Michigan, fans all atwitter during spring game
The 25-yard line in Ann Arbor, Mich., got trendier over the weekend.
During Michigan’s spring football game Saturday, fans watching on the Big Ten Network and at Michigan Stadium saw firsthand the Wolverines’ social media branding efforts. The Twitter hashtag #GOBLUE was painted on the 25-yard line on the northeast and southwest sides of the football field.
Michigan director of digital marketing Jordan Maleh said via e-mail Sunday that early numbers from the new campaign were positive. According to Maleh:
-The hashtag #GOBLUE generated over 1,500 tweets from 9 a.m. Saturday to 9 a.m. Sunday, which included over 1.3 million impressions and nearly 680,000 followers reached.
-# GOBLUE was a trending topic in Detroit throughout the duration of the Michigan spring game.
Mississippi State was the first to use hashtags on its field in November, painting # HAILSTATE — the school’s traditional rally call — in its north end zone. What makes Michi- gan’s efforts unique is the school’s longstanding policy of not allowing advertisements within the Big House.
“We want to actually implement (the hashtags) elsewhere. The next step is determining where else we can do this, maybe on the ice at Michigan hockey games,” Maleh said.
Michigan also incorporated tweets using #GOBLUE with its official website and the scoreboard at the stadium Saturday.
Early results showed the tweet board featured over 100 unique tweets during the game. Maleh said via e-mail the board could be integrated at future games.