Expanding Your Social Media Following - Part I

by David Portney - AVCA Media Relations & Awards Support Specialist


This is Part I of a three-part series highlighting the top-3 things you should be doing with a respective social media account (facebook, twitter and pinterest).  

As the manager of our social media sites here at the AVCA, I have seen first-hand what kind of impact social media has had on the world, but more specifically on the volleyball community.  It is no longer a wave of the future, IT IS HERE RIGHT NOW.  If you’re a volleyball coach, player or SID and your team does not have a social media presence, then now is the time my friend and I am here to help! 

I know many of you are already hitting that world hard, but there are a few suggestions that can get your accounts to keep growing!

Today we will talk about the company that just went public today…facebook.  ($43/share, who got their checkbooks out?)

PHOTOS…PHOTOS…VIDEOS…AND MORE PHOTOS
This cannot be stressed enough.  Facebook is what it is today because it was founded on what people see, not what they read.  When people first log on to facebook or open it up on their mobile phones, what first draws their attention is a photo or video thumbnail.  That’s not just my opinion; it’s an understood fact among the experts who have done the studies.

So when you want to update the cyber-world your team just beat your biggest rival, add your text while uploading a photo from the match to accompany it.  Your fans will see the photo, stop what they’re doing then read the text.  This will increase the probability of a “like” or “share” ten-fold.

I know some teams have more resources than others, but if you have a photographer on-hand at the matches then have this person snap as many photos as possible.  Your fans will LOVE photo albums.  If you play 2-4 matches in a weekend, take all of the photos you can and create a photo album for fans to sift through.  Hypothetically, if you upload 50 photos from a weekend’s worth of matches and only 20 of them get liked once, that’s the equivalent of 20 likes for one status update!

Same goes with posting links.  Facebook will automatically (most of the time) generate a thumbnail when you post a link, but it’s not always a quality photo.  In the instance it’s not, feel free to find a relevant photo, upload it with the accompanying text and put the link right after the text.

Videos are fun too, but keep them relatively short if possible.  People's attention spans are minimal at best so I wouldn't have a video be more than 3-5 minutes.

EVERY SINGLE POST MUST HAVE A PHOTO OR THUMBNAIL!!!!  THIS CANNOT BE STRESSED ENOUGH.

HAVE FACEBOOK EXCLUSIVE DEALS FOR FOLLOWERS

Basically, make your followers feel special.  Give them an incentive to follow you on facebook with promotional giveaways and other exclusive deals.  This will vary depending on the size of your program and resources, but I’ve seen many teams give away simple items like t-shirts and autographed team items. 

However, it doesn’t necessarily have to be giveaways of tangible goods.  Giving them access to great match seats or the chance to meet their favorite player(s) also tends to go over well.  Even if not every single person takes part in your exclusive content, they know their “like” is appreciated and will keep them engaged.

KEEP THEM ENGAGED

Don’t let your followers merely see the stuff you’re posting and that is the end of it, MAKE THEM INTERACT WITH YOU.  Ask them questions, tell them to “like” a post as long as it’s worded correctly (ie “Click LIKE if you’ll be going to the big match on Saturday against State!”).

I’m going to let you in on a little secret, whenever I post something to facebook if I don’t get a combination of 10 interactions (likes, comments, shares) I chalk that up as an unsuccessful post.  That number might vary for you, but I bring that up because I always ask myself, “Why would anyone like, comment or share this?” before I post it.  If I can’t come up with a good reason, I either scrap it all together or find a different way of wording it.

A lot of this might seem like common sense, and to be honest I think it is, but many times that’s what it takes for something to get you going in the right direction.  We also heavily implement the “spaghetti theory”, which is throw it on the wall and see if it sticks.

A lot of stuff won’t work, so just keep finding different methods until you hit your stride…don’t get discouraged!

Most importantly: Remember to have fun with it!  If you’re having fun it’ll catch on with your followers!

I always love hearing some feedback, so feel free to comment below or shoot me an email at david.portney@avca.org.  I enjoy talking about this kind of stuff, and I'm here to help with any questions, comments or concerns you might have about creating or expanding your social media network!

Next week I’ll talk the wonderful world of twitter…stay tuned!