West Coast Conference Best Practices: The Saint Mary's Gael Force

This blog is all about inspiration. Today we start with 3 days elevating best practices from the squads that make up the WCC. You can tune in on this blog, or you can follow along on Facebook (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

What makes something a best practice? This isn't about the most intricate experience. It's about looking at the world from your consumer's point of view and delivering something that hits it right smack on the head. In the case of colleges, I'm treating the primary consumer as that prospective student athlete.

Thus far we've seen Santa Clara's UStream efforts (here) and LMU's recruiting summary (here).

Let's finish up...

Hit the Saint Mary's Athletics Home, and you'll see Traditions in the main menu. (Side note, I love this as it implies not so subtly that there are, in fact, positive traditions). Let's click into the first item, Gael Force...

That takes us here,to the official student spirit club of SMC Athletics. You'll see a powerful visual and a quote from Davidson University Coach Bob McKillop, which is so powerful I'll type it here...

"Is this the atmosphere they have here for every game? It just blows my mind that they have this type of crowd...This is very similar to Duke's Cameron Indoor in terms of the noise level, the heat, the intensity, the passion..."

Wow. You have to think this kind of atmosphere makes all the difference on an official recruiting visit!!!

As you'll see, the club also includes priority seating, road trips, and of course t shirts. Solid!

How could this be better? Give us some YouTube links to video of the experience. The visual and text help a lot, but blow us away with the sound plus visuals from inside the experience!

Tune in tomorrow as we share more inspiration from the WCC! And, don't forget, you can follow along on Facebook (here) or on Twitter: I'm @pawlow34.

Andy

West Coast Conference Best Practices: Loyola Marymount's Recruiting Roundup

This blog is all about inspiration. Today we start with 3 days elevating best practices from the squads that make up the WCC. You can tune in on this blog, or you can follow along on Facebook (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

What makes something a best practice? This isn't about the most intricate experience. It's about looking at the world from your consumer's point of view and delivering something that hits it right smack on the head. In the case of colleges, I'm treating the primary consumer as that prospective student athlete.

Thus far, we've taken on how Santa Clara is getting ready to UStream, here.

Let's go.

Hit the Loyola Marymount Basketball Page and click on the Recent Recruits callout on the right hand side of the page. (In the shaded box)

That takes us here, to a list of all the recruits who have signed with LMU, across all sports, with a brief recap of who they are. I love this concept, because of the connection that exists between student-athletes across all sports at a University. And I am a believer that most schools don't take advantage of this connection in recruiting. If the Men's Basketball team lands a stud recruit, that helps the Women's program (and vice versa). It does this because it raises the profile of the campus, and it leads to success and awareness of the school.

How could this be better? Tap into the "why". Get each of these recruits to briefly state why they chose LMU. If the fact that they signed can help all sports, imagine the potential locked inside the reasons they chose LMU. We could have something powerful here!

Tune in tomorrow as we share more inspiration from the WCC! And, don't forget, you can follow along on Facebook (here) or on Twitter: I'm @pawlow34.

Andy

West Coast Conference Best Practices: Santa Clara's UStreaming

This blog is all about inspiration. Today we start with 3 days elevating best practices from the squads that make up the WCC. You can tune in on this blog, or you can follow along on Facebook (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

What makes something a best practice? This isn't about the most intricate experience. It's about looking at the world from your consumer's point of view and delivering something that hits it right smack on the head. In the case of colleges, I'm treating the primary consumer as that prospective student athlete.

Let's go...

When I hit the Santa Clara Broncos Basketball page, here, I came upon the Team Information box on the right-hand side of the page... The final item on this list is "Santa Clara U-Stream Link". Naturally, I headed in.

Clicking in takes you here, to Santa Clara Hoops on UStream Live. Shown below, you'll see that there wasn't currently a live stream occurring, but stay with me. Santa Clara is onto something...

If they can create this destination, they will be able to allow fans (and recruits) across the globe to take part in their post game (or post practice) press conferences. For those of you unfamiliar with this medium for communication, UStream essentially lets you broadcast live, over the internet, from any place at any time. You don't need an expensive crew and you can be more reactionary to special moments.

How could this be better? Give us a sneak peak. What's coming on this channel? Can we subscribe to be notified when you go live? Again, this is a monstrous step in a sweet direction to allow athletics programs to connect with their fans/recruits in real time. And I can't wait for the post-practice reports one day, like we get in the NFL!

Tune in tomorrow as we share more inspiration from the WCC! And, don't forget, you can follow along on Facebook (here) or on Twitter: I'm @pawlow34.

Andy

The West Coast Conference's Social Media Footprint

Today we'll continue our look into the West Coast Conference. We will review their social media presence -- what they do and where they could improve. And I'll plot it all in one spot on a Social Media Report Card.

Then, we'll finish the week out by looking into the 8 WCC programs and elevating the best digital features I've uncovered.

You can stay plugged into this journey via this blog, via the Digital Hoops Blast Facebook page (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

Let's start.

Social Media Exposure

The journey always begins with the conference's weight to social media. There are always stories, teams, and schools weighing in for home page worthiness. But the question I start with is... how easy is it to follow the conference? That doesn't necessarily mean quantity of places. But it does mean exposure to ways to follow the conference.

Hit the WCC Sports home page and you'll find social media in two places: The banner in the upper left hand corner of the site (which rotates between the WCC and Commissioner Zaninovich on Twitter) and the Multimedia menu in the main nav. Both are shown below.

Social Media Roster Depth

As you can gather from the above, the WCC hits us with a social media approach on 4 platforms: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and iTunes.

The site layout would lend me to believe Twitter is king, so we will start here. Clicking on the Twitter menu in the nav (or on the WCC on Twitter banner) takes us here, to the WCC Sports on Twitter. The conference has 818 followers and covers all sports and schools with this feed. It's always a challenge to keep a conversational feel when you have such a broad audience (8 schools X 12 sports by my count), but I feel the conference does a nice job of adding some personality into their posts.

You wouldn't find it from the main nav, but WCC Commissioner Jamie Zaninovich is up on Twitter, here, with 326 followers. We don't see it very often - a person in leadership who puts him or herself out there for fans (and alums, media, or even recruits) to connect with. But what it does is it puts a face on the conference. It makes the conference office feel less formal and more approachable. And, honestly, many conferences can (and probably will) steal from this model.

If we put some numbers to the Twitter pages...

1. 9.2% of the time that a fan subscribes to the WCC Twitter feed, they put the conference into a list. For Commish Zaninovich, the list rate is 6.4%.
2. The Twitter equivalent of student-to-teacher ratio: Tweets per Subscriber. The conference has tweeted roughly 1.62 times per subscriber. For Commish, it's 0.63/subscriber.
3. Activity is pretty consistent. The conference tweets multiple times per day; the commissioner tweets a few times each week.

The Conference's Facebook presence is here, with 726 Fans. As of now, it seems that the conference leverages Facebook primarily as a way to subscribe to WCC news -- as they publish stories to this platform as they hit the main WCC site. This is an opportunity for the conference to evolve and develop a voice in this platform.

A tool that could help that voice is imagery. Photography is currently limited to 4 albums, shown below. After what we saw yesterday, the conference has a big opportunity to infuse more images into Facebook.

Next, WCC Sports on YouTube takes you here, with 40 subscribers. It's evident from hitting this site that video content is important to the WCC. (That comes through loud and clear). I'm especially a fan of the individual team offseason (summer) reports, which you can check out for yourself here. This content is amazing in that 1) it is on a schedule, 2) no one else can tell this story, and 3) school websites can help promote this content. Fantastic work!!!

The full YouTube Channel is shown below:

Finally, the WCC has a presence on iTunes, here. Fans can sign up to get the latest WCC conference audio podcast, covering all sports. The challenge is that this content hasn't updated since May 2009 -- meaning we should either infuse new energy or take this section off the site until we have that content. Love the idea though, as it allows fans to take the latest news from the conference with them on the go... and this content isn't something anyone else could deliver!

Buzz.

To gauge buzz, I did a quick search for #WCC on Twitter. There were 3 mentions in the past 24 hours, and a lot of #WCC references that had little to do with the conference (WCC is apparently a popular acronym!). Nonetheless, there is opportunity to improve here, and to curate a conversation along the way.

Intangibles

Synergy. I'm looking for the total impact the conference has across social media to be higher because the pieces work well together. To me, the WCC could get there by creating a blog that packs the emotion this conference delivers in one spot.

Report Card

Strengths: Depth of Roster, Commish Zaninovich on Twitter, YouTube content plan

Weaknesses: Intangibles, Consistent voice on Social Media, Synergy

Neutral: Exposure

That's it for now... But come back tomorrow as we start elevating the 3 best practices I found through the 8 WCC programs!

You can stay plugged into this journey via this blog, via the Digital Hoops Blast Facebook page (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

Andy

The West Coast Conference Online: Where Photography is King

Each week we will break down a different conference across the D-1 landscape, giving you a look into how they are connecting with fans (and recruits) across their website and social media. Along the way, we'll elevate a few things in each conference that are best-in-class: what we can learn from the schools that make up each conference.

You can stay plugged into this journey via this blog, via the Digital Hoops Blast Facebook page (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

We break down leagues based on how squads finished last season. Thus far we've checked out the ACC, Horizon, Big Ten, Big East, Big 12, Atlantic 10, MVC, Pac-10, and Ivy. It's time to keep moving... Our final conference to land a squad in the Sweet 16 was the WCC, thanks to Saint Mary's.

Check out the WCC website here, and below:

Photography is powerful. It captures emotion and energy. It makes us feel something powerul inside. And yet in this era of streaming video and live broadcasts, I think we often underestimate its potential. The West Coast Conference sees the potential in photography.

Hitting the WCC home page, you'll note the far right menu calls out "Multimedia." That's where we will turn our attention...

Clicking into Photo Gallery takes us here, to a deep lineup of galleries by school.

I chose Gonzaga, which took me here.

And then, 2 clicks later, I end up in a beautiful sea of basketball photos, which you can check out here (or below).

Powerful images, yeah?

How could we make this better? There is an enormous level of depth to this photography. I'm not sure if I've come across a gallery this robust yet. And yet it remains buried deep into the site. That's a focus I'd love to see elevated -- take this great photography and infuse it into the home page, into the sport or school home pages, and into social media. The hard part's done (getting this level of asset). Now let's get the most out of what we have!

West Coast Conference week continues tomorrow. We will take a peak at how the conference is leveraging social media. Then, we'll wrap the week up with 3 peaks into things I found fantastic across the 8-team conference landscape.

Don't forget, you can follow along via the Digital Hoops Blast Facebook page (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

Andy

Ivy League Best Practices: Brown's Special Olympics Clinic

This blog is all about inspiration. Today we start with 3 days elevating best practices from the squads that make up the Ivy League. You can tune in on this blog, or you can follow along on Facebook (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

What makes something a best practice? This isn't about the most intricate experience. It's about looking at the world from your consumer's point of view and delivering something that hits it right smack on the head. In the case of colleges, I'm treating the primary consumer as that prospective student athlete.

Thus far we've seen an Ivy League take on competitive search, here, and Princeton's Alumni in Pictures, here. Let's keep moving.

Hit the Brown Basketball page, and you'll note a callout under "Team Information" for their Special Olympics Basketball Clinic.




Click in and you'll arrive here, into a photo gallery of Brown Basketball as they conducted a camp for the Special Olympics athletes this past year. The pictures are powerful, because you'll note that the athletes are very involved. They are taking an active role in teaching the game and, more importantly, in making sure these young athletes are having fun. It's a dimension to life on campus that is often overlooked, and it is something the Brown Basketball team should feel proud of. Putting the content here puts this experience as a foundational part to what Brown Basketball means. Nice.



How could this be better? I'd love to hear (or read) reflections from the student athletes. What did they get out of this? What do they remember the most? How does an experience like this bring you closer to your teammates and coaches, while also developing a part of yourself that might otherwise get missed in college. This is a very cool program and I'm very happy to see this featured!

That's it for the Ivy League.

Come back next week as we check out a new conference... the final one with ties to last year's Sweet 16. And, don't forget, you can follow along on Facebook (here) or on Twitter: I'm @pawlow34.

Andy

Ivy League Best Practices: Princeton's Alumni Pictures

This blog is all about inspiration. Today we start with 3 days elevating best practices from the squads that make up the Ivy League. You can tune in on this blog, or you can follow along on Facebook (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

What makes something a best practice? This isn't about the most intricate experience. It's about looking at the world from your consumer's point of view and delivering something that hits it right smack on the head. In the case of colleges, I'm treating the primary consumer as that prospective student athlete.

Thus far we've seen an Ivy League take on competitive search (here). Let's keep moving.

Hit the Princeton Basketball Page, and you'll notice the prominent callout for Alumni in the top navigation. Let's dive in...


Clicking in takes us here, to a photo gallery taken on each year's alumni day. It's a pretty long visual stream, I'll paste a couple of the images below and you'll get the style.




Essentially, Princeton posts pictures and captions them with the player and his year of graduation into this feed. What I loved about this was seeing many generations of Tigers here, together, connecting. You get the feeling that as a Princeton student-athlete, you are joining a fraternity of excellence -- and by that I mean joining a group of people who help each other long after the playing days are over. (The picture above shows a 2011 future grad alongside grads from the 1970s).

How could this be better? Put some voices to these visuals. Develop a simple series of content around how Princeton has shaped who they are. And deliver that right here to the prospective student-athlete. Princeton could also consider listing out where each of these individuals are now, as a means of illustrating how powerful your network will be one day. (If you make the right call and play here!)

Tune in tomorrow as we share more inspiration from the Ivy League! And, don't forget, you can follow along on Facebook (here) or on Twitter: I'm @pawlow34.

Andy

Ivy League Best Practices: Search Sabotage

This blog is all about inspiration. Today we start with 3 days elevating best practices from the squads that make up the Ivy League. You can tune in on this blog, or you can follow along on Facebook (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

What makes something a best practice? This isn't about the most intricate experience. It's about looking at the world from your consumer's point of view and delivering something that hits it right smack on the head. In the case of colleges, I'm treating the primary consumer as that prospective student athlete.

Let's go...

Today's best practice hits us like a good old fashioned Ivy League Prank. Go to Google and type "Columbia Athletics." The result is here, shown below.


As you'll note, the results for Columbia Athletics suggest we also see the following: Princeton Athletics. Harvard Athletics. And Cornell Athletics. We might see this often in the world of packaged goods but not so often in recruiting.

And that's amazing.

Why not try to take a kid seeking out info on Columbia and instead point him or her to you? It's so simple, but so smart.

How could this be better? My only comment is to make sure the schools you are competing against are the ones you use this tactic on. Is it only in the Ivy? Or are you competing with the likes of Providence or Northwestern? (Good academic programs who are in big leagues but lower down the food chain). It's worth a try, and it just seems to make a lot of sense! (Plus who doesn't like a nice prank?)

Tune in tomorrow as we share more inspiration from the Ivy! And, don't forget, you can follow along on Facebook (here) or on Twitter: I'm @pawlow34.

Andy

The Ivy League's Social Media Footprint

Today we'll continue our look into the Ivy League. We will review their social media presence -- what they do and where they could improve. And I'll plot it all in one spot on a Social Media Report Card.

Then, we'll finish the week out by looking into the 8 Ivy League programs and elevating the best digital features I've uncovered.

You can stay plugged into this journey via this blog, via the Digital Hoops Blast Facebook page (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

Let's start.

Social Media Exposure

The journey always begins with the conference's weight to social media. There are always stories, teams, and schools weighing in for home page worthiness. But the question I start with is... how easy is it to follow the conference? That doesn't necessarily mean quantity of places. But it does mean exposure to ways to follow the conference.

Hit the Ivy League site, and you'll note 2 ways to enter into social media -- via the bottom left-hand part of the site (see the Facebok and Twitter icons below)

and via the Main Navigation, under Ivy Interactive...

Let's check out what they are doing...

Social Media Roster Depth

The Ivy League's social media lineup is led by Facebook, as you can see here. With only 165 fans, I was pretty surprised. From what I know, the student population in the Ivy League is very passionate about their school and their league, and this level of support kind of caught me off guard.

When I drilled around I found a decent job of leveraging Facebook to share news and alerts around teams (like we saw on the Ivy Website yesterday). And, perhaps at its core, that's what the opportunity is here -- use Facebook to rally students and fans around the emotion in this league, rather than simply the facts about what happened today. It's subtle, but if the conference is so focused on Tradition, how can you own that in the digital world?

I do love how they allow fans to RSVP for Ivy League Championships by leveraging the events tab in Facebook. Smart, as it plays into the truth that (especially in college) who else is going plays a big role on if you go or not!

Shifting gears to Twitter, it's pretty clear that Twitter is also an engine of sharing alerts and breaking news, to an audience of 111 followers. This gives us the same opportunity here that we have in Facebook: share emotion.

If we put some numbers to the Twitter page...

1. Less than 1% of the time that a fan subscribes to the Ivy Twitter feed, they put the conference into a list.
2. The Twitter equivalent of student-to-teacher ratio: Tweets per Subscriber. The conference has tweeted roughly 0.45 times per subscriber.
3. Activity is pretty strong. Multiple times per day, with a heavier post level during game days.

Buzz.

To gauge buzz, I did a quick search for #IVY on Twitter. There were 50 mentions in the past 24 hours. Granted many of these were final score related, but nonetheless there is a lot of energy (and thus opportunity) here!

Intangibles

Synergy. I'm looking for the total impact the conference has across social media to be higher because the pieces work well together. To me, the Ivy League could get there by infusing emotion and connection into their voice on social media.

Report Card

Strengths: Buzz

Weaknesses: Intangibles, Voice on Social Media

Neutral: Depth of Roster, Exposure

That's it for now... But come back tomorrow as we start elevating the 3 best practices I found through the 8 Ivy League programs!

You can stay plugged into this journey via this blog, via the Digital Hoops Blast Facebook page (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

Andy

Breaking down the Ivy League Online

Each week we will break down a different conference across the D-1 landscape, giving you a look into how they are connecting with fans (and recruits) across their website and social media. Along the way, we'll elevate a few things in each conference that are best-in-class: what we can learn from the schools that make up each conference.

You can stay plugged into this journey via this blog, via the Digital Hoops Blast Facebook page (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

We break down leagues based on how squads finished last season. Thus far we've checked out the ACC, Horizon, Big Ten, Big East, Big 12, SEC, Atlantic 10, MVC, and Pac-10. It's time to keep moving... The Ivy saw Cornell pull big upsets and advance to the Sweet 16, so we'll pick things up here.

Today, we'll start with a look into the Ivy League Online.

The Ivy League Elevates the News.

At its core, the Ivy League has positioned themselves as the source for information on the 8 member institutions. They create multiple entry points into this information, which I'll reveal below.

First, at the top of the page you'll see a ticker. The latest headlines scroll across the page, like you'd find on CNN or ESPN. Click onto any of them and you can check out the full story.

Now, turn your attention to the right hand side of the page, shown below. The latest news across all schools fills up the box.


You can interact with this box, click on your sport, and see a full look at the latest news -- not just from the schools themselves but from the NY Times, Sports Illustrated, and others.

How could this be better? I like the easy access to news but wish it would be easier to sign up and have these alerts brought to me -- by sport and by team. So if I only want Cornell Hoops alerts, I can get those here. As a bonus, this creates an opportunity for the Ivy League to directly connect with fan bases of a specific team and/or sport.

Ivy League week continues tomorrow. We will take a peak at how the conference is leveraging social media. Then, we'll wrap the week up with 3 peaks into things I found fantastic across the 8-team conference landscape.

Don't forget, you can follow along via the Digital Hoops Blast Facebook page (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

Andy

Pac-10 Conference Best Practices: Stanford's Player Intros

This blog is all about inspiration. Today we start with 3 days elevating best practices from the squads that make up the Pac-10. You can tune in on this blog, or you can follow along on Facebook (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

What makes something a best practice? This isn't about the most intricate experience. It's about looking at the world from your consumer's point of view and delivering something that hits it right smack on the head. In the case of colleges, I'm treating the primary consumer as that prospective student athlete.

Thus far we've checked out how UCLA builds a case for recruits (here) and how Washington connects recruits to the power of all sports (here).

Let's keep moving.

Hit the Stanford Basketball page and Hover over Recruits. You'll notice the first thing you see, Cardinal.Red.Sports, which is where we are headed.



We arrive here, at the home of Stanford Basketball Recruiting. I say the home of recruiting because that's a clear target for this area. You find it right in the top of the Recruiting Navigation. And I love this. It's a funnel to get prospective athletes to your storytelling. Smart.


At the bottom of the page, you'll find the callout for Meet the Team. As you'll note below or by clicking here, this is an interactive roster page that allows prospective athletes (or fans) to dive deeper on any player.


Clicking into a player, as I did for Jarrett Mann (see it for yourself here), allows us to see an intimate video on the player. Why they chose Stanford. What they think about Coach Dawkins. What they think about playing in the Pac-10. It's a simple video but wow it makes you feel connected to the program.


In addition, you can get to know the player in a more personal way than usual (see the questions below... "Best Meal You Can Prepare? Favorite Class? Dream Job Besides Basketball?)


All of this section is really designed to help you get to know the squad. Many times this isn't a focus area. A roster is treated as just that, a roster. And it misses the opportunity to create an emotional bond between prospective student athlete (or fan) and the team. Nice work here.

How could this be better? The videos are great, but if they could be shared, the reach would really expand. This could be done by using YouTube or by adding share links to each of the videos.

That's it.... for now. Tune in next week as we move on to our next conference!

And, don't forget, you can follow along on Facebook (here) or on Twitter: I'm @pawlow34.

Andy

Pac-10 Conference Best Practices: Washington Shows Recruits The Power of All Sports

This blog is all about inspiration. Today we start with 3 days elevating best practices from the squads that make up the Pac-10. You can tune in on this blog, or you can follow along on Facebook (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

What makes something a best practice? This isn't about the most intricate experience. It's about looking at the world from your consumer's point of view and delivering something that hits it right smack on the head. In the case of colleges, I'm treating the primary consumer as that prospective student athlete.

Thus far we've checked out how UCLA builds a case for recruits (here).

Let's keep moving.

Hit the Washington home page and mouse over Recruits.



Now click into Coaches, which takes us here, shown below. As you'll note, this takes us to a window where we can view all of the UW coaches in one frame, in a very consistent manner.




Naturally, I clicked into Men's Basketball, which opened up a frame featuring Coach Romar and his personal message to recruits.

There's several things I love about the approach here:

1. Coach Romar comes to us in a window that doesn't take away the view of the other coaches. It naturally leaves us in a place where we feel compelled to explore more coaches.
2. That window also includes the way to contact the coach, via phone or email. It's very easy to find.
   
3. The videos are uploaded to YouTube first, then embedded here, allowing people like me to simply play that video from their site, or blog.
4. The videos are short and sweet but consistent in elevating the reasons each coach loves UW and a tease into who they are as a leader.
   

I think what UW has unlocked here is there is potential in combining all of your coaches together to present a deeper look into what it means to be a student athlete at a school. Once you are a student athlete, you develop bonds with athletes on other teams, as you share that name on the front of a jersey. And this is done in a way that makes it very easy to explore. Well done.

How could this be better? Make this a franchise. Could we have consistent topics and continue this style of showing several viewpoints on the same topic? (Favorite spot on campus? Best thing about Seattle? Why they became a coach? What it means to wear the jersey?) Fantastic concept that could have big extensions!

Tune in tomorrow as we share more inspiration from the Pac-10! And, don't forget, you can follow along on Facebook (here) or on Twitter: I'm @pawlow34.

Andy

Pac-10 Conference Best Practices: UCLA Lays It Out for Recruits

This blog is all about inspiration. Today we start with 3 days elevating best practices from the squads that make up the Pac-10. You can tune in on this blog, or you can follow along on Facebook (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

What makes something a best practice? This isn't about the most intricate experience. It's about looking at the world from your consumer's point of view and delivering something that hits it right smack on the head. In the case of colleges, I'm treating the primary consumer as that prospective student athlete.

Let's go...

Hit the UCLA basketball page and hover over the Recruiting section, shown below. You'll see the second callout (highlighted below) indicating the Reasons to Choose UCLA. Let's click in.


That takes us here, to a list of 25 Reasons You Should Choose UCLA Athletics.



There's something really simple and really powerful about this concept. A recruit hits your site and what's important to elevate? Naturally, you want to hit them with a list of the reasons why your school is the right choice. This list does just that. Let's take a deeper look.

This list includes athletics reasons:

"UCLA had the longest streak in NCAA history for consecutive winning seasons in the sport of men's basketball, a record that lasted over 50 years dating back to 1948-49 and extending through 2002. No other major program was close to that figure. UCLA basketball still holds many NCAA records that will be difficult to break for years to come."

And academics reasons:

"In the U.S. News & World Report surveys on top academic universities across the nation, UCLA has annually ranked among the Top 4 public universities and in the Top 25 overall. UCLA had over 60 departments ranked in the Top 20 in the annual academic survey. Several UCLA academic departments rank with the Ivy Leagues in overall recognition and prestige. Newsweek has called UCLA "the hottest mega-university in the country."

It's simple, aspirational, and to the point.

How could this be better? While the list is simple and aspirational, it could have more personality. For now, it does a solid job of laying out the facts. But have some fun with it. We're connecting with high school athletes (and their parents). Think about having current student athletes (and/or famous alums) come up with a list of why UCLA, in their words. This model is great, the concept is strong, it just is the start of what's possible.

Tune in tomorrow as we share more inspiration from the Pac-10! And, don't forget, you can follow along on Facebook (here) or on Twitter: I'm @pawlow34.

Andy

The Pac-10 Conference's Social Media Footprint

Today we'll continue our look into the Pac-10. We will review their social media presence -- what they do and where they could improve. And I'll plot it all in one spot on a Social Media Report Card.

Then, we'll finish the week out by looking into the 10 Pac-10 programs and elevating the best digital features I've uncovered.

You can stay plugged into this journey via this blog, via the Digital Hoops Blast Facebook page (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

Let's start.

Social Media Exposure

The journey always begins with the conference's weight to social media. There are always stories, teams, and schools weighing in for home page worthiness. But the question I start with is... how easy is it to follow the conference? That doesn't necessarily mean quantity of places. But it does mean exposure to ways to follow the conference.

Hit the Pac-10 home page and you'll see that social media benefits from the fact that there aren't a lot of distractions to click into. Facebook and Twitter are both called out in the bottom left-hand corner of the site.

Social Media makes another appearance later in your journey. Clicking into the Blogs section, here, pulls in the latest Tweets from the conference.

Social Media Roster Depth

The integration into the site makes it clear that Twitter is the top priority. The Pac-10 on Twitter, here, has just shy of 6,500 followers. The style is really just leveraging Twitter to get the word out around articles and scores, but it's interesting to see how they list scores. For example, not Oregon 69 Portland State 0 but rather @oregonfootball 69 Portland State 0. I haven't seen a Twitter powered scoreboard before, but I kind of dig it. Feels like they should take this all the way home, for example, "Huge Win today for @oregonfootball -- blasting PSU 69-0."

If we put some numbers to the Twitter page...

1. 6.56% of the time that a fan subscribes to the Pac-10 Twitter feed, they put the conference into a list.
2. The Twitter equivalent of student-to-teacher ratio: Tweets per Subscriber. The conference has tweeted just over 600 times -- or 0.13 per subscriber.
3. Activity is pretty consistent. Multiple times per day, with a heavier post level during game days.

Shifting over to Facebook, the Pac-10 has just shy of 8,700 fans, here. They leverage this page to publish game summaries and previews -- using Facebook as a way to get access to stories that are live on the Pac-10 site. It's not bad to have an extra connection to the stories, I'd just love to see some exclusive stories and energy here.

Buzz.

To gauge buzz, I did a quick search for #Pac10 on Twitter. There were 20 mentions in the past 2 hours, along with callouts for the Pac10 feed, ESPN Pac 10, and Pac-10 Football (which I didn't even know existed from the main site and may not be current as it hasn't been updated since June). A lot of energy here!

Intangibles

Synergy. I'm looking for the total impact the conference has across social media to be higher because the pieces work well together. In this case there's so much potential for the school pages to serve as this. But it is lacking. Pulling in Twitter posts relevant to each school on their page could be a great starting point for this.

Report Card

Strengths: Buzz! Twitter scoreboards.

Weaknesses: Intangibles.

Neutral: Facebook, Depth of Roster, Exposure

That's it for now... But come back tomorrow as we start elevating the 3 best practices I found through the 10 Pac-10 programs!

You can stay plugged into this journey via this blog, via the Digital Hoops Blast Facebook page (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

Andy