Pac-10 Conference Best Practices: UCLA Lays It Out for Recruits

This blog is all about inspiration. Today we start with 3 days elevating best practices from the squads that make up the Pac-10. You can tune in on this blog, or you can follow along on Facebook (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

What makes something a best practice? This isn't about the most intricate experience. It's about looking at the world from your consumer's point of view and delivering something that hits it right smack on the head. In the case of colleges, I'm treating the primary consumer as that prospective student athlete.

Let's go...

Hit the UCLA basketball page and hover over the Recruiting section, shown below. You'll see the second callout (highlighted below) indicating the Reasons to Choose UCLA. Let's click in.


That takes us here, to a list of 25 Reasons You Should Choose UCLA Athletics.



There's something really simple and really powerful about this concept. A recruit hits your site and what's important to elevate? Naturally, you want to hit them with a list of the reasons why your school is the right choice. This list does just that. Let's take a deeper look.

This list includes athletics reasons:

"UCLA had the longest streak in NCAA history for consecutive winning seasons in the sport of men's basketball, a record that lasted over 50 years dating back to 1948-49 and extending through 2002. No other major program was close to that figure. UCLA basketball still holds many NCAA records that will be difficult to break for years to come."

And academics reasons:

"In the U.S. News & World Report surveys on top academic universities across the nation, UCLA has annually ranked among the Top 4 public universities and in the Top 25 overall. UCLA had over 60 departments ranked in the Top 20 in the annual academic survey. Several UCLA academic departments rank with the Ivy Leagues in overall recognition and prestige. Newsweek has called UCLA "the hottest mega-university in the country."

It's simple, aspirational, and to the point.

How could this be better? While the list is simple and aspirational, it could have more personality. For now, it does a solid job of laying out the facts. But have some fun with it. We're connecting with high school athletes (and their parents). Think about having current student athletes (and/or famous alums) come up with a list of why UCLA, in their words. This model is great, the concept is strong, it just is the start of what's possible.

Tune in tomorrow as we share more inspiration from the Pac-10! And, don't forget, you can follow along on Facebook (here) or on Twitter: I'm @pawlow34.

Andy

College Basketball: Digital Pac-10 Preview, #5 UCLA

Welcome back to our journey through the Pac-10, from a digital point of view.

The internet has leveled the playing field. All schools have an equal opportunity for their coaches and teams to share what it means to be a part of the program. To get you fired up. And to connect with other fans. There is no window of time that coaches can't connect to prospective players (or their families) online. And it's even better, since the control is fully in the hands of the prospective athlete. They reach out to connect whenever they want (or don't want).

So far our journey through the conference has shown us #10 USC , #9 Arizona State, and #8 Arizona, #7 Oregon State, and #6 Washington State. Let's keep moving...

#5 UCLA

The Digital Scouting Report

Strengths: Nice use of Twitter, plus Coach Howland is pretty active.

Weaknesses: Basketball history is awkwardly absent here. Multimedia content is really lacking.

Full Scouting Report:
I have to admit it... even though I'm not a huge fan of UCLA, I was really looking forward to checking out their site (link here). Is there any program with more tradition? You can make arguments of UNC, Duke, or Kentucky, but I think they are among the top. I expected to hit this site and have it smell of Lew Alcindor, Coach Wooden, and titles. Let's dive in.



Like a beacon calling me out, I headed right for the Multimedia area. As you'll see from the list below, you have a couple key areas to track this year's programs -- via Twitter and a Blog.



The UCLA Blog is also promoted deeper on the page (image here).



So I checked out the blog (you can as well by clicking here). It's a pretty regularly-updated all sports take on the Bruins. Not bad, as the level of content feels pretty personal in voice.



Next, I clicked on the Twitter link. It takes you here, to the UCLA athletics twitter page, with 3,400 followers. UCLA does one of the best jobs of who they are following as well. If you look at the boxes on the lower right hand side, you'll see lots of UCLA sites and alums in the pros, including Maurice Jones-Drew, Trevor Ariza, and Kevin Love. I think that is a really powerful way of showing who you are as a program. Well done.



Looking back at the main navigation, UCLA does have a recruiting area, it is just buried under About UCLA (see this image).


The content (shown below) is VERY underwhelming.



There's also a list of 25 reasons to consider UCLA athletics... all text, and pretty dull. It was enough to drive me on to the basketball section. When I got there, I found really very little about the history of the program. And this program has been to the Dance 41 times. (What?) and won 11 titles. That's crazy. They have been in the Title Game twice in the past four years. But there's really nothing here. Odd.



That's not to say the site isn't solid, or that there is no history at all. I am just saying the presentation didn't live up to my expectations. I love this Coach Howland Twitter button, with Coach Wooden beneath him. I'll dive into each, Coach Wooden first.


I was glad to see a Coach Wooden area, I just wish it was deeper. All he did was win 10 consecutive NCAA titles in the 60s and 70s. Let me pause to let that sink in.

Coach Wooden attends about every UCLA game he can now. He's a leader, and would want nothing more than to help his program however he could. I think a deeper experience here could help.


Back to Coach Howland... He does a really nice job on Twitter. You can check it out for yourself here, as he has around 2,300 followers and does a nice job of updating it. You can also see he follows UCLA hoops alums in the pros (Baron Davis, Kevin Love, Trevor Ariza). And his tweets are both regular and interesting. Here's the site:


Out of curiosity, I drilled into Coach Howland's profile. There was no mention of Twitter here. This is an easy one -- the people who drill into Coach's profile would be extremely likely to also be interested in keeping in touch with him. I think adding that call out here would help a bunch.


That wraps us on UCLA. It's pretty solid program overall, but there's really a gap in showing highlights, a bit more on the current squad, and a bit more on this storied history.

Tune in tomorrow as we hit the Pac-10's top 4.

Andy