Big South Best Practices: Liberty's Countdown to the Game

Anticipation for the next game. The thing I love about anticipation is that, while it is something that happens naturally, we can influence the size of it by how we communicate. Enter Liberty's approach to game time.

Hit the Liberty Athletics page and it's right there before your eyes: a countdown clock packed with a sense of urgency that would make Jack Bauer and the crew at 24 happy. It's bold but not intrusive. And there's no doubt you're going to feel reminded about what's about to happen; maybe even a bit anxious.




I'll zoom in so you can get a better glimpse of what's available here: the next games for all teams, with their official game times and links to follow the action live when it happens. I believe that the design treatment of this makes you more compelled to attend. And, it's something that can continually reinvent itself through the seasons.


How could we make this better? Two things: 1) Personalization. Can I tweak it to only show the sports that I am vested in? For example, only Baseball or Basketball? 2) RSVP. Could we connect this to Facebook and have Fans RSVP to attend the game through Facebook events? This would allow for scale and let us get reminded, even when we aren't staring at the powerful clock!

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

Andy

Big South Best Practices: Gardner-Webb Facebook Page Connects Prospects to Answer

Want an easy opportunity to connect with someone who can give you the answers to what it's like? Gardner-Webb taps into the power of Facebook to do just this!

Hit the Gardner-Webb Athletic Training page (which you can get to from their Athletics page) and you'll see the friendly Facebook logo in the bottom left. I clicked in to this page, a little pessimistic that I was actually going to find something amazing. Little did I know my world was about to be shaken (in a good way)...


Clicking in takes us here, to the Gardner-Webb Athletic Training Facebook page, shown below.


Now it's tough to read that image so I want to call out the specifics of what they are saying:

"Welcome to the Gardner-Webb Athletic Training Facebook page! This page is for you as prospective athletic training students to ask us (current athletic training students) any questions you may have pertaining our education program. We are really excited about your interest in our program and want to answer any questions you may have!"

Wow.

How does this play out? Check the image below:


There's a Q&A in action. A prospective student athlete asks about if taking AT as a major can lead you into the physical therapy career path. And it's answered in a timely fashion by one of the trainers.

Really good stuff here, as it offers a chance for a prospective student athlete to ask questions in a non-threatening way -- and you can read other questions as well. In addition, I like the subtle point that this makes: that Gardner-Webb trainers are super personable: and training staff can play a big role in your happiness (and playing time) at the collegiate level.

How could this be better? Hype it. I think this is something that should be elevated, all the way to the home page of the Athletics Site. It's useful, informative, and personal. And it benefits all sports. Just make it easy to find and continue to offer trainers up for Q&A.

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

Andy

The Big South Pumps Facebook into their Blog

What do you think are the two most personal forces in Social Media? I'd make the case that they are Facebook (where your friends are) and Blogs (where you go into more depth).

But we rarely see those two forces joined together... And what if they were perfectly fused together? We'd get the network effect and reach that Facebook delivers with the content and authenticity a blog can drive.

The Big South takes a monstrous step in that direction...

Hit the Big South Blog, playfully named "Big South Shout," and turn your attention to the right hand side of the page. The astute reader of this blog will see a familiar site -- the callout to follow the league on Facebook.



But scroll down a hair (I'll do that for you) and take a full look at the Facebook tout...


As you can see, it isn't simply a call to action (Become a Fan) nor is it simply a list of those fans. It is a pull of the latest posts from Facebook piped right into the blog.

The beauty of this set up comes in the fact that we now have a separate way of keeping the Blog alive. And it ensures that the blog won't solely be a mirror image of Facebook (or vice versa). Once you port one site into another, it forces you to see things as part of a joined ecosystem, rather than of isolated parts.

Check them out on Facebook for yourself, here.

How could this be better? I'd love to see more interaction from Facebook. Maybe it's polls. Or caption contests. Or guest reporters. But it feels like Facebook could become a force that complements the blog rather than a separate entity that updates within the blog. If the Big South can solve this, they go a long way to building a connection with their fan (or prospective student athlete!)

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

Andy

The Big South Conference Brings You Breaking News, Now

Big South Week Starts Now.

Breaking news is a reason many people visit sites more often. And, in my opinion, this is a strategy successfully leveraged by the Big South Conference.

Hit the Big South Sports home page, and pay careful attention to the top of the page. You'll find three ways to catch fire of what's hot and urgent!

First, as you'll (hopefully) note in the cropped image below, the Big South pumps Twitter into the home page. But it isn't just the fact that you'll find Twitter that caught my attention. It's how that was done. The call to action was "Follow Big South Quick Updates." Got it. That's why I should become a follower (like nearly 1,000 are here).

Secondly, you'll find the callout for "What's On Live" in the right hand side of this page -- yet another example of infusing real time energy into the home page.

Clicking in takes us to the image below -- a quick glance of upcoming matchups (I screen grabbed this one a couple weeks ago -- don't worry, they are current!)

And, finally, we get access to the full gamut: all the live events, which, naturally, you can view from the comforts of your laptop.

Nice.

So, at an easy click or two or three, you can get the latest view of the conference.

How could this be better? I'd love to see things go deeper inside "What's On Live?"

What if it was a section that would pull in real time chatter from fans during games? Or what if this box would glow when there was something live, much like a radio station might do? Right now we have a list, which is great. But I feel like this list could morph into an active and vibrant pocket of energy on the site!

That's it.

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

Andy

A Holiday Message from Shaq

Enjoy this clip. I'll see you in January!

Andy

Big Sky Best Practices: Sacramento State's Green Army

Pack the Seats.

I've come across fan clubs (and, yes, I've liked them) before but it wasn't until I hit Sacramento State that I actually saw a cool plan to activate this energy. To leverage it for good.

Hit the Sacramento State Athletics Page, and take a look at the right-hand side of the page... for the Green Army.

I'll zoom in, here.

Clicking in takes us to the Green Army Page, here, and shown below. As you'll see, this is a place of activity for fans of all teams. This is actually pretty alive, with photo contests, high quality highlight reels, and most importantly events...

Clicking into events, and you'll see a list of activities available for students. As you'll see below, they reward students not just for showing up, but for showing up the right way! Show up wearing your shirt and you might win an iPod? Nice.

The Green Army also has a Facebook page and a Twitter page. If you take a peak at these, you'll note that they show up in the Quads with bags. They give members free California Pizza Kitchen or Chick Fil A at women's basketball games. So, in sum, they are giving their consumer, the fan, exactly what they want: Free food, free stuff, and a fun experience!

How could all this be better? What does it add up to? I see there are 995 fans on Facebook and roughly 100 on Twitter. But that's not the sum of this excitement. It is the seats in the stadium, the sound when free throws are being shot. The stage that their presence transforms competition into. This might be photography, it might be video. Show it the right way and the program rises to a new level in the minds of prospective student athletes!

This concludes the Big Sky Conference.

Tune in two weeks from now as we take on the Big South! (We'll pause a week for the Holiday)

Don't forget, you can follow along on Facebook (here) or on Twitter: I'm @pawlow34.

Andy

Big Sky Conference Best Practices: Northern Arizona's Recruit to Shoot

What do you stand for? And do you really stand for it? Enough to put it out there in front of everyone?

This is a tough one for any of us. In life, in work, or in your program. If you had one thing that you were building an identity around, what would it be? Do you lock opponents down? Do you outrebound everyone? Northern Arizona tells you what they stand for and then backs it up.

Hit the Northern Arizona Basketball Page and note the collection of basketball links in the lower right-hand corner of the page.

I'll zoom in to make it easier. You'll note a callout for "Recruit to Shoot," where we will now turn our attention.

Clicking in takes us here, to a statement that "We Practice What We Preach". It is followed with a list of where the squad has finished in 3 categories: 3 point shooting %, Field Goal %, and Free Throw %... going all the way back to 1996.

The bottom of the page gives context: Northern Arizona is one of 4 schools to rank in the top 15 for the past 3 years, along with Kansas, North Carolina, and Florida. And they've led the nation in 3 point percentage 4 times.

Now I want to add in one thing that is a curveball: Last season they only shot 62% from the Free Throw line (per their numbers). Definitely not a good shooting team at the line. But Northern Arizona didn't hurry and change their mission. They also didn't leave this off their site. Their identity is shooting and they will stick with it.

Finally, this identity is easy to recruit from. For a student athlete, is that you? Do you want to be a part of a system built for shooters? And for the coaching staff, it helps you know who to go after.

So... How could this be better? If shooting is your identity, make it your identity. Elevate shooting to the home page. Hold shooting camps for kids, elevate highlights of the best shots, put those "3" signs in the gym when a 3 drops. Maybe you could give t shirts away via Twitter every time the team hits a 3? And elevate your in-season shooting standings in realtime on the site. The bottom line is this is a rallying point for the team, we just need to bring this home!

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

Andy