The Big Ten's Social Media Footprint

Today we'll continue our look into the Big Ten. 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 12 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.

Hit the Big Ten home page and you catch in an instant that Twitter is king. There's a nice tout with the Twitter logo on the home page, along with the description of, "The Big Ten has several feeds available on Twitter. Follow along the newest way to get current info..." Solid.

Then I click in and we get the image below, which tells us that not only can you follow one of four feeds on Twitter but you can also become a fan on Facebook.



I like the ability to have a Facebook page and am ok with merging it with Twitter. But there is definitely a loss in that the conference advertises Twitter but not Facebook. This needs to be addressed through imagery or copy -- maybe even giving both their own button on the home page!

Social Media Roster Depth

As we stated above, Twitter is king. The Big Ten breaks Twitter into 4 feeds to follow the conference. @BigTenConf is the primary feed, covering all sports with 8,321 followers. @BigTenChamps is home to the conference championships, with 528 followers (and no activity since May). @BigTenScott goes deeper on key sports of basketball and football (1169 followers). Finally, @BigTenVal goes deeper on the other sports to her 566 followers.

Here's a quick peak. Big Ten Conf acts as the glue that keeps everything together. They are pretty active in retweeting news around the world of Twitter (including all Big Ten feeds). You'll find them included on 506 lists.

BigTenChamps is pretty inactive now -- on 46 lists, but no activity since May.

BigTen Scott is up on 92 lists, but probably leads the Big Ten Twitter reel in terms of energy. Definitely something you feel when you plug in...

And, last, BigTenVal is included on 42 lists. I'd say the energy and emotion is pretty strong here, though she's not as active as Scott...

As you can tell, there's quite a list of people up on Twitter. That's good and bad. The key question is how well do they work together? It seems like they try to be aware and re-tweet but to me there's a lot missing. Especially when you consider that those who follow all 4 won't get a collective view of the Big Ten (as everything will fall into the mix of other feeds).

How could this be better? The hashtag. Using a consistent hashtag, or two, could really get us going. #BigTen and #BigTenChamps should cover us. Then look for ways to aggregate that feed into Big Ten Sports.com -- thus elevating the energy of Twitter without relying on the fan to follow everyone. The bonus here is that doing this will allow fans to actually become a part of the conversation.

Here's my metrics take on things:

1. 6.1% of the time that a fan subscribes to the main Big Ten feed, they put the conference into a list. That makes 506 lists. Note the energy and emotion Scott and Val have might lead to a higher percentage of times listed. (7.9% and 7.4%, respectively)
2. The Twitter equivalent of student-to-teacher ratio: Tweets per Subscriber. The conference has tweeted just over 1600 times -- or 0.20 per subscriber.
3. Activity is inconsistent. Very often for the Big Ten feed, almost never for the Big Ten Champs site. Scott and Val are in the middle.
   
   

Facebook serves as a place for the latest news on the conference, and it doesn't always originate from the conference. Clicking into the Big Ten on Facebook, here, you'll see something unique. The 10,000+ fans get a feed not just of the latest official releases, but fans are sharing articles on the conference, recruiting, and individual teams. That cumulative energy really has potential to get big.

How could this be better? Fuel this tendency. Reward fans for sharing links on the team. Silly as it sounds, this could be the Facebook equivalent of the radio station promo... we see your car with our bumper sticker on it and we might reward you. This would create a more rich area for fans while taking off some of the responsibility from the conference. Solid.

Buzz.

To gauge buzz, I did a quick search for #BigTen on Twitter. There were over 70 mentions in the past 24 hours, along with references to the ESPN Big Ten feed. Meaning there's a lot of energy in this space and it's a great one for the conference to steer.

Intangibles

Synergy. I'm looking for the total impact the conference has across social media to be higher because the pieces work well together. In this case we need it, and the impact has the most potential by bringing the pieces together within Twitter. Big time potential, but we need to bring things together.

Report Card

Strengths: Twitter Depth + Exposure, Buzz

Weaknesses: Intangibles, Facebook Exposure

Neutral: Depth of Roster

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.

Andy