How Social Media Accounts Help with Recruiting
I wanted to share this article with explaining why it is necessary for your favorite player to have a Twitter account, now called X. Yes I know you may have an Instagram account, but the sports world and every college and coach in the country has a Twitter account. So it makes sense for you to have one too!
There are three main ways to get noticed by college coaches.
- Go to a college or ID camp/showcase that their coaches will be at and participate.
- Play in a tournament where they will be recruiting at and let them know your schedule.
- Contact them via phone, email, or direct message on social media and send them your video.
Although young people are way better than us at using social media, chances are they are probably using it for more social reasons than marketing their volleyball play. It would be in their best interest to get social media accounts in order to market themselves in their craft. Those who are using it for this reason, have a much better chance at getting noticed than those who are not. Point blank.
One of the main reasons why you should have a X/Twitter is due to the fact that video on Instagram is only seen from a small window and cannot be full screen. While college coaches are watching your clips on their computers, they will likely want to have a full screen effect and Instagram does not allow that. I am scouting for hours on end on my computer and it is much easier to watch video on X/Twitter than Instagram. Yes we can get the clips easier on our phone, but most true scouting is done from a computer. So I would strongly encourage everyone to also post their clips to X/Twitter.
I know that social media scares a lot of us older generation people, however it is the new way of the world. Instead of griping to our young players about them always being on it…why don't we help them use it for good? A lot of parents think that just by playing club and attending a high profile tournament, it will magically make a college offer appear. Well…I hate to break it to you…but it won't. Of course, the top 1% will be recruited by just their name, but most of us will have to work for what we want. This means marketing. Even using it in the bare minimum way of posting your schedules, will be helpful. But the truly successful players are posting their highlight reels, clips of plays from their parent's cell phone, and links to their recruiting sites.
Get a X/TWITTER account. Follow our company X/Twitter - @PrepDigCA and @PrepDig. You can follow our scout @NiqueSolaita and myself at @CoachMikeDZ. It is easier to use than you think. We would love to interact with you and repost all of your information to the colleges who are following us.
Yes I know our kids love pictures and video on Instagram, but X/Twitter is great for recruiting. Yes it can be used for some crazy things, but lots of players use it wisely when it comes to recruiting/scouting. Don't just think that because you have your video posted that someone will see it. Push it out!!!!! Tag someone. Send it to someone. Market yourself!!!!!!! Over and over and over and over again. Hustle for what you want. Social media is the best place to do it! Stay active with it.
If you ever have any questions about how to use it, please do not hesitate to send me a message and I will help you.
Stay tuned for more articles on your favorite athletes. If you have anyone you think we should watch out for, please shoot me an email with some info at Michael@prepdig.com. Also don't forget to help these kids get more exposure by sharing our stories with your friends. Help us help them by simply retweeting on Twitter or sharing on Facebook. Thanks for following Prep Dig Family!
