INFLCR recently activated a third client in its home state, rolling out its SaaS products in Troy, Alabama for the Troy University Trojans.
In this #INFLCR Extra, watch CEO and Founder Jim Cavale deliver his message of storytelling to Troy football players – one of the four Trojans sports programs to have claimed a Sun Belt Conference in the last two years.
“We don’t create storytellers. You each are storytellers, and we serve you,” Cavale said to begin his talk to the room of players, which represented more than 10 states.
The Trojans’ story begins with the buzz it has created on the field the last two years, producing the eighth-most wins in the nation in both 2016 and 2017, while taking advantage of its time in the national spotlight.
In 2016, Troy (10-3) made waves by taking No. 2 Clemson down to the wire in Week 2 of the season. Last fall, Troy, which finished 11-2, played in six nationally televised games, including a prime time win over No. 22 LSU on the road at Death Valley, snapping the Tigers’ 49-game non-conference home win streak. Troy went on to win the Sun Belt Championship on national TV and posted a 50-30 win in the New Orleans Bowl.
This fall, Troy will pick up where it left off, hosting Boise State in the season opener, Sept. 1, on ESPN News. That is why INFLCR wants to help Troy student-athletes take advantage of the platform they have to use their platform to build a personal brand before their time at Troy comes to a close.
Cavale says it begins by being visible, having a username and profile that people can find.
“Apply your name in your social media channel usernames, at least your last name and first initial,” Cavale said. “People want to find you when you make a big play. People want to find you when you do something on the national stage, and it’s hard to find you when your username is “@ __D9….” — Use your name in your handle.”
Cavale encourages student-athletes to not only use social media, but to take it seriously and use it, with the help of INFLCR, to be brand ambassadors for their team, university and each other.
“Working together with Troy, more people can see the Troy football brand and see each other in this room, if we’re all sharing content regularly on our individual accounts,” Cavale said. “We want to deliver that content to you so that Troy as a brand can reach five times as many people and together you guys can grow your personal brand.”
The Trojans’ football program’s @TroyTrojansFB Twitter account has grown to 25.5K followers, the second most among Sun Belt Conference football accounts and within 500 of Appalachian State. But when you add in those on the near 100-man roster which use social media, the number of followers reached exceeds 277,880 unique followers, more than 10-times the team account’s reach.
That’s only the starting point.
By using INFLCR, and its content cloud to share content, Cavale tells student-athletes they can have a stronger reach by applying an easy-to-remember formula to their social media use – MMM (message, market, media).
Cavale encourages users to determine what they are about, on and off the field, to develop their message. When sharing that message, keep in mind the market, which is the different followers on the account (family, friends and fans), and then choose which media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat,etc.) to use.
“Don’t just come up with something that doesn’t mesh with your market,” Cavale said. “Align your message with your followers.”
He believes one of the best examples in sports of how to do this is LeBron James (@KingJames), who does his own social media, even as the “best player in American sports.”
“If you want to hear LeBron’s voice right now, you can find it every day,” Cavale said. “Throughout the year, outside of the playoffs, LeBron is tweeting every day about major issues. He’s sharing content every day about his family, of the game, of his teammates. He has an organic storytelling formula, because no athlete needs to think they are above telling their story … If the best athlete in all of American sports, who doesn’t even have to do his own social media, does. Why should you not do it?”
Cavale also encourages athletes to look at his own social profile (link to it) for examples of telling one’s story and to reach out to him through direct message if they have questions.
In the end, Cavale says by joining together to take their social media seriously, Trojans football players have an opportunity to increase attendance at its games, increase public relations for the team and university, truly a #OneTroy approach, and building a personal brand which will be seen now and by future business contacts to help players be ready for their moment of opportunity at what comes during and after their time playing for Troy.
About Jim Cavale
Jim Cavale has been an entrepreneur since college when he co-founded a sports TV/Radio streaming network for his university, and then created a product to sell to other universities to help them stream their sporting events. Since then, Jim has exited multiple businesses, most recently selling his equity as President of Iron Tribe Fitness after more than six years in which he helped lead the brand from one gym in Alabama to more than 40 gym locations across America from Seattle to Miami. He is a three-time INC. 5000 entrepreneur who has recently founded two new emerging brands in the GLOW beauty on demand app and the Influencer SaaS product that empowers brands to partner with their brand ambassadors on social media. Jim is a published author with Entrepreneur Press, has spoken on stages of all sizes and publishes content regularly at http://JimCavale.com
Follow him @JimCavale on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.
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