A strong social media presence is essential for school athletics and activities departments. It’s an often key touchpoint for community connection, as students, families, and school community members tend to support and engage with schedules, updates, major moments, and alumni highlights. But, standing out requires more than just posting scores and highlights; it’s about consistently creating authentic, engaging content that resonates. Effectively promoting these sports, clubs, and activities and the students who compete in them can help schools and districts establish an online presence that bolsters recruitment, enhances prestige, and rallies your school community. To help, we’ve compiled 10 fresh content ideas.
1. Promote schedule releases.
Every year, NFL schedule release videos take social media by storm due to their creativity and engagement. Teams essentially release hype videos that reveal their season schedule (which opponents they’ll play, when, and where). They typically include interviews with popular players, digs at rival teams, and entertaining themes. They also help teams capitalize on beginning-of-season excitement, something schools can certainly benefit from. While these videos require some planning, they are a fantastic way to grab attention and build momentum among fans and followers. Involve your team by having them pitch ideas or even make it a competition between different sports to see which video gets the most engagement. For inspiration, check out the full lineup of 2024 NFL schedule release videos.
2. Use the off-season or bye weeks to post fun content.
They might not make Deebo laugh, but posting memes can add to your content calendar while still engaging your audience during lulls in the season. The key to a good meme is balancing humor and relatability. A great tip is to use funny photos of recognizable coaches or players to create a meme that your audience can relate to. Just make sure you have the necessary consent before turning someone into a meme.
3. Post score updates with tags and hashtags.
Posting score updates is a tried-and-true practice that keeps your audience informed or engaged. Take it a step further to increase engagement by using tags and hashtags strategically. Tag relevant accounts like your opponents, main district accounts, or state athletic associations during major updates or big games. Create game-specific hashtags, invite your audience to follow them, and even encourage them to contribute to updates using these hashtags.
4. Highlight players through interviews.
Videos are highly engaging as they tell dynamic stories. Person-on-the-street style interviews asking team members random questions, like their favorite Taylor Swift song or preferred fast-food chain. These videos have become very popular on social media lately. They can do a lot to humanize your school’s athletes, teams, coaches, alumni, and activities-related content in general.
5. Highlight everyone and everything involved.
Many people and organizations contribute to a great sporting event, even though they aren’t necessarily the main event. Share moments from the dance team’s halftime performance, thank the student council for hyping up the crowd, or the PTA for sponsoring a team meal. Tag these groups in your posts to boost engagement and showcase all the different types of people involved in athletics and activities.
6. Show off a sport or player of the week.
Dedicate time and content to highlighting a different sport or player each week. Use popular hashtags like #MeetTheTeamMonday, #FeatureFriday, or #SpotlightSunday to provide structure and establish a theme for these features. As you highlight players, be sure to ask questions and capture content related to who they are off the field, court, or stage. Humanizing students in this way can be incredibly powerful. This is also a great opportunity to get students involved in creating content, as student-to-student interviews can feel more authentic and relatable to your audience. Be sure to highlight student-athletes and teams making an impact and the stories behind that impact, and then invite students to nominate their peers for future highlights.
7. Promote records and accomplishments.
Standout numbers make for impressive graphic posts. Highlight sports-related records and other fun or impressive stats like high attendance numbers, or the number of graduating seniors continuing their sport in college. Overlay these numbers on engaging photos to create visually appealing posts that will stop the scroll. (If you’re a Class Intercom school, take advantage of the platform’s in-app content libraries and photo editor to create these graphics quickly and easily.)
8. Find unique ways to show off game highlights.
Posting replays of key moments is essential, but be sure to encourage content creators to capture the powerful emotions surrounding these moments. Show the crowd erupting in cheers, the team’s joyous celebrations, or even somber reactions to a tough loss. Look for ways to source these photos from across your school community so you have the imagery you need for social. Athletics evoke a wide range of emotions, and sharing these can help your content resonate with your audience in a way that encourages audience engagement.
Cheering on our Bucs from afar! (Someone has to stay back and answer the phone and pay the bills!) #wheelsonthebus #gobucs🏀
Posted by Hoover High Athletics on Thursday, March 2, 2023
9. Don’t be afraid of the seemingly mundane.
Even in the off-season, there are plenty of content opportunities. In fact, sometimes the everyday content and behind-the-scenes looks are what people enjoy most. Share training sessions, summer camps, community clinics, rehearsals, fundraisers, and even where athletes are involved in other activities (i.e. academic achievements, artistic talents, or other extracurriculars). These posts show how student-athletes and participants in club activities fit into the wider school community. They also highlight your school’s commitment to student success on and off the field.
10. Share school and community spirit.
Many sports and activities have a unique power to unite people and inspire pride. Share stories of bus drivers sporting team apparel, teachers attending games during their free time, and other acts of school spirit. These narratives highlight the true heart of your athletic community, showcasing how school sports bring everyone together.
Great content ideas are an excellent start, but it can be challenging for athletics and activities directors, school PR and communications professionals, and even administrators to move them forward without the right systems, tools, and support. Class Intercom can help. We’re a social media management tool built specifically for the unique needs of schools and school districts. A central, secure platform with unlimited users to help schools source better photos, upgrade designs and visual components, and more effectively create and publish content. It’s also a robust moderation and management tool to help schools monitor published posts, commentary, keywords, and more with automatic archival every step of the way. Interested in learning more? Follow the link below to get in touch.
