only the latest Tweets from the Wolves staff and roster but, as you see here, all of the fan chatter around the team. Anyone hashtagging "#Twolves" gets elevated to the home page feed. Hot.

The Suns elevated the latest Tweets of their players. If you're just interested in following the Suns on Twitter, click no further than right here. You'll see a very well designed page that gives you the latest posts from the players, along with quick access to all Suns Twitter feeds. Really well done.

NCAA Impact: You don't have to do it all. You just need to recognize that the website is a great forum to elevate the work that you are doing. By doing so you get more bang for the buck, and you also develop a website that is alive!

5. Give your fans a voice

NBA teams allowed fans to have a say in things. These are different tactics at the same concept -- telling fans that their opinion matters. And the impact is pretty monstrous.

The Nuggets gave Fans a chance to vote for their plays of the year. This is something that all teams should do, as it combines the right elements: fan interaction around good and exciting parts of your team. As you can see here, the Nuggets post the top plays of the 2009-10 season and ask fans to vote for their favorite. It's pretty simple but a great way to tie your squad to performance.

And the Spurs gave fans a chance to speak up and tell them how to get better.
Clicking in, I saw that this was not just a space to give feedback on your experience at a game but actually a forum to submit ideas. (And if you see the headline, it's pretty clear which of the two is the most important topic to take away)...

Here's the link, the image is below.

NCAA Impact: Where are the opportunities to bring fans (and thus recruits) into the conversation on what you do? Could you let fans ask questions of coaches on their coaches show or post game interview via the website? Could fans vote for which topic or player would be featured in a week? Or are you willing to ask fans what they'd like to see next from you, online?

Hope you dug this.

Tune in Wednesday as we take on Facebook. And follow along with me on Twitter - I'm @pawlow34.