Coach outreach, official visits, team tryouts, oh my! You’re officially in the middle of the college athletics recruitment process. It’s high stakes, and you just want things to go well so you get recruited by your #1 college. It’s not easy, of course—and the potential minefield of social media makes things even more difficult. Student-athletes can seriously hurt their chances if their social media presence gives athletic recruiters any cause for alarm.
The good news is you can also make a stronger case for yourself if you use your social media accounts strategically; your choices online could really make or break you. So what should you do with your social media profiles as a student-athlete hoping to get recruited by colleges and coaches? Here are some top tips to boost your chances on whatever social platforms you frequent.
Post and promote yourself as an athlete
There’s no easier way to get attention than making posts that promote yourself and your sport. So if you aren’t doing this already, fill your social media profiles up with all the cool, impressive things you’re doing! Post pictures and videos of your best games, meets, or plays. Share local news articles about the events you compete in. Take pride in yourself and the schools and teams that you love, and it will garner you more attention during recruitment season.
You also have to be an active user and part of the community to get your name into the collegiate athletics world. Join online groups that involve your favorite schools, sports, or coaches and post there as well. Any comment you leave somewhere links to your account. If you make positive, encouraging, and intelligent comments and a coach or recruiter happens to be viewing the same post, there’s a possibility they could be intrigued by you and click on your profile. Upload anything that will highlight your skills and demonstrate to any coach why they need you on their team (and make these posts public). You want them to see all the videos, articles, and posts you’re sharing on your feeds!
Spread the word
Just because you post a few videos or pictures online doesn’t mean a college coach is going to magically find them and want to recruit you. This is where your social media platforms collide. Tweet to coaches with YouTube or TikTok links. Post photos and articles on Instagram and also share them on Facebook. If you’re a member of an athletic recruiting site, add your videos there as well. Do whatever you can do to spread the word that you’re out there and this is what you do. If a recruiter or coach doesn’t tweet you back, it doesn’t mean they won’t find you when they research you online. The more views you get, the better. You never know when a video might go viral.
Related: An Insider Student Look at College Athletic Recruitment
Watch what you post and comment
Questionable social media posts can bring your reputation down faster than you can say “privacy settings.” The truth of the matter is that everything from wild vacation photos to off-color political memes have the potential to get you in trouble. Before posting, you need to think, “Could this reflect poorly on me?” If something doesn’t pass the “mom test,” untag yourself immediately. If it’s your account, don’t post it at all—but if it’s too late, remove it entirely (and realize old posts could resurface if screenshots exist). Coaches aren’t interested in someone who doesn’t value their reputation or seems like they wouldn’t positively represent their team off the field.
From here on out, anytime you’re posting on a social media platform, be nice and courteous. Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, or whatever comes next, profanity and negative comments don’t get you any points with anyone—especially not college admission departments. What you post reflects on you, and if you have a bad attitude or are part of constant drama, both coaches and schools are more likely to pass on recruiting you.
Become an active fan
Another thing you need to do is find all your favorite college teams and school pages and follow or like them. This serves as another strong indicator that you’re interested in a school—and stuff like that counts! Plus, you’ll be in the know about what’s going on with the teams, including local games you can attend. It’s the people who are active but respectful in online communities who make a good impression on everyone. Show your interest in colleges and they just might show interest in you.
Connect with coaches and admission
You can even follow the coaches of your favorite colleges in addition to following the colleges themselves. A coach probably won’t follow you back, but don’t worry—this can still get you noticed. You’ll be in their followers lists, and they may check their follower notifications for the exact reason of recruiting students.
On top of making sure you’re active in online sports communities and connecting with coaches, get your name out to the admission offices of your colleges of interest through direct messages. You can tell them that you’re interested or ask questions about admission and the athletics department. Just don’t spam them—no one likes a spammer.
Related: 6 Simple Ways to Connect With Colleges on Social Media
Fill in the details
Make sure all your social media profiles are as complete as possible. Fill your bio sections with info like what sport you play, what year you’re graduating, etc. Details like these demonstrate that you put thought into what you want people to know about you from your profile, and it ultimately helps anyone visiting your pages understand you and your priorities better. And please, for the love of higher education, choose a chill username. Seriously—what’s up with all these unserious usernames? Here are some easy questions to help you out: What is your name? What sport do you play? What’s your high school grad year? Easy: @megansoccer25. Short, sweet, and classy is the way to go.
Show your off-the-field side
While social media is great for highlighting your athletic skills, you’re probably asking, what about off-the-field you? Your profiles don’t have to only be about the sports you play. Coaches and schools don’t just want the best athletes; they want the best overall students. When you compete at the collegiate level, you’re representing not only the athletics department but your college as well. So you should also share how great you are at coaching Little League, committing to community service, or tutoring your peers. Do a little Q&A video on TikTok or YouTube about why you love working with children or helping the less fortunate. Show anyone viewing your profiles what type of person you are outside of sports too. A coach can get to know you before even meeting you, which can really work in your favor in the long run.
Related: How to Clean Up Your Social Media for College Admission
The one thing you cannot do is rely on social media alone to get recruited for college athletics; it’s only a stepping stone that makes the process a little easier. When used appropriately, your profiles and platforms can really boost your position in the recruitment world. As long as you follow these tips, you’ll be fine. Just remember, it is by no means the end-all-be-all of college athletics recruitment. And don’t let social media be a hindrance to your path to the top!
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