Social media has become part of our everyday lives, whether we like it or not, and that certainly pertains to the recruiting process as well. In this webinar SportsRecruits Recruiting Analysts Chris Ruhl and Emily Wetz discuss the ins and outs of social media in your recruiting process!
Watch the webinar to learn about
- NCAA recruiting rules surrounding social media
- College coaches’ presence on social media
- How to handle YOUR social media platform
For an in-depth breakdown for using social media in your recruiting process check out this article!
Q&A
Should I keep my social media platforms private or make them public?
There are pros and cons to each of these decisions.
If your account is made private it may be more difficult for a college coach to stumble across an inappropriate post on your account, saving yourself from the poor judgment. However, if the account is private college coaches will not be able to see all of the positive articles, accolades, and highlight reels you post on social media.
Note: Just because your account is private, that does let you off the hook from inappropriate posts. Your post may be screenshotted or reposted by a connection and then made public. Additionally, college coaches have gotten savvier in friending student-athletes, even if that means using a faux account.
If your account is kept public, it will be very easy for college coaches to see all of the positive posts that exemplify your hard work and character. At the same time, it makes it easier for a coach to find an inappropriate post from your past that you may have forgotten to remove.
Can I just use my social media to get recruited?
Social media platforms are a great way for prospective student-athletes to post both academic and athletic accolades of themselves. However, most college coaches are not using social media as a way to find brand new recruits, rather they are using social media to learn more about prospective student-athletes that have already shown interest in their program.
Therefore, you cannot solely rely on your social media accounts throughout your recruiting process – that is why you have SportsRecruits! Your SportsRecruits page is a place where you can store all of your academic and athletic information, host your videos and highlight reels, and communicate with college coaches! It is easier for a college coach to see all of your information in one place rather than jumping on all of your social media accounts to learn more about you.
Is it okay to message a college coach through my social media accounts?
Many college coaches use their social media accounts to reach out to prospective student-athletes. However, there is really no way of knowing what coaches prefer communicating through social media and what coaches do not. The overwhelming majority of coaches prefer the first contact to be through an email (aka SportsRecruits message!).
Therefore we encourage you to use your SportsRecruits messaging system when you are first introducing yourself to college coaches. After that initial email, if a college coach replies to you through some social media outlet, then we recommend making it easier for the coach and continuing correspondence on that outlet.
How far will a college coach research me on social media?
This varies based on the college coach himself/herself. We have heard of coaches who only spend a few minutes Google searching a prospect’s name and exploring the first few links. We have also heard of some coaches who will find your Twitter and scroll down to your very first Tweet!
These coaches are looking for any red flags – inappropriate photos, curse words, references to drugs/alcohol. You never know how far back a coach may explore. To be safe, take some time to clean up your past posts. To be safer, don’t post anything inappropriate to begin with.
Where can I tune into more webinars?
Be on the lookout for an email from us to hear about next months webinar! You can also explore our blog or YouTube Channel for more recruiting resources.
