Social Media in the Recruiting Process
With many college coaches unable to come out to see student-athletes play this summer (find out which coaches can and when with our COVID updates), social media is playing a huge role in the recruiting process.
As you are aware, there are MANY student-athletes who are very talented softball players. I have talked with many college coaches over the past couple weeks who are doing extensive research and homework into student-athletes and parents social media accounts. Social Media paints a picture of who you are and what is important to you.
Here are some tips and tricks on how to us social media as a marketing platform for your student-athlete:
- Twitter
- Many college coaches are using twitter to follow student-athletes progress!
- We suggest that ALL student-athletes 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024 have a Twitter account and are updating it frequently.
- DO NOT TAG College Coaches in your tweets. If a college coach is interested in you, and you are not tagging them, you could (unknowingly) miss out on an opportunity.
- Instead, go follow the coaches and programs you are interested in!
- Tag these people: @sballrecruiting @ExtraInningsSB @FloSoftball @StriveSoftball
- College Coaches can see your interactions as well on twitter (what you are liking and replying to). Use this to your advantage and be a good teammate!! Support and show love to your teammates!!
- Instagram
- College Coaches go to this account to find out who you are as a person.
- Be careful with who is tagging you in what on your posts. If a college coach see's something they do not like (on your page or on a friends page) it could get you crossed off their list.
- Facebook
- Many student-athletes are not using Facebook because it is where the "parents" live.
- BUT, Facebook make's it easy to stream your games LIVE during this time so college coaches can watch you from home! - click HERE for our step-by-step process on how to stream your games LIVE!
- If your team does not have an account, have student-athletes create a facebook account and stream your games live for college coaches!!
- TikTok
- I know there are a lot of trends right now but if you post something that college coaches do not agree with & allow in their program (vulgar language or dance moves) - you could get yourself crossed off their list.
- Parents Accounts
- Parent's accounts are essential for college coaches right now because it is obvious parent's have the biggest influence on the student-athlete.
- Keep things positive and support others!
- A big red flag for college coaches is if parent's are talking negatively on social media or get caught up in "Drama". If this is occurring, then parent's are showing student-athletes this behavior is okay. Even if the student-athlete is not on that social media account, these actions will show up in other aspects throughout the day.
- Video
- Video on social media can do one of two things for you. It can help get you put on the list for college coaches to come see or it can get you taken off the list.
- I have seen so many talented student-athletes not get the looks the deserve because their video does not show how talented they really are! Have someone check your video before you send it!
- Questions about video? Check out our complete step-by-step video guide in our Starter Pack Here.
How are you using social media to market yourself to college coaches? Our complete social media guide can be found in our STARTER PACK HERE.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out HERE.