sportsprosconnect.com talks to Kelly Miller, Tennis Coach and Social Media Expert:

Good morning Kelly, first of all would you tell us who you are and what you do as a living alongside tennis coaching?

I have specialised in performance programs for about 7 years now and along side coaching I am a brand ambassador for Protime Fitness and have more recently partnered with Ristrap.

So today we are here to talk about the importance of social media for a tennis coach.  What is your favourite social media tool and why?

My favourite social media platform by far has to be instagram. It’s the one I have had the most success with. It gives you the opportunity to put a link to your website and then drive traffic through creative pictures and videos in which you can use relevant hashtags to target a specific audience.

What are the key social media tools for sports coaches in general?

Coaching is effectively teaching and in order to do this especially at club level I think it’s important to be able to demonstrate technique through video, so I would say the key social media tool for coaches in general would be Youtube.

As a tennis coach, how do you use social media to attract more business for yourself?

As we all know pursuing tennis as a career can be expensive, I think my role as an ambassador definitely helps. You tend to get more exposure on social media when you work with or associate yourself with different brands and because of this I am able to offer discounts on the products that I endorse.

Where would you recommend a tennis coach to start in social media if he / she had no presence or was new to the business?

As with anything progress can be slow, unfortunately success doesn’t happen overnight. However I would start by finding the right social platform that works best for you and then networking with as many people as possible such as colleagues and mentors. Getting them to follow you on social media and share your content can be a game changer. Attending events, seminars and tournaments can be helpful in spreading the word about your online presence also. As cliché as it sounds the key is to work hard and stay consistent.

How often would you recommend using social media per week as a tennis coach?

Tough question. There is no magic number. In my experience quality is better that quantity. My advice would be to split test different posts and see what performs well and what doesn’t, but ultimately it’s what work best for your business.

And finally, (a tough question this) how did we all survive in business without social media and the internet and where do you see it going in years to come?

Luckily for me I’m only 26 so I’ve never really worked in the business world without social media, but I can imagine we would have had to all, as ridiculous as it sounds.. communicated face to face.  As for the future, I think social media is making it increasingly easier to work with players around the world and no just the ones in your local club.

Please check out Kelly’s web page on sportsprosconnect.com here….  https://www.sportsprosconnect.com/kellymiller

She can also be found on Instagram http://www.instagram.com/kellylouisemiller89/

Kelly was also appointed to run the Instagram account for sportsprosconnect.com.  We started this just over 2 weeks ago…  Check out the results so far by clicking this link….  https://www.instagram.com/socialtennisuk/