USIN By Kent McDill
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s a figure skating coach, there is one tried and true way to gain new clients, and that is through word-of-mouth recommendations.
experienced, find a new skating coach via social media? Should skating coaches be advertising themselves via social media for those skaters who are looking for a new coach?
can really get an idea of who I am as an individual through Facebook posts and the like. You can highlight your philosophy as well as your likes and dislikes through social media.”
Thanks to the creation of the internet, we were granted social media, a device by which we can all stay connected all the time, always. But that interconnectivity came with a price; through backdoor maneuvers which often cannot be stopped, our social media feeds include advertising, especially for products or services which make sense in our lives.
It is not unusual for skaters to “like’ or “follow” coaches’ professional accounts on social media sites. It is certainly a way for coaches to address their skaters with information on upcoming competitions and to keep them apprised of skating technique details the coach wants to disseminate.
Brenner notes that word of mouth recommendations remain the primary operational tool for skaters to find coaches. But today’s skaters are likely to search for any coach recommended to them on social media to see if they have a presence there. It is in that search that coaches can promote themselves by having a specified social media page aimed at their coaching philosophies.
That’s why when you search for “lawnmower”, you find ads for lawnmowers on your Facebook feed, in your Twitter account, and on your Instagram page. It’s unnerving and annoying and the way the commerce of America works today. It’s also odd that there appears to be no question typed into a search bar that does not produce some result directly responsive to the question. Ask your search engine “Do unicorns like sushi?” and see what you find out. Which brings us back to figure skating coaches. Can figure skaters, beginners or
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But can coaches use social media to reach figure skaters looking for a new coach, without any previous contact with that skater? Jackie Brenner, the Director of Figure Skating Operations at the Arctic Edge Ice Arena and Blazers Ice Centre in Oklahoma City, admits social media is not usually the first exposure a figure skater has to a coach’s name, but believes social media can be used by coaches to make themselves more attractive to skaters looking for a first coach or a new coach. “It can be used for self-promotion,” Brenner said. “New people to the sport are drawn to social media. You
“I have tried to create a more public professional page that is separate from my personal page,” Brenner said. “You can use social media to get across the message you are trying to convey. But success depends on what that client is looking for in a coach.” The proof is in the practice. Typing the words “figure skating coach” into an internet browser search bar will not get you the names of coaches near you. It will provide you with a primer on how to find a figure skating coach, or provide you with news updates that include references to a figure skating coach.
