2016 ohio university athletics street team consulting project

Presented By:Mac Bosel | Brad Hosmer | Connor McCurley | Anthony Pipia

2016 Ohio University Athletics Street Team Consulting Project

IntroSWOT

AnalysisComparisons Recommendations

Executive Summary

As consultants for Ohio University Media Relations and the Digital Street Team, the team has been tasked with outlining a successful campaign for the 2016-17 season for the Men’s and Women’s Basketball team. The plan the team has developed allows the media relations to run this program on a zero cost budget and provide students with incentives.

In order to see what schools run a successful social media campaign, the team analyzed the Mountain West and Mid American (MAC) conferences. The Mountain West represents a similar conference to the MAC. From research, the OU Street Team did a great job of working the inaugural campaign for the 2015 football season. Other schools such as Toledo, Northern Illinois, Boise State and Fresno State were very popular on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in their respective conferences. Of the trends amongst these schools, popular posts include team success in postseason play, past and player coach achievements and interesting facts about current players.

A first recommendation the team has is to produce non game day material on social media. Fans do not get the opportunity to see what goes on non game days. Various ways that the team could do this is have player takeovers so fans can see what the off days are like and even have posts remembering the five year anniversary of the Men’s Basketball team’s Sweet 16 run.

The second recommendation for the Digital Street Team was to have more of a presence on Snapchat. From analyzing the inaugural campaign, the team was very good at promoting on Facebook and Twitter but did not have much of a Snapchat following. Snapchat will be a great way to show behind the scenes action to fans who cannot attend the game.

The next recommendation the team has is to promote platforms across multiple platforms. The team feels that the university needs a uniform hash tag. #BleedGreen is a suggestion to have a common hash tag. A cross promotion could be as simple as posting the Snapchat code on Instagram.

A final recommendation the team has developed is to expand the Street Team by offering practicum credit for students looking to get a taste at what the Ohio University Street Team is all about. Since students will be getting credit for working with the street team, they will be held accountable and won’t drop their responsibilities with the street team.

SWOTAnalysis

Comparisons Recommendations

Table of Contents

SWOT 1

Competitive Analysis 2

Recommendations 4

Non Game Day Material 4

Snapchat 5

Cross Platform Promotion 5

Digital Street Team 6

Appendices 7

1IntroSWOT

AnalysisCompetitive

AnalysisRecommendations

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

• Game day coverage• Live game tweets• Strong Twitter and

Facebook presence

Weaknesses

• Non-game day coverage

• Failure to cross promote

• Inconsistent use of hashtags

Opportunities• Weekly Snapchat

timeline• Social Media link to

ESPN3• Sponsorship• Student-Athlete

takeover

Threats

• Producing same material over many accounts

• Losing fans/same content each week

The Ohio University Digital Street Team ran its inaugural campaign during the 2015 football season. Comprised of three graduate students and two undergraduate students, the team worked strictly game days. The two undergraduates eventually left the Digital Street Team toward the of the season. The task was to promote the football team and showcase fans supporting their Bobcats. Our team has been tasked with creating a similar plan for the 2016-17 Men’s and Women’s Basketball season.

After analyzing the inaugural Football Digital Street Team, the team was able to break down the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of their social media efforts. The Digital Street Team used social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat to target fans and engage them with Ohio University Athletics.

(See Appendix A for further SWOT Analysis)

SWOTAnalysis

Comparisons RecommendationsIntroSWOT

AnalysisRecommendations ConclusionCompetitive

Analysis

Competitive Analysis

Boise State Fresno State ToledoNorthern

Illinois

• Fan voting• Fan giveaways• Ticket price/seat

graphics• Former players• User Generated

Content (UGC)• Holiday posts

• Showcasing personal lives of athletes

• Awards and accomplishments

• Recent/current coaches and athletes

• Fan contests• User Generated

Content

• Showcasing new uniforms/facilities

• Player stats and awards

• Sponsorship promotion

• Highlights and box scores

• Hype videos• Articles/links

• Funnypictures/videos

• Promotion of upcoming off field events

• Raffle items• Meet the coaches

The team analyzed all 12 teams in both the MAC and Mountain West Conferences. The team chose the Mountain West based on similarities in size and prestige in their athletic programs. The schools below showed the most consistency at the top of their respective conferences in regards to their engagement with fans on their social media platforms (see Appendix B).

Listed above are examples of tactics that the researched schools used to generate fan engagement over their social media platforms. One can see by viewing these platforms, the successful interaction between the athletic programs and their followers.

Boise State used their social media platforms to showcase different seating areas and their respective views of the stadium. By posting photos and videos generated by fans, Fresno State was able to connect with their followers on a individual level, something many schools struggle to achieve. Toledo used hype videos to create excitement among their followers for upcoming games. Northern Illinois’ coaching staff made themselves available to meet and greet with fans in unique areas such as the trophy room through social media to connect with them on a personal level. All of these schools used unique techniques on their social media platforms to create excitement and generate engagement with their fans and followers, proving why they are at the top of their conferences when it comes to social media interaction.

2

IntroSWOT

AnalysisRecommendations 3Competitive

Analysis

Competitive Analysis

2.7k likes – Alumni Paul George on cover of 2K – Fresno State

8.6k likes – Alumni players winning Super Bowl – Boise State

869 likes – Happy Holidays post – Toledo

1.6k likes – 6 straight MAC West titles – Northern Illinois

106 interactions – Basketball coach attempts to break Guinness World Record – Fresno State

1,134 interactions – Football player drafted by the Ravens – Boise State

129 interactions – Former baseball player being called up to MLB –Toledo

110 interactions – Current baseball player earning All-League Honors – Northern Illinois

1,224 likes – Student Athletes being named Bulldogs of the Year –Fresno State

1,608 likes – Spring Game Announcement – Boise State

761 likes – Head Football Coach first victory – Toledo

485 likes – Game statistics for running back – Northern Illinois

After analyzing the top two schools on social media from the MAC and Mountain West conferences, the team discovered several popular trends from each teams most fan engaged posts. The team found a correlation in the success of each team’s social media activity with the team’s former and current player’s successes.

Popular Social Media Trends

Non Game Day Material

SWOTAnalysis



Analysis

Recommendations

4

The team recommends a few ways to add additional impressions during the non game days. First off, this year marks the five year anniversary of the Men’s basketball team making the Sweet 16. At a school the size of Ohio University, this is an accomplishment that is very rare and should be celebrated. During the off days of the basketball season, throwback Thursday posts and different posts throughout the year should be used to remember this accomplishment (as seen in the example picture below). For more examples see Appendix C.

Additionally, based off the trends the team examined in the competitor analysis, notable individual and team awards should be targeted when posting to social media.

Example Posts: • Antonio Campbell All-American

Honorable Mention• Antonio Campbell MAC Player

of the Year• Jaaron Simmons top five in

NCAA in assists

This will give the fans a better awareness of how the players are performing and who they should look out for during the games.

IntroSWOT


Analysis

Recommendations

Snapchat

The team has advised Ohio’s Digital Street Team to expand their presence on Snapchat. To expand their presence, the Digital Street Team would need to post on Snapchat everyday, not just on game days. One way to organize content and timing of the Digital Street Team posts, would be to create a schedule or timeline (such as the example schedule below). The team came to this conclusion based on the success of other colleges, such as Iowa State (see Appendix D for more information).

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Ohio SWAG giveaway.

Snap location and have fans

come find.

Live look-in from practice

session

Pre-game tour of

Convo/locker room

Pre-game tour of

Convo/locker room

#TBT Posts about Bobcat

memories

Player take over

Pre-game tour of Convo/locker

room

Snaps of Coaches

Rufus take over

Live game posts for

Men’s Team

Live game posts for Women’s

Team

Live look-in from practice

session

Player take over

Live game posts for

Men’s/Women’s Teams

Announce winners of

SWAG giveaway

Rufus take over

Post game press

conferences or Recap

Post game press

conferences or Recap

Live scrimmage

from practice

Breakdown of upcoming opponent

Fan giveaways promotions

Cross Platform Promotion

• Uniform #BleedGreen

• Promote all social media accounts in biography sections with links to each account

• Cross sharing of content among accounts

• Promotion of all accounts on giveaway items

SWOTAnalysis



Analysis

Recommendations

6

The Digital Street TeamThe 2016-2017 Digital Street Team for the Men’s and Women’s Basketball programs here at Ohio University will consist of three graduate students and three undergraduate students. These six students will each be receiving practicum credit for their time and effort with the Digital Street Team. The three graduate students will primarily be the leaders in this initiative, guiding the undergraduate students through their different roles on the team. With six students making up this team, not every member will be required to cover each game. Each home game will consist of two graduate students and two undergraduate students at each home game with a rotating schedule. Below is a breakdown for the responsibilities for game days and non-game days.

Game Days

Non-Game Days

Areas and roles to be covered:• Pregame/Warmups• Crowd/Fan Engagement• Live Game Activity• Student Section• Bench Activity• Post Game

Areas and roles to be covered:• Future game promotion• Interaction with Student

Athletes• Away game coverage from

campus• Weekly Snap Story• Practice coverage

IntroSWOT


AnalysisConclusion

Appendix A: SWOT Analysis

Strengths were most common on game days the team thrived and proved successful, coverage of the football team. The in-game tweet keeps fans not at the game in the loop and were very well received. These strengths are good things to build on for the future.

Weaknesses in the inaugural football campaign occurred on days where they were not playing a game and connecting promotions of the team on different social media outlets. This weaknesses are not big and can become a strength of the campaign if more people are added to the campaign.

Opportunities for the Football Street Media Team to improve fan engagement include more involvement with Snapchat, be it a weekly timeline or student-athlete takeovers of the account, and linking the social media outlets to ESPN3 productions to reach a broader audience. ESPN3 will help aid to increase fan engagement even when fans aren’t around to see the Ohio play. Fans will have the ability to stream the games and stay engaged with the social media platform that sent them there, whether it be Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

Losing engagement because of recycling content on a weekly basis and across each media outlets were threats that hindered the success of the Street Media Team. Another source of loss of engagement is from an inconsistent use of hash tags, such as #BleedGreen, #BobcatNation, and #OhioBobcats. Lastly the most threatening source of loss of engagement would be from subpar content. After intensely analyzing the Ohio Bobcats Twitter page, the team found that an alarming number of the posts were actually shared from other sources of the internet.

SWOTAnalysis


AnalysisRecommendationsCompetitive

Analysis

Appendix B: Conference Social Media Rankings

8

Mid-American Facebook

Rankings

Mountain West Facebook

Rankings

Rank School Likes

1 Northern Illinois 27,837

2 Toledo 27,306

3 Akron 26,104

4 Ohio 25,133

5 Kent State 19,367

6 Central Michigan 16,219

7 Miami (OH) 14,295

8 Buffalo 12,968

9 Ball State 12,242

10 Bowling Green 9,858

11 Western Michigan 8,994

12 Eastern Michigan 8,309

Rank School Likes

1 Boise State 130,844

2 San Diego State 103,171

3 Wyoming 101,328

4 Fresno State 93,951

5 Nevada 80,910

6 New Mexico 76,803

7 Hawaii 65,840

8 Air Force 33,314

9 San Jose State 25,784

10 Utah State 22,843

11 Colorado State 17,870

12 UNLV 13,566

IntroSWOT


Analysis


Mid-American Twitter

Rankings

Mountain West Twitter

Rankings

Rank School Followers

1New Mexico 47,300

2Fresno State 46,300

3Nevada 33,000

4 San Diego State

32,300

5UNLV 26,700

6Wyoming 26,300

7Boise State 24,300

8Hawaii 17,600

9Colorado State 17,500

10Air Force 13,900

11Utah State 12,500

12San Jose State 3,410


1Ohio 26,900

2Ball State 16,700

3Bowling Green 16,500

4Northern Illinois 15,400

5Miami (OH) 14,900

6Kent State 12,600

7Central Michigan 12,300

8Buffalo 11,200

9Toledo 10,000

10Akron 8,847

11Eastern Michigan 7,230

12Western Michigan 5,246

SWOTAnalysis



Analysis


10

Mid-American

Instagram Rankings

Mountain West

Instagram Rankings


1Northern Illinois

7,117

2 Bowling Green 5,488

3 Toledo 5,294

4 Ball State 4,886

5 Kent State 2,798

6 Ohio 2,714

7 Buffalo 2,522

8Central Michagan

2,379

9 Miami 1,869

10Eastern Michigan

1,803

11Western Michigan

1,587

12 Akron 840


1 Boise State 41,200

2 Fresno State 27,300

3 Hawaii 17,500

4 Nevada 14,500

5 San Diego State 14,000

6 New Mexico 10,200

7 Wyoming 9,035

8 Colorado State 8,130

9 UNLV 7,304

10 San Jose State 6,153

11 Utah St. 2,878

12 Air Force 1,296

IntroSWOT


AnalysisConclusion

Appendix C: Example Social Media Posts

SWOTAnalysis



Analysis

Appendix D: Iowa State Snapchat Data

12

The graph above shows how allowing athletes to take over the athletics Snapchat account for a select day creates more viewers and in turn attracts more followers. The team recommends Ohio implement similar strategy with star athletes such as Antonio Campbell and Kiki Lampkins. When athletes takes over the Snapchat during non game day, it provides entertainment for fans that may only have interest on game days.

2016 ohio university athletics street team consulting project

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