Social Media and college recruiting

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Jul 29, 2016
231
43
Curious - what sort of social media presence is going to offer the biggest bang for the buck for a kid who wants to get recruited to play college ball? I was under the impression that Twitter is the big platform for this, but it has been suggested to me that "the entire softball world is using Facebook."

Is that right? Do kids even do Facebook? And if not, do college coaches really follow it?

Please share your insights.
 
Sep 29, 2010
1,082
83
Knoxville, TN
The entire softball PARENT world is on FB, lol! I see a lot of videos shared by recruiting services on FB who are reaching their target audience of parents who write the checks. Not blasting the services, they just know where the money is at.

I do see a lot of skills videos and highlights on Twitter. I’m still not sure how beneficial it is for recruiting unless your DD has a relationship with a coach who “follows“ them. I do wonder what coaches think when a kid posts a video and tags 10 or more coaches. Do the kids list in these coaches in order of importance? If you’re the last coach on the list, do you feel like you’re the last choice on the kids list? Just some thoughts to consider before going “all social media”on recruiting. 😂😂
 
Nov 29, 2009
2,975
83
This from a parent on another web site wo had two DD's go through the program. There is a lot of merit in the posting.

  • I had two kids play DI. One who could of cared less about the sport and basically fell into a ride and one that played on a team in an era where you had your money at 14 and never really thought about it. So I have absolutely no experience with "real" recruiting.

    However, I have a kid who's an Assistant Coach at the mid-major level. I happened to be in a state she was recruiting at this weekend and it's the first time I've really hung around a field where she was recruiting and here are my takeaways:

    There's a crap load of money available for softball. The problem is so many parent are chasing the P5 - Top 25 programs. These schools represent about 5% (Educated Guess) of the money available in the sport. It's crazy how condescending travel coaches and parents are to mid-level schools. Open your mind to Plan B as early as possible.

    Attitude is everything. At her level she's not recruiting the absolute best talent, she's looking for potential and work ethic. In this era bringing a toxic player into your can cost you your career. You are going to be watched for every possible character flaw; how you warm up, how you talk to your parents, what do you do when you strike out, etc.

    Unfortunately, Social Media is the face of the program and how you post now will probably be how you post once you're recruited. A big part of recruiting is having potential recruits want to associate with their potential teammates. If you act the fool or come across as mean you can potentially cost a school a potential recruit down the line.

    Parents matter. Just like a player, a toxic parent can cost you your job. I'm amazed at the contact her players parents have with her. I'm not sure I ever had a "softball" conversation with either kids coaches. If there's any hint that you're going to be an issue at the field or off, it counts against your kid. They've actually basically given up on recruiting players that have been predominately coached by their parents.

    I always read posts about how you have to send out a million emails and get coaches to your games. While that seems to be somewhat true, your email doesn't really get attention unless you're playing on a team that has a solid schedule. The thought is even if you look good when I watch you once, how will I confirm your talent. The vast majority of recruiting time is going to be spent at known teams games.

    Of course, you need to be really athletic and an exceptional softball player too.
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
Curious - what sort of social media presence is going to offer the biggest bang for the buck for a kid who wants to get recruited to play college ball? I was under the impression that Twitter is the big platform for this, but it has been suggested to me that "the entire softball world is using Facebook."

Is that right? Do kids even do Facebook? And if not, do college coaches really follow it?

Please share your insights.

Youtube. So you can link in your emails where your highlight/skills videos are.

Social media is where kids get in trouble. Avoid it as much as possible.

There is no 'biggest bang' on social media in getting attention or getting noticed for the most part. It is, however, a place where you can get stop getting recruited because most programs will scan potential recruits Instagrams/twitters/snapchats/whatever to see how they portray themselves. Getting crossed off because something stupid a teenager may post is way, way more likely than getting more attention.

Once you are further along the recruiting path and getting towards making a decsion there is some value to following current players, the program and even the coach to indicate your interest but I advise our players to always do it from a 'clean' account. Keep it simple. Likes mainly. Maybe a 'Go --program name--'

DD follows the coaches dog :)
 
Jul 16, 2018
120
18
I cannot begin to tell you how beneficial twitter is to the baseball recruiting world. Specifically @Flatground and @flatgroundbats has helped many get noticed both in the amateur and professional ranks.
 
Aug 19, 2015
1,118
113
Atlanta, GA
Yeah, I don't see any young athletes networking via FB. My 16 year old would die laughing at the suggestion. I've seen lots of kids using Twitter. Once you can communicate frequently enough with coaches, they will follow you and it's a good central place to post your upcoming schedule and highlight videos.

Edited to add: I don't think kids use Twitter to communicate with friends. They all use Insta and Snapchat. But I think having a dedicated Twitter account just for softball works pretty well at getting your name out there.
 
Apr 26, 2015
704
43
This is an interesting discussion for me to follow. DD (15yrs old) decided (on her own) that she wanted nothing to do with social media. She is not on Snapchat, Insta, Twitter, you name it. She just decided that she didn't want the time suck or the drama that goes hand in hand with social media. She would rather be playing ball. She was talking with a recruiter the other day who told her that schools would think she was hiding something if she didn't have any accounts.
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
The players on my DD's 16U TB team (a top-20 PGF team) were instructed by their coaches to set up Facebook pages for posting specifically about softball. Most of the girls had a similar reaction - "Facebook is for old people!" That's actually the point. It's true that kids use other social media platforms to communicate with each other, but the adults whose attention they are trying to get tend to be more FB.

As far as non-softball content on her IG page, my guidance to my DD is to apply the "Grandma Rule" - If it's not something you would be happy to show your grandma, don't post it on social media.
 
Last edited:
Jul 22, 2015
851
93
From what I've seen coaches actually use Twitter more often than others, but they certainly check all of a prospective athlete's social media.
 

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