Tag: marketing

Pac 12 + Instagram

By Guest On April 15, 2015 In Best Practices, Social Media

The secret is out with Instagram… it’s a place where brands should play. The recent numbers, according to Simply Measured, validate the need to have a presence in the space:

  • 90 million monthly active users.
  • 40 million photos being posted per day.
  • 8,500 likes per second.
  • 1,000 comments per second.

Why Instagram?
Instagram is a visual tool that uses photos to tell the story. The rise of brand engagement on Instagram proves that using social media as a branding tool– not a hard sell– is a powerful, powerful punch.  In addition, Instagram is easy to use and requires little resources (except for the access to photos).

Instagram + Sports
In regards to teams and athletics departments, using Instagram should be a no-brainer. The access to behind the scenes photos, action shots, venues, student-athletes, players, etc. makes it extremely easy to generate draculalespectacle.com content on the platform. The content is literally right at your fingertips. While some athletic departments are taking advantage of Instagram, there’s still a lot of room for schools to engage and elevate their presence in the space.

I decided to take a look at the Pac 12 to see which schools have a presence on Instagram– and also– what they are doing well. I found that out of the 12 member schools, only four are engaging on the platform: Cal, Washington, Arizona State and Oregon (if the others are, it’s buried somewhere on their website where I can’t find it and that’s another issue).

With that in mind, below are a few examples of how the athletic departments are using Instagram successfully:

Quote Tiles
Social media tiles work great across multiple platforms– Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.– to evoke emotion, emphasize a point, etc. Washington Athletics does a good  job of adding them to their content mix (as seen below).

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Selling Campus
I think athletic departments have a great opportunity to showcase their campus– it’s a chance to draw in admission applications and prospective student-athletes. If athletic departments want to get really creative, they can have student-athletes and coaches showcase their favorite spots on campus through Instagram.


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Behind the Scenes
This is a broken record we hear over and over again: give people content they can’t get anywhere else. Just like other visual platforms, behind the scenes photos do extremely well on Instagram.

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Results
I love how Cal is using a photo ands text to highlight final scores / results.  Simple, easy and effective. Really, there isn’t commentary that’s needed here.

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These examples only scratch the surface of how athletic departments can use Instagram– user generated content, campaigns, etc. also present huge opportunities for those who want to take their Instagram presence to the next level. In the future, I will explore that more.

 

What other athletic departments have a great presence on Instagram? Please share your thoughts below! 

Thanks for reading! 

Warning: Everyone Has the Harlem Shakes

By Guest On February 13, 2013 In Social Media

We have seen it before… those video crazes that take teams, athletic departments and universities by storm. It happen with Call Me Maybe, Gangnam Style and now the latest, the Harlem Shakes.

So far the UGA swim team steals the show with their underwater rendition that has garnered more than 2 million views. But lets’ face it, we are probably just getting started. If these video crazes prove one thing, it’s that people and fans love a little personality and humor. In fact, they don’t seem to mind when teams push the boundaries a little bit.

This post is strictly for your entertainment. Yes, I’ve compiled a list of the latest Harlem Shake videos floating around. Be sure to let me know of other Harlem Shake videos by teams, leagues or athletic departments and I will add them. Enjoy!
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Elevating Behind-the-Scenes Content on Social Media

By Guest On February 2, 2013 In Best Practices, Facebook

If you work in social media and sports (for a team or league), one of your goals should include giving fans content they can’t get anywhere else. For teams and leagues, having a social media presence is not about competing with the likes of ESPN, Sports Illustrated and other major media outlets. It’s about bringing in your own voice, tapping in to your niche audience and delivering unique content.

Team and league employees have 24-7, behind-the-scenes access to players, practice, facilities, etc. Use it. Capitalize on it. Play off of it.

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Way Too Early Vine Predictions

By Guest On April 15, 2015 In Social Media

The social media space has been overtaken by a new phenomenon– Vine.  In case you haven’t heard, here’s what Vine is (according to its iTune description):

Vine is the best way to see and share life in motion. Create short, beautiful, looping videos in a simple and fun way for your friends and family to see.

Vine lets people create six-second videos to embed in Twitter (just like you can do with photos) or share on Facebook. The app itself looks much like Instagram; it’s a community where people can like videos, comment, tag, search, etc.

Six seconds might not seem like a lot of time, but as we have seen in its short life so far, a six-second video is plenty of time for creativity. Proof here.

While it’s still way too early to tell, I think Vine has a lot of potential in the sports space. Here are my way too early predictions for how Vine might be used in the sports industry:

Highlights
This is the most obvious one.  Vine is the perfect opportunity to capture a highlight or great play and immediately share it on Twitter and Facebook. Yes, instant replay in its truest form. Michigan example here.

Promotions + Announcements
The New York Jets posted this Vine about “how Jets chant“. Basically, fans (or their staff) held up signs to spell out the Jets’ cheer. Teams and leagues can execute this simple idea in a lot of ways. For example:

  • Remind fans to use their hashtag.
  • Make an announcement. Who knows? Maybe one day we will see a team make a huge announcement on Vine, like a new head coach.
  • Ask fans to take action with something (perhaps for a recently launched campaign).
  • Have a player make a statement, thank fans for coming to the game, spell out a quotable quote, etc.

History
Check out this Gap Vine highlighting their ads throughout the years. This exact same philosophy can apply to sports. Whether the video walks through old media guides or a photo essay, there are a lot of opportunities for teams to take fans down memory lane.

Capture Emotion
A six-second video is plenty of time to pack a powerful punch of emotion; it all comes down to being at the right place, at the right time. Community managers need to keep their eyes out for teammates celebrating, the agony of pain, overzealous fans, the look of defeat, etc.  Fans love the drama and emotion of sports. It helps to tell the story.

Behind the  Scenes
I’m a big believer in behind the scenes content for teams and leagues across any social media platform. Teams and leagues should focus on giving fans access to something they can’t get anywhere else; if the game / event is on TV, the focus should be on enhancing the second screen experience (not play-by-play). Behind the scenes Vine videos could include:

How To’s
Teams and leagues with a younger audience should consider creating Vine videos that demonstrate how to properly execute a skill, training technique, etc. With just six seconds, it needs to be simple, but the idea is something worth exploring.

& Much More
Of course, people are extremely creative and will blow this list away.  Take what the University of Michigan did to promote their basketball game.  My point is this: the opportunities with Vine are endless.

While it’s too early to tell if Vine is a fad or here to stay, it never hurts to start brainstorming ways your brand can use the application.

 


So, what do you think… will you give it a go?

Duke Athletics + Facebook Engagement

By Guest On May 19, 2015 In Best Practices, Facebook with 3 Comments

According to the Social Media Top 25 rankings, Duke sits at No. 11 for largest following on Facebook (FBS schools) with 407,000+ fans; Ohio State comes in at No 1. with 1.3 million.

In Comparison

I took a look at the last seven Facebook posts from Ohio State and Duke and found that- on average- Duke’s engagement trumps Ohio State’s engagement (despite the much smaller audience). Obviously, looking at a longer date rate could change this, but here’s the breakdown:

  • Last seven posts from Ohio State averaged 720 ‘Likes’, 50 comments & 92 shares.
  • Last seven posts from Duke averaged 2,139 ‘Likes, 98 comments & 170 shares.

Yep, Duke is rocking their engagement level with their fans this month.So now the question is… why? Below are the three things I think Duke is doing right on Facebook to increase their engagement (please note, I’m only looking at the month of January):

1- Photos

Duke is living by the golden rule to not post to Facebook without a photo. Photos generate more engagement than standalone text or a link. As the photo below proves, content does not have to be fancy; it just needs to draw fans in from the noise:

2- Fan-Generated Content

I love fan-generated content for several reasons. First (for the obvious reason), it gives you access to easy and unique content. Second, it requires your fans to take action. And finally, user-generated content fosters a sense of community with fans and rewards those who engage (when you actually use their photos).

Duke is asking its audience to email fan photos each week. From there, they pick three photos to upload to an album. Once the album is uploaded, fans can vote for their favorite picture by ‘Liking’ it (which is a win because it increases engagement). The picture with the most ‘Likes’ is then featured on the Facebook page, as shown below:


My only advice to Duke on their fan-generated content: Create the Duke Fan of the Week graphic within the timeline size constraints. This will make for a better visual when people visit your page.

3- Action Words

You know the saying, “If you ask, you shall receive”? Well, the saying is true for Facebook. The following words are key if you want to increase engagement, trust me: Like, Comment, Share, Why, What

If you’re a community manager, you always want your posts to come across as genuine. But, there are ways to “ask” for engagement without being too pushy… you just have to get a little creative with your copy. Duke does a good job of sneaking in action words with their post. Example:


In Summary

If you want to increase your engagement statistics on Facebook, take a few notes from Duke. Remember that photos are golden, user-generated content fosters community and action words are key.

 

 

So, what is key to engagement on the pages you manage? Share your secrets below.

Thanks for reading!