Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
WVU’s Partnership With INFLCR Another Example of Brown’s Cutting-Edge Approach to Football
July 30, 2020 04:00 PM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Just like everyone else, Neeta Sreekanth is impressed with Neal Brown's willingness to embrace technology.
Sreekanth, chief operating officer for the social media technology company INFLCR, says Brown is taking a forward-looking approach to social media to help develop the West Virginia University football program's brand.
"I think it takes a lot to take the time out of a busy coaching schedule, especially in the world that we are currently in, to make this a priority," she said yesterday from her Los Angeles office. "This takes a lot of effort, and I applaud him for seeing the value this has for his athletes and the investment he's making to make an impact.
"I've been impressed with his commitment of just rolling up his sleeves to try and understand the things that he might not necessarily know when it comes to social media storytelling."
Sreekanth knows what she speaks with a resume to back it up. She has extensive experience in the digital realm after previously working with ESPN where she was heavily involved in the production of social media content for the network and helping create a content strategy for such popular shows as First Take and SportsCenter.
Her other notable roles include working on the Dallas Cowboys social media team and serving as head of social content and strategy for the internet media company IGN Entertainment, which specializes in video gaming and entertainment enthusiasts.
Earlier today, West Virginia became the first college football program to take advantage of INFLCR's new NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) Suite.
The idea is to get out in front of something everyone in the industry believes is about to become a reality in collegiate sports.
Sreekanth said INFLCR was founded by Jim Cavale, in part, because he could read the tea leaves that NIL was going to happen and prominent college programs were going to need help navigating it.
"The past year, INFLCR has been focusing on social media storytelling platforms and we have more than 22,000 active student-athletes who share more than a half-million pictures and videos from their INFLCR app," Sreekanth noted.
"What has already been established with West Virginia is our text platform through INFLCR where athletes and coaches are receiving content through the INFLCR app," she continued. "The content creators are programming it through the backend with what they are creating."
Among the 22,000 are Mountaineer student-athletes as a result of a prior department-wide relationship with INFLCR. Others schools that have taken advantage of INFLCR's text platform service include Arizona, USC, North Carolina, Auburn, Texas A&M, Kentucky, Miami, Oregon, Kansas, Mississippi State, UCLA, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State and Arkansas.
This new partnership with football puts West Virginia out ahead of the pack when it comes to positioning its athletes for NIL.
According to Sreekanth, what this entails is a comprehensive approach to social media storytelling. She said INFLCR athletes' engagement has already grown 34% annually compared to non-INFLCR users since 2017.
"This partnership is taking West Virginia to another level with the first offering of our new NIL Suite," she said. "West Virginia is the first football program to take advantage of this so we're providing content, in-depth analytics, education and strategies for coaches, athletes and creative teams to truly understand the impact of their editorial storytelling."
The INFLCR NIL Suite is designed to take some of the mystery out of the process, particularly when it comes to catching the eye of an impressionable 18-year-old.
"We have built an educational series to first, help them understand what their thought process is," she said. "Second, we dive deep into the strategies by looking at data and the analytics to come up with a way for them to make an even bigger impact than they already are.
"The recruiting battles are going to pick up significantly in the NIL world so what should we be doing now with the coaching staff, with the athletes, with the creative teams to help build the foundation for the future of college sports in the NIL era?" Sreekanth added.
Neal Brown, for one, sees its value.
"Social media has become a huge presence in recruiting," he explained. "What we're trying to do with our social media accounts, whether it's Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or whatever, we're trying to tell our story to the demographic that's on our mediums – and we want to be the one telling our story."
"It's really about developing the social media storytelling behaviors of the coaches, creative staff and student-athletes," Sreekanth added. "It's not going to be an overnight behavioral change. It's going to take a lot of coaching and work with them to get them to a spot where they change some of their behaviors."
Sreekanth said INFLCR has already been working with Brown, Coleman Barnes and football's creative staff for the past month with online meetings, which has included a one-on-one video chat with Brown.
She said the next step will be visiting online with the student-athletes and sharing strategies and methods to help them learn how to maximize their individual brands when NIL is enacted.
"We've really just started to dive in to understand where their heads are at today and how we can help provide that solution long-term to impact their recruiting class," she said.
"It's the same thing we talk to our players about is 'tell your story. Who do you want to be? Who are you trying to be?' And then, 'What are your future goals? Then let's develop who you are and the story you are telling about your future goals.' They have to understand their voice can be powerful," Brown concluded.
Sreekanth, chief operating officer for the social media technology company INFLCR, says Brown is taking a forward-looking approach to social media to help develop the West Virginia University football program's brand.
"I think it takes a lot to take the time out of a busy coaching schedule, especially in the world that we are currently in, to make this a priority," she said yesterday from her Los Angeles office. "This takes a lot of effort, and I applaud him for seeing the value this has for his athletes and the investment he's making to make an impact.
"I've been impressed with his commitment of just rolling up his sleeves to try and understand the things that he might not necessarily know when it comes to social media storytelling."
Sreekanth knows what she speaks with a resume to back it up. She has extensive experience in the digital realm after previously working with ESPN where she was heavily involved in the production of social media content for the network and helping create a content strategy for such popular shows as First Take and SportsCenter. Her other notable roles include working on the Dallas Cowboys social media team and serving as head of social content and strategy for the internet media company IGN Entertainment, which specializes in video gaming and entertainment enthusiasts.
Earlier today, West Virginia became the first college football program to take advantage of INFLCR's new NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) Suite.
The idea is to get out in front of something everyone in the industry believes is about to become a reality in collegiate sports.
Sreekanth said INFLCR was founded by Jim Cavale, in part, because he could read the tea leaves that NIL was going to happen and prominent college programs were going to need help navigating it.
"The past year, INFLCR has been focusing on social media storytelling platforms and we have more than 22,000 active student-athletes who share more than a half-million pictures and videos from their INFLCR app," Sreekanth noted.
"What has already been established with West Virginia is our text platform through INFLCR where athletes and coaches are receiving content through the INFLCR app," she continued. "The content creators are programming it through the backend with what they are creating."
Among the 22,000 are Mountaineer student-athletes as a result of a prior department-wide relationship with INFLCR. Others schools that have taken advantage of INFLCR's text platform service include Arizona, USC, North Carolina, Auburn, Texas A&M, Kentucky, Miami, Oregon, Kansas, Mississippi State, UCLA, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State and Arkansas.
This new partnership with football puts West Virginia out ahead of the pack when it comes to positioning its athletes for NIL.
According to Sreekanth, what this entails is a comprehensive approach to social media storytelling. She said INFLCR athletes' engagement has already grown 34% annually compared to non-INFLCR users since 2017.
"This partnership is taking West Virginia to another level with the first offering of our new NIL Suite," she said. "West Virginia is the first football program to take advantage of this so we're providing content, in-depth analytics, education and strategies for coaches, athletes and creative teams to truly understand the impact of their editorial storytelling."
The INFLCR NIL Suite is designed to take some of the mystery out of the process, particularly when it comes to catching the eye of an impressionable 18-year-old.
"We have built an educational series to first, help them understand what their thought process is," she said. "Second, we dive deep into the strategies by looking at data and the analytics to come up with a way for them to make an even bigger impact than they already are.
"The recruiting battles are going to pick up significantly in the NIL world so what should we be doing now with the coaching staff, with the athletes, with the creative teams to help build the foundation for the future of college sports in the NIL era?" Sreekanth added.
Neal Brown, for one, sees its value.
"Social media has become a huge presence in recruiting," he explained. "What we're trying to do with our social media accounts, whether it's Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or whatever, we're trying to tell our story to the demographic that's on our mediums – and we want to be the one telling our story."
"It's really about developing the social media storytelling behaviors of the coaches, creative staff and student-athletes," Sreekanth added. "It's not going to be an overnight behavioral change. It's going to take a lot of coaching and work with them to get them to a spot where they change some of their behaviors."
Sreekanth said INFLCR has already been working with Brown, Coleman Barnes and football's creative staff for the past month with online meetings, which has included a one-on-one video chat with Brown.
She said the next step will be visiting online with the student-athletes and sharing strategies and methods to help them learn how to maximize their individual brands when NIL is enacted.
"We've really just started to dive in to understand where their heads are at today and how we can help provide that solution long-term to impact their recruiting class," she said.
"It's the same thing we talk to our players about is 'tell your story. Who do you want to be? Who are you trying to be?' And then, 'What are your future goals? Then let's develop who you are and the story you are telling about your future goals.' They have to understand their voice can be powerful," Brown concluded.
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