The Horizon League's Social Media Footprint

Today we'll continue our look into the Horizon League. 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.

As a reminder, 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 Horizon home page and you'll see a nice callout for Social Media about halfway down the page on the right-hand side under the header "Join the Conversation".



As you'll see in the image below, the Horizon League elevates their latest Tweets and the size of their Facebook fan group to this home page level.


How could this be better? I love the branding here, with the call to participate (Join the Conversation). What I'd love to see here is an elevation of fans joining the conversation. It could be an exercise like we see with the Minnesota Timberwolves and their Hashtag system (discussed here) that would allow for fans to participate alongside the conference. Or it could be a moderator-voice who creates destination events on the Horizon site.... Tweet through the game with us.)

Social Media Roster Depth

Facebook leads the way for the Horizon League, from a Social Media standpoint. As you can see here, and below - the conference has 607 fans. But it's not about the size of the base but rather the infrastructure in place. Let's dive in.

First, it's very evident that Priority #1 for the conference is driving fans to Like them. (see the landing page below). The second you click on the Horizon's Facebook link, you end up here. I'm a fan of being clear in what you are after - making this effective. That said, I believe that we are now in an age where romance is key. It's not a straight funnel to Like something, but rather explain why you should. Liking is the result of delighting fans, not the result of simply asking for it...

When you click on the wall, you'll find an active fan base that's asking for inspiration. There's only been 6 conference-driven wall posts in 2010 -- but all 6 have driven action (likes or comments) from fans...


The Horizon League also adds a tab for polls, with the latest shown below. Love the idea, love elevating polls to a tab. Just wish this was more up to date...

How could this be better? There's an active fan base. Most leagues would LOVE to have this. But we need a consistent conversation that lives up to the call to action on the Horizon League website ("Join the Conversation...")

There is a hidden and powerful Following strategy in play on Twitter. Checking out the Horizon League on Twitter, here, my attention turned to those the conference followed, shown in the right hand side of the image below. I see a mix of basketball sites (NCAA Stats), sports sites (Deadspin), conference sites (Cleveland State hoops), and media sites (Key Milwaukee). This isn't directly played out in their Twitter behavior (which I'll discuss in a minute), but it does show that the conference is positioned well to get at the heart of the conference.

I'll zoom in to make it more clear...

As a whole, Twitter is leveraged predominately to share information -- either features posted to the Horizon site or announcements of success at the school level. Let's look at a couple of numbers to help gauge activity levels. (Beyond the Horizon's 602 Twitter followers, here)

1. 6.5% of the time that a fan subscribes, they put the conference into a list. That makes 39 lists.
2. The Twitter equivalent of student-to-teacher ratio: Tweets per Subscriber. The conference has tweeted 731 times -- or 1.21 per subscriber.
3. Activity is inconsistent. Of the 731 tweets, only 17 have come in 2010 (2.3% of the postings)
   

Buzz.

To gauge buzz, I did a quick search for @horizonleague on Twitter. There was only a single mention in the past month. Meaning to maximize the power of social media, there's going to be some leg work from the conference.

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. I mentioned yesterday that a person could curate that interaction from the home page. Most likely, this would drop in easily into the conference's blog system.

Report Card

Strengths: Twitter Integration, Exposure

Weaknesses: Intangibles, Fan Engagement, Consistency

Neutral: Depth of Roster

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

Don't forget, 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