Among the many responsibilities of a coach or athletic director is the responsibility to spread the word about your school and team. You want to share your success, build up a great following and create a district-wide unity that connects your players, parents, fans, alumni, and residents alike.
Social media is often overlooked and underutilized as a tool to do just that. When used correctly, social media can help you as a coach or athletic director get your job done and support your school, teams, and players off the field.
Social Media Platforms that are Great for Athletics
FACEBOOK – Facebook is the world’s largest social networking site. It is a great platform for providing updates, directions, and schedules to players and fans. It is also a good forum for sharing pictures. Create a Facebook Page that parents, players, and fans can view to see the latest information on your team and events.
TWITTER –Twitter is half-social network and half-communication tool. It allows you to send out short messages (140 character max) that anyone following your account or your “tweets” can read. It is great for sending out quick updates and messages to your followers regarding changes in a schedule, game scores, or motivational quote. Create a specific twitter handle (username) for your players to follow. Twitter lists are a great way to follow your athletes on Twitter.
INSTAGRAM – Instagram is a photo sharing social network. It is great for posting game and event photos, fan images, or any other image that promotes school pride.
Keep Your Personal and Team Accounts Separate
It’s important that you don’t use your personal accounts when sharing information with parents and students. Instead you should create school and team accounts. Make sure you’re following all media rules outlined by OHSAA or your local athletic association.
What to Post:
- Schedules
- Cancellations or delay information
- Direction to away games or events
- Upcoming events
- Major athletic or academic student accomplishments
- Motivational quotes
- Pep talk
- Alumni news
- Anything encouraging, positive, exciting and relevant to the school
- Giveaways of prizes or tickets
You don’t always have to be creative- but have fun with it! Social media allows you to connect with your entire audience at once, so use it to keep your community updated and boost you school spirit. Check out this example from Mariemont High School athletic director Tom Nerl:
This one’s in the books! Warriors 59 Taylor 52. Warriors move to 1-0 in the CHL and 1-2 overall. Travel to Indian Hill next Friday
— Tom Nerl (@mmontad) December 6, 2015
Use Hashtags
Be sure to include hashtags in your social media messages. A hashtag is a word or phrase that starts with a hash or pound sign (#). They are used to identify messages that are on a specific topic. Hashtags are used on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. They are great for promoting your school, branding your team and building district-wide unity. Encourage your followers to use the hashtags as well to help expand your fan base. Keep them short, simple, and memorable, like #nhspride or #nhslax.
Monitor Student Behavior
How your athletes conduct themselves off the field or court reflects on your school and team. When you are active on social sites you can help monitor the behavior of athletes and catch possible misconduct. It can give you the ability to correct possible problems and bad behavior that reflects badly on your program. It may also offer additional insight on how your athletes interact with their peers, helping you communicate better with them.
Include Social Media Guidelines in Your Team Handbook
Before the season even begins, let your players and their parents know your rules and expectations regarding the use of social media. Explain what is and is not acceptable behavior and why it is important to respect your team by conducting yourself properly online.
Social media can have great impact when it comes to reaching current fans and athletes. It also has the ability to reach out to far more people in the community through through “shares” and “retweets.” Every time a fan or follower shares information you’ve posted, all of their friends and followers can see that information. You’re getting the word out to people you had no idea existed. Potentially parents of athletes that are looking for a new and better school, may see your content and consider your school and program.
By using social media correctly you can help enhance your athlete, team and fan experience.
Note: This post was originally published in May 2014 and has been revamped and updated with new ideas and information.