Ara Cowper: Posting Stars & #Athletes onto Social Media
How a Recent College Graduate is Making Her Mark in Social Media Sports Marketing
THIS IS A CLASS PROJECT FOR MY COLLEGE COURSE AND IS NOT FROM OUR USUAL CONTENT
Ara Cowper, a recent addition to the Pacers Sports & Entertainment social media team, has been making waves with her unique social media skills since hiring in March of this year. Her graduation from IU in May coincided with two significant events that significantly impacted Indiana sports, further highlighting the effectiveness of her innovative strategies.
Just a month into her job, the drafting of Caitlin Clark into the Indiana Fever organization with the first pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft led to a significant increase in ticket and jersey sales within the first week, a testament to the rapid success of Cowper's social media campaign.
Her strategies have not only been effective, but they have also left a lasting impact on the Indiana sports market.
In May, the Indiana Pacers' impressive run through the first two rounds of the NBA Playoffs highlighted the impact of Cowper's unique approach.
They added engaging and educational content to help grow the ever-changing Indiana sports market and compete to encourage new fans to join the league.
“With the addition of Caitlin Clark to the Fever, things changed for our socials. There were many more eyes on our platforms, and we had the opportunity to create more content for this.” In an interview on Thursday, June 6, she said, “Women’s basketball and the WNBA gave us a reason to improve our content and grow our content throughout the league.”
Cowper is experienced with feeling the need to educate and challenge her audiences to immerse themselves in more than just the sport itself.
Cowper graduated from IU this spring and is an experienced social media director and former college athlete.
Throughout our interview with Cowper and through research on her personal LinkedIn page, we discovered a remarkable journey. Cowper was a part of the IU women’s rowing team while working through three areas: school, athletics, and work. Her first professional experience with a social media team was with the organization 24 Sports, 1 Team, where she became an executive for the IU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and learned how to be an impactful leader. This experience was instrumental in her transition from a social media intern to a social media director. Her journey is a testament to the possibilities and growth opportunities in the field of social media marketing.
She said one job opportunity led to an eventual career with IU Athletics. “... I have been a social media and digital intern with IU Athletics for almost three years.”
She said, “I also had prior experience doing social media with the Indiana Daily Student, Indiana University Student Television, NCAA March Madness, and Big Ten Football.” In addition to working at these jobs, she also worked for the Cuban Center and became an IU Football social media team leader as an intern and posted digital content.
Her career now lands her in Indianapolis, where, as an IU graduate, she got her most adventurous job for the Indiana Pacers organization, where she works for both the WNBA and the NBA.
She told me a thing or two about how her day starts and finishes, along with what an average workday looks like on a daily basis:
"The majority of my work is game days. I’ll arrive a few hours early, check in with the digital squad, and prepare for the game. If I’m on Greenfly, I’ll take care of pregame content and create a folder for the game. The WSC role doesn’t have much pregame responsibility, but it’s very fast-paced during the game and often a lot of postgame work. With running mascot socials, I’ll come up with copy for pregame posts, follow around the mascots/dance team from pregame to postgame, and create stories as I go. After the game, we will do postgame content. What we do and how much depends on the game, the score, and if it was a win or loss.
Finally, Cowper tells people to start interning at a part-time job and then move into the social media industry by working on what she calls “an operational run.”
Besides being skilled on all social media platforms, she had some advice to give future social media influencers interested in sports careers. She said, “You must be detail-oriented, willing to learn and have a good attitude. I have several different jobs, depending on the game night.”