digital Archives - Social 'n Sport

Friday Finds: 06.28.2013

By Guest On June 28, 2013 In College Athletics, Digital, Social Media, Twitter

In our industry, there is always something to learn. In fact, that’s one of the reasons why I started this blog– it helps me keep up with industry trends, know what others are doing in the space and think through applications.

Every week I stumble upon share-worthy pieces of content, digital packages, social media campaigns, etc. from teams, leagues and others in the industry. But ecause there are so many great examples out there , and I can’t add commentary to everything, really good work (small or large) often goes unshared here.

Industry examples are a great way to get your creative thinking going though, so I thought I would start a regular column on Friday to highlight great digital pieces, social media campaigns and content from the past week. The column won’t be filled with a lot of commentary, but will serve as more of an inspiration board. I hope you find it useful in some form or fashion.

How Can I Create Compelling Content for Social Media With Limited Time, Resources, Etc.?

By Guest On June 16, 2013 In College Athletics, Digital, Social Media with 2 Comments

If you work in athletic communications, I understand time and resources can be half the battle when it comes to social media. Here’s the good news; you can create compelling content with a limited budget, time, resources, etc.

Yes, it’s true… you can create visuals like the one below with just your phone:

During the 2013 CoSIDA Convention I shared the apps / platforms I use to create compelling content, like the graphic above. I’ve had several people ask me what they were, so I thought I would go ahead and compile a list for you all. So, without further ado, here they are…

Apps I use to create graphics with just my iPhone (please keep in mind it’s almost always a combination of apps):

PicFrame (.$.99)- This app lets you combine multiple photos into awesome collages.
SnapSeed ($4.99)- There are four great filters on this app- Grunge, Vintage, Drama & Tilt Shift. In addition, the app is great for basic editing (crop, rotate, etc.) and fine-tuning your image. You can really make colors pop with this app.
PhotoToaster ($1.99)- This app is great for textures (canvas, old paper, antique, concrete, etc), vignettes and adjusting light.
Over ($1.99)– Add beautiful typography and artwork to your photos.
InstaFonts ($3.99)– Add text and filters.

Additional content generation resources / platforms:

Infographics– Check out Piktochart, Easel.ly, Info.gram if you’re looking to create infographics with little to no graphic design experience.
ThingLink– This app / platform offers an online tool to create interactive images. To create the image, you simply upload a picture, identify hot spots, and add text and links. The best part? The tool is integrated with Twitter.
Storify– Storify is a social network service that lets the user create stories or timelines using social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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!