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