Ohio State Pumps the Latest NFL Action into Facebook

Is Facebook a recruiting weapon?

I'm not sure many people grasp the importance of this. But if we step away from our day jobs and think that the majority of High School student athletes are on Facebook and your team (or brand) is as well, then we have a big opportunity to deliver a relevant message in a way that a prospective recruit is both familiar and comfortable with.

Do it well, and we can create a friend-level of bond that shows off personality/feel to someone who's checking you out.

One such answer comes on the Ohio State Athletics Page. As you'll hopefully see in the window below, if you hover over "Recruits", you'll see Facebook. (My only wish would be that there were less options here to drive more recruits into social media channels to learn about the programs... one day!)

So, let's hit the Ohio State Athletics Facebook page, shown below or here. As you'll note in the image below, Ohio State has a landing page on Facebook that elevates the latest NFL performances of former Buckeyes...

Clicking in takes us to our destination, here, back on the Buckeyes Athletics site, where we can see all the stats listed out. (I chose the NFC North due to my huge Packer fan status, which is a topic for another day)

The idea is brilliant and simple. If you are talking to a potential student athlete, show how others in their shoes are doing now, on the big stage. Remind them of the breadth and depth of former Buckeyes in the NFL. And help shape their visions for their own futures.

All that's fine and good, but how could it be better? One word: Storytelling. Right now we have a stat feed, which doesn't give us the story. I'd love to see a recap - it could be a simple photo blog - of the NFL action from the perspective of a Buckeye expert. Imagine if we could see in our Facebook feeds the story of how OSU alumni shaped the NFL fields on Sunday?

You have the opportunity to reinforce what it means to be a Buckeye, and to connect those performances on field to what they learned in Columbus.

This is a great example of doing all the right things -- elevating Pro success in social media in a natural way, and opening the door to something even bigger!

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

Andy