Many schools have students on campus on a regular basis for regular workouts and camps. This low-key time (after the workout, not during the bench press) can present an opportunity to build-out content for the months ahead featuring sportsmanship stories. By using this time for a quick Q&A with athletes about sportsmanship, you can have the baseline for content to share throughout the sports season.
For example, spread out the answers of student-athletes throughout their sports season (a swimmer’s response appears on social media during the swimming season). These responses can appear on social media, website (where they should be featured prominently on the Athletics home page), in the sports programs, in school newsletters, and wherever else they make sense.
High school sport programs are highly visible, read by the audience you want to impress, and very low-cost. Use these programs to promote your student-athletes beyond the name, grade and height, and promote sportsmanship values.
Now, what to ask. Have the student-athletes consider what they think good sportsmanship means. How have they felt when someone displayed poor sportsmanship to them or their team? And why is good sportsmanship in high school a positive character trait that lasts after their careers?
Enhancing the sports programs
High school sport programs are highly visible, read by the audience you want to impress, and very low-cost. Use these programs to promote your student-athletes beyond the name, grade and height. Use the extra space to highlight a different student-athlete or two each home game and cross promote student-athletes from other sports.
Content engagement
Another aspect of crowdsourcing from students is it makes them more likely to share and engage in student-produced or student-contributed content on social media. Parents, aunts and uncles, neighbors and grandparents are also more likely (based on my own anecdotes) to like and share content like sportsmanship stories featuring someone they know, like a family member.
Use this approach to content as a way to partner with the athletic department to teach students the value of proper digital citizenship.
Sportsmanship stories as responsible content
Finally, we know social media is popular. It’s also harmful for people who post inappropriate content. Int he case of young people, some of them are losing scholarships, jobs, and even more that they don’t even know about. One company is building its business in part based on this outcome. Use this approach to content as a way to partner with the athletic department to teach students the value of proper digital citizenship.
If you need help gathering and preparing this information (especially in larger organizations), that’s the specialty of Content Monster. I help prepare a few questions, you promote among students (in this case) and I create the content for publication. Check out the plan options.
