Spider Social Rewards program launched to support athletic program

The University of Richmond Spiders launched Spider Social Rewards April 8, which awards users with points for daily Facebook and Twitter posts to garner interest in the athletics program, news media manager Melissa Mitchell said.

Spider fans can register using their email address and link their social media options, she said. Through engaging with Richmond athletics on Facebook and Twitter, users earn points that they can use to redeem prizes, she said.

Schools around the country have been building similar programs, said Mitchell, who worked with an outside group to build the technical aspects of the website. To create the point system and prizes, Mitchell spoke to students, season ticket holders and alumni to gauge which people were interested in, she said.

A user can receive points for a variety of activities. For example, a check-in to an official athletic event on Facebook is awarded 50 points, and posting the Facebook or Twitter message of the day is awarded 25 points.

After acquiring points, users can visit the the prize store, where 1,000 points can buy a Spider drawstring backpack or $5 bookstore gift card. If a user banks his or her points, 5,000 points buys a "Meet & Greet" and "Chalk Talk" with the head coach of a Spider team of his or her choice.

Currently, there are about 150 members, Mitchell said, and some of the most active users have been non-students. Overall, membership has been a balanced mix of both students and alumni, she said.

"The goal is to be more interactive with the people who are already engaged with us," said Jana Ross, assistant director of athletics and director of marketing and fan development. "This is a way to reward people for being involved and engaged with us, and a way to be social."

The idea is to keep people engaged and interested, she said, and the website will continue into next year and the prizes will be updated.

Junior Leah Ching said she joined to show her support for Spider athletics and to try to get everyone else to do the same by attending events.

Phoebe Flinn Easley, Westhampton College '66, said that she had joined the website for fun and had won 500 points for attending the spring football game. "My husband, son and I all graduated from UR and we have always enjoyed the sports events there," Easley said.

Contact report Jessica Racioppi at jessica.racioppi@richmond.edu