Life After Rowing...

When I was taking my official visits to different schools for rowing, my mom always reminded me "What if you get injured" or "Are you going to enjoy the academic aspect of the school as much as the team". This was the most important and influential question my mom could have asked me while in the recruiting process.

The University of Louisville has one of the best Sport Administration programs in the United states and I could not be more proud to say that I will graduate with that on my diploma, along with a double minor in marketing and communications. With this I have so many dream jobs that I would be blessed to pursue one day. One- Work for a D-I athletic department in marketing, brand marketing or special-gifts. Two- I would also like to work for a power five conference (specifically the ACC or SEC) at their HQ. Three- Working for any pro sport team sounds impossible but I would absolutely love to work in marketing for a pro team. With that in mind, this social media class that I am taking will give me a great insight about the social side of marketing which has been vital in marketing athletics.

Any one that is working in the sport world can tell you that attendance for any sport or any game is going down the toilet. Since technology is on the rise, it has been more convenient for fans to stream the game or watch it on live TV, or watch it on their phones from the comfort of their own home with all the snacks and drinks they need that have already been payed for. In order to get "butts into seats" it is VITAL that athletic departments and marketing teams are using different strategies to grab the fans attention to get them to attend a game. Social media is becoming one of the most effective platforms to reach out to fans as it seems like everyone has some platform of social they use. If you think about, if someone were to get an email or even get mailed a card/letter it would either be deleted without opening it or toss out the card in the mail. However, if someone were to be casually scrolling through instagram and see a cool graphic or hype video of a sport, they would be more compelled to watch it. There have been so many jobs in the sport industry opening up specifically for social media marketing because it has been proven to be more effective than traditional marketing.

I am so excited to learn all of the content for this social media class, because with this extra knowledge, it will push me to the top when trying to get a job. Social media marketing is something I would be so interested in doing and would have so much fun with it. Social media and sport has been going hand and hand for several years now, but it has not been until recently that it is absolutely necessary to be successful in this type of marketing.

One small example of social media marketing in sports is headshots! Here is mine from my first year that was used for specific media posts about me or any of the boats I was in. By using the same picture it makes it easier for fans to recognize and keep up with the members on the team!