The Atlantic 10 Conference's Social Media Footprint

Today we'll continue our look into the Atlantic 10 Conference. We will review their social media presence -- what they do and where they could improve. And I'll plot it all in one spot on a Social Media Report Card.

Then, we'll finish the week out by looking into the 14 member institutions and elevating the best digital features I've uncovered.

You can stay plugged into this journey via this blog, via the Digital Hoops Blast Facebook page (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

Let's start.

Social Media Exposure

The journey always begins with the conference's weight to social media. There are always stories, teams, and schools weighing in for home page worthiness. But the question I start with is... how easy is it to follow the conference? That doesn't necessarily mean quantity of places. But it does mean exposure to ways to follow the conference.

The Atlantic 10 offers the ability to follow them in 3 ways (Facebook, Twitter, and a Blog) which are promoted via a button that's positioned down the right hand side of the home page. The button is well designed, leveraging the recognizable logos of Facebook and Twitter but is buried beneath the fold. I'd also challenge that the Blogger logo is a little unrecognizable to most non-Bloggers out there. In sum, they could ramp up this exposure a little and make what you're getting a little more clear.

Social Media Roster Depth

That said, I love the fact that the A-10 has a blog. Blogs can function well as the heartbeat of the conference. And the A-10 has the makings of a good one, linked here and shown below.

The Atlantic 10 Blog connects us to all 14 conference members. Good blogs connect us to information and as you can see on the right hand side of the image, we get quick, above the fold access to each school. The blog also elevates coverage of member programs from the media and serves as a nice way to elevate success milestones (players of the week) during the season.

How Could this be Better? The Blog needs to connect us to all things social media. First, they can add in Facebook Like Buttons and Twitter Tweet This Buttons -- quick steps that could empower people to share this with their friends. Next, we should get quick access to follow the conference on Twitter and Facebook from the friendly confines of this blog. The blog does a nice job of connecting us to programs in the A-10, it could extend this within the conference.

The A-10 is set up on Facebook, but hasn't committed to it yet. With 599 Fans (linked here), the conference has a well-designed page and is set up to roll. But they haven't posted since last November -- signaling an opportunity, but that a plan needs to be put in place to connect in this world.

How Could this be Better? It starts with a plan that could center around a daily voice. If a fan called the A-10 office up on the phone and asked what was up, how would they answer? Leverage this as a starting point and then engage with fans in a conversation.

The Atlantic 10 on Twitter, operates as a news feed. Twitter serves as a way to share the latest updates across 14 schools and all sports. They identify the sport at the start of each post, as you can see here. They check in at 854 followers and are listed 58 times.

Finally, I look at a couple of numbers to help gauge activity.

1. 6.8% of the time that a fan subscribes, they put the conference into a list.
2. The Twitter equivalent of student-to-teacher ratio: Tweets per Subscriber. The conference has tweeted 851 times -- or 1.0 per subscriber.

How could this be better? From what I can tell, the conference doesn't interact with the Twitter pages of fans of the A-10 or member institutions. They are leveraging Twitter to share A-10 conference updates, but have the opportunity to amplify updates from the rest of the world.

Buzz.

To gauge buzz, I did a quick search for @atlantic10 on Twitter. There have been 2 mentions over the past 3 days (the longest window I could see). Partnerships with media and member institutions could encourage growth by referencing the conference where possible!

Intangibles

Synergy. I'm looking for the total impact the conference has across social media to be higher because the pieces work well together. The Blog has the potential to do just this -- act as the glue that connects everything. To date, these are pieces that need to be connected.

Report Card

Strengths: Blog Framework

Weaknesses: Exposure, Buzz, Intangibles, Fan Engagement

Neutral: Depth of Roster

Hope you enjoyed this tour! Come back tomorrow as we start elevating best practices in the Atlantic 10!

And stay plugged into this journey via the Digital Hoops Blast Facebook page (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

Andy