Pac-12 Conference Leverages a Twitter Battle Across Media for Title Game

The Pac-12 held their first-ever Football title recently, with Oregon defeating UCLA and winning a bid in the Rose Bowl. Accompanied with this game, they wanted to activate their fan bases through social media, as the game happened on the field. To do this, they decided to introduce a fan activation contest around Hashtags.

Let's check how this played out...

As you can see in the image below (or on the site, here), the Pac-12 tracked real-time Twitter conversation around Oregon (using hashtag #GODUCKS) or UCLA (using hashtag #GOBRUINS). The hub, on Pac-12.org, tracked percentages, and elevated individual user Tweets. Then, at the bottom of the page, they singled out the best Tweets and gave them extra love.



While the results were interesting, it was the amplification of this idea that got me pumped. I don't know if it was planned or not, but television picked up this activation. Check the image below, which aired on the Fox TV broadcast (yes, this is a picture of a TV screen I found on Twitter)...



People talk (or tweet) when they are excited. And, thus, it's super interesting to see in-game coverage of social media chatter. It's kind of the modern-day version of the fan poll. But the opportunity that comes with social media isn't about information but rather about passionate engagement.

So where could this idea go? How could the Pac-12 (or you) make it better? The challenge lies in identifying the benefit of this Social Media challenge to the fan. In other words, the Oregon fan naturally cares about the Ducks winning the game. They aren't wired to care that the Ducks win a social battle. And, thus, I think you need to add some stakes to the mix.

My suggestion is for us to look at how TV networks reward "Players of the Game". They donate to the scholarship fund of the winning athlete's school.

Now, imagine if we could see a conference find an official social media partner and reward the winning fan base with additional contributions to their future - be it scholarships, experiences on campus, or something similar. This would give fans a reason to rally behind the idea rather than relying on them to simply hope they win. Doing this would help the conference grow from a social reach standpoint and would allow them to leverage this as a platform that adds rapid energy around game days, each week!

Tune in Friday for more NCAA Digital Best Practices. Or just follow me up on social -- I'm on Twitter, as @andypawlowski (here), and on Facebook as Digital Hoops Blast, here.

Thanks for reading,

Andy