Dear Coach Bryant:
My daughter is a sophomore softball player who hopes to compete in college. One of her teammates recently hired someone to build her personal brand on social media by posting highlights and other content designed to attract college coaches. Now I’m wondering if we’re falling behind by not doing the same. How important is social media in the college recruiting process, and should we be investing in building her brand?
Second-Guessing in Savannah
Dear Second-Guessing:
Social media has become a significant part of college athletics. Between all the hype videos, commitment announcements, and NIL deals posted on social media, it’s easy to understand why parents might feel their child needs more than just a social media presence—they need a carefully cultivated personal brand to play in college. But here’s something I remind families all the time: Social media exposure and recruiting exposure are not the same thing. Having thousands of followers doesn’t mean college coaches will be interested in recruiting your child. Before you spend money hiring someone to build your daughter’s brand, here are a few things worth considering.
Not All Sports Recruit Through Social Media
In my experience, football and basketball are the two sports where social media plays an especially prominent role in the recruiting process. Coaches, recruiting analysts, and athletes regularly use platforms like X and Instagram to share highlights, track prospects, and communicate recruiting news. In most other sports, however, social media is much less central to the process. While a college softball coach might watch a highlight posted on Instagram, that doesn’t mean they’re actively searching social media for their next recruit. Coaches still rely heavily on evaluating athletes at tournaments, showcases, camps, and competitions. Your daughter doesn’t need thousands of followers to get noticed. She needs to make sure the right coaches know who she is, where she’s playing, and when they can watch her compete.
Use Social Media to Learn, Not to Be Seen
One of the most valuable uses of social media in recruiting is often overlooked: researching colleges and their athletic programs. Following a team’s Instagram account can give your daughter insight into its culture, personalities, training environment, and overall student-athlete experience. Does the team seem close-knit? What does the coach emphasize? How do the athletes interact with one another? Social media can also help your daughter stay informed about a program’s accomplishments, coaching changes, and upcoming events. Rather than focusing on getting coaches to follow her, encourage her to follow programs she’s genuinely interested in and use what she learns to identify colleges and teams that could be a good fit for her academically, athletically, and personally.
Understand the Reality of NIL Opportunities
A strong social media following can help college athletes earn money through name, image, and likeness (NIL) partnerships, but the financial opportunities aren’t distributed equally across college athletics. According to Opendorse’s 2024 report, 95.4% of commercial NIL compensation went to football and basketball players, leaving just 4.6% for athletes in all other sports combined. While an engaged social media following can certainly attract brands, building a personal brand at 15 years old in hopes of earning NIL money as a college softball player just isn’t realistic.
Authenticity Matters More Than a Perfectly Curated Profile
One of my biggest concerns about hiring someone to build and manage a high school athlete’s personal brand on social media is that it can remove the authenticity from the process. College coaches aren’t recruiting a marketing campaign. They’re recruiting a person. They want to understand an athlete’s personality, character, work ethic, and genuine interest in their program. A professionally managed account filled with polished graphics, motivational quotes, and carefully crafted posts doesn’t necessarily tell them much about the student-athlete behind it.
If your daughter wants to share highlights, celebrate her teammates, or post about her athletic accomplishments, encourage her to do so. Those posts don’t need to look professionally produced. And if she doesn’t enjoy social media? That’s perfectly fine, too. There are plenty of successful college recruits who don’t spend much time building an online presence.
The Reality
Your daughter doesn’t need a professionally managed social media presence or a carefully cultivated personal brand to get recruited. She needs to identify colleges that are a good fit academically, athletically, and personally, then reach out to those coaches directly (typically via email) to get on their radar. If her athletic abilities align with what a program is looking for, that initial contact could lead to a coach watching her compete. From there, her performance needs to meet the program’s standards to keep the recruiting conversation moving forward and potentially lead to an offer.
A social media presence can complement those efforts, but it will never replace them. Rather than investing money in building your daughter’s brand, I’d focus your time and resources on helping her develop as a player and making sure she gets in front of the right college coaches.
After all, the goal isn’t to make your daughter famous on Instagram. It’s to help her find a college and team where she’ll thrive.
