We can help take your social media accounts to the next level! Here you will find five of our ‘best social media practices’ that help us, help you!
Getting photos and videos from camps, practices, games, or anything in between gives us great content to use – especially during off seasons. These could be professional or from parents and coaches. When you join us we will create a shared folder and an email that photos can be submitted to.
We know there are many social media platforms to choose from, but having an account on each one may not be best for your club. Knowing your audience and having a few engaging and active accounts that cater to them is most beneficial for spreading information and highlighting what you offer.
Be sure to let us know if you have any internal social media managers or anyone in your club who is posting, sharing, or active in any way on your accounts. This way we know who to communicate with and how to avoid duplicate posting, contradicting information, or any other conflicts!
In today’s digital age, social media has become an integral part of our lives, connecting people from all walks of life, including youth athletes. However, with the rise of social media, there has also been an alarming increase in scams targeting these young talents. As a parent, coach, or organizer involved in the sports community, it’s essential to educate ourselves and our young athletes about the dangers of social media scams and how to stay safe online.
Understanding the Threat: What Are Social Media Scams?
Social media scams encompass a wide range of fraudulent activities that exploit individuals’ trust and naivety. Scammers often create fake profiles, pages, or events that appear legitimate, targeting youth athletes with promises of scholarships, sponsorships, or opportunities to enhance their athletic careers. These scams can lead to financial losses, identity theft, and emotional distress.
Red Flags to Look Out For
Too Good to Be True Offers: Scammers often dangle offers that seem too good to pass up, such as full scholarships to prestigious universities or lucrative sponsorship deals. Encourage your young athletes to verify the authenticity of such offers through official channels.
Urgent Requests for Personal Information: Scammers may ask for sensitive information like social security numbers, bank account details, or passwords. Remind your athletes never to share such information online.
Poor Grammar and Spelling: Many scams originate from non-native English speakers, resulting in poorly written messages. If a message seems suspicious due to its language quality, it’s wise to be cautious.
Request for Payment: Legitimate opportunities rarely require upfront payment. If a supposed opportunity demands money in exchange for promises, it’s likely a scam.
High-Pressure Tactics: Scammers might create a sense of urgency to coerce young athletes into making hasty decisions. Advise them to take their time and consult with trusted adults before committing to anything.
Tips for Prevention
Educate Your Athletes: Organize workshops or discussions on social media safety to ensure that young athletes understand the risks and can identify potential scams.
Verify Profiles: Teach your athletes to verify profiles and organizations before engaging. Genuine entities will have a strong online presence and a history of interactions.
Use Privacy Settings: Encourage your athletes to set their social media profiles to private and control who can access their information.
Two-Step Verification: Enable two-step verification on their social media accounts to add an extra layer of security.
Trust Instincts: Emphasize the importance of trusting their instincts. If something feels off, they should distance themselves from the situation.
Reporting Scams
If your young athlete encounters a potential scam, make sure they know how to report it to the respective social media platform. Prompt reporting can prevent others from falling victim to the same trap.
In conclusion, as a part of the virtual sports management community, it’s our responsibility to arm our young athletes with knowledge about social media scams. By educating them about the red flags, prevention methods, and reporting procedures, we can help ensure their online safety while they pursue their dreams. Together, let’s create a digital environment where young athletes can thrive without the fear of falling prey to scams.
Always be sure to reach out to your social media support lines to report and aid in removing social media scams:
Social Media: Getting Started and Creating Accounts
Before being overwhelmed with the idea of having to manage a variety of social media accounts, your first step is account creation. Just this first step alone can take some weight off of the time-consuming task that is social media. You may feel overwhelmed at the idea of getting into new social platforms, especially if it’s for the first time.
Getting started can be easier than it seems. First, you’ll need to answer the question: What is your goal with each account? The most common goal is to get club information in front of more people or to act as an information portal for your current players and their parents. Maybe its purpose is a step beyond– to attract more followers in the community to grow your club. Whatever your goal may be, there are different ways to approach your social setup.
In order to enhance your social media and achieve your goals, you need to understand the different types of content and posting.
Videos, Photos, and galleries- Using imagery is a great way to really engage with your club. By showing off your players, coaches, and parents; it shows that you as a club are thankful and proud of who you are.
Information and Content- On the other side of the spectrum is the pages that operate soley to inform. From marketing programs to broadcasting information about delays and cancellations.
All of the Above- While it may require more effort and more commitment, some social pages do a little bit of everything; which is great! The more content and engagement you get on social media, the better!
What Are the Next Steps?
After you have your accounts all set up you are ready to start engaging with your audience. Engagement is the key to any good social media profile. While you are connected with your immediate audience, it’s important to continue looking to grow and engaging in those outside your primary community. Start implementing some of these ideas to build a bigger presence online:
Get some short video clips during practices and games to share as a “Story”
Stay consistent with your photo posts! 1-3 per week
Be responsive with questions, comments, and inbox messages on your social pages
Set some ads to promote your upcoming programs!
Remember, having a good social media presence takes time. You need to stay consistent and engaged throughout the process. Don’t be afraid to market your club and social media either. The more people that notice your club and engage, the better!
Social Media is a brilliant tool to use at your club. Most of the time it’s free, it allows you to reach new people and stay in touch with the ones you already know. Having an active social media presence is more than just writing a post every now and then. Being active on major platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter can help you drastically improve your club!
Grow and Develop
For organizations big or small, growth is always important. Either numerical growth of players and teams, or growing and enhancing your club’s inner and outer workings. Social media allows you to market yourselves to a grandiose audience. With the many different platforms of social media, you’re able to take a different approach to how you want to market yourself!
Connect
Social media is great for allowing many different people to connect, and it’s no different when it comes to your club or team. Having a quality and consistent social media schedule allows you to connect with those interested in the organization. Whether that be new or returning parents and players, tournaments, or even local media. It gives your organization the ability to engage with the audience. With this also comes quick access to posting news and happenings within your organization. Team success, cancellations, or field updates; social media is one of the fastest ways to update your audience!
At Sports Office 365, we have a fantastic Social Media Manager to help aid your club. She’s added some examples below on the many benefits of an active social media profile!
A Virtual Support System
It’s common to be a part of an organization that groups by age and skill level. This automatically minimizes the number of exposure members have to interact with others outside of their immediate groupings. Social media allows for additional support systems outside of physical interactions.
For example, John goes to school with his friend Emma and is in the same club, Club A. They both had weekend games but are on separate teams. After a weekend of matches and victories, Club A posts a bunch of new photos and videos on Facebook and Instagram highlighting memorable moments. John sees Emma score a goal in a video post and comments, “Way to go, Emma!! Great focus!!” Emma likes and shares the photo of John in action on the field. These moments between friends would have otherwise been missed out on if it were not for their Club A’s engaging social media practices.
Increased Website Traffic
Social media channels are supplemental to your club’s website. Social platforms can reach different audiences in a personable, useful, and entertaining way to potentially interested community members who may not have otherwise been able to reach the website organically.
A proud Aunt Susan shares a photo of her nephew scoring a goal, from Club B’s Facebook page. A friend of Aunt Susan, new to the area, sees her shared post and tells her two kids about Club B that they are now very excited to join, after viewing the photos and videos of the members of Club B having a blast!
Reduced Barriers to Participation
Club C is aware that trying something new can be difficult. Their presence on social platforms helped Mark find their club. Mark stumbled upon a highlight reel of Club C’s game while he was looking for something unrelated on Instagram. From here he is scrolling Club C’s Instagram of team photos and action shots. Feeling a level of engagement to the members in the photos, he is interested in finding a team to play within Club C. Mark is now on their website in just 3 quick clicks. Thanks to social media, Club C made it a little easier to get newcomer Mark to step through that door.
There are many positive benefits to having an active social media account for your club. We pride ourselves on being able to confidently manage your social media accounts. Reach out to us today to see how we can help boost your club’s social media presence!
