Boost Your School's Sports Program with a Successful Sports Media Day

Promoting school sports programs and generating excitement for upcoming games can be challenging. A well-organized sports media day can be a game-changer, creating buzz among students, faculty, and the community.

In a recent live training session, Taylor Siebert sat down with Lance Smith, Activities and Athletic Director at Millard West High School, to share actionable tips for hosting a successful sports media day. Here are the key takeaways from their discussion, along with essential tips for organizing your own sports media day.

1. Utilize a Content Calendar

A content calendar is an invaluable tool for schools to plan and organize social media posts throughout the school year. It helps in:

• Identifying which content to share

• Selecting appropriate social media platforms

• Scheduling posts

• Crafting engaging captions

• Using relevant hashtags

During the training, Lance showcased the content calendar he uses at Millard West High School. His method helps maintain organization and effectiveness in their social media strategy.

Pro Tip: If you want to dive deeper into creating a content calendar, check out our detailed blog post on the topic.

2. Extend Media Days to Other Activities

While organizing media days for every sports team might seem daunting, it’s essential to include all school activities. This ensures you have a rich collection of photos and videos for future social media posts.

Having a media day for all activities guarantees that you won’t miss capturing key moments that could be valuable later on.

3. Measure the Success of Your Sports Media

There are many expensive software options for analyzing social media performance, but Lance shared cost-effective methods that are easy to implement:

• Monitor if student-athletes repost the school’s pictures and videos on their personal accounts.

• Check if they use these images as their profile pictures.

While these methods don’t provide detailed analytics, they offer a practical way to gauge whether your content resonates with students.

4. Treat Social Media Like a Business

Lance’s approach to school social media is business-oriented. He views different social media platforms as opportunities to highlight and draw attention to the school’s sports programs.

As a teacher, acquiring the skills to create engaging social media content is crucial. Even if you have talented students in photography and editing, they will eventually graduate. Ensuring teachers have these skills maintains the quality and improves the school’s social media presence year after year.

Watch the Full Training with Taylor Siebert and Lance Smith

With the right planning and execution, a sports media day can be a successful event that boosts school spirit and helps to promote your school’s athletic teams. 

If you’re interested in learning more about how to create a sports media day at your school, watch the entire live training video and if you need help implementing this at your school let's talk!