Michigan State Football Puts Facebook Fans in Control of the Interview

What if you could ask any question of your favorite team or player? That was a thought that frankly didn't exist until Social Media. Now, in an odd twist, it has become the expectation -- find a way to drive participation and engagement in our fan bases.

Michigan State Football accomplishes this and delivers a nice model we can learn from and build upon.

We'll start out on the Spartans Facebook page, here. As you'll notice in the post below, the Spartans are bringing Junior Linebacker Chris Norman into this space by asking fans what they'd want to know from him. As you'll also note, the questions are real and the energy is positive.

What's more, as you can see below, they both give this time to breathe (it isn't treated like Twitter where you need to respond in real time but rather have a few days to submit) and they position this as a premium experience (by leading with players who are putting in solid numbers and work on the field).

It's a simple model that we can all learn from, as it leverages the one thing that MSU has that no one else can offer -- access to their squad. Sure, they can give that access to CBS or ESPN or whomever. But it's their message to control.

Now where this can go is a bigger question. I love the idea in the front end. But I wonder where it can go in the execution end. How can MSU encourage even more questions from fans without investing in media or time or things that may be tough to come by? First, what if the questions that were chosen led to personal video responses on the walls of the fans who submitted them? Just a quick hitting video that makes that fan even cooler in their own network will gain reach (as I'd bet there's more Spartans fans in the networks of each fan). And, secondly, could they turn this into an experience? Could the questions get asked by the Spartans' fans of the week -- who in turn could get more access to the team -- be it at practice for a pregame speech, or in the stadium? All three are access that's in the hands of MSU, and a huge chance to make the question askers heroes...

Hope you're digging this. Come back on Wednesday as I break down more Digital Best Practices. You can also follow along on Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski, here) and on Facebook,here.

Andy