Over the summer, I assistant coached for a startup youth AAU basketball team called Sharpshooters Elite. As a startup, we had no website and still don’t have a website. So instead, almost all of our attention and visibility came through social media, mainly Facebook and Instagram. After using this I learned that attention and credibility can be built without a formal online website, but also curious on how having one could take things to the next level.
In youth sports, social media often matters more than actual websites. Parents spend more time on social media than browsing long web pages. Short highlight clips, practice videos, and team photos provide quick visual proof that a program is legit. Rather than just telling parents their kid is getting better, social media videos allow them to see the development in real time. Not only for the parents but especially with as much as technology is growing, kids at younger ages are browsing social media as well. This also allows us to reach the kids, which would want to convince their parents. Along with the fact that sports teams show player splotlight moments to allow the players to feel important.
However, relying just on social media has limits. Important information is hard to get across social media without it coming across as boring. Also with the fact that it could get lost in the large amount of posts, or disappearing stories. Parents may want to look deeper themself as this is a big commitment, looking for things like team philosophy, schedules, tryout information and especially prices. This is where a website would take it to the next level, it could act as a central hub for the boring information that could bore the audience of social media browsers.
A website would not replace social media, but it could support it. Social media captures attention, while websites build credibility and trust. Together they create a path from awareness to commitment. From my experience this summer, the social media platforms we used showed potential, but a website would build professionalism and credibility.
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