What Does It Mean If A College Coach Follows You On Twitter?
If you’ve started the recruiting process by reaching out to coaches, you may start getting some interest. You might even be using social media as a way to communicate with coaches and post about athletic updates you have. But what does it mean if a college coach follows you on Twitter?
Generally, if a college coach follows you on Twitter, it means they are interested in recruiting you or at least keeping up with your athletic progress. If they send you a DM or interact directly with your posts, then you can bet that a coach is very interested in you.
In the past, coaches were not allowed to contact student-athletes through social media until the player had signed a National Letter of Intent. But now, coaches are permitted to use Twitter like any other form of communication. Twitter is subject to the same NCAA rules as calling, texting or emailing coaches, so if a coach doesn’t respond to your DM, you might have caught them at a time when they can’t answer.
How To Get A Coach To Follow You On Twitter
Social media is an essential tool in recruiting. It can help you get your name out, and it can also help you make connections with coaches, which can be very useful as the recruiting process goes on. If you haven’t gotten a coach to follow you yet or haven’t leveraged social media for recruiting, there are a few things you can do. Twitter, especially, is a great platform to post highlight videos, reach out to coaches and research schools.
Post Relevant Content: To build a successful Twitter profile, you need to post content that is related to your athletic career. Posting your highlight videos or game clips is a great way to attract coaches by showcasing your talent. You can also use Twitter to show support for the teams that you’re following or schools that you want to attend.
Make Pages Public: It’s also important to make sure that your page is public so that any coach can view all your content. You may have heard that it’s best to keep your social media pages private to avoid any scandals, but it’s better to be proactive and build a positive brand by having a public profile. Coaches might also assume that you’re trying to hide something if your profile is private.
Follow Coaches And Schools: Twitter is also an excellent place to do some research. You should follow your top schools and keep track of what kind of content they post, what their team dynamic looks like and how players interact with each other. You should also follow the head coaches of all the programs that you’re interested in to see what their coaching style is like and how they use social media.
Reach Out First: After following coaches and schools on Twitter, you should start reaching out to coaches. Sending a DM to a coach is similar to how you might send an introductory email. Reach out to the coach and ask for more information about their program, and tell them that you’re interested in playing for them. On Twitter, they have your athletic information and highlight clips in front of them already on your profile.
Keeping your Twitter profile updated can go a long way in attracting the attention of a coach. Coaches are looking for recruits who have strong character and exceptional leadership skills. Your Twitter profile is one more way that you can convey that to coaches. For this reason, it’s crucial to keep your posts appropriate and reflective of how you want coaches to see you.
Why Twitter Is Important For Recruiting
Social media, and Twitter especially, can be a great tool to gain name recognition and build relationships with college coaches. Coaches use Twitter to review student-athlete profiles and compare them across the recruiting classes, so it’s critical to stand out, especially on social media.
Speeds Up Recruiting Process: Twitter speeds up the recruiting process for coaches because it allows them to compare players across the country. They can compare and contrast skills and experience without even talking to student-athletes. The recruiting process can be stressful for coaches as they have to balance their coaching responsibilities with administrative and recruiting priorities. By putting time into creating a good Twitter profile, you make recruiting easier on the coach and increase your chances of being recruited.
Streamlines Communication: Twitter makes it easy for coaches to send student-athletes DM’s and find out more information about your athletics or academics. It’s also a more casual form of communication that can lend itself to building a relationship with a coach. You can communicate quickly and about specific things on Twitter in a different way than you might over email.
Coaches Can See The Competition: Coaches also use Twitter to see what other schools you follow. This gives them some insight into what other schools you are considering and how close those are to their school. If you’re following a rival school and regularly interact with their posts, a coach may be more incentivized to give you an offer sooner so that you don’t commit to their rival.
By using your Twitter profile to your advantage, you can start building a name for yourself that can catch a coach’s attention. Posting updates on your athletic progress and reaching out to college coaches on the platform is a great way to advance the recruiting process.
Signs A College Coach Is Interested In You
Getting a follow from a coach on Twitter might be a sign that a college coach is interested in you. But there are even more ways that coaches can express interest and show you how serious they are about recruiting.
Calls Or Emails: If you are reaching out to coaches at schools that are well-suited for your skillset, then it’s only a matter of time before you get a response. If a coach responds to your email or phone call, then your profile piqued their interest. If a coach contacts you randomly without any prior communication, then you can bet they are very interested in you. Coaches want to talk to recruits to get a sense of who they are and how they would fit on the team.
Personalized Communication: The more personalized the coach’s message, the more likely they are interested in recruiting you. Coaches have a lot of recruits to keep up with, so addressing you by name and referencing your specific athletic statistics means that a coach is taking the extra time to recruit you specifically. Social media is an excellent tool for this because it allows coaches to view a player’s profile, their athletic information and send a message to the player, all in one place.
Invite To An Official Visit: If a coach invites you to an official visit, you can be sure that they’re interested in you. An official visit is an opportunity to tour the campus and get a behind the scenes view of the athletic program. Schools pay for all the expenses related to an official visit, so coaches won’t stretch their budget by inviting players that they’re not seriously interested in.
Coaches recruit student-athletes in many different ways. They may use social media, emails or even telephone calls. But the critical thing to remember is that when coaches are interested in a player, they will seriously recruit them by communicating consistently, directly and in a personalized way. Paying attention to the signs that a college coach is giving you can be significant. You can pick up on whether or not they are recruiting you, which can help when it comes to deciding which relationships to invest in.
Things To Keep In Mind
Communicate Clearly: While Twitter DM’s are more informal than email or a phone call, you should still maintain principles of good communication. Avoid using acronyms and making grammar or spelling errors. Keep your tone respectful and polite to make an excellent first impression on a coach when reaching out over Twitter.
Watch Out For Tagged Photos: While you may have curated a strong positive presence for yourself on social media, you don’t have control over what your friends post or tag you in. You can adjust settings to prevent tagged photos or content from being available publicly on your profile.
Brand Yourself: Be aware that your profile is attached to your name. If coaches haven’t met you before or don’t know you, they will assume that what you post is representative of who you are. Twitter is an opportunity for you to showcase your accomplishments and progress while staying humble and appreciative