Does anyone use Twitter to boost your son's exposure?

If you don't have a following, probably not much. In general I've found PBR on Instagram and Twitter is usually pretty good. PG is getting better with coverage of their regional events on Twitter as well. My kids play for an organization with a large following on Instagram, that's been the most helpful as far as getting views on social media.

There seems to be twitter communities of baseball dads, HS coaches, local PBR guys, and local sports writers who tweet, retweet, like or comment on Johnny's base hits, strike outs or showcase attendance.  I can't imagine any college coach is caught up in these circles.  Sorry for the sarcasm but I'm a little jaded after years of being bombarded with countless twitter posts.

Now worries.  I understand the sarcasm.  

So with Twitter, if I retweet the post, only my followers see it?  And, is retweeting something like this considered poor form?

I appreciate the assistance.  I need to get with the times.

Tons of college coaches (most) have twitter accounts and use them to promote the college’s player and their program to potential recruits. They will follow prospects they have their eye on and that is a great way to keep your athlete on their front burner (by posting highlight videos). Social media is one aspect of modern-era college recruiting. I personally hate it, but it is what it is. 

Opus X posted:

Now worries.  I understand the sarcasm.  

So with Twitter, if I retweet the post, only my followers see it?  And, is retweeting something like this considered poor form?

I appreciate the assistance.  I need to get with the times.

Twitter is pretty much useless without followers. If you post from your account, only your followers will be notified of your tweet (if they set up to get alerts from your activity). Using hashtags makes your tweets “searchable” if you will, like if someone tweeted a video of their HR and put #homerun, it could be searched. Accounts that retweet are helpful for exposure, lots of people with no real connections somehow gain a good following and they can help spread the word. It’s really something that I dislike, all the social media blathering about yourself or your kid...I find it obnoxious...but it’s part of the way to get your name out there.

I'll offer a slightly different angle on Twitter usage for baseball recruiting. I joined a few years ago pretty much solely so that I could plug in to college coaches accounts, with a few other baseball related follows peppered in here and there. As my son picked up interest, and gained his own interest in various programs and organizations, I thought it would be a good way to see what's going on in these coaches heads, and how they expressed that through social media, so I would add the ones he was looking at or that were looking at him. Turns out it was pretty valuable in that respect. I know – newsflash right – but it turns out that what folks put on social media, and what they like/retweet and who they follow, can indicate a lot about a person. Granted, not all coaches spend any level of time on social media but you can usually find an assistant or volunteer who does and they may reveal things about the program through their activity that you might not otherwise know.

As far as the promotion of my son via Twitter, it was very limited and nearly solely up to me to do as he really only was ever involved in snapchat and, to some degree, instagram. I might have retweeted a handful of posts made by his travel coach/org but nothing on my own. Best of luck!

Another way to get to the people you want to see your tweets is by tagging.  Putting the "@" in front of their Twitter handle in your post will alert them to your post.  There are also some Twitter accounts that promote baseball players that are followed by large numbers of baseball people and are intended for exposure.  @FlatGround and @flatgroundbats were both created by Rob Friedman @pitchingninja to help with exposure.  If you tag those accounts in your tweets he will often retweet your post to all of his followers.

I would reserve that type of blast for exceptional performances or measurables though.  We had a local kid throw a perfect game in Jupiter last week and his dad tweeted it tagging @FlatGround and @perfectgamebaseball which likely got a ton of views.

Here is an example of a tweet tagging @FlatGround that got a couple of thousand views.

I don't think the parents should be promoting the player primarily.  The player should follow coaches, who often will follow them back.  Kids typically have many more followers than the parents and thier friends will retweet the kids tweet and that has a wide reach.  I have seen parents sending out all tweets about their kid and performance and to me it seems that if the kid doesn't do it, then how invested is he in his own recruitment.  I do agree with 22and25 that a parent retweeting a tweet about their kid is great.

Yes...I created Flatground exactly for this.  Free exposure.  I’ll retweet any video to flatground’s followers, as long as it follows the rules in the pinned tweets.  Pretty much every major college (all levels) and pro organizations follow it.  In fact, we’ve had 10+ players get picked up by MLB organizations...and hundreds by colleges.  Do a google search on flatgroundapp for some the coverage it’s gotten.  

I'm not sure how much a personal Twitter account will do for you. The people you are trying to reach — coaches — aren't just randomly on Twitter looking for people who had a great weekend. And once you have their attention, likely you are communicating on a personal level via texts rather than in a public way like Twitter.

I can see retweeting stuff from Perfect Game, but again, the people following you are likely to be people know, rather than people who want to know about you, if that makes sense.

And just because someone needs to say it.  Be careful of what you tweet, and what you retweet, both for you and for your son. You may have heard here in Iowa that when Carson King was raising $3 million for a children's hospital, people dug up racist tweets from when he was 16 and published them. These things don't go away and what seems funny or innocuous right now can do a lot of damage down the road.

Do you all think having a twitter account is a critical tool? Someone told me my player needs a twitter because coaches will contact him that way? (True?). I’ve got one of those weird kids who doesn’t really do social media. Says the “fakeness” is annoying.  Has an Instagram but not Snapchat or twitter. Just looked. He has posted twice in the last year -once when we got our puppy and the other when he got his drivers license a week ago.  And I know he goes days without checking it, so maybe more dangerous to have a coach thinking he’s not responsive?  He’s a 2022, so we haven’t really started the recruiting process, but are lining everything up to start strong next spring.  Starting a twitter and collecting followers,etc would need to be done before that.  Right?  I find this aspect completely overwhelming. 

As I have mentioned in another thread, my oldest son was recruited 100% through Rob's FlatgroundApp Twitter account.  His videos included velo, in-game video, Rapsoso data.  He received, just from Twitter, 7 D1 offers (only 1 of the schools actually saw him pitch in person), received calls from over 14 D1 schools, and received 15 D2/NAIA offers.

In his case, he was grad transferring and was going through a major transformation as a pitcher.  He changed his mechanics on his own and added almost 20 pounds.  He showed his transformation journey via twitter.

I would not say it is a necessity, but everyone is doing it.  Most showcases Tweet good plays at their tournaments and kids add their own with great plays.  My son has several coaches "following" his account including the school he committed to.  Most of his vids tweets have around 1K views, and 2 have over 7K.  You never know who might be watching.  The one 7K views was from stealing home to win a district game.  The boys do have to understand that if they have coaches following them, they might not be actually watching their baseball posts, they might be looking at all the other posts to see what type of characters he is.

The object is to tag people//organizations in your twitter.  You would be surprised by how many D1, especially P5 coaches, are constantly on twitter.  I can guarantee you most D1 RC's follow Canes Baseball and some of the other accounts.  They also follow the major PBR, maybe not local PBR other than local D1's.  I have noticed how many follow PG and WWBA.  You can't tell me they are not looking when PG put something up this week.  I know one young man hit a walk-off homerun who was unsigned and his dad said his phone blew up afterwards.  It was put up by PG and retweeted by several organizations and leaders.  I have noticed how many times PG will retweet certain players when their parents post things and tag PG in them.  I think it is a tool to be used.  Lousylefty, if your son does not have the social media accounts he better get them before he is recruited.  My son was asked by everybody college and pro about his social media.  I had one scout tell me when I said my son did not use twitter that he believed every teenager had one of each either public or private.  If they put none, I assume they have one and just don't want me to see what they put out there.  Red Flag. 

I agree use flatground. I'm pretty sure most major schools nowadays will take a lot at flatground. Of course you still need to show some skills

PitchingFan posted:

My son was asked by everybody college and pro about his social media.  I had one scout tell me when I said my son did not use twitter that he believed every teenager had one of each either public or private.  If they put none, I assume they have one and just don't want me to see what they put out there.  Red Flag. 

Good to know.  I hadn't thought about that angle. Although I don't know many athletes who play for a competitive travel ball program with 4.6GPA and Presidential award for volunteering (100's of hours) who have much time for social media.   This will likely have to be a joint effort between the two of us.  I'm the one who spends more time online. Really appreciate the advice.

Don't have to use it regularly but open one and put some stuff on it.  I disagree with many on here that you can be the one who does his emails and social media.  He needs skills but you can oversee and help.

22and25 posted:

Here is an example of a tweet tagging @FlatGround that got a couple of thousand views.

 

 

Confusing tweet tho.  Says #1 LHP in Ohio, Pocket Radar of 86 MPH but an image of a RHP..... I agree with Tequila's post - follow the programs your son has interest (or have him follow them). You learn a lot about the coaches and the program that way.

* edited to spell Tequila right.