Last year, the College Football Playoff and National Championship dominated TV and sports media at the beginning of January. This year, despite the lackluster TV ratings for the semifinals on New Years Eve, the national championship between Alabama and Clemson was going to have many eyes on it across many platforms.
As a result, the two teams needed to be ready to go from before kickoff until after the final whistle to deliver their message to fans. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more were going to be the top places for fans so a media strategy needed to be in place.
Not only that, but brands associated with the game needed to be on their A-game as well. From TV stations to brands sponsoring the game, how were they going to reach their fan? Which social network and digital medium would be the best way to communicate their message?
Here was some of the digital and social media strategies from Clemson, Alabama, and major brands from start to finish.
DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA FROM THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
BEFORE GAMEDAY
As soon as the semifinal games were over, one team was prepared with postgame graphics & video in case they won:
Go ahead, call us underdogs...
#ALLIN WIN!
vine.co/v/iq3jXg10p1h
—
Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) January 01, 2016The other… not so much:
.@AlabamaFTBL wins the #CottonBowl 38-0 and advances to the #CFBPlayoff championship game #RollTide
—
Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) January 01, 2016Alabama did not have graphics ready to go until well after the final whistle was blown.
When preparing for a major event, you need to be ready for every outcome, win or loss. And if you win, you need to be ready to create shareable content for fans that they can spread and show your brand all over the country. Clemson had that ready. Alabama seemed to not be ready.
Both Alabama and Clemson effectively used social media leading up to the game, using all channels to their advantage. Clemson’s social media team has been recognized for their creative content all season, and they were sure to post quite a bit leading up to the week (219 tweets from 1/1 – 1/10) . Meanwhile, Alabama, with its larger audience (more than twice as many followers) did not post nearly as often but when they did, it counted. They also changed their Facebook cover photo to reflect the game:
Clemson also gave fans the option to add a filter to their profile pictures before the game, a popular trend being used more and more by teams before events.
Media day was covered extensively by both teams through photos, videos, and traffic on their websites. Clemson made effective use of the Twitter Mirror to have players answer questions. Alabama did an effective job of retweeting content from top brands to go along with photo galleries and videos.
From a brand perspective, Nike Football, the equipment provider and sponsor for both Alabama and Clemson made sure to have both team’s uniforms front and center on their website. All four teams in the college football playoff had their jerseys provided by Nike so it was going to be a win for them regardless of the situation.
Faster. Fiercer. Still not finished. @ClemsonFB #fastestwillrise
gonike.me/CLEMSON https://t.co/MkoPsNzw51
—
Nike Football (@usnikefootball) January 01, 2016Too deep. Too driven. Not done. @AlabamaFTBL #fastestwillrise
gonike.me/ALABAMA https://t.co/EK33UJ1TCp
—
Nike Football (@usnikefootball) January 01, 2016Nissan, the sponsor behind the game on ESPN, created a campaign around the “Heisman House” throughout the season and before the game. Despite not being very active, their brand got exposure all across TV during any college football talk.
It's been an incredible year! Good luck to #Alabama & #Clemson! See everyone again next season. #HeismanHouse https://t.co/j4Nbqp2Z7f
—
Nissan (@NissanUSA) January 11, 2016Twitter made sure to give each team’s official hashtag an emoji to encourage use.
Only 2 days from the #CFBPlayoff! Don't forget to Tweet these hashtags for cool emojis!
#ALLIN
#RollTide
#Spartans
#BoomerSooner
#CottonBowl
—
Twitter Sports (@TwitterSports) December 29, 2015GAMEDAY – Pregame
Gameday came, and both teams were ready with graphics and videos ready for the day.
The wait is over…
#NationalChampionship Gameday.
#ALLIN
bit.ly/CFP16Central https://t.co/nEGy2WW1Ut
—
Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) January 11, 2016Right off the bat in the morning, there were pushes on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter Moments to follow along with the game tonight, trying to get into the minds of the fan by whatever means necessary.
ESPN was ready as it used its SportsCenter Snapchat account to give all a behind-the-scenes view of the game. Snapchat also had a live story ready for today full of content pulling in from fans and brands. Snapchat is going to grow even bigger in 2016 with the way that it grabs attention so be sure to make it an essential part of your digital strategy.
The #CFP @snapchat 👻 is pretty good! Another way to view coverage of the 🏈 game. SMSports #Freberg16 https://t.co/2QqpGzwmWx
—
Karen Freberg, Ph.D. (@kfreberg) January 12, 2016Taco Bell also took fans to Snapchat, giving a look into the tailgates from fan sections as they set up student sections by providing free tickets for students.
Ever wonder what it's like to tailgate with Taco Bell? #Snapchat Username: tacobell.
—
Taco Bell (@tacobell) January 11, 2016Sponsors like AT&T were all over this opportunity. On gameday, they did not push any product content. Instead, it was just content based around the game and media from the commercials they shared all season. This, combined with new commercials regularly pushed during commercial breaks, a website devoted to their ads and content, and ads in the Snapchat live story, gave AT&T some great exposure both online and offline.
FINALLY #NationalChampionship https://t.co/8p0RaulO08
—
AT&T (@ATT) January 11, 2016ESPN smartly took their TV product and brought it online, creating a “megacast” of the game available both on desktop, mobile, and tablet. These included pylon cams, a data center with win probabilities, radio feeds, film rooms, and more. Despite still needing a cable subscription to access it, this can be a perfect option for cable-cutters in the future.
Dr Pepper, one of the big sponsors of the game, took to Snapchat to push their social marketing during the game. On Snapchat, it told a funny story around Larry Culpepper. However, on their other platforms, most notably Twitter, they were silent. Questionable strategy if you ask me.
GAMEDAY – During Game
During the game, the two teams took to social media to deliver updates to its fans. Both teams’ websites were not updated live during the game. Alabama had a landing page designed specifically for the game but left it untouched during the game.
Clemson and Alabama took two completely different paths during the game in terms of delivering social content to their fans on Twitter. Clemson provided fans with GIFs, Vines, photos, quoted RTs, and Twitter videos. Twitter gives you lots of options to diversify your content and they did just that. The A+ content creation that has been present all season showed up once again tonight.
Walk-on. Formerly. Now a #NationalChampionship touchdown scorer. Hunter Renfrow with the 31-yarder from Watson. https://t.co/EQcs5frUqj
—
Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) January 12, 2016We got ourselves a ballgame...
Two more quarters to glory. Make it happen.
#ALLIN
vine.co/v/iMnd3Q1aQQH
—
Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) January 12, 2016To finish strong in the final quarter of the 15th and final game of the year...
This is #WhyWeWork.
#ALLIN snpy.tv/1l1QBWX
—
Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) January 12, 2016Meanwhile, Alabama ran into the issue of posting to both their athletics account and their football account. The athletics account, which has half as many followers as the football account, posted graphics and links to videos. The football account shared text-only tweets. Which were fans supposed to follow?
#RollTide @AlabamaFTBL and Clemson are locked at 14 at the half. #NationalChampionship https://t.co/P7cdL51X5q
—
Alabama Athletics (@UA_Athletics) January 12, 2016Henry rushes for a gain of five kills the final 0:05 and we head to halftime, score even at 14-14 #NationalChampionship
—
Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) January 12, 2016On Facebook, Clemson followed a similar strategy to Twitter. There weren’t nearly as many posts, but major media content was pushed onto Facebook, such as videos and photos. On Facebook, Alabama stayed pretty quiet on both of their accounts. The athletics account pushed score graphics at halftime. The football account posted twice during the game.
Instagram saw Clemson once again maintain consistency across their platforms. Score graphics, short videos, and significant photos were shared there (over a dozen during the game). Alabama’s football account posted a halftime graphic followed by 4 on-field photos. The main athletics account shared halftime and final graphics.
GAMEDAY – Final
When it was all said and done, Alabama beat Clemson in a VERY exciting game 45-40 (sorry to everyone who had Alabama -6.5). The champs went to their athletics account (again, with fewer followers & less reach), to push final score graphics as well as new merchandise. They were prepared to deliver the final message. I just hope fans & media realized that was the place to go and not their football account.
Roll Tide Roll! @AlabamaFTBL YOUR 2015 National Champions! #RollTide #NationalChampionship #Sweet16 https://t.co/AWhJFOqNDu
—
Alabama Athletics (@UA_Athletics) January 12, 2016Celebrate the #NationalChampionship with the official @AlabamaFTBL Locker Room shirt! #RollTide bit.ly/1OETau8
—
Alabama Athletics (@UA_Athletics) January 12, 2016On Facebook, they were quick to offer the option to change your profile picture with a new filter. It might have been helpful to also post this on their football account as well since they have a large audience there.
Nike also was quick to update their site and share their feelings on Twitter. They were going to be a winner either way and proper planning prevents poor performance.
Some programs don't change with the tide. They just keep rolling. @AlabamaFTBL #justdoit
gonike.me/AlabamaChamps https://t.co/2m4QkHUiqR
—
Nike Football (@usnikefootball) January 12, 2016In the end, remember to prepare for all scenarios, communicate properly with your target audience, and follow through on your strategies. As technology develops, more and more immersive strategies will be implemented. Can’t wait to see what happens next year!
