While Mississippi State athletics continues to succeed on the field, with back-to-back Bowl wins and an SEC championship last year in baseball, the past few years have witnessed the MSU Athletic Department springboard as one of the frontrunners in the world of social media.
Last year, MSU became the first college to employ social media on the playing field when the school placed #HAILSTATE on its north end zone for the Egg Bowl. MSU director of marketing Chad Thomas said the idea came in a meeting during the summer of 2011.
In the meeting, the idea of putting hashtags on the back of State’s Egg Bowl jerseys was mentioned, but those present decided that would be taking things a little too far with the commercialization of sport. The end zone idea was then mentioned and chosen.
Thomas said there was some consternation from fans about the new end zone at first, but once nationally respected publications and personalities commented on the distinctiveness of the idea, fans warmed up to it.
One of those celebrities was Dallas Mavericks owner and broadcast.com founder Mark Cuban. In an email to mashable.com, Cuban said the idea was brilliant.
“It’s a phenomenal idea,” Cuban said. “It’s a fun way to involve social media at the game, and to TV viewers, it’s going to stir up some emotions between both teams. I can definitely see the Mavs and other teams doing it.”
The trend continues this weekend with the end zone featuring #SnowBowl2012 to remind fans of the 2000 bowl game between MSU and Texas A&M played in the snow, with the Bulldogs winning 43-41 in overtime.
Not only is the Athletic Department promoting social media on the field, but the department has also built up the Bulldog fan base online through exclusive use.
Social media is rapidly changing the way athletics updates fans and generates support for teams. Whereas in the past, breaking news and updates may have taken a day or more to publish, social media allows news to break in a matter of seconds.
Thomas said so many people have smart phones and prefer quick snippets of information instead of having to read a whole article to find out information.
“I think social media is another effective communication tool to our fans,” Thomas said. “I think we’ve got a decent grasp on what we want to do with it (Twitter and Facebook), but we still have questions on a regular basis. You just have to be careful you keep the entire fan base in mind when you’re making decisions on any front.”
MSU has dedicated a Twitter account for each team, which is exclusive among NCAA colleges, to go along with its HailState account, @HailState, which has over 20,600 followers.
Scott Stricklin, MSU Athletic Director, is more active on social media more than most athletic directors in the country. Stricklin, @stricklinMSU, has over 20,800 twitter followers.
According to coachingsearch.com, Dan Mullen has the fifth highest number of Twitter followers of coaches who have accounts. Also, ESPN’s Myron Medcalf listed MSU basketball coach Rick Ray as one of six NCAA basketball coaches to follow, saying Ray is, “raising the stakes among the SEC’s twittering coaches.”
One of the several service MSU Twitter accounts is @mstategameday. This account provides updates on gameday, such as which parking lots are full, when roads will be closed and which ticket lines are the longest.
 
Rhett Hobart, a graduate assistant for athletic marketing, said social media is distinct in marketing because no money is required, so social media becomes a form of free publicity.
“You can get out so much information in such a short period of time. I think it allows people to engage with us,” Hobart said. “I think one thing that’s really unique for us in athletics and marketing especially is the way we can engage people in our marketing ideas. We can hear ideas directly from fans and students to create awesome experiences for our fans.”
 
Two additional groups at MSU who are leading the way in social media use are the Bulldog coaches and players. As far as coaches are concerned, volleyball head coach Jenny Hazelwood said she finds it hard to tweet a lot but uses Twitter to promote match times and keep State fans updated on other volleyball scores around the country.
She also said for recruiting purposes, coaches are allowed to message recruits on Twitter whenever they want. They cannot tweet publicly at a recruit, but coaches can use the direct message feature to have general correspondence with potential players via Twitter at any time.
Hazelwood said social media benefits her players, as long as they are wise with their tweets and Facebook posts.
“You’ve got to make sure you don’t tweet anything that could embarrass your family or you or the program or the department. It’s about being smart about what you tweet,” Hazelwood said. “I don’t stress a ton about our girls. They’re pretty good with that.”
Along with the benefits social media provides for coaches, those outlets are an advantage for fans, who can follow their favorite players to obtain a behind-the-scenes look into the players’ lives.
Players such as quarterback Tyler Russell and cornerback Johnthan Banks have over 10,000 followers on Twitter and tweet about football-related issues and off-the-field matters.
Thomas said social media benefits both Bulldog players and fans, who can get a glimpse of the hard work put in by the MSU athletes.
“It’s unique for the fans. They are able to get an inside peek of what goes through a player’s mind when they are preparing for a game,” Thomas said. “But for them (fans) to be able to write back and say, ‘Congrats,’ it’s good for the players too.”
 
This past week, MSU took social media use to a new level as the “We Believe” phenomenon struck not only residents of Starkville, but also Bulldog fans around the country. State fans tweeted “We Believe” pictures from Shang Hai, the White House and even the Nick Saban and Bear Bryant statues in Tuscaloosa.
In just six hours, a Facebook post from MSU football concerning the “We Believe” movement accumulated over 2,800 likes and more than 100 comments.
Shelby Balius, Student Association president, said her friend sent her a picture of the “We Believe” sign that was going to be put on Montgomery Hall, and she simply tweeted it assuming the picture would resonate with some students and be a quick deal.
Balius said when she woke up the next morning, she could not open her Twitter App because of all the retweets, so she had to delete and reinstall the app on her Iphone. She said she would have never guessed the movement would have grown so much, but “We Believe” turned into more than just support for the Dogs on the field.
“It became so much more than that – the ability to have everyone in the Bulldog family come together and unite behind our team for a really tough game against the number one ranked team,” Balius said. “It went beyond that in that we believe in our fan base. We believe in our team. We believe in our ability to come together and be Mississippi State fans in every way beyond athletics.”
The “We Believe” movement proved the value of social media in athletics. When used the right way, social media has the ability to not only encourage players and inform fans, but it also possesses the potential to connect individuals around the country into a family united in support of a community.