It’s time to continue our journey through the NCAA Digital Landscape, revealing my ten favorite digital and social media best practices from the Ivy League. 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 Dive In.
10. Harvard Elevates ESPN Coverage on Twitter
ESPN has always been one of the biggest validators for performance. When your team or highlight cracks their program, it drives buzz and exposure for the entire university. That’s still true in the social media age. And while it seems simple, not all programs are looking at it this way. As you’ll see below, when Harvard clinched a bid into this year’s Men’s NCAA Tournament, ESPN celebrated the news. Harvard, quickly, re-tweeted the post bringing ESPN recognition into the Harvard community in the moment. And doing this added energy into a fan base that was already fired up.
#Harvard is going DANCING! Second team today to punch their ticket. #MarchMadness
— ESPN College BBall (@ESPNCBB) March 10, 2013
9. Princeton Rallies Game Day Energy on Twitter
Princeton has a reputation for being a rough place to play a road game. As you’ll note below, they tease this idea by directing a message with a picture to their students through Twitter. I’m a big fan of this because you feel a connectedness between the athletics department and the university or student body. You feel like they truly are in this together – and that feeling creates a community on campus that many want to be a part of. Oh and, of course, the towel waving will add another dimension to an opponent trying to stay focused at Jadwin.
@princeton students: Get to Jadwin early and start waving these things around! #RallyTowels #GoTigers twitter.com/Princeton_Hoop…
— Princeton Basketball (@Princeton_Hoops) March 1, 2013
8. Penn’s Instagram View from the Bench
Instagram provides access. This is delivered through a visual glimpse into someone else’s perspective. When I came across the Penn Instagram community, I was taken by the idea of a consistent point of view across sports – in the examples below that POV was from a bench or sideline – the place fans can’t get. While I see room for the photography itself to improve, I think this philosophy could become incredible over time.
Women’s Basketball, courtside
Football, Sideline
Men’s Basketball, Courtside
7. Harvard Creates a Parents Section
Know your audience and develop a message that connects with them. That’s what I found intriguing by what Harvard has done in creating a destination for parents of potential recruits. On the Harvard Athletics website, they have created a Parents Central section that contains all information a parent could look for on the University and Program. While this creative could become far more involved, the idea is definitely unique: create an advantage by building their message in a way that can be deeply customized.
Harvard’s Parents Central Destination
6. Princeton’s Facebook Community for Women’s Basketball Alumni
In a very similar approach, Princeton created a Facebook community for their Women’s Basketball Alumni, shown here. It’s pretty easy to lose track of student-athletes, and of losing the ability for those student-athletes to continue shaping your university’s brand long after their playing days are over. That’s what intrigues me the most: If we can create communities for alumni to engage with the team, we create a powerful community that prospective students and student athletes will want to be a part of.
Social Communities can help alumni remain top of mind
5. Cornell elevates Senior Weekend in Facebook
As the seasons end, it also means the end of the careers of student-athletes who have given four (or five) years to their school. Cornell University translates this into a celebration of these individuals by creating Senior Weekends, which were then shared in their Facebook communities. As you’ll see below (or linked here and here), a powerful visual reminder of these student athletes can make a community feel much more connected.
Senior Weekend at Cornell
Celebrate Student Athletes as Careers End
4. Harvard Basketball Delivers Emotional Voice in Twitter
It’s all too easy to treat Twitter solely as a news source. We then use it to break stories or even more simply to share facts. And this is ok, as the world uses Twitter for news… but the style and voice in which we deliver this news can shape our brand. That’s what I loved about Harvard Basketball. When the program clinched their second-straight bid to the NCAA Tourney, here’s what they posted. (Note the style — it’s still news, but it is packed full of emotion and point of view). So much we can all take from this!
We wake up today, CHAMPIONS again! BACK 2 BACK 2 BACK! Pictures from last night can be found here: bit.ly/ZcohAO
— Harvard Basketball (@hoopsatharvard) March 10, 2013
3. Penn Delivers Hashtags by Team
Hashtags are the best way to bring conversations together on Twitter. And in a network where so many niche interest groups could unite, this is an opportunity for the college space to truly evolve. As you’ll see here, Penn creates a list of hashtags for every athletics program – from basketball to squash (both men’s and women’s of course). This is a fantastic starting point — in effect a guide to using Twitter to connect with the program. I’d love to see this page evolve to actually bring in or link to the conversation, but for now, I see this as a fantastic starting point!
Hashtags for every team at Penn
2. Penn Shows Us Game Highlights from Above the Rim
Perspective can change everything. Penn Basketball changed the way we looked at their highlights by creating a game recap filmed above the rim. While you might at first think this just gives you a really rough view of the Harvard Game, what you’ll start to see is that this viewpoint starts to make you feel the program in a different way. You start to see their game as played in a more athletic, more NBA-like atmosphere. And while, yes, you need more than perspective to make this work, I think you’ll see how we could all start to challenge our programs to think of the best vantage point to show off our teams from.
1. Princeton Basketball Allows You to Scan and Follow Them on Twitter
As you’ll see here (and below), Princeton has come up with an easy way to start following the program on Twitter. You simply hold your phone up to the image below and scan it. Now imagine where this could go… Put these images in arenas, around campus, or on stickers and use them as chances to transform the physical world into a network to help recruit more support for Princeton. This is much easier than remembering to go to Twitter, search for the Princeton Basketball Twitter handle and follow. Plus this positions the program as innovators — which (I’m guessing) is exactly what the university would like to see!
Scan to Follow has so much potential.
Thanks for hanging with me today. As always, stay tuned for more best practices on this site…. Or, you can follow me on Twitter (here) or Facebook, here.
Until next time,
Andy