Semester Facebook Analysis
I’ve taken over the Dixie State Softball page since
February and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it! I do think that this was a
successful campaign and I look forward to continuing to manage this page until
I graduate next spring.
Likes
One of my goals was to boost the amount of
likes to our page. The page started with 917 followers from my first post on February 3 and as of today we have reached 1,004. It was tough to promote a page
that already had a solid following behind it, but I think through word of mouth
and shares of our posts, people from everywhere have gained interest in our
program through Facebook.
Reach
The reach depended on what type of post.
Videos and team activities definitely reached more people because of the
attraction and tagging of others to view it as well. The links to our game summaries and
conference announcements reached our loyal fan base or what seemed like the
same people who pay attention to our updates on a regular basis. Simple posts
like on game days or weather delays were the least successful and I’m trying to
think of more ways to make them more engaging. It was interesting because
depending on what time of day I posted, would determine how big our reach would
be. Posting during the afternoon or late at night was more successful than the
mornings which was evident in the reach numbers.
Reaction, Comments and Shares
I was blessed to have a lot of positive reactions and
comments on my posts. The support that our program receives is incredible and
makes me want to do more creative things for this page now and in the
future. I would like to see more shares,
but at the same time, our page is to inform. Shares consisted of us players and
mostly family members wanting to brag about their niece or granddaughter to the
world which is understandable J
Page Views
I can see why our page views is very sporadic and
tough to predict because there is a lot of down time and not every day is there
something to post about. I wish I could go back to last year and compare the
traffic, but overall I feel like we get a lot of interest from our followers
consistently.
Post Breakdown
Videos and team activity photos definitely have the
most views, likes and reach among all posts. I think having a visual is much
better than just words. I think that this is an area that I could definitely
improve on- more substance. Before, each post was just the link, but what I
have realized is that adding a personal touch can get people’s attention. For
example, a simple hashtag got people using them on their shares or comments. I
think that I did a sub-par job at giving our audience a behind-the-scene look
at what being a student-athlete is. I share articles written by the DSU
Athletics department and recognize conference accolades, but those are just
highlights of our program. Although that is what followers want to read and
respond well to, I think videos of games and players on a regular basis is just
more entertaining and keeps our audience engaged and gets our name out to the
masses as much as possible. There is so much more that goes into being a
student-athlete especially off the field, so I plan on capturing the team at community
service events or study hall just to give a different perspective.
Audience
I like how our fan base is fairly balanced between
genders at 56% women and 43% men. The most popular age group was 18-24 women as
well as a huge following from people 35-54 years old. I would like to appeal
better to the younger population, but I realize that D I programs would most
likely get more attention and interest than a small university in Utah like
Dixie State. Based on my Facebook ad that I created, the cities and locations
where almost identical. The majority of our audience is in Utah, but interest
is scattered along the west coast and growing. Until our program gets more
recognition nationally, I think this is the perfect audience that fits our
program.
Summary, Thoughts and Reflection
This page was a success, but as I continue to manage
this page, I think there is a lot of work that can be done for better results.
I was unable to get an Instagram account set up for this season, so I believe
that cross promotion in the future will be a handy tool to help increase some
traffic for our program on all social media accounts. We did share a couple of
posts from Twitter that got decent acknowledgement, so I want to make cross
promoting a priority and more evident in the future. I also was unable to do
player profiles on our team this season which I am disappointed about, but I am
assigned to do the end of the year wrap-up video which will be bittersweet.
Also, I think that two of the three personas were met. I believe that the
younger audience will come in time as our program gets more and more national
recognition, but family members and community supporters definitely play a big
part in the popularity of our page and we are grateful for their constant
support through our season.
