It’s time to continue our conference-by-conference look at NCAA Digital best practices, revealing the 10 Digital and Social Media best practices from the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). Our goal remains the same: to shine a light on programs who are trying new things in the hope of inspiring the rest of us towards something even greater.
Let’s Go.
10. Mississippi Valley State Shows Us the Inside Perspective on Making the NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament
We have come across highlight reels of celebration moments before. But what those videos get us in emotion they miss in perspective. As you’ll see in the video below, Mississippi Valley State’s Women’s Soccer program gathered together in their locker room to await news on this year’s NCAA tournament. The anticipation and real, unedited reactions are captured in this video. It’s authentic and, importantly, gives us a full feel for what it must be like to be a part of this family.
9. Jackson State Creates Football Media Day Photo Gallery
Create the stage. To some degree, that is the biggest challenge of low to mid-major programs. There’s a need to portray your teams as being a part of a bigger story – the type of story that recruits with big dreams want to be a part of. As you can see here, Jackson State takes a moment that all teams are a part of (media day) and releases a gallery that gives them a premium, aspirational feel. It’s a feeling that this moment is a step in the process towards your next step.
8. The SWAC Football Media Day Trailer
As you’ll see in the video below, the SWAC created a blockbuster film-esque trailer for this year’s Football Media Days. To me, this is a great example of doing something you are already doing… but in a new way. The energy, the stage, and the camaraderie between teams and officials feels alive and real.
7. A Visual Look As Jackson State Volleyball Prepares for the NCAA Tournament
Social Media is about being in the moment, of the moment. Jackson State recognized this, and wanted to let their Facebook fans feel the program as they embarked on this year’s NCAA Tournament. As you’ll see here, a deep visual not just of the practice but also of the journey to and from it does a fantastic job of letting us identify with the team and puts more of our attention on the moment.
Visuals set the tone
6. Alabama State Tweets to Kick Off Media Day
Things happen so quickly – making social media truly an of-the-moment medium. As you’ll see in the post below, Alabama State Athletics recognized this and released a timely image and post to kick off this summer’s Football Media Day. This not only offered value to fans (as a real time reminder), it also offered a point of view from Alabama State (as shown in the image they attached). This post wasn’t about Media Day starting… it was about Alabama State Football starting.
The 2013 SWAC Media Day is underway from Birmingham, Alabama. pic.twitter.com/4gZdkHzJ9T
— Alabama State Sports (@ASUBUZZ) July 15, 2013
5. Arkansas Pine Bluff Creates Championship Facebook Cover
Does your Facebook image tell the story you want it to? This space has potential to define your brand for those consumers who first hit your fan page. This space thus has that potential to make the difference on whether or not someone clicks “Like” or simply leaves the page. As you’ll see below (and here), Arkansas Pine Bluff does a great job of telling a story… not of one program winning, but rather of winning as their culture. And, of course, the story is clear and powerful, visually.
Aspirational Facebook Covers
4. Southern Gives Us a View From the Field on Instagram
As you’ll see in this picture, Southern Athletics takes us onto the field to let us feel the emotion and energy of their football program. In fact, the energy is so strong that I almost feel the photographer may have had to get this shot and get out quickly… exactly what you want to find and feel on Instagram!
Instagram Ready Access
3. Alabama A&M Athletics is Bold For Recruits on Digital
The navigation on the new Alabama A&M Website doesn’t hide their desire to quickly identify potential student athletes. As you’ll see in the image below that I pulled from their website, the headline of “Get Recruited” is action-oriented and quickly filters out that consumer from the reset. Now they need to build out the rest of that journey!
Talk to the consumer
2. An Alabama State Student-Athlete POV on Summer Workouts
There is something powerful about hearing how student-athletes are striving to get better, in their own words. That’s the sum of the video below from Alabama State Track. As a potential student-athlete, you become vested in not just the what but in the why. And you subtly get the message that you have it in your own hands (and legs) to get to that next step.
1. Southern Athletics Launches #NationUnited Campaign for Next Season
Why not make a big deal out of your messaging? As you’ll find here, Southern Athletics does just this – creating a website and press release around their new brand message “#NationUnited”. The release highlights the growth of their social media platforms (to over 4,000 on Facebook and 1,000 on Twitter) – subtly telling us all that people are passionate about the program. And they want fans to play a role, or as they put it “throughout the athletic calendar, fans will be able to follow and share all news related to Southern sports by using the hashtag #NationUnited in an effort to enhance the presence of the “Jaguar Nation” on social media.”
Set Clear Visions
Thanks for reading.
As always, you can follow along on this blog for more best practices in digital and social media. Or you can follow me on Twitter- I’m @andypawlowski and on Facebook, here.
Until next time,
Andy
