The most influential members of your brand are the players themselves. Yet, most administrations and/or coaching staffs will discourage players from using social media. I understand the apprehension. A few rogues will ruin it for everyone. However, you’re only hurting yourself and your program by keeping your athletes off Twitter. Go through your players’ social channels; add up the number of followers; write it down on a piece of paper. That number is the number of people you’re consciously deciding to ignore. Those people have made it known, publicly no less, that they consider your player or players influential. Guess who is likely to follow your athletes? High School athletes of the same sport…aka recruits. Your players can impact thousands of people. All told, up to millions of people depending on the popularity of your program. Do not miss the opportunity to allow your players to be mouthpieces for your brand initiatives and storytelling. WHAT IF your players teased or unveiled your next uniform? WHAT IF your players reinforced your brand story with every tweet? WHAT IF your new mantra for the year was driven by your athletes via social?
