Pick your platforms intentionally#
You don't need to be everywhere. Choose 2-3 platforms you can sustain:
- Instagram - the FRC hub: feed posts, Stories, and Reels. Best all-around for the community.
- TikTok / YouTube Shorts - best for reach and showing personality through short vertical video.
- YouTube - home for reveal videos, recaps, and long-form match footage.
- X (formerly Twitter) - real-time updates during competition (live match results, alliance selection).
- LinkedIn / Facebook - reaching sponsors, alumni, and parents.
Build a content calendar#
The #1 thing that separates good team accounts from dead ones is consistency, and consistency comes from planning. Build a simple content calendar in a spreadsheet:
- Map out a posting cadence you can actually keep (e.g., Instagram 3-5x/week, TikTok 4-7x/week during build season, lighter in the off-season).
- Plan around the season rhythm: kickoff (early January), build updates, robot reveal, each competition, awards, off-season.
- Use a scheduler like Later, Buffer, or Meta Business Suite to batch-create and auto-post.
Content pillars (what to post)#
Rotate through recurring themes so you never run out of ideas:
- Build progress - timelapses, CAD renders, "part of the day."
- Team culture - member spotlights, behind-the-scenes, bloopers.
- Competition - countdowns, live results, win celebrations, awards.
- Sponsors & outreach - thank-you posts (sponsors love being tagged), demo days, community events.
- Education - quick "how does X work" explainers that show your expertise.
Tactics that grow engagement#
- Hook fast: the first 2 seconds of a Reel decide whether people keep watching.
- Captions on video: most people watch muted.
- Hashtags: mix broad (#FIRSTRobotics, #omgrobots, #FRC) with the season tag (e.g., #REBUILT and #FIRSTAGE for 2026) and your team tag.
- Engage back: reply to comments and DMs, and shout out other teams - this embodies Gracious Professionalism and builds goodwill.
- Tag sponsors and FIRST so they reshare you.
Stay on-brand and safe#
- Use your brand colors, fonts, and templates in every graphic.
- Maintain a consistent voice from your brand guide.
- Follow your school's and FIRST's media/consent policies, especially for minors. Have a mentor co-own accounts and retain login access so accounts survive graduation.
- Keep a measured tone; everything you post represents the whole team and FIRST.
Measure and adjust#
Check built-in analytics monthly. Note which posts get saves, shares, and watch time (not just likes), and make more of what works.
the part worth keeping
Key takeaways
- Choose 2-3 platforms you can sustain and drive everything from a content calendar
- Rotate content pillars (build, culture, competition, sponsors/outreach, education) so you never run dry
- Stay on-brand and on-policy; tag sponsors and FIRST, engage back, and track saves/shares/watch time, not just likes
Media, Branding & OutreachDigital Presence: Social Media & Websitelesson 1 of 3
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where this came from
Sources and corrections
This lesson is AI-assisted: drafted from primary sources, then reviewed and edited by hand. Errors still get through. When one is reported we fix it and write down what changed, in public, in the corrections log.
sources and further reading
- firstinspires.orgFIRST Brand & Assets (hashtags, season tags, logos)
- info.firstinspires.orgFIRST Season Brand Downloads (social graphics, wallpapers)
clipped to this lesson
Articles that go further on this
The lesson gets you through the topic. These go wider on it, and they read in one sitting.
- 8 min readFRC Build Season Timeline: A Week-by-Week Plan from Kickoff to CompetitionA practical week-by-week FRC build season timeline, from Kickoff and game analysis through prototyping, CAD, fabrication, wiring, programming, and driver practice./blogread it
- 7 min readHow to Recruit FRC Team Members (and Actually Keep Them)Club fair tactics, a first meeting that doesn't scare people off, real week-one work for rookies, and why teams lose members before build season even starts./blogread it
- 13 min readFRC Alliance Selection Strategy: How Picks, Scouting, and Playoffs WorkA complete, rules-accurate guide to FRC alliance selection: how the serpentine draft works, first- vs second-pick strategy, the scouting inputs behind a pick list, and the double-elimination playoff./blogread it
answer sheet
Lesson quiz
All 3 right completes the lesson. Miss one and only that question comes back, anything you already answered correctly stays banked.
0 of 3 answered
01What is a core best practice for an FRC team running social media accounts?
02How should an FRC team approach the platforms it posts on (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X)?
03What is an effective way to grow genuine engagement on a team's social media?
Answer every question to submit.
All 29 lessons in Media, Branding & Outreachopenclose
01 / prerequisites
02 / team-brand-identity
03 / content-creation
04 / digital-presence
05 / outreach-awards-sponsorship
06 / worked-examples-mini-projects
- Not read yet:Mini-Project 1: A Repeatable Match-Day Photo Workflow
- Not read yet:Mini-Project 2: A 60-Second Highlight Reel in DaVinci Resolve (Free)
- Not read yet:Mini-Project 3: A CAD-to-Render Robot Reveal
- Not read yet:Mini-Project 4: A One-Page Press Release for Your Local Paper
- Not read yet:Mini-Project 5: Auto-Pull Match Results from The Blue Alliance API
07 / common-mistakes-troubleshooting
08 / advanced-techniques-case-studies