Currently working in New Orleans, Louisiana as a communications assistant for the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Former ink-stained wretch who last worked in Athens, Georgia. This blog is for random musings in my life and career.
Most recently, I stumbled across a ticket stub from a Phillies vs Braves game in went to nine years ago when I lived in Georgia. It wasn’t just any Phillies vs Braves game, either: Cole Hamels and three other pitchers combined to no-hit the Braves that afternoon. Hamels was effectively wild, posting seven strikeouts and five walks, while the bullpen didn’t allow a baserunner.
That was actually the second no-hitter I witnessed as a fan.
The first was back in 2003 when Kevin Millwood blanked Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants at Veterans Stadium. Millwood went the full nine innings and Ricky Ledee provided the only offense with a solo home run in the first inning. That had to be one of the most boring – but exciting – 1-0 in games in the history of baseball.
Fast forward 11 years and teleport from one bygone stadium to another that has since been repurposed (Turner Field) and that’s where you’d find me sitting in Section 124L, Row 3, Seat 101.
September 2, 2014 was also Bobby Cox Bobblehead Day.
Why is that important?
Well, months later, I started dating a woman and saw that same bobblehead sitting on her TV cabinet. As it turns out, we were both at the same game and didn’t know it. Of course we wouldn’t know it because we didn’t know each other, but that made for a great anecdote. (We’d later go to several games together: CONCACAF Gold Cup, TCU vs Ole Miss, Atlanta Hawks.)
1 turns into 10, which turns into 100, which begets 1,000.
Tack on two more zeroes and that now becomes 100,000.
Seeing 100k on July 1 meant a lot to me – and it’s not salary-driven.
July 1 was the date that USTFCCCA social media accounts eclipsed 100k combined followers, namely Instagram and Twitter. That was 67,403 on Twitter and 32,765 on Instagram for 100,168 between the two giants.
As the resident social media manager, hitting that milestone meant a lot.
I have poured more than eight years into building the USTFCCCA brand and expanding the Association’s digital footprint, first as the Communications Assistant and now as the Communications Manager. We wouldn’t have pulled in more than five million hits on the website in each of the past two years without having as big of a reach as we do on social media.
This didn’t happen overnight. It never does.
July 1, 2019: 40.1k followers
July 1, 2020: 50.3k followers
July 1, 2021: 65.2k followers
July 1, 2022: 87.6k followers
July 1, 2023: 100.1k followers
And that’s just what happened from 2019 to 2023.
Perhaps the two most important catalysts for this growth – 25.3% of it between 2019 and 2020, 29.7% of it between 2020 and 2021, and 34.2% of it between 2021 and 2022, and 14.2% between 2022 and 2023 – have been keeping a steady voice and providing captivating content. I already wrote about the first part (which you can see by the hyperlink) and the second part really ignited with the yearlong digital/social media campaign that we did from 2020 to 2021 about celebrating 100 years of the NCAA Track & Field Championships.
I could write for hours about this subject, but that’s where I’ll leave it.
When you’re in social media, interactions are EVERYTHING.
Interactions, as defined by CrowdTangle and Opendorse, are likes and comments on Instagram, likes and retweets on Twitter, and reactions, comments and shares on Facebook.
And, if you’re in the digital world in collegiate athletics, like I am with the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), you need to follow SkullSparks. For the uninitiated, SkullSparks is a company that partners with college sports brands on recruiting talent and building digital strategy and connect America’s largest network of sports creatives (That’s straight from the horse’s mouth).
Each month – and at the end of each year – SkullSparks produces a rank order of Collegiate Athletic Departments that compiled the most social media interactions for that span. Most recently, SkullSparks released its year-end chart for the 2022 calendar year.
You didn’t have to look too far to find out where the USTFCCCA would rank if it was an Athletic Department: 48th with 763.5k interactions. I nearly fell out of my chair when I scanned the list. That would put us between Colorado and Washington, which are two high-powered, Power 5 Athletic Departments.
What’s more impressive to me is that we’re able to do those kind of numbers covering just three sports: cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field. Every other institution on that list has a full compilation of sports from which to add to their tally, including basketball and football.
To add to that, our 763.5k interactions were from Instagram and Twitter alone.
We must be doing something right down here in New Orleans.
Those six digits separated by a comma ate at me more than I choose to admit.
OK. I’ll admit it. That number played an expert game of Pac-Man in my head for the better part of six years.
Then I learned to stop worrying and love the process (S/o to my “War Films” class in college where we watched “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.” That’s why I entitled this post “Chasing Page Views or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Process”).
Let Me Explain
601,259 represented the biggest month in the history of the USTFCCCA website, as it pertained to page views. Buoyed by 95,762 users and a spike of 63,006 page views on Regional Championships Friday, November 2015 took over the top spot on the mantle from its predecessor, November 2014.
November 2015 was just my second full month on duty as Communications Assistant with the USTFCCCA. I joined the Association after a short stint at the Athens Banner-Herald as a Designer/Online Producer, where I immersed myself in SEO and other ways of driving website traffic, more so than I did before as Sports Editor at the San Marcos Daily Record.
This was a big way for me to see tangible results from my work. I crave it.
Fast Forward to November 2019
I had been directing our content plan as Communications Manager for a year and a half since my promotion in July 2018.
I wanted nothing more than to break that four-year-old record.
We took a healthy crack at it six months earlier in May 2019, and while our website had its first non-fall month with more than 500,000 page views – 534,638, to be exact – it fell woefully short. One of my biggest takeaways from those 31 days, though, was that Twitter is an exceptional tool for us: that blue bird accounted for more than 25,000 link clicks. (Find what tools work for you and play to your strengths. That goes for any industry, not just communications or digital media marketing.)
As I saw November 2019 climb the all-time chart, I pulled out all the stops: I fired out links in every other tweet; I published quick-hit articles to increase the amount of content on the website; I brainstormed new graphic ideas to capture more attention with one of my dynamo assistants Lauren Ellsworth, with whom I developed an immediate synergy over how we wanted to cover collegiate cross country and track & field. All of it had to work.
December 1 hit and I checked Google Analytics: 596,091.
My heart dropped. I felt like I failed. There was no way around it.
That record consumed me. Every single one of those 601,259 views.
The Pandemic Changed Everything
Four months later, the world screeched to a halt. Everything else didn’t matter, other than caring for each other and staying healthy during a raging pandemic.
Collegiate athletics went on hiatus for the better part of six months. That meant we had no polls or rankings to publish or sports to cover, which meant fewer visitors to our website, which meant a major hit on page views. I’m glad that we had a yearlong campaign planned to start in May, which took us through those desolate months until sports returned.
That campaign, entitled “NCAA 100: A Century of NCAA Track & Field Championships,” allowed our Communications Department to develop a closer bond as we navigated the 365-journey that challenged our patience, resolve and creativity. On a personal note, it allowed me to get back into feature writing (which I consider my bread and butter), work on becoming a better leader, and refine my tactics on social media, specifically Instagram.
Once #NCAATF x The Century wrapped up, things were pretty much back to normal for us at the Association (or whatever “normal” means these days): indoor track & field went off without a hitch and everything that came along with it; the postponed NCAA DI Cross Country Championships brought a lot of eyes to that sport thanks to its return to live television; and the outdoor track & field season delivered in spades with numerous collegiate records and the promise of an incredible #ChampionshipSzn to follow.
Hey, Siri. Play Green Day.
Truth be told, I didn’t check our page views until October.
“Wake Me Up When September Ends” would be pretty apt.
Well, when I checked the numbers, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Month
Page Views
Rank
Users
Rank
July
285.2k
No. 1
70.9k
No. 1
August
207.1k
No. 7
66.3k
No. 1
September
582.1k
No. 1
116.2k
No. 1
NOTE: Those are all ranks within each of their respective months.
Our October Symphony
Then I got curious and checked our stats for October.
My jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Not only was the best October in our sights – so was 601,259.
I knew we had been churning out great content (more so than ever before) – and working like a well-oiled machine – but we weren’t doing anything different than any of those previous months. Then it hit me: the more you try to force something – especially in industries like communications, digital media or social media – the less likely it will work.
Even though I plugged daily numbers into a Google Sheet to see updated projections, I didn’t obsess over it. Instead, I focused on everything that I could control – managing workflow, delivering on social media, etc.
November 1 hit and I checked Google Analytics: 673,996.
I smiled, jotted down a quick note and got back to work.
Molly Seidel taught us a lot about heart on Friday in the Olympic marathon.
Seidel, running in just her third marathon, earned the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics with a sensational effort on a day where athletes faced oppressive conditions from the heat and humidity. She is just the third American woman to ever medal in the Olympic marathon.
The former Notre Dame cross country and track & field star finished in 2:27:46 with a huge negative split. She went through half in 1:15:14, before ratcheting down the pace the rest of the way to close in 1:12:32.
Seidel ran alone for the final 2K, a spot where marathoners know they have to dig deep. She kept eventual Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir (2:27:20) and silver medalist Brigid Kosgei (2:27:36) well in her sights the whole way. It should be noted that Kosgei entered the race as the reigning Olympic champion and set the women’s world record at the Chicago Marathon two years ago.
On a personal note, I lined up next to Seidel about 20 months ago at the Rock N Roll San Antonio Half Marathon. That’s where Seidel qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials – a race where she’d finish second – after dipping well below the qualifying standard in 1:10:27.
Want to know the crazy part? I didn’t notice that aforementioned fact until after the race when I looked at post-race photos! Either I’m totally oblivious or so locked in before a race that I don’t notice what’s going on around me (There is also a chance that it’s both of those instances).
Tonight, we shall raise a glass to Molly Seidel for an amazing effort in the Olympic marathon and hope to replicate at least half of her tenacity the next time we toe the starting line of our own marathon (Speaking of which, I’ll be racing the Chicago Marathon in October and will be coming nowhere close to the mark that Kosgei threw down two years ago).
May is typically a big month for us across the board when it comes to our social media accounts and website (After all, it is #ChampionshipSzn in collegiate track & field). Just a few years ago, I drove +27K link clicks through Twitter to help us hit our first non-fall month with +500K page views. That doesn’t happen without a dedicated action plan, though.
Here are some lessons I learned from that huge month, where we really took our Instagram engagement to the next level.
"Pilgrims" was the answer I always heard growing up – but, recently, I found that May flowers blossom into a record-breaking month on IG for @USTFCCCA.
"Pilgrims" was the answer I always heard growing up – but, recently, I found that May flowers blossom into a record-breaking month on IG for @USTFCCCA.
I want @USTFCCCA to be THE place for collegiate track & field fans to turn when they want to understand the historical significance of a moment. Anybody can post results, but we add context behind it.
(4/x)
𝗨𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗩𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲
Ever since I saw an initial boon, I maintained the same voice throughout all of our posts that I can. If someone sees something on IG & reads the caption, I want them to know it's coming from the @USTFCCCA without seeing the account name.
(5/x)
𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗜𝘀 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴
Our IG account would be nowhere near as successful over past 16 months w/o Lauren Ellsworth being able to bring my ideas to life after I do my best to articulate them. She has been invaluable. (Can’t find her @ any longer)
(6/x)
Originally tweeted by Tyler Mayforth (@tylermayforth) on .
William Lawrence Camp shaped my life more than I knew.
Growing up, I went to William Lawrence Camp – an all-boys sleepaway camp in Center Tuftonboro, New Hampshire – for nine consecutive years. I spent five years as a camper and then four years as a staff member (You receive special recognition for 10 years at WLC, so I am a bit bummed that I never got to become a Bill Larry Man. I will forever be a Bill Larry Boy).
Ever since my first summer, I fell in love with the General Store Run.
It was a four-mile race in which every camper and staff member would participate on the last Friday morning of four-week increment. Juniors and their counselors would start first, followed by middlers and their counselors, bookended by seniors and their counselors.
Every other camper and staff member would complain about having to do it, but not I. That, along with the annual trip to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats or the Portland Sea Dogs, was the highlight of the summer to me and I could not wait to toe that start line drawn in the dirt.
The more I look back at it now, the more I realize how much the General Store Run at William Lawrence Camp fostered my love of running. You could give it as much – or as little – effort as you wanted and I always gave it my all, because there was just something about it!
I always remembered the run to be challenging, though. It was downhill on the way out and uphill on the way back. They did not call the final hill next to camp “Heartbreak Hill” for nothing (You can see how this was a very New England camp, naming it after the Boston Marathon).
The other day I plugged the route into some mapping software to see just how tough it was, based on an elevation profile. As it turns out, it was pretty difficult, dropping from a highest point of 1081 feet to 712 feet over two miles and climbing the reverse back.
No wonder why all of us would be exhausted after we finished!
It was published on Wednesday, May 18, 2021, at 1 pm CT, so it’s been live less than 72 hours as of this post and putting up those kind of numbers.
I had a strong feeling it would do well – but I had the same feeling about a bunch of others during this yearlong initiative that we’ve been doing at the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) to celebrate the near 100-year history of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships (The first meet was held way back in 1921). I guess you can tell what happened with those others since I’m not posting about them.
One of the most important things I’ve learned as a social media manager over the years is to trust your gut (There are three other words that resonate with a social media manager quite well, too, but they aren’t fit for print). It’s virtually impossible for every single post you make to pop – unless you have a massive, engaged following – but it’s important to harness that immediate burst of creative energy and see where it takes you.
As it pertains to this most recent post about Kendall Ellis’ heroic anchor to send USC to victory in the Women’s 4×400 Relay at the 2018 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, I knew I wanted to show, not tell. I already told the story quite well on the USTFCCCA website, so it was time to show. A picture with a caption wouldn’t do, so I found the race on YouTube, clipped the anchor leg and let the video work its magic.
A little more than three years ago, a recent ex-girlfriend requested that I stop posting so many fitness-oriented pictures on my personal Instagram account and while I can’t remember the reasoning behind it, I chose to heed that call instead of telling her that the “Unfollow” button is far easier.
All the while, I noticed that those fitness-oriented pictures and posts had quite a bit of engagement compared to my normal fare and opened a new door for me into the world of fitness-oriented Instagram accounts. As I dug deeper into the #InstaFitFam, I decided it was somewhere that I would like to carve out my own little niche. It would not only push me physically – for obvious reasons – but it would also stoke my creative fire, which is definitely something I needed at that moment. Plus, social media is a big part of my current – and future – career path, so I might as well hone my skills, right?
I waffled between several other permutations of that handle, but once I saw that @TylerRuns, @Tyler_Runs, @TylerRunning, @RunningTyler & others were already taken, @Tyler_Runs_Lifts would be the next best option, since it culled together two of my favorite things – running and working out.
Truth be told, I didn’t know what to expect when I started it. I’d be lying to you if I didn’t have an outlandish goal of gaining 10,000 followers in my first year (That was a SERIOUS pipe dream). At the same time, if I got ONE follower, it would have meant the world to me, because someONE wanted to connect with me. Well, one follower turned into 10, which grew into 100 and then 500 and then 1000 and finally to 1074, where I am right now.
