The Virginia Tech Sport Clubs program is one of the best on the East Coast. The problem is, no one knows it is there. Sport Clubs at Tech is an incredibly competitive collection of teams that could arguably compete at a Division 3 level. To put it into perspective, only 6 of the 74 talented men who tried out for the Men’s Club Soccer team were offered positions this fall. Club sports on a college campus are often considered equivalent to competitive high school varsity. The hierarchy of collegiate sports has three levels: varsity sports, which in Virginia Tech’s case is Division 1, sport clubs, and then intramural sports. Since Virginia Tech has such a fantastic varsity sports program, Sport Clubs often go unnoticed and unappreciated by the students of Virginia Tech. That’s where I come in. When I was hired last spring to be a Sport Clubs Supervisor, I was also given the task of enhancing awareness for all 31 teams through marketing and social media. However, before I could endeavor to get rid of the invisibility cloak the program had unknowingly wrapped around itself, I had to identify exactly what had gone wrong. Once the problems were laid out, the next step was coming up with ways to fix them. Along with a team of 7 other supervisors, we are implementing the marketing strategy as follows. 1. Brand Recognition: Since the logo is currently an outdated Hokie Bird head from the early 2000’s, the tentative plan is to hold a contest for students to design a Sports Club new logo. Not only does advertising for logo competition gain the program a new logo, but also it is a great way to spread awareness of the program's existence. We are playing with the appeal that the logo will not only be incorporated into the new apparel line, but also be the new statement of the program, featured on posters, club team websites, and throughout War Memorial Hall. 2. Social Media: Sport Clubs is wedged neatly into the Recreational Sports department, which is responsible for the operation of McComas Hall and War Memorial Hall gyms, including the VT Fitness, Intramural Sports, and Sport Clubs programs. Sport Clubs has focused its social media efforts on intriguing readers during its assigned days to post on the Rec Sports Facebook and Twitter accounts. This fall we have put special emphasis on photojournalism advertising through pictures and videos of the team. The objective was to encourage students to come out and cheer on student athletes who were ‘just like them’: warm, smiling faces looking for fans and support. The Sport Clubs program is truly an unsung gem at Virginia Tech. It is home to incredibly talented and driven athletes, who are determined to bring victory to their fellow Hokies. Keep an eye out because the 2013-2014 academic year is bound to be a year of change and greater recognition for the program! Edited by Melanie Ford, Webmaster and Editor-in-Chief 2013-2014
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In the last decade, if not longer, blogs have become a huge part of multimedia communication. They provide an easy and flexible way to share information and are just plain fun. Running a successful blog takes some work, but if you use these tricks, then you shouldn’t have any trouble. These tips can be applied to a professional or a personal blog and I can personally attest to their success! 1. Give them the punch line at the beginning. There is a lot of information on the internet and, if you want someone to commit to read your whole article, your reader needs to know EXACTLY what they are reading about pronto. 2. You’ve caught their attention with the title…now keep their attention. Your blog needs to be appealing and engaging, both visually and verbally. When it comes to design, avoid being overly flashy by sticking to two or three colors at the most. Four is sometimes okay, depending on how you play it. I tend to find that three colors are about as much as I can handle from a reader’s viewpoint. 3. Your tone and voice is important. Blogs are not research papers, so a formal tone is not necessary. Keep it light and pretend like you’re having a conversation with your readers. 4. Be concise. It’s very easy to ramble and stray from your original topic, so if you catch yourself going off track, work your way back. Avoiding long, wordy sentences helps to keep your blog posts focused. Think sweet and simple. 5. Link back to older pieces in your posts. I do this on my personal blog a lot. For example, if I’m writing a new blog post and I want to reference a point I made in an earlier post, I might write, “As I stated in my previous post about Virginia Tech Football…” and “previous post” would be a hyperlink to that post. This is a great way to refresh your readers’ memories, and to direct them to a post they might have missed before. 6. Pictures, pictures, pictures! No one likes reading a giant wall of text because it strains the eyes. Break it up with some related images. I wouldn’t use more than five images, depending on how long your blog post is. Two to three is ideal.
7. Headings are another great way to break up text. If you can, use bolded headings to separate different parts of your blog post. 8. Have a reason to blog. Don’t blog just for the sake of blogging. Blogging once a week, or even once every couple of weeks, is okay if your posts are focused and about specific topics. Otherwise, it comes across as if you’re blogging just to take up space on the Internet. Write with a purpose. Lastly, have fun with your blogging. If it’s fun for you, it will definitely be fun for your readers. Edited by Melanie Ford, Webmaster and Editor-in-Chief 2013-2014 |
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