Tonight is Midnight Madness: the start of college basketball season.
It's also the day when a geek like me daydreams about what teams could do to leverage technology and social media to be different. I won't take on the season itself, but instead I will dive into the day itself.
So why Midnight Madness? There's so much potential. College basketball fans, students, and recruits have been aware of teams but this is the moment when you start to think about what could be. When you start to dream of what it'd be like to play for a school or when as a student/fan you get to first experience what watching a team would be like. It's an unveil moment for a brand. And thus it's super critical to treat it as such.
If you're unfamiliar with the idea of Midnight Madness, click here and you'll find an endless flow of videos around this date.
So, with all this energy, all this hype, all this opportunity it becomes a moment for conversation... and thus a moment for social media. Here's 5 ideas of how teams could take it to another level on this day.
1. Offer early access to their Facebook Fans.
I love seeing teams enter their arena and connecting, physically, with fans. It kind of reminds me of the Presidential State of the Union addresses, when everyone shakes hands with the President as he enters Congress. There's something magical about that, and it sets the tone for a game (or speech).
What is the Social Media equivalent? I'd love to see teams allow Facebook fans in an hour early. Imagine that. If the game starts at 8, let Facebook fans enter at 6 and the general public at 7. The team then has a captive audience of their socially-connected fans and can build an experience accordingly. Oh, and the socially-connected fans see your team first. Early access has value.
Here's an example of the player entrances I referenced above...
2. Drive RSVP+ for key games through social.
Recognizing that this is a moment for your team, it's also a moment to allow fans to RSVP for future games via social. RSVPing is powerful as it has a viral affect - announcing to their friends that they are attending your game. But we should go beyond an RSVP. That could mean viewing parties for road games and tailgate or tent parties for home games. That's why I'm calling it RSVP+ -- it's not just about getting people to sign up to attend a future game. It's about creating extra value for doing so.
3. Reinvent the highlight reel.
What if we could reinvent the highlight reel every game through social media? By that I mean what if the fans of your team could impact what message got broadcast in the arena, on campus, or at pregame rallies. It would change every game based on the voice or photos of your fan bases. That builds an amazing connection between you and your fan bases and offers something no one else can do!
4. Crowdsource the scouting report for media.
I've written before about the media guide and how I am not a huge fan. But what if you took the idea of a pregame scouting report and opened it up to your fan base to create it. Let your fans write the things they love or admire about each player. And this will change through the season, when you can get fan reactions to each game. Imagine that -- if fans broke down each player's impact on games and that was what you handed out in Press Row. Not only do you offer something unique to the media... but you also get the Media to think socially about your program. That wouldn't suck if they said, on air, "how about what this team is doing through social media..."
5. Use this as a stage.
Big announcements should happen at this time. The season is starting - think about what message you want fans to take away. I'd definitely integrate as many visible ways as I could to get fans to follow along via Facebook or Twitter. And I'd make it clear that there was value for being active and engaging with us. It's your chance to make a first impression -- use social to do just that!
Thanks for hanging with me today. As always, you can follow along on Twitter (I'm@andypawlowski, here)... or on Facebook (here).
Talk soon.
Andy
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