Brown Talks Social Media's Impact on Recruiting
Social media has its pros and cons. It can be helpful and resourceful and at times, it can be too informative. Today at Neal Brown's press conference, he talked about the benefits of social media and its downfall.
"It is what it is. There's some extremely positive things about it and there's also some extremely negative things about it, but you have to use it," Brown said. "I stay off of it during the season, but I think you have to be on it during recruiting. I think you need to use to it to promote the brand, promote the university, all those type of things."
What may be considered the biggest benefit of social media in college football is exactly what Brown stated. It gives you a chance to promote your program and your culture within the program. He also added that it is a helpful tool when identifying recruits,
"It gets people exposure," he stated. "We know more about guys because of social media whether it's Twitter, Instagram, I stay away from Snapchat. That's kind of their domain. I haven't got into Tik Tok, I guess In kind of need to educate myself on that," he said jokingly. "From an education standpoint, we have more information on the student-athletes because of it. The video access has changed dramatically. A 2022 kid could post his highlights and we could see it and normally you'd have to go to the high school and ask hey can you tell me about some of your younger guys."
It can be negative in the fact that fans can be too harsh on players, coaches for their performances, decisions and so forth. From a recruiting aspect, every college recruiter is watching every move a recruit makes. Whether it's what they tweet/post or if they are about to take a visit to another school, they might call the recruit up and talk him out of making the trip to a competing school.
Over the last year, the football team's Twitter account has zeroed in on advertising the type of coaching staff that is in place and the culture that exists. You can see an example of that below as they have begun making behind the scenes recap videos following victories.
Small, simple posts such as this one can help gain attention from recruits and boost their interest in a program. The #TrustTheClimb tag has been very popular among the players, coaches, fans and now, recruits. It's become a staple in the teams effort to bring back the success it has had through its rich history.
Do you think social media is a good tool or harmful tool for recruiting? Comment your thoughts below.