Harvard Twitter Pumps Emotion into the Chase to Get There

I'm pumped for College Basketball Season. Yes, I know all the talk now is the pending start of NBA season but as we look at sport, imagine the spot we are in -- there are many teams that are on the rise whose fans now have visions of greatness coming into focus.

Take Harvard. As in 6-0 Harvard.

The Crimson are now on the cusp of the NCAA Top 25 after winning their tourney in the Bahamas.

Fan energy couldn't be higher, but they still have yet to break through -- currently sitting at #27 in the polls (technically not ranked but 2nd in the "others receiving votes" area). This is real time for a social media manager to get the fan momentum going. When your team is suddenly on the cusp of the national stage that the top 25 generates...

So I hit up the Harvard Twitter page (here), and was thrilled with the energy I found. First, love how they are engaging and retweeting fans to fuel energy.

Then and more importantly, I love, love how they apply a hashtag into a message to a fan. Take a look at the two hashtags below... #HarvardForTop25.

I love seeing this for lots of reasons, but two stand out. First, it is a rallying cry. Get fans and hopefully media behind and engaged with your quest to make the top 25. They did this in an emotional, yet efficient way. And, second, the idea of a hashtag like this is uplifting - it is a vision for the program. There's no reason to think they can't get behind this year-after-year, as long as the team continues to perform on the court. And if we can combine a call to action with a positive impact on the team's brand, we've hit a great 1-2 combo!

Thus, I clicked in, practically giddy with enthusiasm. So far no one has picked up this Twitter hashtag -- but they just started. Hopefully it grows (if you see the chance, please add yourself to this mix!)

I'm hoping to see this grow, and I hope my post adds fuel to a great idea.

Here's to a great season filled with surprises in the Top 25 and fan energy to match it on Twitter! And here's to all of us learning from Harvard's example to go after that energy before you make the big stage.

Tune back in Friday for more digital best practices. Until then, follow me here, or on Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski)

As always, thanks for reading!

Andy

The Old Spice Classic Shows How to Pump Twitter Personality into a Tournament

I've always been a fan of the early season tournaments. You get some amazing matchups and it seems like there's always several neutral site games that would never happen were it not for these brackets.

But how can the tournament itself start to have a personality? And perhaps an even bigger question is this: Since these are neutral locations, everyone is traveling to play. How do you get fan bases across the nation to have a voice in your stadium?

Enter Twitter.

The Old Spice Classic is hosted Thanksgiving Weekend in Orlando (details here, it wrapped last night). Upon visiting their website, I was drawn right in by the header at the top: "Tweet for your team and our live cheering section will yell for them."

What?

Naturally, I headed straight over to the @OldSpiceClassic Twitter handle (here). And there, right on the left hand side of the Twitter skin is this guide. It's 8 teams, 8 Twitter handles and whoever gets the most social media love controls this section in game.

I did a quick look at the timeline and it is pretty clever. Check these 2 images. Same crowd, supporting Fairfield and then Dayton....

This is fascinating.

What works about this (beyond the fun factor) is that this takes something you can't do from home and impacts the game. How many of us have yelled at our TV's as if the team could hear us? Now, with a little help in rallying your friends, you literally can be heard in the arena. This is a fascinating opportunity for teams to take and apply. How can you transform your arena, or the presence of your crowd based on fan chatter?

For a simple start of season tournament to generate this type of social media power really helps define it as a brand with a personality -- and no doubt this helps to impact the type of experience teams have for playing in the Old Spice Classic. Now all we need is a live audio/video stream of the crowd to drive this home!!!

Tune back in Wednesday for more digital best practices. Until then, follow me here, or on Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski)

As always, thanks for reading!

Andy

Mississippi State Puts a Hashtag in the End Zone

It's so simple it's brilliant. The Mississippi State Bulldogs are garnering national attention (plus attention in this blog) for their use of the Twitter Hashtag in the end zone in front of their in state clash against Ole Miss.

Check out the image below, then I'll come back with some things to ponder.

This is a brilliant move, and not simply a brilliant move because it gets a lot of attention. It makes sense, and here's why:

1. The End Zone is a place for Emotion.

You punch the ball in (or keep someone from doing it, and it results in celebration -- both from fans and from players. Similarly Twitter is a place of emotion -- and when teams score (or keep others from it, fans rally together in social media). So we are taking existing behavior in two places (social and physical) and combining them into one.

2. End Zones have always been about Nicknames and Messages

The Snickers commercial below made it more recently famous, but teams have always placed their nicknames into the end zones. Super Bowls paint both nicknames -- one on each end zone. In fact, according to an article on Mashable (here), this idea started by MSU thinking about simply painting a message ("Hail State") in the end zone.

Who can forget the Chefs end zone?

3. It gets the Right Attention.

The reason to put "Hail State" on the end zone is to hype your team up. The reason to put "#HAILSTATE" into the end zone is to get fans to join together in social media around MSU Football. I love the fact that one character transformed that end zone from a statement into a call to action... Oh, and of course that shows up on Television during Thanksgiving weekend!

4.This is an Adaptable Model.

The best ideas are scalable. You can keep it as is for weeks. Or you can change it to support a weekly message. It scales beyond Twitter to Instagram... and Facebook.

I can't wait to see this in action today!

Tune back in Monday for more best practices from College Hoops. Until then, follow me here, or on Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski)

As always, thanks for reading!

Andy

Kansas Basketball Facebook: The Power of What You See and What You Hear

Combinations. They are what makes teams great as it is the power of the whole being greater than the power of the individuals on their own.

In social media it's the combination of words, pictures, and time that we all seek to perfect. But what I think most teams don't realize is that there is immense power in what you see and hear because that combination can help others feel what you feel.

I was checking out the Kansas Men's Basketball Facebook Page (here) and saw the image and copy below on their wall...

I'm going to zoom in here because the image is so powerful.

So in a quick glance fans see a shot of the huddle and realize that Coach Self told them "Hard work on 3." When you take that and deliver it in realtime, it almost puts your fan base into your huddle. The emotion in that thought basically gives me the chills...

And that becomes the challenge to all of us. What is it that we see and hear that we can offer to others so that they connect with us and feel what we feel, even when they aren't physically with us?

Tune back in Friday for more best practices from College Hoops. Until then, follow me here, or on Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski)

As always, thanks for reading!

Andy

How Duke Basketball Brings Fans into Win 903

903.

It's a huge number, especially when you are talking about games won. It's kind of hard to fathom, when you're talking about a sport where you tend to play 25-30 games a year. That's the beauty and the challenge here -- how can you connect people with an idea that's so hard to put into context?

With a victory over Michigan State last week, Coach K became the NCAA's All-Time Winningest Coach -- 903 wins. But how do you take the fact that your coach just set the standard for winning games and turn it into a fun consumer contest? By having fun with it, of course.

Duke Basketball launched their campaign and site, 903 and Counting (linked here). The call to action is simple yet not simple: "How do you 903?"

But they wanted to give fans more clarity on what they were looking for... and released this amazing video that shows everything from fans waking up at 9:03 to body paint and ridiculous piles of food. This video is worth two minutes of your attention (don't worry, I'll wait).

It's fun, right?

So after setting the bar of what to do, Duke gives you the other two things you need: How to enter and What you can win. And both are done very simply, as you'll see here.

The process is very simple. Just show how you 903 via video, image, drawing, or whatever and submit it according to the process below...

And you can win prizes that the University has access to as the source (Tickets, Autographs, and Duke Gear).

I love this idea. It's simple, it's fun, and you can win prizes that are amazing if you are a huge Duke fan but not so amazing if you're not -- the best kind of contest to run as a school!

And, I for one am anxious to see the winners. Too bad I'm not on that expert panel to judge!

Tune back in Wednesday for more best practices from College Hoops. Until then, follow me here, or on Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski)

As always, thanks for reading!

Andy

Unplugged: Mid Major Success Shows Us Social Media Needs Emotion

I want to start with a couple pictures to set things up. Note these are two different yet similar pictures from big early season wins. These are two Mid-Majors, Drake of the MVC and Middle Tennessee State of the Sun Belt who were not supposed to win. But win they did, in striking fashion -- Drake over Iowa State by 9 (a team that whacked them by 48 last year) and Middle Tennessee State over UCLA by 20. Check these pictures, both of which pulled from websites covering the games.

I LOVE these images. Love them. Why? They are a signal of the purity of the game. And why you love the game. Or why fans of those teams are so excited right now. (The energy in those fist pumps in the Drake student section is nuts!)

Now let's turn to the sources of realtime reaction - Twitter. I'll look at both Drake (here) Middle Tennessee State (here). The first checkpoint -- were they timely and active -- was passed. Both programs gave updates - more of them as the energy in the game grew. And both programs came back after the game -- Drake with a RT of Coach Phelps, MTSU with a shoutout from the TV coverage.

Now comes the harder thing... Emotion. Take a peak at both screens below and I'll come back after the images.






I think it is safe to say that the energy from these tweets doesn't quite hit the energy in the images. It is a hard bar to hit -- and one that words can sometimes struggle to capture. But big wins over big conference schools do not happen every day. Scheduling big teams is tough, and sadly when you win, it is even tougher. That means we need to maximize every big win in social media to rally our fan bases, recruits, and alums together.

Here are 5 tips that can help all programs seize the moment with emotion.

1. Photos. Why not use photos yourself? You have more access than anyone - the all access pass to your team. Find ways to share that emotion, rather than simply the facts, when magic happens.

2. Have a Plan, in Advance. I don't think we should ever be surprised our team won. Believe the win is going to happen, and then you are ready to rally immediately. Before the game starts, work out the plan with your team on how you are going to use this win to grow the fan base.

3. Retweet fans. No one is more emotional than a fan base. Find the best ones and retweet them, often.

4. Don't be afraid to be bold. That doesn't mean you have to put someone else down. It just means it is ok to use emotion in your copy and in your hashtags.

5. Arrange for Access. When fans are going nuts, bring your coaches (or players) onto Twitter for a quick Q/A after the game... or the next day. Why simply reserve that right for the local radio station? You can control the conversation and you can build your brand!

Disclaimer - I'm a Drake Bulldog alum (and former player) and couldn't be happier for this win. It's only one win, but it shows progression and the team is still young with potential to grow.

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

Andy

Arizona Basketball Leverages Pros for their Intro Video

I've been mesmerized by my share of team intro videos over the years. And it's an area I'd love to see get blown out even further -- you have the players, coaches, and crowd on the edge of their seats and this video (if done well) can really make the emotions pop.

But where they can really go nuts is if this same video can both hype up the current team while also broadcasting who you are as a brand.

Enter Arizona Basketball. As you'll note in the video hotness below (or off of the Arizona Athletics YouTube page, here). What you'll find is a way to program is about from the sounds, voices, and minds of alums in the NBA. lt's one thing to hear Coach Miller describe Arizona Basketball... but an altogether different thing to hear that from Andre Iguodala, Steve Kerr, and Channing Frye.

You just need to check this video -- and you'll see something that is both a great story of their brand plus a way to hype up this year's edition.

Pretty mind blowing.

We don't all have a roster of alums who are now playing in the League... But we all do have former student athletes who can do a great job of telling the story of your brand! This video puts us onto that path,

Tune back in Friday for more best practices from College Hoops. Until then, follow me here, or on Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski)

Thanks for reading!

Contrasting Michigan State vs North Carolina in Facebook

Friday was an incredible opening to College Basketball season that I hope becomes a tradition. Two amazing teams matched up in a location that is just plain incredible, in a way that calls attention to those people who live and are willing to die to protect us.

It's a moment that the players and coaches will remember forever, and it's exactly the kind of moment we seek to seize inside Social Media. So, today, I want to turn to Facebook and see how the coverage compared. I think you'll find this intriguing...

First, North Carolina Athletics (on Facebook, here). As you'll see below, North Carolina posted leading up to the game (a video tour of the Venue and a video from Coach Williams discussing the significance of the game)...

Then, after the game, Carolina put a powerful image of the game (incredible isn't it) along with a statement on their victory...

I was about to write a piece on UNC doing a great job... Until I saw Michigan State. So, I invite you to take a look at Michigan State Athletics (on Facebook, here)

They led up to the game by inviting fans to ask questions with Draymond Green (see below), a smart way of activating their fans ahead of the game.

Then I saw how they covered the game itself... Through not photos but photo albums! Check out these photo albums (please), here and here. (Don't you just dig how the albums look inside Facebook?)

When you visit an album, the mix and impact of images is just crazy.

I'll zoom into a couple that are worth seeing. The shoes (and that's just for one game!)

And the experience (look at that smile of joy/awe on Coach Izzo's face when he met the President!)

I dig those two pictures because at different ends of the spectrum they show you the experience you get as a Spartan. Ironically enough I'm this pumped and I didn't even see a MSU post of the final score.

And that sums up my thoughts on these posts. Through Facebook you as a school can share the experience of being a student athlete: the emotion, the gear, the people and places you encounter... It's not about the facts but rather the stories. And Michigan State did an incredible job this weekend.

Tune back in Wednesday for more best practices from College Hoops. Until then, follow me here, or on Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski)

Thanks for reading!

Andy

Unplugged: A New Way to Envision Sponsorships in the Digital Age

I normally focus this blog on what's happening now in the digital and social media world and break down how the best could be even better.

But not today.

Today I'm going to go into a topic that is near and dear to my heart: Mentoring, and how it should redefine the idea of a Sponsorship. But before we start, let's look at a lovely picture on mentoring, courtesy of Google.

Thanks for bearing with me.

Some of the toughest things about marketing inside the world of college (or non-NFL/NBA) programs is that you don't have the resources or time to make sure your people are the best in the world at what they do. By that I mean to really understand the bleeding edge of marketing requires that you experience it. And most teams don't have the marketing budgets or opportunities to get after it, consistently.

Is all for naught?

I'd argue no.

What are the naming rights/title rights to your conference tournament worth? Most leagues would quote a dollar amount -- ala to become our lead sponsor would cost you $x. But what is the lasting impact of that money?

What if we could see the world differently?

Let's look at a few Mid-Major leagues. The Missouri Valley Conference is sponsored by State Farm and Nestle-Purina. The West Coast Conference is sponsored by Zappos and Dick's Sporting Goods. Or the Mountain West Conference adds ties to CBS Sports. All of these are big marketing budget companies who do fantastic work.

Now, what if the MVC said to State Farm... "We want you to be the title sponsor to this year's Arch Madness, and we don't want any money from you. Instead, we want you to immerse our marketing staff in your world. Let them sit in agency briefings. Train them. Provide feedback to their plans."

Can you imagine this place?

Is that crazy?

I don't think so, because it's a win-win. The sponsor gets exposure for their brand without impacting their budget. And the impact on the league? You just found a way, without spending money, of training your entire team to do better work.

Amazing.

Oh and it gets better. If the "sponsor" no longer spends money, they likely spend money promoting what you are doing together and in building their brand further... both of which benefit you!

Love the future...

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

Andy

Duke Basketball Creates the Ultimate Social Media Directory

Just like in life, sometimes the best digital things are the simplest ones. That thought was completely reinforced for me as I checked out the Duke Blue Planet website. As you'll soon see, Blue Planet created the ultimate directory for Duke Basketball...

From the Duke Blue Planet home page, click on "Players Lounge" and you'll note the Social Media Directory, which takes us here. As you can hopefully tell in the images below, DBP has made it easy for you to follow the program, players - current and past, and coaches/staff.

The directory is easy to use, and it's mind-blowing how many of the current players are actually up and running on Twitter! (feels like a more current version of a player roster doesn't it?) The right hand side of the page gives us a stream of Tweets from these accounts - making the page feel alive.

How could this be better? Two things stand out for me --- 1) It'd be great to find a way to show us the Tweets without us having to individually click on each individual. Let us see a sample of the Tweets we'll get if we follow and 2) I'd love to see a multi-follow button here. Make it easy to follow everyone simply by making one click!

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

The ACC Digital Network -- What it Means

The ACC last month officially announced their Digital Network, or as they describe it, "A fully programmed digital network designed, produced, and distributed exclusively for audiences watching on connected devices such as laptops and smartphones." (or as I describe it "An amazing future.") The content will be free to users, supported of course by advertising and sponsorships. Read about it here, if you want.

So the question that results is simply, what does this mean? And, more importantly, what does it signal for the rest of the NCAA Landscape? Let's start by hitting up the ACC Digital Network, here. (Side note, I was surprised that the URL was "video.theacc.com", as I think much bigger when I think "digital", but I digress)...

When you hit the ACC Digital Network, you will find that it is, in fact, a home of video content. The content is sortable by sports (Basketball is shown below) and by Highlights, which you can access here (also shown below)...

The content is of solid quality, and is easily sharable via the Facebook Like, Tweet, and +1 Buttons on the site. Click on Tweet and you get this box to open. I like the social ease of sharing, but wish this offered a shortened URL and some personality!

After seeing this, I decided to check out the ACC Digital Network on Twitter, here, and below.

I was pretty excited to see there was a Digital Network Twitter Account, but to be honest it lacked the energy I was hoping to find. For example, you'll note in the post below that the ACCDN was planning on heading to ACC Men's Basketball Media Day throughout a day (which makes total sense as this is the place to be digital, right?) Yet, despite the fact that they were ready to post, nothing hit the stream. I'm not sure why, but it feels like a great chance to go digital was missed here!

Which brings us to the big question: What's the big advantage of having a Digital Network and how could this be better? The advantage is simply exposure, which will have an uplifting affect on the whole conference. I recently noticed that 5 ACC Men's Basketball games in December will be streamed live on the Network. No doubt the sports that don't always get big TV exposure will now have a place to get some love. With more people watching programming on the go, it only makes sense.

But how could these be better? It starts with the definition of digital. Digital is everything that's not real (or tangible). Thus, digital would include social media. With the target for the ACCDN being a connected consumer, it makes social media integration even more important. Right now social media is present, but the personalization, emotion, and access inside it are missing. For starters, I'd love to have the ACCDN not just give us a TV-style anchor but also give us some truly passionate social media ambassadors too!

And what's this mean for other leagues? One of if not the most prestigious basketball conference is going after more exposure through it's own network. That doesn't mean every league needs a network... but it does mean that it behooves us to find ways to make it easier for fans who love you to tune in to each game.

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

Unplugged: How YouTube & the WCC Could Redefine What a Sponsorship Should Mean

Can a sponsorship relationship change the perception of a conference or program? (Spoiler alert, the answer is YES).

I wanted to come back to the story we started to cover on Wednesday... The West Coast Conference did a LiveStream on YouTube. I loved this for many reasons, but the biggest was it helped me think about a new model for sponsor/program relationships: Mutual Benefit.

Mutual benefit is something that we haven't really come to in the past. We've seen it as "You pay me money and thus I benefit. I put your brand out there and thus you benefit." But is that really the case? I'd challenge you that for a mutual benefit to truly exist it would mean for two brands to put themselves out to consumers as they really are, to build each other's brand simply by working together.

The West Coast Conference wants to become more innovative in their approach overall. They want to be a digital leader, and are exploring new ways to get their brand out in front of a rapidly changing consumer base. Meanwhile, YouTube is looking to become a source of original content -- not simply a place to watch other people's content.

So, as a mutually-beneficial move, the WCC live-streamed their coaches on YouTube this week.

The act of putting WCC content out live only on YouTube served to position the WCC as authentic and YouTube as a place for original content.

The move was a success, whether or not dollars were exchanged (Confession: I have no idea if they were or not).

But it's only step one. Let's dream big.

What if YouTube became the Official Sponsor of the WCC? What if the WCC got rid of its website altogether and only had a YouTube channel page? (Along with their Facebook & Twitter pages to use for daily connection) Is that crazy? Maybe. But maybe it's the value needed for YouTube to in exchange live stream all WCC events - games, weekly shows, end of year banquets, pre and post game press conferences. And maybe that could be monetized through ads and/or sponsored original content.

Would a third sponsor want to join into the mix with a YouTube + WCC partnership? If I was Zappos (current WCC title sponsor), absolutely yes. And the mutual benefit that could be constructed by YouTube + WCC for Zappos clearly outscales what the WCC can do alone.

Now not everyone has a chance to work with YouTube. This is only one example. But the point applies everywhere -- think about the way that sponsorships can work without money first. Can you do something together that wows the world and grows both of your brands? I'm betting the answer is yes!

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

Andy

West Coast Conference Does a YouTube Day for Men's Basketball

Media Days are great when the Media is the local newspaper and TV station. But when, as we all know, social media made everyone the media, the idea of a Media Day that brought in only a small percentage of people makes less sense.

In this age, what can we do to innovate this idea?

I was ecstatic to see the steps taken by the West Coast Conference this past week. On Thursday, they set up shop at YouTube and put together a schedule that put every coach live, to the world, on YouTube. This was to take place on YouTube's new Live channel, here.

The question to start with is, how do you learn about this live stream?

When you hit the WCC Website, here, you could see that the conference was holding a Men's Basketball tip off event at YouTube. I'm intrigued, but I think the conference could have hyped this even further. (Be proud of this, it's really innovative!)

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The experience itself, shown in the next couple screen grabs shows coaches sitting down fielding questions from a moderator. You'll also note the hashtag, #WCChoops, in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. Nice.

If you do a search, you'll see quite a bit of use of this hashtag. And I love the integration of the hashtag into the video.

Finally, head over to the WCC on Facebook (here). I loved seeing what you see below -- the schools in the conference were posting on the WCC's wall during the chat. While they posted in hopes of getting more questions for their coach, doing so made them a LOT more personal.

Instead of using the same model for Basketball Media Day, the WCC took their coaches to YouTube's offices and put them Live on the internet to field coaches from fans. They hyped it through a custom hashtag and prime time space on their website and Facebook pages. Huge step for defining the WCC as an Innovator! If you want to watch the full 2 hours, simply click in below.

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