The NCAA Final Four as Shared by Facebook

The NCAA College Cup Final Four is the biggest stage for collegiate soccer. Four teams meet, this year in San Diego, to battle in a single-elimination tournament for the title of the best team in the nation.

Big sport moments like these offer big media moments to deliver deep connection with fans. Last night, those sport moments played out in grand fashion with the both Penn State and UNC advancing to the NCAA Final by way of OT golden goal.

Let's take a spin around the Facebook pages of the Final Four teams and get a feel for the emotion and energy they each share, at this moment after the semifinals.

Two of the four teams have soccer-specific Facebook pages, while the other two schools use one page to represent all teams within the athletic program. 

First off, Penn State, shown here below. They quickly (within an hour) posted a fresh, match-day image to their Facebook page. I like the image choice, it shows the passion and elation of the game-winning goal scorer, letting fans re-live the magic of the moment. 

A strong image let's fans re-live the magic of the moment.

Looking further, it's obvious that Penn State's team-specific Facebook page allows them to build anticipation leading up to the big event by sharing a behind-the-scenes angle: travel day, training, press conferences, alum visits, free-time shenanigans. This type of team insight would never be posted on the athletic's website so it offers a sense of exclusivity to fans who follow.

Stanford too has a team-specific Facebook page, so the look and feel is very similar to Penn State's. Take a look here at the copy on the header photo - they've chosen to highlight (and perhaps try to channel) the success of last year's title. As of yet, almost 24 hours post-match, there is not yet a new post announcing the result.

UNC on the other hand is working with one Facebook page for all teams in it's athletics program, as you can tell by the header photo that celebrates the athletics program. The UNC page feels very professional, and also has a more formal, curated tone about it. Like Stanford, almost 24 hours post-match, there has been no update to speak about.

FSU has no women's soccer-specific page which, like the UNC page, makes frequent updates difficult, especially when you're competing for digital space with a men's football team. FSU has had no posts about the women's soccer since they shared news about the team going through to the Elite 8 two weeks ago. 

FSU uses one Facebook page for all Seminole teams, creates competition for digital space.

Some key takeaways from last night's big sport moment teaches us that team-specific facebook pages can develop deeper connection with fans through:

1. More consistent, frequent updates 
2. Behind-the-scenes access
3. Building a specialized group of followers
4. Exclusivity as the one-stop-shop place to get your information

This all leads to more fan access to more real-time experiences where we can re-live some of the team's best sport moments.

What do you think? Is a team-specific Facebook page the way to go?

Last thought I'll leave you with: Success (like a Final Four appearance) brings more attention, more followers, more fans. Penn State shows us that preparation can be key to capitalize on the big sport moments with timely and impactful content.