How to Use Social Media to Your Advantage as a Recruit

Social media is commonly viewed in a negative light when it comes to recruiting, and there are numerous stories every year of student-athletes losing out on offers or scholarships due to a bad photo, video, or reply that they posted on social media. Despite this, these platforms can be an extremely valuable tool in the recruiting process, and athletes should know how to leverage social media to their advantage. Read on to learn some ways that recruits can take full advantage of their social media, and also how our new platform, Teamed, can help with this.

Don’t Stop at One

A mistake many athletes make is utilizing only one or two platforms that they are familiar with, and not expanding their reach to other apps. Although a platform may not seem attractive if you’ve never used it, different social media apps serve different purposes, and can help athletes in varying ways. For instance, if an athlete only uses Twitter to post recruiting content, they miss out on the opportunity to show their full character, both from on or off the field. Look to utilize TikTok and YouTube for video content - whether its memorable highlight tapes or even behind-the-scenes looks at your hobbies and passions off the field. Use Instagram for its photo sharing capabilities, and create a balanced feed of game content, training, and other pictures showcasing your personality and why it would be a fit at your desired university. Twitter can be great for sharing information such as game dates or athletic/academic achievements, and also is a valuable tool for contacting coaches at schools around the country. With a presence on several social media platforms, rather than one or two, more coaches will have an opportunity to discover and learn more about you.

Have a Consistent Profile

Across your entire social media presence, aim to have a consistent profile. If your username on Instagram, for example, is completely different from yours on Twitter, this makes it difficult for recruiters to find and learn more about you, especially if this username has nothing to do with your actual name. When building your profile, include an identifiable (your name!) username, relevant profile picture, and an easy-to-read bio featuring your full name, measurables, class, GPA, and contact information. Having a consistent profile across your social media platforms makes recruiting you more simple - why would you want to make it harder?

Be Active

Aim to have an active presence on your social media platforms, keeping your followers and potential recruiters in the loop of your personal, academic, and athletic life. Besides this, look to engage with your favorite school’s social media accounts to show that you are interested in being recruited by them. A tip is to use the school’s “hashtags” to gain more attention from the fanbase and people around the program (ex. #Boomer, #PonyUp, #RollTide, etc).

Additionally, platforms like Twitter especially allow you to directly message college coaches. When doing this, type in a professional manner, show an effort to build a personal connection, remain humble and gracious for their time, be specific in providing information that would be relevant to them, and stay patient when waiting on a response. If a coach at your favorite school doesn’t respond to your DM immediately, possibly because they are inactive on that social media app, look to communicate with them through another medium.

Content is King

Having a presence on social media is one thing, but what you post is truly how you can stand out. On the reverse end of how posting swear words or underage drinking photos kills your recruiting, well thought out and memorable content can greatly help it. By putting effort in to the content you post on on social media, whether its clean workout photos, an eye-catching highlight tape, or even an attractive graphic showing your season’s schedule, you not only give recruiters a lot of information about you as an athlete, but you also show that you are mindful and truly care about the personal brand that you are building for yourself. Think of some of the most popular high school and collegiate athletes like Bronny James, Livvy Dunne, Jared McCain, Caleb Williams, or Evan Stewart - these athletes all have NIL valuations in the millions, and have achieved this by combining their incredible athletic ability with strong social media content to develop their personal brands. This isn’t to say posting good content = money or offers, but rather that posting memorable content on social media can go a long way for athletes.

Get Help

It may seem daunting for high school athletes to put out eye-catching social media content, because they know they don’t have the technical skills to create it themselves. Although there are plenty of tutorials online in developing creative skills, an athlete’s main priority and time commitment should be working on their game. That is where Teamed, a digital platform set to release later this year, can assist. Teamed will connect athletes of all levels to sports creatives such as photographers, videographers, and designers. This platform will be free to use, and athletes will have the opportunity to request any project imaginable. Teamed will serve a huge need, bringing together athletes who want to grow their personal brands and gain exposure, with creatives who have brand-building skills.

Look at the thousands of recruits who post a Hayes Fawcett commitment edit on social media, or the pro athletes with personal photographers that help give their brand a unique look, such as Kyler Murray with Derrick Spencer, Bronny James and Cameron Look, or CeeDee Lamb and Zack Hefley. Some of the biggest athletes in the world realize the importance of making connections with sports creatives, however, you don’t have to be a 5-star recruit or an NFL All-Pro to do this. Teamed is for athletes of any age, skill-level, or sport, and will help them build valuable connections in the creative industry to take their brands to the next level.

Social Media: A Powerful Tool

Will posting attractive highlight tapes or fancy graphics on your Instagram get you automatic college offers? Nope. However, when used in an intentional and well-thought out manner, social media can be leveraged by recruits to reach more eyeballs and show their character in a positive light.

All athletes know the importance of attention to detail in their sports and its practice. This same view should absolutely be applied to social media use and its role in the recruiting process.