Learning Hub | Social Media
How Beers, Balls, and Photographs Optimized the Social Media of a Rec League
May 7, 2015 | Jon Teodoro
Tagging someone at the Greater Lansing Sports and Social Club can mean plenty of things on the field of battle; like nailing a dodgeball opponent with a wicked sidearm or picking off a base runner in kickball. But in GLSSC’s social media realm, a tag takes on new meaning.
Stationing dedicated photographers at every game, GLSSC captures the energy and competitive hijinks of its recreational leagues in hundreds of photos that it continually posts to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And for a GLSSC member, why not tag yourself in a photo hitting an epic jump serve like a boss? Let’s never mind that it flew several feet out-of-bounds.
As the director of GLSSC’s league operations, Josh Sherry says that the club’s photographs are central its social media optimization; – a process that has rarely depended on any other type of external online promotion.
“We take pictures; that’s how we grow,” Sherry says. “Anything with images with more than one person where they can tag their teammates helps us grow. And their friends will see them tagged too.”
Considering that the club’s teams congregate at local bars after games for sponsored deals courtesy of labels like Miller Lite and Captain Morgan, it’s understandable that GLSSC lets its members tag photos (sober or not) at their own discretion.
“We don’t ask players for too much,” Sherry says. “We try not to annoy them.”
- Call to action is easy to follow
- Hashtags increase trending value
- Visuals are vivid and relevant
Using the analytics of Google and its social media hubs, Sherry and his team monitor which posts work and which posts don’t. Always seeking to improve his outreach, Sherry also stays in touch with relevant social media trends and any developments in other sports and social clubs around the country.
And while word of mouth is still integral to its efforts to gain awareness, the club’s Facebook page is going strong with an organic reach of 7,456 impressions in the recent week of 4/16 to 4/22.
For some GLSSC members, kicking balls is a welcome release after a long day behind a desk. But for the dedicated men and women behind the lenses and photos of the club’s high performance cameras, their workday is just beginning.