by Dan Christensen, Tudor Collegiate Strategies
When a prospect goes to your team’s social media page, there are some things they are looking for and other things they just don’t care much about.
Score updates, team news, and player accolades are among the social media posts that don’t really help a recruit too much when it comes to making their decision.
Those kinds of posts are fine to see but prospects are looking for answers to the question, “why should I choose you?” Since they’re not currently on the team, those kinds of posts are not as important to them.
But, what is often dominating a program’s social media? Score updates, team news, and player accolades.
Now, don’t get rid of those. Your current athletes, their families, and fans will want to see those things. But, there are things you can add to your social media strategy that will help your chances with a recruit. Here are two:
1) What your team does for fun
College student-athletes want to have fun. You know that Coach. So, since that is an important part of the college experience, shouldn’t you be showing them how much fun they’ll be having?
What does your team do when they are not practicing or studying?
Where are the fun places to hang out or grab food around campus?
What kinds of activities does the team do together that your recruits would be participating in if they chose to commit to your program?
These are the kinds of things that recruits want to see on your social media. In order to make their decision, they want to know they’ll have fun being at your school and spending time with their future teammates.
2) You!
A team’s social media page tends to focus heavily on the athletes. And they absolutely should be a focal point of your strategy.
But, what is another important part of a recruit’s decision? Their future coach. That is you!
Get your beautiful face on Instagram. Do you have a family? What do you do for fun? What is your personality like? How do you interact with your team off the field?
Prospects want to know who you are since they’ll be entrusting you with the next four years of their life as a student-athlete at your school.
Posting what your team does for fun and showcasing your personality will help reinforce what you tell a prospect about in your emails, letters, and over the phone.
If it is a recruit in the earlier stages of the process, they might be looking for reasons to be interested. A fun team and a coach that is genuine and enjoyable to be around would certainly give them some reasons to be interested!
Coaches who want to learn more proven approaches to connecting with their top recruits should make sure they go through the innovative Tudor University online learning academy. It’s designed specifically for college recruiters, and offers step-by-step online training on this topic and others. Hundreds of coaches have gone through the program, and you should too! Click here to take a look…