Washington Huskies Leverage Photography for Recruiting

If they say a picture is worth a thousand words, what would a collection of ridiculously amazing pictures that scrolled at you before your eyes be worth? Is that a hypothetical question? Yes. But it's also one we meet head on when we look at the Washington Huskies website.

Let's take a look...

We will start out at the Washington Huskies website and click on "Recruits", which puts us here.

It's on that main page (here) that we find a collection of images that literally take over the bulk of your screen. As you'll see below, you could lump those pictures into these themes: Championships, Team, Beautiful Campus.

Take a peak here, I'll meet you when you've scrolled through...

Powerful, huh?

Now, not all of us have teams that have won titles or are located in Seattle. But we all have things we love about our team, our fans, our gyms, or our city. And why not leverage those via visual expressions on our website?

How could this be better? The images are great, for sure. But the questions become: how can these be dynamic? How can we make this a little more human, a little less perfect? Could we go deeper into what makes the campus beautiful? (It might be teacher/student bonding, it might be events, it might be theatre, it might be a farmers market...) Could the pictures single out more than team and title? Lots of questions, but I mean this in a good way. Take what you're most pumped about now and put it into the paths of those who are checking out your program!

I'll be back Monday with more best practices. Feel free to follow along via Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski, here)

Thanks.

Andy

Will More Teams Shift to iPads?

With all this technology hitting the world, and with players (and coaches) getting younger overall, what's going to happen next?

I came across this article a couple days ago and it got me pondering... According to the St Petersburg Times, this year the Tampa Bay Buccaneers gave each player an iPad 2 with their Playbook on it. Players also can use the computer to "reference video files of games, and practice and situational videos of any NFL team."

As one player put it, "Stuff that we used to come in here to see, we can sit on our couch at home and have access to it 24-7. It's awesome."

So, not only is it easy to use, convenient, and adaptable (so you can listen to your own music while reviewing) -- it's also safer. If a player leaves his iPad in a hotel, the team can wipe it clean with a push of a button or two.

Amazing.

So why don't colleges move in this direction? Feels like investing in a dozen or so iPad 2's for your trips makes a ton of sense. You can custom outfit each iPad with the week's scouting report, with footage, and players can easily jot down notes. After games, you can load up the latest footage and let players watch on the way home. And, no doubt, you could enable players to share their highlights to family and friends with the click of their hand...

Great inspiration from the NFL -- and one that I fully anticipate will become the standard in the college landscape very soon.

Who's going to lead?

I'll be back Friday with more best practices. Feel free to follow along via Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski, here)

Thanks.

Andy

Social Media Monday: LSU Football takes over #1 Ranking with Dismantling of West Virginia

There's no doubt who has the momentum in College Sports right now. Fresh off a monster victory over West Virginia, LSU is the new #1 team in football right now. Fans are no doubt feeling it -- and that makes social media the place to be.

Let's head over to the LSU Football Twitter and Facebook pages. I'm going to post a series of images from the game, and the aftermath and I'll come back at you with some reactions.

First, here's a snapshot early in the game and then postgame, on Twitter.

Now, here's the same posting times, on Facebook.

No doubt you'll note a theme, as the posts were identical (as are the profile pictures). This idea carried over into the postgame reaction, which I'll include below with Twitter first, then Facebook.

The only differences you'll note in the imagery above are two things: 1) the use of the #LSUWVU hashtag on Twitter and 2) the sharing and commenting stats from Facebook.

What do I make of all this?

You have to love the energy. It's a big game and I counted a total of 15 posts between the start of the game and the end of the game on both Facebook and Twitter. There's no doubt this school is in the mindset of bringing action to its fans. Check.

But is this the right execution? It is inside Twitter, where we have a tool designed for rapid updates. I'd love more emotion in the postings (Don't tell me "Defense forces another punt," but rather tell me "This defense is suffocating tonight. Another 4 and out.") But it's not the ideal strategy in Facebook, where we should go after engagement on fewer posts. (Do less, better!)

I get the idea of extending your voice out to more people. But keep in mind that the Twitter following (22,000) is much, much smaller than the Facebook following (521,000). Thus, I'd love to see Facebook become a focus in LSU Football's efforts. Leverage imagery, put emotion into posts, and limit the posts inside Facebook.

I'd love to see Facebook feel like Les Miles' locker room and Twitter feel like a passionate fan is doing the color commentary... In sum, we had great energy that was of the moment, we just need more focused emotion and recognition that simply syncing accounts isn't always the best strategy. The good news is there's a passionate fan base to work with, and a great football team to hype!

If you're digging this (thanks), don't forget to tune in again. I'll be back Wednesday with more digital best practices. Feel free to follow along via Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski, here)

Thanks.

Andy

Indiana Athletics Pumps Sounds of the Game into Facebook

Could you imagine if you went to a game and it was completely silent? If you were forced to treat a basketball or football game the same way our culture treats a golf match? Complete silence while the action happens? Naturally, we'd lose something, right? And I'd argue that is one of if not the biggest thing one misses by not being there, in person, to experience a big game.

It's also one of the most powerful takeaways a school can leave a recruit -- letting him or her experience what it's like on gameday in your stadium. Now what if you could bring this into Facebook, where you'll get more access to fans and recruits, after every matchup?

Indiana University puts us on that path. Let's start out on the Indiana Athletics Facebook Page, here, and shown below...




You'll see that first post on the image above, for Sounds of the Game, which I'll zoom into below. Side note - have you ever seen a longer sponsorship line? ("The Indiana Criminal Justice Institute's Traffic Safety Division's Sounds of the Game?") Wow. We'll get to that in a minute...


It's pretty easy to share this content, simply by clicking on the musical share button... Making this very scalable.




Most importantly, the content is fresh. It's tough to embed audio in a blog (or at least too tough for me), but it's worth checking out. You get a nice mix of IU announcers, bands, and crowd. Check it out by clicking here. Definitely does a great job of giving access to what the game felt like -- which by its nature brings emotions into the mix!

So given all this, how could we make it better? First, as aforementioned, I'd shorten that sponsorship line. Or take it out altogether in the post. While the audio content is packed with emotion, the post itself isn't and when we're trying to bring fans in, we can't forget said emotion! It's important that the copy keeps the focus on the team, not on the sponsor.

Then, what if we could actually release these in game, to draw more people into following the game? (What if we dropped an audio file at half time?) There's opportunity for a monstrous impact by mixing time and emotion!

I'll be back Monday with more best practices. Feel free to follow along via Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski, here)

Thanks.

Andy

Oregon State Basketball Gives Us a Facebook Welcome Video

What do you do when someone hits your page for the first time? That's a tough question, especially in social media. I mean, you want them to feel welcome, but you also don't want to come across as overly eager -- like you were sitting around waiting for them to click in.

Oregon State Men's Basketball tries a pretty interesting approach -- the Facebook welcome video.

Hit the OSU Basketball Facebook page, here.

As you'll no doubt note, you are taken into their "Welcome" page which greets you with a 100% focus into Coach Craig Robinson's video greeting. I'll embed it here so you can check it out.

If you watched the video (and if you didn't, come on - it's only 29 seconds of your time...), you'll see it is really simple - a scripted welcome to the page with highlights playing in the background. But it is amazing how such a simple video can have a monstrous impact on your impression and connection to the program.

But, how could this be better? I'd love it if the video was contextual. Meaning the OSU team updates this video throughout the year - after every game. Look at it as a way to hype fans for the next game, and to reward fans for coming to the Facebook page. Imagine if you logged in on a Tuesday morning right after the Beavers beat rival Oregon and the "Welcome video" was now a fired up postgame speech about what they accomplished... and what's up next? You'd feel not just connected but a part of the program... and I'd argue that's one of the biggest goals of a team's Facebook page!

I'll be back Friday with more best practices. Feel free to follow along via Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski, here)

Thanks.

Andy

Social Media Monday: How Florida State Covered Their Matchup Against Oklahoma

It's another Monday - time to do a social media breakdown of the weekend's action. The story coming into this weekend's college football games was definitely #1 Oklahoma battling #5 Florida State. If Florida State wins, they become a legit contender for the National Title. If Oklahoma wins, they solidify their ranking. It's early, but this had the makings of a monstrous showdown -- meaning it also had the makings of a social media juggernaut.

As you no doubt know, Oklahoma won in a pretty tight game, 23-13. This is a delicate time and an important time for Florida State. You want to keep momentum rolling, and not let people stop following the team because they lost a tight game against the nation's top team. Instead use it as a moment to reinforce you've arrived in the elite class.

Let's roll. First, let's check out the coverage at Florida State's Facebook page, here. As you'll see first, they did a fantastic job starting this game. It's a simple post of "Let's go!", paired with a shot of the stadium. If you see this right at kickoff, you can almost feel the social media electricity.

You'll also note the "41 Shares" written above. Now, Facebook has introduced another way of interacting with what we post. This "Sharing" functionality means we can share status updates and like them -- sharing them means we can provide a personal recommendation to read a post/see a picture to our friends. This will have a great effect, as friends will see posts as recommended from people they are connected to. Or, said differently, "Like" is passive, "Share" is active. If you're a geek like me, you can read more about this change by Facebook here.

Now, let's look at what happened during/after the game....

As you can see above, the posts are factual - announcing the score after each quarter. The challenge is that anyone can be factual. And Florida State Athletics can't win at that game -- let ESPN win that one! Instead, FSU could offer more personality and more human emotion in their style. Right now, this is a big opportunity, as they leave it with simply a "great effort". I'll come back to this in a minute, but first want to drive over to Twitter in search of more love and energy...

We'll check out Florida State Athletics on Twitter, here.

As you see above, there were no posts in game from this feed.

There is a post right after the game and one right before, but nothing was posted during the game. And the after game the posting style echoes what we saw on Facebook... "Close, but not there yet."

Many of us approach communication in games in the same way. The challenge in front of us all is to tap into the raw emotion of our fan bases. Emotion doesn't have a filter. In a way, I believe Social Media posts around big games should feel like they came out of a locker room (minus certain words, no doubt). Those of us who work in this space must make people believe. When their beliefs are challenged, it becomes our role to reinforce the vision we share for our program.

Seize the moments that happen, immediately, with emotion!

If you're digging this (thanks), don't forget to tune in again. I'll be back Wednesday with more digital best practices. Feel free to follow along via Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski, here)

Thanks.

Andy

Stanford Football hits you with Highlights. It hurts in a good way.

I didn't think I'd be writing another Pac-12 blog, nor did I think I'd write one about an immersive video experience. But, then again, I'd never checked out the Stanford Football website until just now.

Hit the site (here), and after the intro video, you're taken to the highlight reel. And a visual highlight reel at that. As you'll see in the amazing image below, they have laid out highlight packages for every game, and they are right there, one click away from you.

I'm a huge fan of teams making it clear where they want you to click. Stanford does just this, and I'd expect this makes a monstrous impact on a recruit.

Click on any game package and you get a well-done, emotional, energy-driven reel of highlights. I'm pasting a still image below, as the videos themselves can't be shared or embedded.

Impressive. No, it's more than impressive. Visually it's overwhelming, in a great way!

But it only gets me started. Imagine, just imagine what this could be if it became social.

How could this be better? Let's start with the easy. Make all the videos sharable. I'm a fan of loading them into YouTube and embedding them here. Gets you better search results, makes your YouTube Channel better, and of course makes it easy to share. But we can do better. What if Stanford pulled in social chatter alongside highlights? So you not only saw and heard the sounds of the game but you also saw the fan reactions, posts, and tweets that happened during each game. As a recruit this has one impact: it reminds you that if you became a Cardinal, you would be playing on the big stage. As a bonus, you hero your fan base in a cool way -- and you have a new model that can ignite your social media presence after every game.... (Assuming you drop these into Facebook right after the game ends!)

Don't let this take away from the visual power Stanford hit us with. Just let it open your eyes to where this is going!

We'll be back Monday with more best practices. Feel free to follow along via Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski, here)

Thanks.

Andy

Iowa Football Facebook Community Comes Together for Former Player

If there's one thing that is definitely true about friend behavior, it is that we support each other when something bad happens. No doubt all of us have felt the positive impact in our lives from someone (or someones) who let us know they are with us when something happens. And this is evident inside Facebook, for sure - which brings all of your friends to your back when you need support in a pretty powerful way.

I've not seen it applied to the college athletics landscape before, but came across this today. As you may have heard, former Iowa Hawkeyes Safety Brett Greenwood collapsed in a workout (story via ESPN here). He had been trying to catch on in the NFL and was no doubt pushing himself to stay in game condition.

The reaction inside the Iowa Football Facebook page shows the power of fan support. And as a bonus, it shows the power of a program united. Hit the Iowa Football Facebook Page (here), and take a look (also shown below).




I'll hone into the post that Iowa made around Brett. The tone is sincere, and it lets their fan base know that something has happened, without it feeling over the top.




And what does one fan do? He creates a way for others to show support for Brett by adopting the image below as your profile picture. No doubt this has a pretty big impact as it gains visibility and awareness for what happened while sending a message to the world that you support your team, through good times and tough ones.



I found this inspiring. Really it's not about broadcasting that something tough has happened but rather of showing that the program is a family. And that you will stand together even when your days as a Hawkeye are through.

Great, inspiring stuff from Iowa.

We'll be back Friday with more best practices. Feel free to follow along via Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski, here)

Thanks.

Andy

Social Media Monday: How Michigan Football Reacted to their Stunning Win over Notre Dame

What a game.

There's no other way to spin it. Michigan and Notre Dame traded scores - with three TD's and three lead changes in the final minute or so of the game. And if you're a fan of social media, this is what you want to see as well, as these are the moments that make or break you from a digital perspective. How do you (or do you) react in the moment?

Michigan Football put on a clinic of managing the social conversation around this one. And they did it in a way that leveraged all of their social networks!

Let's start by taking a peek at the Michigan Football Twitter page, here. As you'll note in the image below, the stream below shows a fantastic combination of information with emotion. Just take a peak at how the game unfolded on their Twitter stream...

I can't overstate how much more powerful this is: "Are you serious? D. Robinson to Roundtree for 16 yards" than this "D. Robinson to Roundtree for 16 yards". Both versions are true, but one offers emotion! The whole stream is a powerful tale of conversation. Wow!

Now, let's turn our attention to Michigan Football Facebook, here. Are we going to see the same thing? In a word, no!

I want to single out the post when the game ended (immediately). Emotion + image + fact. They didn't wait until the postgame press conference was over, and they didn't wait for a press release. They expressed emotion immediately, just as a fan (or a future recruit) no doubt will do. So in your news feed (if you follow Michigan football), you'll see this post in context of other posts reacting to the game. But this one brings a powerful image. Crazy!

Then, when they were ready to release the highlights package (smartly dropped into YouTube and embedded into Facebook), they paired it with a quote that speaks to Michigan football. Look below!

Here's the highlight package, if you missed it!




Thus, Michigan football reacted with emotion and authenticity in the moment -- and they did it in a way that smartly leveraged Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Great model for us to all leverage as we take on big matchups...

If you're digging this (thanks), don't forget to tune in again. I'll be back Wednesday with more digital best practices. Feel free to follow along via Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski, here)

Thanks.

Andy

Tennessee Titans Reward Fan Questions through Facebook

Social networks do one thing really well: they connect people. That's a critical thing to keep on your mind as you develop a strategy. And it's a great thing for teams to think about, because they have potential to really take advantage of this by connecting their fans to their players.

Say what?

Exactly. Can you imagine walking down the concourse in an arena and having a team marketing representative stop you and say "I'd love to introduce you to (insert player)." No way. But that's exactly what social media can do. And I get a bit giddy when I see it in action.

Let's take inspiration in what the NFL's Tennessee Titans are doing.

Hit the Titans Facebook page and look at the left-hand side of the page. There you'll see "Ask a Titan", which is where I'd love you to click. (You can also click in right here)...

You'll note that they have a permanent place for this feature (as permanent as digital stuff can ever be I guess). And they are elevating one person each week. (See the thumbnail in the upper right-hand corner of the page). When you click in to enter, you'll leave Facebook, taking you to the page below (or here)...

It's on this page that you can enter your question and have a chance to win. It's ironic to me that what you win is a prize package from Motorola. Cool, yes, but a bit disconnected as well. Winners are notified via email, one per week.

How could we make this better? Well for starters, anyone can give away entertainment packages. But not anyone could give away the chance to connect with a player. Fans are submitting questions - why not make the prize package the chance to watch the question being asked, in person (or even over Skype)? Let them meet the player, thus rewarding with access and making them closer in the process. Finally, post the winning question on Facebook and tag both the player and the fan in the post. Give them some social street cred after all!

And for the rest of us, take inspiration here -- the Titans are asking for input. Just don't overthink the reward system. Fans want access, and I'd love to see a few steps in this direction.

Thanks for hanging this week. I'll be back Monday with more best practices. Feel free to follow along via Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski, here)

Thanks.

Andy

USC Football has fun with a Caddyshack Video

Don't be afraid to have fun.

Sometimes the best practices I share are pretty technical. Other times, like today, they are about things that may sound like they're common sense but, I assure you, they aren't.

Today you get a friendly reminder of the fact that you shouldn't forget who your consumer is. At USC Football, the consumer who follows them on social media is likely either a current athlete/student/fan, an alum, or a potential student-athlete. In other words, it's people who want to hear from them and who like them a great deal. The audience is youthful, and wants to be fired up about Trojan football.

So what do you do before the season opener against Minnesota? Why, blow up the Gophers mascot, of course.

The journey started on the USC Football page, here. On the page you'll see a feed of USC Athletics Twitter chatter. It was here where I saw the simple post: "In honor of the Minnesota opener, we reedited a "Caddyshack" classic."

Naturally, I clicked in (here, or play it below)...

Funny, and definitely worth 12 seconds of your time.

How could this be better? I'd love to see more of this infused in the Trojans blog, Facebook feed, and Twitter feed. But they were right on the money to leverage YouTube for this content. Let fans subscribe to a channel of videos (maybe "Trojan Football Battles"?) and have fun with it. Include fun videos (like this one) and pep talks from crazed fans or intense coaches. Use this channel not as a one-off video but as a rallying cry for the Trojan fanbase... and future athlete base.

I'll be back Wednesday with more best practices. Feel free to follow along via Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski, here)

Thanks.

Andy

Social Media Monday: Breaking Down the Sacramento State Victory Over Oregon State

Moments.

As in seizing them.

That's what Social Media is all about -- to thrive in the moment. Why? I think it has a lot to do with context. Don't ever forget that most people aren't just following your team. They are seeing your updates within context of their own feed. (So they see it alongside those of their friends, their family, and their co-workers). That means the more you show up in the moment, the more human your team will appear!

It's a great measure of success, because it's a great measure of connection. And that's why I'm going to start this style. Monday mornings during Football season, I'll take a look at a squad with a big win and break down how they connected along the way. Hope you can learn from this! (and that I can too)

This weekend, a monster win from Sacramento State - going on the road to win at Pac-12 Oregon State, in Overtime. I'm guessing traffic to the Hornets site would be spiking, and I was just one of many visitors. I hit up the Sacramento State Athletics page, here.

As you'll note below, the score was updated to the home page. But that's about it -- the background still features a baseball player and. There's opportunity to put imagery up that reinforces the emotion in the moment. And most importantly, we don't have this moment working for us as it could -- to drive the Hornets Social Media presence...

By clicking on "The Green Army", we get access to Facebook. (Click here to hit the Green Army student fan club)

Then you can get into Facebook, here. It's here, in the Green Army Facebook News Feed that you can see how it all went down inside Social Media. There is a posting of highlights (nicely embedded from YouTube), and there's a posting from immediately after the game. Finally, there's a post up in the first quarter.

The posts below are fine -- they were timely. But there's definitely more opportunity to connect with Fans in during the game. Perhaps it's a post each quarter that sums up the quarter, with some emotion fused in. Or maybe it's more ambitious -- like a sideline interview pre-game, half-time, and post game? The key is to be connected to the emotions in the moment. And be ready for the success that may (or did) happen!

For contrast, I want you to see the home page VCU published after the Kansas-VCU matchup in last year's NCAA Basketball tourney. Emotional. And I'd guess they were ready for this before the game even started -- meaning everyone, from the players to the marketing staff -- were ready for the win.

So today, I'll leave you with this question: What's your team doing to be prepared when something amazing happens?

I'll be back Wednesday with more best practices. Feel free to follow along via Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski, here)

Thanks.

Andy

Pittsburgh Steelers Elevate Foursquare Check-ins Inside Facebook

Confession alert.

Even I, a self proclaimed digital nerd, have questions about how much is too much sometimes. I've asked the questions like do teams really need a presence on all of these social media networks? Or we, as individuals -- how many do we need? And until today, I hadn't seen an execution in Foursquare that really felt like it justified a team having a strong presence there.

But today, I present to you amazing inspiration from the Pittsburgh Steelers. We'll show you how they leverage Foursquare, bring it into Facebook (which no doubt many of you are already using), and turn it into something powerful...

Hit the Pittsburgh Steelers Facebook Page and click on "Foursquare," found on the left hand side of the frame. That takes you to the powerful image below...

Wow.

So here, inside a network of 2.8 Million rabid Steelers fans the Mayor (for those of you not hip to Foursquare, this equals the person who has checked into a location the most often within the past 60 days - read more here)... That means you are taking arguably your most dedicated fan and raising him or her up on a social pedestal in front of their peers.

NICE!

And, alongside this, you see how many people total have checked into Heinz Field, plus tips from people who have visited - where to go, what to bring, how to enjoy yourself even more!

Of course, it gets bettter. Clicking through to view the Heinz Field page on Foursquare takes you here, shown below...

Now you get all of the action before plus photos and profiles of the people who are visiting Heinz Field.

Like any network, Foursquare check-ins can be synched with Facebook or Twitter -- and many people do this (yes, it can get annoying), increasing the reach every time they check into your stadium/court/field. Said differently, the more we can encourage people to check into our spaces, the more social currency/buzz we can build!

How could this be better? Two big things here. First, what should/could the Steelers offer their most loyal fan? Maybe he or she can attend the media session before or after the game? I think the key here is access and the Steelers can easily dole that out! Second, I'd love to see the Steelers have their own players check in on game days. Imagine the buzz you'll get when you see Hines Ward check into Heinz Field? This will simultaneously drive game day energy and grow the behavior of fan check-ins!

I'm pretty pumped if you can't tell. Time to take the weekend off from blogging. Don't fear though, I'll be back with more next week. Feel free to follow along via Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski, here)

Thanks.

Andy