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For colleges, SkullSparks guides, ranks social efforts

Jason Matheson launched his own digital media shop in 2015 hoping to help college programs with their social media strategy and design. In those five years, he has worked with 115 schools, ranging from the largest in NCAA Division I to the smallest.

 

Some athletic departments use his business — called SkullSparks — to assist with one-off projects; others keep him on retainer. But in collegiate circles, Matheson is best known for his social media rankings.

He started ranking schools by their number of followers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter more than a decade ago when he worked at Oklahoma and later Auburn, his alma mater. He continued keeping tabs on social media followers once his company launched.

As the numbers of social media accounts have grown and become more diverse, that has presented more opportunities for Matheson, who is based in Tulsa, to provide direction and assistance. A decade ago, a school might have had just one account for athletics. Now, every sport has its own account, and within some bigger programs like football, there are usually multiple accounts for coaches, the equipment manager or field maintenance crew and others.

Matheson’s rankings, which he teases on Twitter and are sold to schools along with analytics as part of an overall package, keep growing, too. He recently started breaking down accounts by state and also does listings by social platform, by increases or decreases in followers and by engagements.

“There’s a lot of interest there,” Matheson said. “It started as something internal as a way to benchmark us against other teams. College athletics are about competition, right?”

Matheson’s company also helps connect candidates and schools with job opportunities, which has slowed during the pandemic, but his days remain full as he consults with programs on maintaining engagement with their fans.

“I think this time has really showed how important your digital design and video staff is,” Matheson said.

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