The Social Media landscape continues to change even in sports, where many sports agencies and teams are looking to grow a bigger social media presence than their counterparts. Social media has been an integrative part of recruiting in college football, where many schools design graphics for committed players in which they post to help promote their new recruits.
Social Media has changed the way schools recruit players, last week at SEC Media days Arkansas’ Head Football Coach Brett Bielema stated that he has turned down players based on what they are posting on social media.
“For males and females, athletes and nerds, the theme is the same – persona gleaned from your social media site matters.” –Newsmedia
Recruitlook.com
While social media has its benefits it has its downfalls too. Many schools across the SEC teach players that what you post you are not only representing yourself but also your perspective school, so it’s important to be aware before you post or tweet. Twitter seems to be the most popular place to communicate with perspective players, so they’re Twitter pages should be in shape.
By providing a constant stream of graphics, videos and old-fashioned/newfangled conversation, this might peak a player’s interest. Some programs have also garnered up mobile apps to help with recruiting. Arizona State is set to come out with an app similar to Pinterest.
“Social media is 24/7/365. If a kid wakes up at 3 a.m. and scrolls through his phone, finds something and clicks on it, then we’re recruiting while we’re sleeping.” -Matt Dudek, director of on-campus recruiting for Arizona State.
Social media has proved to be a great research tool for coaches and those on staff at these schools. They can determine a relationship just by a player’s social media account. They can examine who retweets the player and how they communicate publicly. This is another way that staff can tailor promotions to the different players they are recruiting. “It costs little beyond a few minutes of labor to create an image of a recruit wearing a team’s uniform. That image can then be attached by a coach to an e-mail or a Twitter or Instagram direct message. If the player likes it, he’ll probably end up posting it for everyone to see.”-Si.com This can be great for the player and the school.
Social media is taking over in almost every industry. It’s a very effective way to market. If you aren’t a part of it, you’ll be left behind. It’s going to be interesting to see how social media will help college football continue to make history.
Victorri J. Taylor 