Social Media Recruiting

You always hear people say, "You better be careful what you put on social media! You don't want your future employer to use anything against you!". But what about college recruiters? Social media has become such a common and popular thing today that even college recruiters turn to it as a main source of recruiting. While college recruiting used to be only between mail, phone calls, or face-to-face, social media introduces a whole new approach.

Why Social Media Recruiting went viral:

• Until just recently, college coaches and recruiters weren't allowed to text high school athletes. The only rule about social media are that all messages must be private. While they can't publicly tweet a prospect, a recruiter can direct message anyone they want, as much as they want.
• There are rules out there that restrict how fancy a college dresses up their mailed letters and envelopes so that colleges with less money had a fairer chance at attracting athletes. On social media, schools can send fancy and colorful logos, pictures, and videos at little to no cost.
• A majority of high school students have some sort of social media account, as well as most University sports programs, making it easier to contact between the two. 

Why its good for the athlete:

• High school athletes are always checking up on their Twitter feeds and Facebook timelines. Seeing current athletes at the schools their looking at posting on social media will help them get a better idea of their potential future teammates
• Today it is much easier for athletes to attract recruiters. Something extremely popular today is YouTube highlight videos that athletes provide for college recruiters. 
• Athletes are able to search for posts or tweet about other people opinions on a school or sports team
• Many athletes turn to social media today to announce their commitment to a school and keep their fans updated. 

Why its good for the recruiter:

• While colleges are limited to a number of how many times they can bring an athlete to campus, they can use social media to constantly post about their program and attract athletes to their team
• Recruiters are using Twitter more and more to see what kind of person they are recruiting. This can be helpful when planning what activities they will entertain their recruits that come for a visit. 
• Recruiters can use Twitter to see their competition. Many athletes usual follow teams that their interested in and this is visible for other followers to see.
• Like an athlete, a recruiter can search on Twitter or Facebook to see what other people are saying about an athlete, or where that athlete will be competing next.

 In the end, social media is great for entertainment and social uses, but has also become a great way of communication for things like businesses and athletic recruiters!