Carlos Arriaga is an associate athletic director at Bishop O’Dowd High School. For 12 years he has honed his skills in the athletic department and learned to use social media to serve his school. By no means does Carlos think social media is the most important part of his job, but he is learning to use social platforms to connect with students, parents, alumni and fans online. We chatted with him to gather insight on running successful social media platforms within an athletic department. Here are five tips Carlos says are the secret to his social media success.

Work with the communications director.

Most schools have a communications department handling social media platforms for the school. While Carlos maintains a social media account for the athletic department specifically, he works closely with the school’s communication director to develop a plan and ask questions when he needs to. When it’s appropriate, Carlos links back to the comm. director by re-tweeting stories she’s written. “The power of using social media is using multiple people to get out a message,” Carlos explains. His partnership with the comm. director allows the school to reach more followers with a branded message, and takes the weight of the work off of one person.

Do what you can with what you have.

The amount of time an athletic department puts into social media varies greatly from school to school. Carlos says working with others in the school to maintain a social media presence is crucial for success. However, social media can’t come before everything else. If you have little manpower to put behind the accounts, keep it simple. Re-tweet messages that are on-brand and use just one or two platforms to reach your audience. Don’t place all of the work on one person’s shoulders; social media should be a team effort. Some schools may use social media consistently while many will be limited by time.

Focus on the students.

It’s important to consider how social media platforms will benefit student athletes. Carlos says he often tweets out acknowledgement of athletic successes. He gives recognition to students and teams on a job well done.

Tweet on message.

Whoever is in charge of social media needs to stay on brand. There should be a few consistent messages that the social media accounts purposefully put out throughout the year. Answer the questions: what do we distribute, how and is it sustainable? Messaging should always align with what the school stands for and utilize consistency to engage its audience. For example, one school Carlos follows dedicates coverage to seniors on its senior night, using original content to highlight players from each team.

Be reputable and fair.

Know what information you are sharing online. Do not get caught in a trap of regurgitating false or misleading stories. To avoid it, share only items shared by reputable sources and do your own due diligence before putting it out there. Also, make sure all sports are represented equally. Don’t focus on one sport or one player.