Using social media to help students go from prospect to recruit

When I speak in my seminars or to my consulting clients, one of the things I talk about frequently is going from prospect to recruit. Prospective student-athletes can leverage social media effectively to enhance their college sports recruitment. There are many more prospects than actual recruits and at PrepSearch my goal is to help each of my students transition from prospect to recruit as quickly as possible to allow them to maximize their recruitment.

When I first started PrepSearch in 2007, social media was not a part of the strategy I used with my clients. Now, it is one of the most important components of a successful strategy when combined with other components like a individualized college list, digital presence (app/website), and timely targeted outbound to coaches. Here are nine tips for using social media to help a high school student go from prospect to recruit.

1. Create a Professional Profile

• Profile Picture: Use a clear, high-quality photo, ideally in your athletic gear.
• Bio: Include your sport, position, school, and contact information.

2. Share Your Achievements

• Post updates about your performances, statistics, awards, and milestones.
• Highlight any significant contests, meets, games or tournaments, including videos and photos.

3. Connect and engage with College Coaches

• Follow college programs you are interested in considering in addition to coaches on platforms.
• Engage with Coaches content by liking, commenting, and sharing. This can help get you on their radar. This helps you to stay knowledgeable about a program and is important during the recruiting process.

4. Showcase Your Skills

• Use platforms like Instagram or TikTok to share videos of your gameplay, workouts, and training sessions.
• Create highlight reels that showcase your best plays, training, and skills.

5. Be Responsive

• Engage promptly with comments and messages from coaches or followers.
• Show that you are approachable and interested in communication.

6. Stay Organized

• Track interactions with coaches and programs through social media.
• Make notes of any important conversations or follow up by noting the date of contact and the date for follow up.

7. Highlight Academics

• Share your academic achievements, such as GPA, test scores, and relevant coursework.
• Most coaches are interested in well-rounded student-athletes who not only contribute athletically, but also add to the college community.

8. Post Regularly

• I always suggest to my clients that they maintain an active presence by posting at least once per week without overwhelming their audience.
• Balance athletic content with personal updates to keep your profile engaging.
• Keep it simple. No need to write a book. It is more important to post regular content.
• This could be content such as upcoming contests, tournaments, season statistics,  or special accomplishments; personal, academic or athletic.

9. Remember to think twice before you post anything!

·      Consider ANYTHING you post to social media permanent. Racist, homophobic, sexist, political and posts that are negative and in poor taste will be found!

·      Even if you delete a post, nearly all platforms archive deleted content.

·      Be cautious posting. Someone else could have taken a picture of the screenshot keeping a record of it even if you delete it.

·      Protect your personal brand and image. Nearly all colleges and universities conduct external social media reviews. Negative content will impact recruitment and even future employment opportunities, not to mention damaging your reputation.

 

By utilizing these strategies, prospective student-athletes can effectively enhance their visibility and appeal to college coaches, increasing their chances of recruitment. If you are interested in learning more about the free PrepSearch app and being notified when it’s available or know someone else who may be interested, please visit the link below. I hope you’ll share with others as well. Please check out the rest of my website to learn more about PrepSearch and how I’ve helped over 1700 students attend college using sports since 2007.

https://prepsearch.net/app/

EM