Social is the name of the game, no matter the name of your game. For those working in the world of football, social has become the digital home of choice for organizations looking to promote every component of the business. Mashable reports more people are utilizing social networks for sports news than national news websites, also noting 75% of sports fans utilizing social have checked social news updates at a party with 58% of the group doing so again when they hit the john.
Teams throughout the NFL and college ranks are working to engage those followers no matter their motivation and location, and social has proven value as an opportunity worth seizing to get to more than a few.
With that comes a growing market of professionals providing innovative takes on social engagement done right, including one of the most intriguing programs from one of the most powerful conferences in college football.
The Texas A&M Aggies have been somewhat inconsistent in their abilities to serve as a perennial power in the SEC, but their program has been rejuvenated over recent campaigns by a rise in the success of recruiting. More than a few top talents have come through the network at College Station, a list topped by current Heisman-touting passer Johnny Manziel. Viewed as a freshman in need of seasoning last year, Manziel utilized a unique mix of confidence, creativity and craziness to become the first freshman ever to earn the game’s top individual honor.
Coming into his second (and likely last) season, the marketing crew at Texas A&M realized the time was ripe to step up their efforts and promote the university as the new home of college football innovation, pushing the game’s most innovative QB as the face of it’s most innovative culture… and they wanted a social campaign to match.
Enter FusionSports Marketing, a small-but-growing firm out of San Diego working to make a name in the social sports game. FusionSports has made a name in the industry via the individual, helping a respectable list of professional athletes in their effort to create an online brand presence. Their list of clients is impressive – NFL receivers Santonio Holmes and Hines Ward, future Football Hall of Famers Ray Lewis and LaDainian Tomlinson, and track stars Doc Patton and Perdita Felician – primarily distributed via custom web designs and mobile applications.
Texas A&M appears to represent their first effort not only with a team, but also with a social focus, and there are some undeniable benefits (and concerns) for Aggie fans to consider in a bookmark for this social hub – AggieFBLife.com – as their social destination of choice.
Begin with aesthetics of the social hub. Fans are immediately met with large-scale visual stimulation and the latest content addition of the day. The banner is set against the historic burgundy/white colors of university, topped by an extensive menu of page options pushing a wide variety of information for the Aggies ranging well beyond their social efforts. Below the header users find a photo wall presenting a mix of social posts from selected Texas A&M channels (including the team’s official press channels, the coaches, and the players).
The university has done an excellent job in spreading their social wings, giving users from all of the major platforms (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Vine, and Pinterest) as well as a couple of not-so-major networks (including “Practice Playlists” from Spotify and news feed from AggiesAthletics.com, the university’s primary website). Move further down and users find an aggregated social collection based on hashtags (#AggieFBLife and #AggieFootball).
Unfortunately, many of the team’s socially-experienced fans may find more frustration than information. The social hub lacks – and, to be frank, appears to embrace – the universal functionality most social fans yearn to enjoy. While the Aggies are as socially active as any team in the game, this hub makes users work to discover those typical portals of interaction, connection and engagement that push the experience beyond display. Clicking on the posts – whether offered in the banner, the photo wall or the hashtag feed – pushes the user to another page inside the hub… a page that will not allow users to “Like” or comment on those posts. There is no true connection between the fan and the team, leaving users with simple share buttons as the only option for action.
If you have no desire for typical social interaction, you’re still likely to question the value of the time spent on the hub. The team’s primary site (AggieAthletics.com), like their social channels, has no direct connection to the hub. Consider the social hub pages offering insight and information on the Aggies: in truth, they are simplified reproductions of content offered on the official site, where fans will find much more information and menu option, all laced with expansive application and functionality to connect via social networks and sharing engines.
To make matters worse, the hashtag feed fails to integrate some of the most popular tags used by the A&M faithful in social conversation (#aggies, #tamu, #gigem, #12thman). Instead, the hub relies solely on two hashtags used by A&M staff seeking that designed connection, leading to moderation by exclusion and a feed lacking true social power.
Add visual presentations at the bottom asking for your click that are not clickable (namely a desktop app install option, advertising simple hub access on your home screen that is apparently not truly available) and a simple football schedule widget that doesn’t update (showing the ‘Upcoming’ game as ‘At Arkansas’, a game that took place days before this piece was put together)… it becomes easy to see why fans might struggle to embrace it (if they can find it all, noting this social hub doesn’t seem to appear – in any way – on the team’s primary website).
In the end, we’re left with a social hub built on a foundation of display, rather an a foundation of dialogue. Without access, without interaction, and without function… it’s not really social. We certainly applaud the Aggies for being active and embracing the opportunities social tech can provide, but in a market bloated with competition offering innovative social aggregation, an SEC power like Texas A&M – with a social fanbase to match – should expect more. Many in this market space seem to be mistaking the two, and an experience such as this might remind: aggregation without function is not innovation.
With that said, the foundation is laid for progressive effort moving forward, and we hope to see the Aggies with an improved push again next season. This is one step forward, for the program and college football.
For now… enjoy Manziel.