STARKVILLE — Elena Lovato didn’t realize the impact five words could make.
Early one morning after reading a devotional, Lovato decided to share her positive vibes with the world, so she typed 27 characters and hit send.
The Mississippi State assistant women’s basketball coach didn’t give her message — “Blessed to see another day” — a second thought. It wasn’t targeted at anyone. It wasn’t designed to attract a following. Lovato merely wanted to get her day off to a good start, and she believed sharing her excitement helped her have a better outlook.
It wasn’t until Lovato received tweets from people thanking her for her message that she realized the power of social media.
“For it to affect other people, like (MSU women’s basketball) coach (Vic Schaefer) talks about making an impact or making an impression, to know it has made an impact on a few people is kind of cool,” Lovato said. “I am glad I can help them start their day at peace and make them happy.”
Regardless of which social media platform — Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Snapchat, Fancred, Flickr, Periscope — you use, it seems like every day there is a new way to disseminate information. Those outlets can be used to promote your school and to brand your program. There isn’t a proven formula. You can use pictures, videos, postcards, emojis (a small digital image or icon used to express an idea in electronic communication), or a variety of other tools, but there is no denying the technological wave is changing the way college basketball coaches interact with student-athletes and recruit players.
“In today’s technology age, you have to do that,” Schaefer said. “It is a foreign language compared to what it was back in our day. It is completely different. … The whole atmosphere and the whole way to communicate with today’s young people is completely different, so you have to stay up with the times.”
It’s all about communication
If Lovato didn’t fathom the reach she could have with her daily message, she also wasn’t sure who was watching what the MSU women’s basketball team was doing when she first arrived.
But Schaefer has helped elevate MSU’s profile. The former assistant and associate head coach at Arkansas and Texas A&M has transformed a program that won 13 games three years ago to one that won a school-record 27 games last season and set a record for the biggest crowd to see a women’s basketball game in the state of Mississippi.
The crowd of 7,326 that saw MSU defeat Ole Miss 55-47 on March 1, 2015, at Humphrey Coliseum capped a program-record attendance of 67,598 for an 18-game home schedule. Those fans flocked to see the Bulldogs in part due to the hustle and determination they bring to the court.
Back-to-back postseason appearances (Women’s National Invitation Tournament quarterfinals in 2014 and second round of NCAA tournament in 2015) have increased the excitement and the anticipation for the 2015-16 season, one that could see MSU ranked in the top 15 in the preseason polls. That’s the kind of energy that attracts recruits. That’s the kind of momentum Lovato is building through social media.
“When you think of the state of Mississippi, you don’t necessarily think about women’s basketball,” said Khadija J. Head, an “online hype-woman” for small business and an advocate for college coaches. “Since coach Schaefer and his staff got there, it has done a complete 180 in terms of what it means in Starkville and the state of Mississippi. They have changed the brand there. It really reinforces the message they tell the recruits and what they’re selling the recruits on. You see it in the caliber of recruits they’re bringing in.”
Head was a Division I women’s basketball coach for 10 years. She worked at Arkansas, Middle Tennessee State, and Pittsburgh, and served as recruiting coordinator at MTSU and Pitt. She said the driving force to start her social media marketing business website — www.therecruitingu.com — was her family’s business, Head’s Plumbing Sales and Service, Inc, which is in Atlanta. Head, who worked with MSU associate head coach Johnnie Harris at Arkansas, said MSU’s work on social media stands out because it has incorporated the platforms into its recruiting strategy to build an identity with recruits.
Head expressed that opinion on June 8 on her Twitter handle — @headcoachead — when she tweeted a message to Lovato (and Harris) that said, “you guys do an amazing job communicating your culture through images. I see you.” Head was responding to a picture Lovato tweeted that showed Harris getting in between MSU players Jazmine Spears and LaKaris Salter while they were doing additional conditioning work on stationary bicycles with Director of Basketball Performance David Deets.
Tweeting one picture might not appear to be a big deal, but Head said the image Lovato sent out captured a moment that helps recruits get to know the coaches and players. Head said that is important when coaches have to navigate a recruiting calendar filled with evaluations periods (like the recently completed one July 23-29) to dead periods (July 30-31) to quiet periods (like the one schools are on until Sept. 8). NCAA rules state no off-campus contact or viewing is permitted in a quiet period. No in-person contact is allowed in a dead period. Written and electronic communication is permitted in both periods.
“I think (MSU has) a very planned approach of what to post, when to post it, and the message they intend to deliver,” Head said. “Instead of, ‘Oh yeah, we have to post something on social media,’ I think everything is well thought out with them. I don’t think they are re-inventing the wheel, but social media can become an afterthought. The programs that really focus on social media and make it a part of their daily activity are the ones that separate themselves.”
To make her point, Head referred to a new advertisement for Windows 10. The commercial features children and says the kids are going to be different because they are going to grow up with Windows 10. That is a far cry from previous generations that had Myspace, a social networking website founded in 2003 that offers an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos, or the generation that invented Twitter. She said it is imperative for coaches to adapt to the times and figure out the best platforms to use to connect with student-athletes.
“In 2005, it was you calling the kids or directing a kid to your website, and that is how the kid learned about you and your program,” said Head, who also blogs at Headcoachead, which she calls her passion project. “With social media, recruits and current players have 100 percent complete access to each other. Recruits can now receive messages from everyone from the head coach to an incoming freshman. They can receive images and messages in a team environment from so many different angles. I think it has been wonderful for recruiting. Mississippi State understands it is not all about phone conversations. It is about how going to engage that recruit 24 hours a day, and with social media you can engage them 24 hours a day.”
Old school background
Schaefer admits he isn’t “tech savvy.”
The veteran coach also acknowledges Lovato sometimes has to remind him to get on his Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram accounts to send a message to a recruit. When he takes to Twitter — his handle is @CoachVic_MSU — Schaefer said he usually closes his tweets with #Repin4OurState.
For someone who said he hardly used a computer when he was Arkansas, that’s progress.
“You have got to realize this is the way of the world, and this is the way of young people today,” said Schaefer, who has landed three nationally ranked recruiting classes to MSU. “They are technologically into it, so you better get into if you are going to recruit young people. Sink or swim, you better learn to swim in that arena.”
Social media isn’t the only way MSU gets the word out. Schaefer also praised the work of Derek Cody, who works in video productions for the MSU athletic department, and Brock Turnipseed, the team’s sports information director, who help promote the program.
Things still can get tricky, though, with so many ways to communicate. Schaefer said some student-athletes don’t want to talk on the phone, but he said they will text and text and text. That’s why he said the MSU coaches are doing their best to make sure they know the rules and have a presence in as many areas as possible.
“If they can put their eyes on it, it is real,” Schaefer said. “Those things you are putting out there have to have pop. I think our people do a great job creating that pop. You have seen our hype videos that Derek Cody puts out. Those are incredible. Those things are so valuable in the recruiting arena. You never know when a kid is going to be sitting at their table one night or be bored with studying and they go, ‘Let me get on www.hailstate.com,’ and they pull up something and the next thing you know there is a hype video that has just come out. The impact that that makes is really good.”
Schaefer said he has had to educate his players about re-tweeting things and what they tweet. He said the players understand there is a standard in the program and things the coaches don’t accept. He said the key is to realize the name on the front of the jersey is bigger than any individual, so the players have to take pride in the way they represent the school.
Schaefer said all of MSU’s players are allowed to social media. He said the coaches had to take the use of social media away from the players in his first year as head coach at the school. These days, though, he said his players understand the standard he has set. He said Lovato is the coach on staff who is on “the cutting edge” of technology.
“I think coach Lovato does a tremendous job with that,” Schaefer said. “In our office, she is always pushing the envelope and trying to get our face, our image, our program out there. She does a great job with it.”
It’s all about sharing
Lovato’s “Blessed to see another day” has become a habit.
She said she enjoys sharing pictures and messages with fans and recruits because it helps them get a sense of what she and the rest of the members of the program do every day. She said Schaefer gives her the freedom to tweet messages and pictures, and that she tries not to worry doing too much or too little on social media because every day is different. Still, she knows she and all of MSU’s coaches have to vigilant because someone is always watching.
To that end, Lovato, whose Twitter handle is @Lovato22, said MSU is always thinking of new ways to communicate with student-athletes and fans. She said the program has a number of exciting things in the works that it will unveil this season. Wherever those images and messages are going to originate from, Lovato said their message stay true to the identity MSU has built under Schaefer.
“I think it is just a healthy balance of who you are,” Lovato said. “I don’t think keeping up with other people is what we do. We worry about ourselves and our program and our brand.
“I think social media is definitely the new thing as far as the recruiting process. It is like they virtually know you, so that is kind of how they keep an eye on your program to gauge their interest.”
Lovato said she used social media “to brand” the Trinity Valley (Texas) Community College women’s basketball when she was its head coach. She said the city of Athens, Texas, embraced her messages and pictures. She said it didn’t take long for the program to start hash-tagging things and increasing awareness of the program. She sees the same momentum building in Starkville.
“That is how people are doing things now,” Lovato said. “You see some of the top programs in the country tweeting almost every 20 minutes, something about their program. Sometimes people might say, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re overdoing it,’ but that is what kids want to see. I think social media is a huge part of recruiting. I know it has made ways for underclassmen to really start gauging their interest because they’re kind of seeing you in that light — do the kids seem happy?, it looks like it is a healthy culture, look at that workout, it is kind of cool.
“I think it is the new era, and we’re trying to keep up.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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