I have been an avid fan of sports, especially football, for a very long time, and I have to say – the social media teams for some of these college sports programs have seriously stepped up their digital games this year for sure with the fall 2015 college football season.
While there are teams in place to help create, curate, update, and brainstorm ideas, there are some professionals who are actively engaged on social media with fans, colleagues, students, and even professors like myself. Plus, these individuals are always first at the leading trends, implementations, and strategies in social media, many times ahead of social media influencers and brands.
I’ve had some of the best social media conversations with some of these great professionals in the sports field, and I wanted to take a moment to highlight why other professionals, professors, and students need to follow them. These are some of the best in the business when it comes to sports and social media:
- Jonathan Gantt (Clemson University): Jonathan and his team from Clemson are not only engaged with the latest trends happening in sports and social media, but they are extremely active and engaged with not only their fan base, but their communities as well. It’s been great chatting with Jonathan on what his team is doing – and yes – Louisville and Clemson will be playing against each other this week in football. Looking forward to seeing what Jonathan and his team come up with this week – if it’s anything like this past weekend, it’s going to be a home run on social media! Look at what Jonathan and his team did for their game this weekend – awesome visual content!
- Russ Houghtaling (University of Oklahoma): One of the best and most creative people I have had a chance to meet on Twitter and social media. Russ is awesome – very supportive, encouraging, and great to chat with about sports and social media. What he is doing for the Sooners is special – their coverage this past weekend at Tennessee was superb and really captured not just the sports updates and information pertaining to the game, but the emotion felt at the game and this really resonated on social media. Russ is definitely on my list of people who I’d want to meet in real life from social media – he’s awesome!
- Chris Yandle (Georgia Tech): If you want to see someone that does it all in sports, Chris is your person! Along with leading Georgia Tech on social media, Chris also teaches classes at Kennesaw State University. Plus, he is active in collaborating with some amazing professionals like Jimmy Sanderson when it comes to writing books together (like this great one!). I also like the fact Chris is so engaged to share his insights and content willingly to the community – like doing a Periscope session from his class or doing one talking about his process in designing a content calendar. These are amazing resources (and insights like this) to share with students and the #SMSports community, and I really appreciate the fact Chris is so willing to share these with all of us!
- Brian Wagner (University of Michigan): Brian is really doing some awesome things for Michigan – UM as a university has an extremely strong reputation for social media, and Brian and his team are raising the bar when it comes to social media for sports as well. Love their game capture on Exposure (a great tool for professors to note here as well!) and it’s visual and shares a captivating story for everyone to follow. Brian is someone to follow and note for leading the charge with creative ideas for sports and social media.
- Kelly Mosier (University of Nebraska): Kelly is awesome – pure and simple! Kelly not only shares creative and great content from his team, but he’s also engaged with raising questions, comments, and insights regarding current events and trends with the field. His exchanges with other social media and sports professionals is pretty cool to see.
These are just a few professionals I feel not only stand out because of the teams they are working with and what they are doing online as well, but these are great individuals who are willing to engage, share, and mentor future young professionals in the field. This is what impresses me and I do share with my students in my classes to follow these individuals on social media.
As far as other amazing resources (or individuals) to follow on sports and social media, make sure to check out Jessica Smith (@WarJessEagle) for the best social media and sports commentary and insights at the college and pro level, Kevin DeShazo (@kevindeshazo) for college athletic social media practices, Natalie Miklovich who is the chair now for PRSA’s Entertainment and Sports section, and the great team over at Front Office Sports (@frontofficesports) for interviews and resources for future professionals.
Let me know if there is anyone else you feel needs to be on this list! Hope you all are having a great day.
Best Wishes,
