Who’s Winning? Why HBCU Athletic Branding Strategies Matter


bluedog

bluedog

"Leader of Kings"
by William Broussard

Your alma mater is competing in a marquee rivalry game, and you’re excited about hopping online and doing some trash talking with your friends and colleagues. The game is untelevised. You log on your alma mater’s athletic website for an update, but the game is not live streamed and there are no live stats. No updates on the designated university Facebook or Twitter account, and no Instagram or Snapchat account to speak of, and no hashtag or keyword searches by which you can search other fellow users. You not only miss the opportunity to trash talk and engage, but you head to bed that evening with nary an update to be found, not even on the ESPN crawl.

http://diverseeducation.com/article/93904/
 
inexperienced or inadequately trained SID and external relations officials who do not know how to (or that they should) produce robust and thematically organized content or engage and cultivate available traditional media resources; and cash-strapped budgets that athletic directors must increasingly dedicate to compliance and academic support, eliminating discretionary...
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:)
 

If “athletics is the front porch of the academy” as Hall of Fame basketball coach Dean Smith once quipped, the university and athletics websites, in coordination with social media accounts are the most visible elements on those porches. By contrast, websites and social media accounts without updated information and intriguing profiles and stories lack curb appeal, and without it, prospective students will not explore the wider offerings of the institution or be intrigued to submit an application.
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Preach, preacher!
 
Dr. Broussard mentioned TSU Athletics as a department that has social media presence. We are 20x ahead of where we were 5 years ago - before TSU upped it's game, alums @Nelson and @tsuball10 found a way to deliver content to tiger fans and alums. They found sites that updated scores in football, basketball, softball, and baseball which scoring updates didn't exist. They founded a message board and website and their social media presence is valuable. They found a way to post and retweet any article or story about athletics and the university. Even though Dr. Broussard gives TSU Athletics a thumbs up for it's presence, I still go to www.tigerfans.net and tigerfans for information first. In fact, the last 5 months TSU Athletics began to retweet content from other outlets as Tigerfans.net did as long 2-3 years ago. I appreciate the efforts of our SID and the Tigerfans crew.
 
TSUalum05 said:
Dr. Broussard mentioned TSU Athletics as a department that has social media presence. We are 20x ahead of where we were 5 years ago - before TSU upped it's game, alums @Nelson and @tsuball10 found a way to deliver content to tiger fans and alums. They found sites that updated scores in football, basketball, softball, and baseball which scoring updates didn't exist. They founded a message board and website and their social media presence is valuable. They found a way to post and retweet any article or story about athletics and the university. Even though Dr. Broussard gives TSU Athletics a thumbs up for it's presence, I still go to www.tigerfans.net and tigerfans for information first. In fact, the last 5 months TSU Athletics began to retweet content from other outlets as Tigerfans.net did as long 2-3 years ago. I appreciate the efforts of our SID and the Tigerfans crew.
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Nelson and tsuball10 deserve notice for pushing our athletic department to improve in the social media information medium. They did it out of their own personal expense and time simply with the objective to help usher in improvement at their/our alma mater. Thanks guys, your effort has not been in vain. At the same time, I'm glad to see our athletic department continue to move forward in a productive way.
 
My issue is and has always been it doesn't seen that we are sharing that type of knowledge with each other.

It seems no matter what the level of education or how many letters are behind that degree, the crab in a barrel mentality still flourish .
 
bluedog said:
My issue is and has always been it doesn't seen that we are sharing that type of knowledge with each other.

It seems no matter what the level of education or how many letters are behind that degree, the crab in a barrel mentality still flourish .
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blue, we're fighting a differing kind of battle @ PV brah. It's the battle within, that we're currently dealing w/.

We need an overhaul. It's like giving the keys to a 2017 lambo to a 4 y/o w/ what we have going on in our athletic department. smh :( I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be envious of sam houston st's athletic department and clearly seeing what their vision is comprised of. :(
 
bluedog said:
That's crazy. It's as if they either like being stagnant or they are afraid of the challenge
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In this case, these folks are horribly unqualified for their positions. And yah, we are not stagnant but are regressing, imho. Don't let all that shiny new athletic shit about PV's campus fool you. ::read::
 
I'm proud to say that Bama State has made a major push in this direction, particularly with recent hires in Sports Information department. Three new hires, and the social media presence and live streaming is on the uptick for sure. Kudos to the athletics administration for making this happen, and to university admin for seeing the importance and funding it.

I've seen an almost complete redesign with emphasis on "how to get more hits".
Each team now has a twitter handle that is actively updated. Graphics look great. FB and IG accounts are now actively updated. It's a breath of fresh air.
 
Kaver1911 said:
I'm proud to say that Bama State has made a major push in this direction, particularly with recent hires in Sports Information department. Three new hires, and the social media presence and live streaming is on the uptick for sure. Kudos to the athletics administration for making this happen, and to university admin for seeing the importance and funding it.

I've seen an almost complete redesign with emphasis on "how to get more hits".
Each team now has a twitter handle that is actively updated. Graphics look great. FB and IG accounts are now actively updated. It's a breath of fresh air.
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Was that effort initiated/led by Hines or someone above him?
 
My personal thoughts about this is the schools are still caught up with how they take care of the baby boomer alumni base. And, for some unkown reason, will not make that change with the times to connect with the younger alumni and fan base thats coming along.

Our schools are not keeping up with technology when it comes to communication. It's not like it's going to break the bank to make the change but the change has to be made to reach this younger audience.
 
goodolebrave said:
My personal thoughts about this is the schools are still caught up with how they take care of the baby boomer alumni base. And, for some unkown reason, will not make that change with the times to connect with the younger alumni and fan base thats coming along.

Our schools are not keeping up with technology when it comes to communication. It's not like it's going to break the bank to make the change but the change has to be made to reach this younger audience.
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Another problem we have... we dont have enough people under age 35 making decisions on content and direction.

If the decision makers are ages 45 to 65, they're going to use the tools and strategy they feel most comfortable with, rather than delegating to keep up with the current times.

90% of our issues are structural people problems
 
my po' alma mater. I have to give Broussard his props as SU's AD that cat was social media savvy and good at branding and getting the word out about SU.
 

2kool said:
Was that effort initiated/led by Hines or someone above him?
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Hines is the Director of Athletics. He led the effort along with Jennifer Williams who he brought in last season. Based on a few conversations, there will be a push to increase and make better the external operations of the athletic department. We MUST do better in telling OUR story and controlling the narrative of that story.
 
Question: How often are HBCUs showcasing great athletes who played at the school(not just the NFL stars) but the greatest to ever wear our schools colors. For example, there is absolutely NOTHING at FAMU that represents great players like Jacquay Nunnally(who's #85 jersey should be retired). Our HBCUs fail badly in that department.

I mention that because it goes along with branding, IMO.
 
We need to start outsourcing a lot of these functions. Get a marketing firm on contract and let them use their resources to perform the work.

We simply dont have the staffing with the capability to do this the way it needs to be done.
 
some HBCUs should think about sports management/sports marketing as a major. Most of the big schools do it.

I left ASU to enlist in the USMC, and now i'm doing a sports management program. I would have loved to enrolled in another HBCU but none have this major. My goal is to work at a HBCU and increase the awareness and brand of which ever school i'm at.
 
2kool said:
We need to start outsourcing a lot of these functions. Get a marketing firm on contract and let them use their resources to perform the work.

We simply dont have the staffing with the capability to do this the way it needs to be done.
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Seen this first hand smh

(Note: Mass comm major so I'm speaking from that perspective) We at Valley have made strides as far as streaming and online presence (We got the smallest budget but we stream all our games) but there could be improvement such as all sports having a social media presence (Twitter, IG, Snapchat, etc.) with regular updates (someone mentioned this already). Most of the sports now have one.

It irks my soul whenever we have something like the HBCU HOF players being honored at the Super Bowl and our social media game is lacking (conference as a whole)
 
SU, please bring back Dr. Broussard in the athletic department this man really knows what he is talking about
 
atl hornet said:
some HBCUs should think about sports management/sports marketing as a major. Most of the big schools do it.

I left ASU to enlist in the USMC, and now i'm doing a sports management program. I would have loved to enrolled in another HBCU but none have this major. My goal is to work at a HBCU and increase the awareness and brand of which ever school i'm at.
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Are you saying none have sports management offerings? If I understand you correctly, I can vouch for certain Texas Southern does. According to the following link several other HBCUs do as well:
http://hbculifestyle.com/sport-management-program-hbcu/
 
Jimmyoliver said:
We came close to getting him but our president chose a 500 pound man on a walking cane
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Now you know some prideful folks at JSU weren't going to let Broussard step foot on JSU's campus. But I think LaFleur is still out there. Both of them have French names. LMAO!!!

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