I chose to study Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, West Virginia’s social media. I chose to do this DII school because they are in the Mountain East Conference like West Virginia Wesleyan College.  Wheeling Jesuit is one of the top Division II athletic schools in the nation. They have 19 collegiate sports. Their volleyball and basketball teams stand out as the top in the nation the past 10 years. The volleyball team won the national title in 2016.

I decided to look at their social media platforms to see who they reach, how they reach them, and what makes them stand out. The athletics side of Wheeling utilizes their website, Stretch Video Portal, Live Stats, Twitter, Youtube, and Facebook. Their website is decked out in their colors, black and red. On their home page they have posted their top stories, upcoming events, links to their Twitter, Youtube and Facebook, an athletic calendar, Athlete of the Week, and a link to their photo gallery. Their navigation is very clean and easy to access, but their social media links don’t work on their page. This is hurtful because so many people use social media and they may lose followers due to the fact that the their social media links don’t connect properly.

Stretch Video Portal is a way for fans to watch live event videos just by clicking on the game or match that is happening at that moment. This allows for fan interaction and allows fans from all over the country to watch home games. Live Stats is through a company called Side Arm Sports. With Live Stats you don’t get to watch video but stats are updated live. The problem I see with this social media aspect is they only provide live stats for 9 of their 19 sports. Although I understand that the sports that have chosen to live stat are the more popular sports, it hurts the fan base and parents who may want to watch how their child is doing in one of the other 10 sports.

Their Twitter page is @WJUCardinals. They have 2,341 followers. After scrolling through their Twitter feed it seems that they use Twitter as a platform to keep people informed about games and top plays. They also post pictures of the players. Their Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/WheelingJesuitCards shows interviews with players and past exciting games. They keep their Youtube page very updated with student-athlete interviews. They have 621 subscribers and each video gets between 50-500 views. This is a good source of information for their fans and parents. It keeps the fans engaged about what is going on with their everyday lives. Their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/wjucardinals is also kept up to date with articles about the athletes, games and other athletic games or rewards that have happened. They have 1,049 likes which means their posts are reaching 1,049 fans.

Although they have a strong following for DII sports, I think their social media could use some improvement. First, I think they would really benefit from having an athletic instagram to showcase athlete of the weeks and different sporting events going on. I also think they need to step up their Twitter and Facebook posts. I think with having so many followers they could even boost their fan experience more by incorporating some more graphics and interactive social media. With so many teams being nationally recognized, they could definitely boost that a little more with some cool graphics and not just the normal play by play then silence when no game is on. They could also benefit from posting their Youtube videos on their Facebook wall or doing live Facebook events. Like when they teams make it to the national tournaments, showcasing a day by day type of update going on with Facebook Live. They could also do player profiles, not just athletes of the week. But certain players who really stand out, not just one boy and one girl a week. Overall I think they have a good fan base, but could really benefit and up their social media with some tweaks.