KBIA SPORTS EXTRA
Best Practices and Strategic Positioning
Compiled and presented by:
Ross Taylor
JJ Stankevitz
Updated:
Dec. 13, 2010
PHILOSOPHIES
”Be there.”
Web analytics indicate there seems to be a common thread of what consumers want from a sports site: Access. Effectively exploit this market demand by specifically leveraging the multimedia platform to “take people there.” If the consumer didn’t see the event, take them there. If they did see the event, take them back. Whether it’s interviews, celebration videos or field-level highlights, utilizing KBIA Sports Extra’s access to its fullest is paramount to success.
“Complement and Conquer vs. Compete and Collapse.”
To know what KBIA Sports Extra is, it is important to know what it is not. It is NOT an all-encompassing one stop shop for all things Mizzou athletics. The Columbia Daily Tribune and KOMU both have employees whose combined years of experience covering Mizzou athletics total more than the ages of the majority of the student reporters. Given their expanded rolodex of contacts amassed through the years, competing with established beat reporters like Dave Matter and Vahe Gregorian is a recipe for failure. Instead, KBIA Sports Extra must capitalize on the void in the market for multimedia content. Complement and supplement those reporters’ coverage and fill that niche.
“Content, Not Noise”
KBIA Sports Extra aims to provide insight and access without abusing the trust of the reader. It is under this tenet that we reiterate that the site does NOT intend to be an opinion leader, but instead aspires to be a source of carefully curated information and analysis. As columnists have become more and more reactionary and online commenters have become more and more incendiary, attempting to “outflame” opinion leaders is a slippery slope and an unnecessary gamble.
CONTENT
Highlights
Highlights are some of the most conceptually simple content the website provides, but they are far and away the site’s biggest traffic drivers. KBIA Sports Extra’s success proves that there is a market for field-level, natural sound highlights. Other news outlets may provide broadcast views and/or cliché-ridden voiceovers. In adhering to the “Be There” tenet of the site’s philosophy, leaving the natural sound allows viewers to get the experience of hearing the roar of the crowd from field-level/floor-level.
Examples:
-- Mizzou 35, Kansas 7: First half highlights (http://tinyurl.com/kbiax1)
-- Mizzou 36, Oklahoma 27: First half highlights (http://tinyurl.com/kbiax2)
-- Second half highlights of Mizzou/Illinois (http://tinyurl.com/kbiax3)
Video-supplemented stories
This form of content is at the heart of what we produce. In a sense, they’re much like traditional print stories, but instead of relying on text quotations that lose all nonverbal context, readers are able to see, hear, and experience what was said by the principal figures in your story.
Examples:
-- Dixon: “I guess everybody gets a night like they gottonight” (http://tinyurl.com/kbiax4)
-- VIDEO: Freshman in the spotlighton“JoseyMonday” (http://tinyurl.com/kbiax5)
Notebooks
Web metrics from the first semester of KBIA Sports Extra indicated that if readers were going to consume text stories, notebooks were amongst their favorite means of delivery. Clichés about the shortening attention spans of media consumers are a dime a dozen, but it really does seem to appear that readers appreciate content that is quick hitting and easily digestible. When covering a team or event, instead of reporting simply what happened, use the notebook format to pick out four or five short points that give background context instead of simple facts.
Examples:
-- Reflections from the Missouri volleyball team’s 3-2 win at Texas A&M (http://tinyurl.com/kbiax6)
-- Mizzou basketball notes: Tigers squeak by Oregon inEugene (http://tinyurl.com/kbiax7)
Editor Chats
This form of content was beta tested during weeks in which the athletic department held no events for media members to speak with players and coaches. With the resulting lack of video content, the editor chat actually became one of our more surprising successes. Readers responded far more positively to these posts than any other form of content, which we hypothesize was for several reasons. First and foremost was the informal tone. The prose was still high-quality, but the tone was more conversational and less of condescending reporter pontificating. In turn, that made readers more likely to comment, as they felt they were contributing rather than responding.
Examples:
-- Non-conference chat: Michael Egnew, T.J. Moe, and a shift in Mizzou’s passingattack (http://tinyurl.com/kbiax8)
-- Mizzou Basketball Player Preview: KimEnglish (http://tinyurl.com/kbiax9a)
Photo galleries
Simple enough: Post galleries or slideshows of photos from events. For search traffic purposes, have the photos direct to a landing page with the full-size photo, and perhaps most importantly, include full captions according to Associated Press style.
Examples:
-- PHOTO GALLERY: Georgetown 111, Mizzou 102(http://tinyurl.com/kbiax10)
-- PHOTOS: Missouri 26, Colorado0 (http://tinyurl.com/kbiax11)
Immediate video
This requires a bit of a judgment call on the part of the editors, but should a game provide any kind of newsworthy footage with enough specificity to catch search traffic, it is in the best interest of the site to post as immediately as possible. This manifests itself primarily in the form of either key plays or celebration videos, both of which were tremendously important to the site’s web metrics.
Examples:
-- T.J. Moe wins it for Missouri (http://tinyurl.com/kbiax12)
-- Denmon’s steal, layup lead Mizzou to overtime win over Vanderbilt (http://tinyurl.com/kbiax13)
-- Mizzou fans rush Faurot Field (http://tinyurl.com/kbiax14)
-- Moe, Missouri celebrate come-from-behind win (http://tinyurl.com/kbiax15)
Podcasts
The KBIA Sports Extra Weekly Podcast was launched in late August to practically no fanfare and faded out in mid-October with even less. The decision to abandon was largely related to low traffic numbers in comparison to average production times, as all metrics indicated that readers were generally unwilling to listen to full podcasts from their computers. Statistics from the iTunes version of the podcast were not made available, but no concerns from readership were voiced. Though the podcasts did not seem particularly viable in Fall 2010, they should be considered for reexamination in future semesters.
POINTS OF INTEREST
AP Style
KBIA Sports Extra adheres largely to Associated Press style, though it differs from style rules held by the sports department at the Columbia Missourian. First and foremost, “Mizzou” will be acceptable for referring to university teams in all instances, first reference or otherwise. The reasoning behind this is simple: search traffic. The blue line below indicates Google trends for the search term “Mizzou,” while the red line indicates Google trends for the term “Missouri Tigers.”
Using “Mizzou” instead of “Missouri” -- especially in headlines -- is not a huge sacrifice of journalistic integrity or accuracy for what could amount to a 500 percent bump in search traffic.
Also suggested: “Faurot Field” in lieu of “Memorial Stadium.”
Enterprise. Enterprise. Enterprise.
While the types of content listed on previous pages are the established formats for KBIA Sports Extra, enterprising new forms of content is highly encouraged. For instance, given the site’s rapport with the Mizzou volleyball program, KBIA Sports Extra was granted permission to place a wireless microphone on head coach Wayne Kreklow during a Big 12 Conference match for production into a “Wired for Sound” video. Though the other forms of content will remain the site’s proverbial bread and butter, imagine how the site can best capitalize on its relationships and create content that doesn’t exist in the current market.
Search engine optimization (including customized permalinks)
We found Wordpress’ headline customization tool to be invaluable to getting KBIA Sports Extra into Google searches. Instead of having to use full names in headlines, we were able to keep our headlines as concise as possible. Including full coach/player names and “Mizzou” in the permalink to the article was key in driving search traffic. For example, for a headline that reads “Pinkel, Moe discuss Gabbert’s improvement” the permalink to the article would read “Gary-Pinkel-TJ-Moe-Blaine-Gabbert-improvement-Mizzou,” thus allowing search hits to come to KBIA Sports Extra for each of those names as well as Mizzou.
Tagging posts with names and teams also proved important for SEO. Tagging all names discussed is a basic but valuable way to drive search engine traffic to the site.
While searches only accounted for 4.26 percent of KBIA Sports Extra’s pageviews, as the site becomes more established and moves up Google rankings, we expect that percentage to grow—as long as the proper SEO tactics are employed.
Future Affiliation
Going forward, it is not in the best interests of the site or KBIA to have the site continue to be branded as “KBIA Sports Extra.” KBIA 91.3 FM rarely deals with sports outside of Darren Hellwege’s Saturday sports show at 6 a.m., and though Darren puts forth a great amount of effort for the show, its 6 a.m. time slot is telling about how the organization views sports in its content strategy.
Furthermore, while attaching ourselves to the KBIA name has helped with establishing the website (in terms of both credibility and access), if this site is to be used by future students, it should be independently branded. While our affiliation to KBIA is already quite loose, for the site to continue its growth, creating its own brand is key, a branding effort that could includes branded supers, brand watermarks on photos, and more standups and brand visibility for authors in video content. Most people do not view KBIA as a destination for sports coverage, and despite our best efforts with KBIA Sports Extra, that won’t change. Creating a new brand would allow the site to potentially become a destination for multimedia sports coverage in a way for which the KBIA Sports Extra brand does not allow.
As such, if KBIA Sports Extra is to be used as a reporting outlet for a future sports journalism emphasis, we recommend it disafilliate from the KBIA moniker and brand itself as a new, separate entity. Getting credentials will be the toughest hurdle to overcome under a new brand name, as Darren and the KBIA name have been valuable in backing our efforts to obtain media credentials. Football photo passes and non-revenue sports credentials aren’t a primary issue; instead, very limited space for the football press box and the basketball floor — especially during conference play — means they will be tougher to secure. The site has two basketball credentials for this season thanks in large part to Darren’s backing, and it may very well be the case that basketball multimedia content is lacking in access in the first year or so of the site’s future without the KBIA brand supporting it.
WEB METRICS ANALYSIS – FALL 2010
Daily Views
DATE / KBIA / VIMEO / DATE / KBIA / VIMEO30-Aug / 43 / 5 / 1-Oct / 129 / 5
31-Aug / 55 / 25 / 2-Oct / 26 / 3
1-Sep / 515 / 81 / 3-Oct / 180 / 4
2-Sep / 84 / 5 / 4-Oct / 178 / 8
3-Sep / 120 / 19 / 5-Oct / 82 / 26
4-Sep / 44 / 5 / 6-Oct / 85 / 42
5-Sep / 172 / 93 / 7-Oct / 82 / 35
6-Sep / 73 / 38 / 8-Oct / 121 / 122
7-Sep / 610 / 1105 / 9-Oct / 51 / 37
8-Sep / 85 / 142 / 10-Oct / 240 / 129
9-Sep / 34 / 16 / 11-Oct / 1285 / 464
10-Sep / 170 / 53 / 12-Oct / 172 / 25
11-Sep / 33 / 7 / 13-Oct / 181 / 140
12-Sep / 124 / 78 / 14-Oct / 179 / 176
13-Sep / 322 / 272 / 15-Oct / 95 / 90
14-Sep / 223 / 80 / 16-Oct / 80 / 47
15-Sep / 126 / 110 / 17-Oct / 143 / 13
16-Sep / 160 / 153 / 18-Oct / 119 / 11
17-Sep / 61 / 52 / 19-Oct / 421 / 100
18-Sep / 112 / 21 / 20-Oct / 199 / 271
19-Sep / 475 / 434 / 21-Oct / 93 / 75
20-Sep / 815 / 192 / 22-Oct / 129 / 35
21-Sep / 493 / 98 / 23-Oct / 368 / 10
22-Sep / 233 / 181 / 24-Oct / 1666 / 967
23-Sep / 104 / 28 / 25-Oct / 1506 / 1562
24-Sep / 46 / 8 / 26-Oct / 479 / 421
25-Sep / 69 / 12 / 27-Oct / 186 / 175
26-Sep / 95 / 95 / 28-Oct / 257 / 312
27-Sep / 316 / 240 / 29-Oct / 232 / 255
28-Sep / 165 / 20 / 30-Oct / 88 / 51
29-Sep / 221 / 7 / 31-Oct / 62 / 35
30-Sep / 58 / 3
Daily Views (continued)
1-Nov / 218 / 197 / 1-Dec / 323 / 115
2-Nov / 215 / 97 / 2-Dec / 194 / 69
3-Nov / 284 / 162 / 3-Dec / 80 / 20
4-Nov / 246 / 97 / 4-Dec / 66 / 22
5-Nov / 245 / 151 / 5-Dec / 91 / 6
6-Nov / 130 / 35 / 6-Dec / 121 / 38
7-Nov / 162 / 20 / 7-Dec / 103 / 12
8-Nov / 158 / 62 / 8-Dec / 79 / 12
9-Nov / 92 / 24 / 9-Dec / 262 / 250
10-Nov / 106 / 82 / 10-Dec / 87 / 39
11-Nov / 59 / 29
12-Nov / 64 / 33
13-Nov / 86 / 29
14-Nov / 313 / 209
15-Nov / 321 / 417
16-Nov / 160 / 127
17-Nov / 79 / 61
18-Nov / 115 / 110
19-Nov / 241 / 151
20-Nov / 85 / 16
21-Nov / 75 / 20
22-Nov / 183 / 13
23-Nov / 133 / 33
24-Nov / 105 / 20
25-Nov / 135 / 27
26-Nov / 55 / 20
27-Nov / 156 / 81
28-Nov / 221 / 84
29-Nov / 224 / 228
30-Nov / 179 / 72
Cumulative Totals and Weekly Numbers (through Dec. 10)
Totals / 21621 / 12614
Days since main launch / 103 / 103
Visits per day / 210 / 122
WEEKLY / AVG. / MAX / AVG. / MAX
Week 1 (Aug. 30-Sept 5) / 148 / 515 / 33 / 93
Week 2 (Sept. 6-Sept. 12) / 161 / 610 / 206 / 1105
Week 3 (Sept. 13-Sept. 19) / 211 / 475 / 160 / 434
Week 4 (Sept. 20-Sept. 26) / 265 / 815 / 88 / 192
Week 5 (Sept. 27-Oct. 3) / 156 / 316 / 40 / 240
Week 6 (Oct. 4-Oct. 10) / 120 / 240 / 57 / 129
Week 7 (Oct. 11-Oct. 17) / 305 / 1285 / 136 / 464
Week 8 (Oct. 18-Oct. 24) / 428 / 1666 / 210 / 967
Week 9 (Oct. 25-Oct. 31) / 401 / 1506 / 402 / 1562
Week 10 (Nov. 1-Nov. 7) / 214 / 284 / 108 / 197
Week 11 (Nov. 8-Nov. 14) / 130 / 313 / 61 / 209
Week 12 (Nov. 15-Nov. 21) / 154 / 321 / 129 / 417
Week 13 (Nov. 22-Nov.28) / 141 / 221 / 40 / 84
Week 14 (Nov. 29-Dec. 5) / 165 / 323 / 76 / 228
Week 15 Partial (Dec. 6-Dec. 10) / 130 / 262 / 70 / 250
Daily Views