Rock softball has been enacting a new tactic to get fans excited about the upcoming season using the power of social media with their Twitter account @SRU_Softball.
The person behind the account, sophomore outfielder Alexa Guglielmino, has been running the account since her freshman year. As a communication major who wants to get into public relations, Guglielmino believes it is very important for the team or any sports team on campus to have a strong social media presence.
“I feel like its important for mostly publicity for a team because that’s how any team works,” Guglilmino said. “Everybody is looking for more fans and more of a fan base and then hey this is something they can follow if they do become a fan.”
Guglielmino came about running the account from Carly Derose, a senior pitcher last season, who Guglielmino was helping run the account and now runs it with assistant coach Ashley Carter. During the team’s tournament two weekends ago at Virginia State University, coach Carter provided in game stats and score updates and plans to do so from now on.
“I am very good with public speaking, I’m good with communicating to people so I felt like Carly chose me to do it because of that,” Guglielmino said. “I know my boundaries and I know what people want to see and want to hear.”
Last season, Guglielmino felt the team didn’t use the account that much, and as a communication major, she felt she needed to “amp it up” she said.
“Its fun to add all the gifs and different things,” Guglielmino said with a laugh. “I was glad that I took it over because I was able to get the word out and say hey Rock softball is here, ready to play.”
After getting requests from the fans to provide in game stats, Guglielmino decided to add that feature to the account because Rock Athletics only provides them for home games and other select games, she said. Since she has been running the account, Guglielmino mentioned her favorite part of it all so far has been the posts she had been putting up counting down the days till the season began because of all the anticipation.
Guglielmino said she plans to run the account till she graduates and will pass the account on to the correct person that she thinks continue to make it better or make it better than she ever did.
“You just need to know what fan base you’re tweeting out to and know that there’s parents, there’s kids,” Guglielmino said about the advice she would give to the person she passes the account on to. “So you want to watch what you are posting too; nothing too crazy. But the best advice I would say is be open minded.”
