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LSU Football Content Creators Talk Telling A Championship Story

Feb 12, 2020 | 12:00 am

UPDATED Feb 12, 2020 | 10:58 am

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The LSU football team lit up the scoreboard this past season on the way to a national championship. In the same vein, the Tigers’ social media team generated plenty of positive attention through their content.

Coordinator of Creative and Digital Content Matt Tornquist and Director of Creative and Digital Content Brandon Berrio have received much acclaim for their work with the Tigers for several years, but especially so in the wake of their latest championship.

In this episode of Social on the Sidelines, the two join Shahbaz Khan and Amara Baptist to give their perspective on an incredible season.

Edited highlights appear below:

On how to be successful with a large content team (14:07)

Berrio: “I would say communication has been the biggest improvement in our group. We have a huge group text with, it’s gotta be 15 plus people. We send videos in there, everything gets approved through Derek from football, just to have another set of eyes. But the communication has been the biggest part…I’m sure people that run accounts know social media is not an eight to five thing. I mean we think about this 24/7 between me, Matt, Matt and Lindsey…We’re sending stuff to each other, ideas, like we don’t stop. That’s why we’ve been so successful. It’s just the communication and trust of everybody. “

On the famous Joe Burrow cigar video following the national championship game (14:29)

Tornquist: “So after the semifinal game, the players did it themselves on Grant Delpit’s phone and it kinda blew up a little bit. It got a bunch of retweets and we’re like, ‘okay, they really vibe with this song.’ So then going into the championship game…one the students over at football was able to reach out to the record label and get permission to use that song on LSU accounts. So then I had it downloaded and loaded into my Premiere ready to go like I mentioned earlier where it was just a matter of taking those clips from the locker room, the emotional dancing shots, and putting them together with that song…It kinda checked all the boxes for a good piece of content. And then along with the timing of, you know, it’s right after the national championship, it went kinda crazy.”

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On how having good relationships with players translates to good content (22:25)

Berrio: “I think that’s the number one thing. Having a relationship with the coaches and the staff is going to get you further than anything…Working with our players has helped tremendously. The relationship that myself and Matt have had with Joe Burrow, or Grant Delpit, or Clyde Edwards-Helaire, or Justin Jefferson…that goes back to last year in building that relationship and that trust. Matt and Cody went to Athens, Ohio, and did a story on Jim Burrow. That doesn’t happen without trust…We’re able to translate that into content this year and they recognize you and that’ll pay dividends in the future.”

Advice for people attempting to break into social media (33:58)
Berrio: “Don’t be afraid to fail and don’t be afraid to challenge people. I mean, I usually don’t mince words when we’re in meetings or when we’re trying to do stuff. And that might rub people the wrong way sometimes. But when you show passion, I think that goes a long way for people, for your bosses, for people around you. Because if you show passion, then that shows that you care. When you’re running these accounts, you can’t do this every single day running an account as you know, whatever account, no matter how big or how small, without being passionate about it. Because it it never stops. It never sleeps. So if you show passion for what you do, then you’ll be successful no matter what level you are.”

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