Social Media and Cheerleading
You run a college cheer program, why do you need social media?
My question for you is, how much money does your college or university give you to advertise your program to potential recruits?
Or does your school give you any money at all to help you with recruiting?
Cheerleading is a very social sport in its nature. Why not take the part of the social media revolution, and reach out to potential recruits and donors. Facebook is a great start, but the potential within the realm of social media is virtually untouched by most organizations and not at all by college cheerleading. So far through my research, Kansas Cheer is the only school with multiple areas of social media, and what i see as the most important a YouTube Channel. The University of Texas at San Antonio also has a great YouTube channel. Other than these two school, the social media spread is strictly Facebook and then a few Twitter accounts. So far I have found over 127 Facebook accounts (so many I stopped counting for the night) and Twitter 55 accounts. These accounts range anywhere from about 20 followers to upwards of 12,000+(Louisville Cheer FB Page). 12,000 is a large number, but it could be much bigger. Not only could this number be greater, but only the Top 10 accounts are above 4,000, and they decrease very quickly after the top 15.
I hope this makes you think! There is so much potential to reach people and the surface hasn’t even been scratched. You could be the first College Video Blog, think about the possibilities The best way to connect on Social Media is to tell a story. How many people do you think would be interested in a Video Blog (Vlog) of the Sam Houston State cheer team getting ready for nationals? Think about the story line, “Cinderella Program or a Dynasty In the Making” What about Stephen F. Austin State University another great story line, “Taking Back the Title”. These Ideas to me, after cheering in College for 5 years, would be thrilling!
Every program has a great story to tell, and there are people out there that want to listen, SO SPEAK UP! Cheerleading is a social and visual sport. It is one of a kind, you couldn’t listen to cheerleading on the radio, and you couldn’t read about it play by play in the news paper, so why are we stuck trying to type out our ideas on Facebook and Twitter.
One last thought on that. I’ll give you 4 options. You just did your routine, and you want to explain to someone your pyramid senescence ( I say pyramid because that is generally the most intricate and creative element of your routine) lets say this person has been cheering for a year and has a minimal range of cheer knowledge. you can either:
1. Write them a description in a page or less (no pictures, nothing but words)
2. Give them a recorded message less than 1 minute long. ( emphasis on recorded, no questions from the person receiving the message)
3. Three Pictures (No words, No voice)
4. A 20 Second Video
What would you choose? A VIDEO of Course!!!!
So, I as again WHY WHY WHY WHY???? are you trying to explain cheerleading? when you can show cheerleading!!!!! I again urge you to check out
http://www.youtube.com/user/KUcheerleading and
It’s simple, and very effective, why not give it a try?
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