Selling Yourself As A Brand

Selling Yourself as a Brand

April 14, 2015

By Chris LeGates, TCS Co-Host

Last week Mark and I had Pat Hade of Social Media Athlete on the podcast to discuss student-athlete recruiting and social media. You can listen to it here.  The interview was informative on many fronts and something that student-athletes in this generation should be paying great attention to. 

Student-athletes who are looking to market themselves to schools must look at themselves like they are a brand now.  Much like an Apple, Nike or UGNterprises, student-athletes are being judged in a multitude of formats.  It is not just the playing ability of the student-athlete that is evaluated, it is the overall makeup of the athlete that is taken into consideration. Social media behavior has become an important component as well.  The advent of social media has allowed the world to change dramatically and bring people closer together.  However, the negative impacts of social media are felt everywhere – and nowhere has it done more damage than in college athletics and recruiting.  Pat mentioned several instances where high school recruits were dropped by big-time schools for things that they have put out on social media, and I have had to deal with multiple social media situations in both recruiting and on my college teams as well.  We have seen teams, players and coaches suspended, fired or removed from programs because of their poor judgment on social media.  So where does it end?

“If you would not say it on TV then you should not be putting it out there on social media”

It needs to end in recognizing that you are a brand.  You are a representative of “Team(fill in the blank)” as a recruit and a representative of the institution you are part of once you attend a school.  How do you want to be perceived?  How do you want your brand perceived?  What you post on social media, how you conduct yourself on and off the competition forum speaks volumes about your brand. High school and college coaches are inundated with so many tasks that having to handle negative social media behavior is something that is not high on their lists.  Social media mistakes can cost higher-level institutions millions of dollars in advertising, donations from alumni and media rights so you can be assured that they are doing their homework on potential recruits. At the lower levels of college sports, poor social media judgment can cost you a place on a team, maybe a stripping of captaincy or in some cases dismissal from that school.  Pat said to us “If you would not say it on TV then you should not be putting it out there on social media”.  Amazing advice because your brand’s commercial is being watched by many potential consumers and after they watch that commercial will they want to rush out and buy your brand?  How do you want your brand perceived?

TCS is always here to help, so, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me at info@tacklingcollegesports.com Until next time, thank you for the overwhelming support of TCS.

Check out our website for more recruiting information!

Good luck and always #BeYourBest

Chris