The Harding Baseball Instagram page gained over 700 new followers from fall 2020 to spring 2021, and continues to increase in followers every week.
While the page has only been around since January 2020, it has grown in popularity since then due to the digital media team’s efforts.
Junior Cassie Cohu is in charge of events and game day experience for the baseball digital media team.
“We try and keep it up-to-date, exciting and fresh,” Cohu said. “Taylor Sexton is head over our team, and she does an excellent job of making sure everything is done efficiently.”
Cohu said that because their marketing team includes people with so many different talents, they are able to work together and mesh these talents nicely.
“We want the student body to be excited and feel like a part of Bison Baseball,” Cohu said. “Harding is such a tight community, and getting the students and community involved can help build on this amazing program.”
Junior Lauren Holloway is in charge of creating videos for the team’s social media.
“I go to games and practices to capture plays by the Bisons, teamwork on the field, and help display the authentic hard work each player puts into the team,” Holloway said. “I work with players [and] coaches and on the sidelines and in the dugouts. The team we have built to market the baseball organization here at Harding is amazing. We keep each other in check, have amazing communication, try to show up with our best material each time, and we make sure we praise everyone for their hard work.”
Senior Taylor Sexton serves as the marketing team leader. This includes managing the Instagram page, creating videos, taking pictures and helping out wherever she is needed.
“One of our assistant coaches created the marketing team the year before I joined and had some great ideas about how our social media presence could be improved,” Sexton said. “With a lot of hard work, we’ve put our ideas into action. Our marketing team is full of passionate, hard-working individuals that have made this possible. Each one of us brings a different skill set to the team which makes us strong in multiple areas. The support from the coaching staff has been amazing, and the great guys on the team make this job extremely fun for us.”
The media team finds it important to keep followers updated on what is happening, specifically that day or week, and aim to post practice and game photos the same day they are taken. Sophomore Mckenna Oliver’s job is to get as much content as she can for the various media platforms.
“I work hard to go to everything I can because to me, a Monday morning workout is just as important as a Friday practice before the home opener,” Oliver said. “It’s important to me that our fanbase [knows] who the players are, whether they are a senior and [have] been here five years or a freshman.”
In addition to posting the photos, Oliver said she also sends each player their photos individually so their friends and family can have them as well.
“The Harding Baseball family means so much to me, and I can’t wait to see all of their hard work pay off this season,” Oliver said. “Being out there is always the best part of my day. It doesn’t matter how good or bad my day is — after taking pictures for them, I am always in a better mood.”
