Building a Positive Social Media Reputation for Student Athletes
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This app is listed in the SmartSocial.com Green Zone.
This app is not safe for students to use unsupervised, but a Green Zone app can serve a positive purpose to help a student to navigate social media and someday build an online brand. Read more below to find out why this app is in the Green Zone.
This app is listed in the SmartSocial.com Gray Zone.
Gray Zone apps often contain lots of private & disappearing messages, and strangers can use this to chat with students. Parents should participate in these apps with students to keep them safe. This zone can be a great place for family time since many of these apps can be entertaining, and let your students express themselves. Read more below to find out why this app is in the Gray Zone.
This app is listed in the SmartSocial.com Red Zone.
Red Zone apps often have lots of anonymous features, adult content, and easy contact with strangers. Supervision is strongly suggested on each of these apps or move your kids to a safer zone. All apps require parental supervision, these apps more than others. Read more below to find out why this app is in the Red Zone or view our list of 100+ Apps to find a safer app with your student.
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This trend is categorized as a Dangerous Social Media Challenge.
Viral challenges encourage students to do dangerous things to garner likes, views, attention, and subscribers. These challenges can be found across several social networks and may encourage students to perform dangerous activities. SmartSocial.com keeps parents updated on these social media challenges before an incident may occur in your community.
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These days social media can play a major part in an athlete's career. Just as players who focus on building their fanbases and a positive social-media reputation are consistently receiving better deals and endorsement opportunities, student athletes with positive online reputations are also better poised to receive good offers and scholarship packages from colleges. It's important to start building that brand as soon as possible. With coaches and scouts actively looking at players' social media channels, players should know what coaches are likely to find—and then focus on creating and sharing a consistent brand message that presents them in the best possible light. We reached out to sports marketing strategist Nic Mayne for his best tips on building a positive social media reputation for student athletes to help jumpstart their career.
Social media factors into recruiting/team placement decisions, and a student's social media should be a positive representation of the team
Social media is an important tool for making an athlete more marketable to teams, coaches, and fans.
One of the first things I recommend to players is building a consistent social media brand—which includes a thorough online reputation check to make sure the player is representing him or herself positively. Especially with hockey, where I do most of my work, coaches and scouts are increasingly active on social media networks like Twitter, and building up online influence can even be a way to make first contact with prospective teams. I can promote athletes with highlight videos and gifs on Twitter and have scouts getting a first look right there online.
Of course, the flip side is that social media can also be an incredibly destructive tool. No matter how great your skill level on the ice, on the court or on the field, social media mishaps can cause serious harm to your reputation. If college coaches sense from your social-media posts that you have trouble getting along with others, engage in risky behaviors or show other warning signs, that could easily jeopardize your prospects as a student athlete. (It's no different in the pros, where you see young players getting traded away because they develop a bad reputation from social media mishaps.) The bottom line is this: at any stage in your career, from high-school freshmen to the upper echelons of professional play, if you plan to make sports an important part of your college experience or choose sports as a career, social media needs to become more business than pleasure. You can be yourself, but you need to keep your posts clean and positive. There is no wall between online engagement and real life—in today's environment, it all runs together. So use social media as a tool to show your best side as an athlete and as a person, and the effort will pay off tenfold.

This blog is brought to you by: Nic Mayne, Player Advisor and Sports Marketing Strategist
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