Questions I've Never Been Asked, Part 1

"Why doesn't Suzie have a volleyball only Instagram account?"

This is a question I have never had a college coach ask me.

With SO much talk about social media and how you NEED a twitter and Instagram account, it's pretty impressive that I've never gotten asked about an athlete's social media account or lack there of. Maybe it's because college coaches aren't using social media to recruit athletes.

College coaches USE social media (some more than others) and collegiate volleyball teams have social media accounts. College coaches are certainly given the opportunity to interact with athletes through social media and many do. But how far does that twitter account get you in the recruiting journey?

When it comes to social media, here are a few thoughts...

It's A Tool

Use it well. With all of the platforms out there to use, I'm still a big fan of emails, texts and phone calls. I think when it comes down to going through the main checkpoints of the process, your chances are really good that they will go through these mediums. Can you use social media? Sure. But it is just a tool and it won't do your recruiting for you. If you're going to post a bunch on social media and attempt to interact and communicate with coaches through social media, then by all means use it. But I see a TON of athletes that post LESS on their "volleyball" accounts than they do on their personal accounts. In that situation, I don't see the value. I encourage athletes that want to use social media in their recruiting efforts to use their personal accounts and ADD volleyball posts to that. Trust me, all the switching back and forth on accounts is annoying. Keep it simple and make sure to think about what you're posting on ANY of your accounts. Coaches are still crossing athletes off their list based on what they are doing and saying on social media.

A Follow Only Means So Much

Plenty of college coaches have personal accounts. Plenty of college coaches DO NOT have access to their volleyball program account. So when a program follows you, it's important to understand what that means...potentially nothing. I could mean something for sure! But it could also not mean a whole lot. How many athlete accounts are they following? How many personal accounts are they following? Are they following everyone on your club team? Is that a college coach that just followed you because they are interested or is it an assistant SID that followed you because you posted a video that showed up on their feed? There are lots of variables.

Do You Have a Purpose?

If you're hoping that recruiting will happen for you just because you created a volleyball Twitter or Instagram account, I would seriously ask you to rethink that. Posting videos and then crossing your fingers is not a recruiting plan or tactic that realistically works. It's not any different than hoping that a college coach will walk by your court at the exact same moment that you do something awesome. If you're going to use that platform, be proactive. Put in the work. Put yourself in front of the college coaches that will definitely be interested in you as an athlete. Do you have a plan? Are you reaching out to schools and connecting with them consistently?

By all means, feel free to use social media. Just be sure that you are having realistic expectations of the outcome using that platform. Be willing to put in the work. Just like I would ask an athlete to send emails out. and to connect with college coaches in that way, you should be doing the same thing on social media.

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