Breaking Down The Atlantic 10 Conference Online

Each week we will break down a different conference across the D-1 landscape, giving you a look into how they are connecting with fans (and recruits) across their website and social media. Along the way, we'll elevate a few things in each conference that are best-in-class: what we can learn from the schools that make up each conference.

This week: The Atlantic 10 Conference, linked here and shown below. As a reminder, You can tune in on this blog, or you can follow along on Facebook (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

Today, we'll start with a look into the A-10 website. What's to love about the Atlantic 10 Conference?

The A-10 elevates the latest news from each of its member institutions. As you can see below, there is a nice "On Campus" feature that gives you access to the latest from each school. What you don't see, however, is a consistent utilization of this platform by each school. (The latest from Dayton is "www.daytonflyers.com", for example).

This section of the website also includes an A10 Spotlight section, shown below. This serves as a chance to create exclusive conference-specific stories. Super cool, the challenge is in keeping this current (see the 2007 basketball previews)

How could this be better? The conference needs to own this section. Right now it feels like they are relying on schools to provide stories to them, which is happening with mixed results. The A-10 has a fantastic framework in place, and just needs to fill it out with exclusive stories. Give us a weekly (or monthly) perspective on each of the 14 schools and then publish a conference-wide update here.

The A-10 provides one of the deepest media links galleries I've come across. Click in here, and you'll see a list that is incredibly thorough. You are now one click away from just about every major media outlet in the A-10 footprint -- and it's a nice footprint. When you check the list out, you realize the amount of exposure the 14 schools have is incredible. It's quite an asset, and something the conference is rightly proud of. Well done.

How could this be better? It's not just about access to the media. It's about access to the media's perspective on your teams. Rather than link us to the St Louis Post Dispatch home page, take us to the St Louis Post Dispatch coverage of the Billikens, for example. Then, if we could take the amazing framework discussed above and elevate that coverage into the home page, we'd have quite a juggernaut!

The A-10 Amplifies Program Success. Linked here, I was really pumped to see the page below. When Charlotte made the ESPN Basketball home page, the A-10 was there to capitalize. They took a screen grab and elevated this to the home page of the Atlantic 10 Basketball section. The power of a screen grab is amazing. What's key here is that it is timely, and they keep the ESPN context in there. One of the jobs of the conference is to brag about its members and this is a great example of doing just this.

How could this be better? Give us the story behind the story. Rather than just showing us Charlotte made the ESPN home page, consider this an opportunity to go deeper. One suggestion would be having an interview with the new coach on the A-10 site. I love that they amplified the ESPN coverage, but see this as a chance to show people you can get deeper info on the A-10 site. (Read this article on ESPN, then check out the Q&A about the new coach here). As more coverage happens about the member schools, continue this style of amplifying as it is truly great stuff.

What's up next? Atlantic 10 week continues tomorrow. We will take a peak at how the A-10 Conference is leveraging social media. Then, we'll wrap the week up with 3 peaks into things I found fantastic across the 14-team Atlantic 10 landscape.

And, don't forget, you can follow along via this blog, or hop over to Facebook (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.