Sharon Goldmacher, president of Communications 21 was in Charlotte, North Carolina speaking at the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Annual Spring Meeting Assembly. She addressed the conference sports information directors about social media for college athletics.

1. Social Media and College Athletics
May 13, 2104

2. Socialnomics 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxpa4dNVd3c

4. Social Media and College Athletics
• As a member of the CIAA, and
ultimately the NCAA, your institutions
are responsible for the actions of its
representatives of athletic interests
• The NCAA definition of a representative
includes, but is not limited to boosters,
alumni, faculty, staff and fans
• NCAA violations – whether intentional
or not – can jeopardize the eligibility of
a student-athlete, a prospective
student-athlete and/or compliance
with the NCAA and CIAA rules and
regulations

6. Social Media and Athletics - Questions
• How much time do you spend
training S-As on social media use?
Coaches?
• How much time do you spend
monitoring?
– Do you use monitoring software?
• Do you have a social media
policy?
• Do you outline use of social media
in the student athlete code of
conduct?

7. Cosida Social Media Survey, 2013
Of the responding schools…
• Over half (56%) do not offer social media training for student-athletes
• A little less than six percent have teams that are not allowed to use social
media
• The majority have some kind of social media monitoring in place for
student-athletes
• Only 33 percent have a social media policy for student-athletes
• The vast majority(77%) of schools do not offer social media training for
coaches
• Over 90 percent of respondents do not use student-athletes’ Twitter
handles in releases
• Over 50 percent have had to remove a social media post from a coach or
student-athlete in the last 12 months – 11 percent had done it 10 or more
times.
(17% of schools taking the survey were DII)

8. Social Media Use by Student Athletes:
2014 Survey Results…the iAthlete
• 78% of student-athletes are using Twitter, up from 72% one year ago
• 78% of student-athletes are using Instagram, up from 65% a year ago
• 94% are on Facebook, but 85% use it less than they did one year ago
• 85% have a Snapchat account, up from 53% last year
• 17% have used social media to network for a job or internship
• Twitter is the most popular public platform for student-athletes, but also
the platform where most have posted something inappropriate
• 38% spend more than 1 hour per day on social media
• 40% have had no social media education or training. This is down from
51% last year
A breakdown of where the student-athletes came from:
• 64% DI
• 13% DII
• 9% DIII
• 14% NAIA
http://www.fieldhousemedia.net/blog/social-media-use-of-student-athletes-2014 - 500 responses

9. The iAthlete
• Twitter:
78% have a Twitter account
35% check it 5 times or less per day without tweeting
37% check it more than 10 times per day
87% tweet 5 times or less per day
76% have between 100 and 500 followers
11% have more than 500 followers
67% have a public account
7% have shared personal info on Twitter
18% have tweeted something inappropriate (drugs, alcohol,
sexual, racial, profanity, etc.)
6% have received hateful/critical tweets from fans, 72% of
them responded
• Facebook:
94% have Facebook
85% use it less today than they did a year ago
77% check it less than 5 times per day w/out posting
99% post less than 5 times per day
40% have between 100-500 friends on FB
58% have more than 500 friends
9% have posted something inappropriate (profanity,
alcohol, drugs, sexual, racial, violence, etc.)
91% utilize the privacy settings on Facebook
• Instagram:
78% have an Instagram account
63% have a private account
36% check it between 5-10 times per day
w/out posting
32% check it more than 10 times per day
98% post less than 5 times per day
5% have posted something inappropriate
(drugs, nudity, alcohol, racial, violence, etc.)
• Snapchat:
85% have a Snapchat account
44% send less than 5 snaps per day
24% send more than 10 per day
10% have sent an inappropriate snap
(profanity, nudity, drugs, etc.)
5% have sent snaps to a stranger
49% have received snaps from a stranger

10. Social Media – Player Gaffes
• “How the eff has the chinese trampoline guy not
thrown up his fried rice doing all those flips in a
row #10minutes” – academic all-star student-athlete
(posted during the Olympics)
• "It's tough knowing that everything you do is
watched pretty closely because I'm doing the
same stuff I've always done. It's just now people
actually care what I do.” – After Johnny Manziel
posted a pic flashing cash in 2013
• Cardale Jones, a third-string quarterback at Ohio
State University, tweeted "Why should we have to
go to class if we came here to play FOOTBALL, we
ain't come to play SCHOOL classes are POINTLESS"
– Once media organizations noticed and started to write
about the tweet, it was removed, as was the entire Twitter
account of Jones. The university suspended Jones for one
game as a result of the tweet.
http://www.athleticbusiness.com/more-news/twitter-can-prove-toxic-when-players-fans-exchange.html
Inside Higher Ed - http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/10/08/ohio-state-quarterback-tweet-classes-pointless#ixzz31LSTEyD6

11. Social Media – The Bad

12. Social Media – The Bad Fans
• “Twitter is essentially a 24/7 opposing student section.” - Tom Izzo
• “Some guys can't handle the audacity that some fans have,
because they can say things, but they know we're not going to say
anything back because we have something to lose and they don't.”
- Dion Bailey, USC safety
• Student-athletes deal with critical tweets in one or more of the
following ways:
1. Ignoring it;
2. Using it as motivation;
3. Blocking users sending nasty tweets; or
4. Responding to critics or tweeting a general response about working harder
(or "subtweeting" – not directly responding to a Twitter user but responding
to the subject matter in general).
- Assistant professors Blair Browning, Baylor and Jimmy Sanderson, Clemson
• "Though hate mail has always been around, it was a lot harder to get
it to people in the past. Now with the immediacy of Twitter, it's
immediately in front of their eyeballs…. People spew some pretty
vitriolic things to these players.“ – Blair Browning
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/other/2013/01/10/college-athletes-twitter-criticism-johnny-manziel-kentucky/1823959/)

13. Social Media – The Answer
• Educate instead of simply being
watchdogs
• Meet with teams individually
• Include tips and training in the S-A
code of conduct
• Bring in outside help
• Follow their S-As and look for
teachable moments
– Deal with infractions on a
case-by-case basis
Jorge Araujo

14. Dos and Don’ts
1. Every day is a job interview. Dress/act like
the job you want, not the job you have.
2. Twitter/social media is a telephone, not a
megaphone.
3. Take pride in who/what you represent.
4. Mom Rule - If you can’t say it front of your
mother (and coach), then don’t say it.
5. Use common sense – don’t post in an
emotional state.
Cosida 2013 presentation

15. Dos and Don’ts
6. Don’t engage in Twitter arguments. No one
wins.
7. Locker room talk should stay there.
8. Thank your teammates and fans every day.
9. Think before you send - never criticize an
opposing team, referee, coach or
teammate.
10.Have fun.

16. Social Media Reminders for S-As
• Keep in mind
1. Nothing is truly private…ever
2. If you retweet (or share), you own it
3. Personal branding: Every tweet, post, pic…reflects who you are
 “Freedom of speech does not equal freedom from consequences,” - David
Petroff, director of athletic communications at Edgewood College
• What to post
1. Thank - fans, teammates and family
2. Sportsmanship! Send positive messages about peers in other sports
or activities at school
3. Share news and humor – it’s ok to have fun, join conversations and
share things of interest
4. Engage in discussion with those you admire – it’s easier than ever
5. Live your life, don’t tweet your life.
http://www.athleticbusiness.com/corporate/blog-9-social-media-dos-and-don-ts-for-student-athletes.html

17. Social Media Graph by Institution

18. Social Media Graph - Conference

19. Best and Worst Times to
Post, Pin and Tweet
http://www.thehubcomms.com/infographic-the-best-and-worst-times-to-post-pin-and-tweet/article/344868/

20. Best Time

21. Peak Time

22. Worst Time

26. What’s your plan
for
what’s next?

40. Who Cares?
“State.com released a brutally honest ad for its new app, which it hopes will serve as an
online outlet for opinions. The millions of preloaded topics range from politics to music
preferences, which are available for users to rate and comment on — sans social media.
Those user opinions are then recorded and turned into distribution graphs.” - Mashable
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyWwX_VzIBY

41. ANALYTICS

42. Monthly Reporting
• Website stats are measured month to month or year over year
• Provide social media insights and sentiment of conversations
– Most popular posts and tweets highlighted
• Media coverage is measured with number of placements and
readership
• Proactive suggestions to improve results

47. Clip Report
• Track media mentions
• Provide visitors,
readership and ad
equivalency
• Connect media
coverage to online
traffic

48. About c21
• Full-service marketing PR and interactive firm
• Remarkable Service, Real Results since 1992
• National and local clients
• Industries represented include sports, food &
beverage, real estate, technology
• Managed and marketing two NCAA Final
Fours – 2007 and 2013
• Award-winning projects and campaigns

49. communications 21
www.c21pr.com
404.814.1330
Sharon Goldmacher
@golfergal21
sgoldmacher@c21pr.com