Allow me to preface by saying that in no way do I consider myself an expert with tools such as Photoshop, Microsoft Office, or any other digital editing software. However, there is something to be said about establishing a social media presence for your program, large or small. It facilitates a way to connect with the students, fans, & alumni. It can inform followers of times, dates, and activities for future events. And in some aspects it legitimizes your program in the eyes of prospective student-athletes. Consider student-athlete exploring their options – the prospective student-athlete will do what the entire younger generation is expected to do by looking at YouTube or Twitter for suggestive glances of the program. It is most likely not going to be a selling point, but it can create an enhanced level of comfort by simply legitimizing the value of athletics on a campus. Here are a few that I have created in the past:
Granted, larger programs like Xavier University are going to be fortunate enough to have helping hands from a marketing department to provide pre-game graphics (like the one seen above) that the staff can tweet out to the public. Smaller programs on the other hand are limited by their own creativity and level of familiarity with photo & video editing. For anyone on as support staff this is a great way to expand your skill set and become more versatile within the program. The assistant coach that introduce to me the idea of learning how to manipulate and edit photos/videos told me the only way to learn is via trial & error. There are instructional demos that you will find online that will help guide you with the foundations of different software, but in large part becoming the expert in anything is by making mistakes and correcting mistakes.
Coach's Climb 