It is suggested that each student-athlete, coach or administrator planning to participate in this year’s campaign prepare for the most effective campaign by doing the following ?before the Oct. 17-19, 2023, campaign dates. It is important to establish clear lines of communication in preparation for participation in this year’s campaign. 

Reach out to your athletics department’s director of communications, athletics diversity and inclusion designee, athletics director and/or senior woman administrator 

You can also reach out to your school’s marketing/communications department, as well as any offices dedicated to diversity and inclusion, for assistance in engaging in the campaign.

In addition, encourage the campus Student-Athlete Advisory Committee president to send a note to the sports information director announcing the campaign. This will allow the SID to prepare social media posts and be on the lookout for student-athlete posts to share on the school’s social media accounts. Including the media relations office at your campus can help improve the social media engagement and quality of content being produced during the campaign.

If you oversee coordinating your school’s or conference office’s efforts for content creation for the 2023campaign, try to give campaign participants as much guidance as possible about what content to create and how to create that content. For example, on our Creating Campaign Content subpage, we offer helpful tips for students who have to create videos on their phone. 

Inform your fellow student-athletes of the campaign 

Ask team SAAC representatives to make sure their teammates know the dates, general themes of the campaign and how they can get involved. Create a signup list of those who want to be involved in the campaign.

Make connections and use the resources available on your campus 

Promoting diversity and inclusion is a team effort. Fortunately, you already have a variety of resources available on your campus to help you make this campaign a success. Assign SAAC members to reach out to campus organizations, offices or departments focused on diversity and inclusion to discuss ways in which you can highlight their work during the campaign. There could also be a collaborative effort to promote the social media campaign around campus. 

Use multiple social media channels to increase campaign engagement

It is important to use a variety of social media outlets to engage in the campaign. Use X, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, TikTok and other social media platforms to reach a wide audience. On our Creating Campaign Content subpage, we offer helpful tips for students who have to create videos on their phone.

Coordinate 

Campaigns are always most effective when they are coordinated. It will be helpful if you appoint a member of your SAAC (e.g., social media chair) to work with your school, conference or division to coordinate a time during each campaign day in which you intend to focus your posting. For example, you may assign some teams to post from 10 a.m. to noon, and others from noon to 2 p.m., and the remaining teams from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. each day. This is at your discretion, of course. Having a set schedule will make involvement in the social media campaign much easier for the university.

Additionally, as you will see below, this campaign uses a specific hashtag (#NCAAInclusion), a different theme for each day and specific activities. It will be best if you prepare your materials beforehand (e.g., photo templates, video engagements and public service announcement script ideas). You may consider guidance to campaign participants on how to engage in the campaign online.

Focus on hybrid engagement

Student-athletes on your campus will be most engaged if they create content in group settings. You will see that various ideas ask student-athletes to participate in an offline activity (e.g., Social Identity Wheel), the result of which will then be shared online. Try to combine these workshop-style activities with social media activities to achieve a maximum level of engagement.

However, be creative in thinking about how well-established forms of engagement can be adapted for a hybrid experience. Many of the example activities outlined on the daily campaign pages can be done in person or adjusted for online engagement.

Meet student-athletes where they are

Before the campaign, develop a game plan for removing barriers to participation in the campaign. For instance, see whether student-athletes have the technology necessary to participate in a social media campaign (e.g., laptop, Wi-Fi connection, adaptive technology). 

In addition, it’s important to remember it’s easiest to create materials for the campaign at a time convenient for student-athletes. For example, dedicate the SAAC meeting closest to the campaign dates as a preparation meeting. During the meeting, you can create materials for the campaign. Similarly, you could use team meetings to create content for the campaign. 

Establish clear lines of communication

Make sure you have clear lines of communication to communicate with student-athletes from various teams. For example, you could create a GroupMe or Snapchat group to communicate with student-athletes eager to participate in the campaign. 

Center diversity and inclusion in your messaging for the campaign 

Keep in mind that the focus of the campaign is on diversity and inclusion, so all your campaign materials should highlight a diversity and inclusion topic, concept or idea. For example, the last few years have seen an unprecedented commitment to anti-racist advocacy work, mental health awareness, and supporting student-athlete activism, voice and expression. Think about how you can engage in these conversations throughout the three campaign days.  

Reminder: All the activities proposed are suggestions. We encourage you all to be creative as you engage in the campaign.