Welcome to Behind The Bucs. In this series, I’ll be interviewing the people behind the scenes of the Tampa Bay Bucs organization, getting their story and role in preparing for a normal game week. First up, Social Media Coordinator Jill Beckman.

Journey To The Bucs

Beckman’s journey started at Penn State University, where she studied print and digital journalism. While working for the daily newspaper she quickly realized the news side of the media field wasn’t for her, and changed her focus to sports. Seizing her opportunity, Beckman interned at multiple newspaper outlets as a sports reporter when it all came together her senior year of college.

Bucs social media coordinator Jill Beckman – Photo courtesy of the Buccaneers

Beckman was offered a job doing public relations during the 2018 Super Bowl and started making connections. She knew she wanted to work on the team side of the media landscape, but remained undecided in the specific role she wanted to fill. With the help of others, Beckman realized the world of social and digital content fit her passions best.

“It kind of worked out perfectly,” Beckman said. “I could just translate all my reporting skills and cover a team in that way with those skills I already had.”

After her Super Bowl experience, Beckman applied to multiple teams looking for an opportunity, and the Bucs offered her an internship. She joined the team in 2018 and hasn’t looked back. Offered a permanent position on the staff after her internship season ended, Beckman has grown from intern to social media coordinator for the Bucs.

Progressing With The Bucs

The Super Bowl victory remains her favorite career moment with the Bucs, but Beckman says just the progression of the team has been rewarding to watch.

“I think it’s just been really cool for me to see the progression of the team from when I started until now and just how different it is,” Beckman said. “My first season the Bucs went 5-11. Now [they’ve gone] all the way to winning the Super Bowl last year. In my position, it’s more difficult to do my job when we’re losing than when we’re winning. To have that experience, it really makes you work harder to find the content. It was a really good experience for me, and now the content just comes way easier.”

Under Beckman’s leadership, the team’s social media accounts have grown immensely. Winning has played a part in that, but the way Beckman and her team interact with fans on those accounts plays a big role as well. In the past year, the Bucs Twitter and Instagram accounts have eclipsed the one million follower mark. Living up to the team’s motto, “One Team, One Cause”, Beckman deflects to the many talented people around her.

“We have so many talented people all across the board,” Beckman said. “So many great, creative people are having their work seen where they weren’t as much before. It’s the same work we’re doing. We haven’t really changed anything in that aspect. We’re just getting more eyes on it and it’s more fun when we’re winning.”

Bucs social media coordinator Jill Beckman – Photo courtesy of the Buccaneers

Reading The Room

Obviously when you’re winning the content is easier all around. However, after a tough loss it can be hard to get players to agree to get on board for content, especially when it is humor-based. Knowing the players and their personalities goes a long way. There are some players who are always excited to make content, and they become the team’s go-to options.

“In my fourth season here, I have a good understanding of who those players are and who prefers to be more private,” Beckman said.

The same can be said about an ever-changing social landscape, where knowing what you can and can’t say is always evolving. When it comes to posting content, Beckman is generally able to post without a review, simply by using good judgement calls. If something could be viewed as controversial, that’s when she gets other members of her team involved. Discussing it as a team ahead of time ensures what they post doesn’t cross any lines.

Working On The Fly

When it comes to breaking news Beckman and her team are often working with little to no notice. In the case of internal roster moves and impending free agent signings, they’re sometimes just given a few minutes before it becomes common knowledge. With the bigger signings they may get a day’s notice depending on who the player acquisition is. Beckman says when they can they’ll prepare things in advance. But sometimes the only advance notice they get is seeing Adam Schefter tweet it.

“A lot of the time, [Adam] Schefter breaks it and that’s the first time that I’m hearing about it,” Beckman says. “We can’t post until the player has come in the building and signed the contract, because you never know what can happen. That’s our rule that we can’t post it until papers are signed.”

Beckman acknowledges the fact that the more people that know, the more likely information is to get out. She says the biggest difference between working for a team and working for a news outlet is that Beckman may have the information, but can’t immediately share it.

“With the team, you’re waiting until it’s official,” Beckman said.

Bucs social media coordinator Jill Beckman – Photo courtesy of the Buccaneers

Preparing For The Bucs Game

For Beckman and her team, preparing for an upcoming game ebbs and flows. In many cases, the social media team executes content ideas they have planned for days, weeks and sometimes months. Other ideas present themselves. In a normal week of planning, Beckman spends a majority of her time in the building scheduling content she is receiving from her team. Gathering finished content from video producers, photographers and designers, Beckman utilizes a content calendar to plan when to release it and how to engage fans the best way possible. She spends a lot of time going over the analytics, while tracking numbers and monitoring the team’s social accounts.

Game day is a different animal for Beckman. That’s when she’s on the scene capturing the players arrivals and getting on the field for pregame and warm-ups. She captures footage to post out to fans in real time for that authentic game day experience. During the game itself, she is up in the press box live tweeting. Score updates, injury updates and those oh-so-witty tweets are compliments of Beckman and her team. She’ll usually head down to the field with about two minutes left in impending victories, looking to capture on field celebration content and jersey swaps.

Favorite Tweets Of The Season

Beckman and her team put out some amazing content for fans, but one thing she’s really enjoyed doing this season is using clips from the Bucs “Tommy and Gronky” show.

“Something I’ve been loving doing is memes from Tommy and Gronky,” Beckman said. “Just having those in our back pocket during games for when we can potentially use those.”

One meme in particular she was excited to use was from the latest episode when Blaine Gabbert came to visit the set. Tom Brady at one point says, “Hey, there’s my buddy Blaine.” Always prepared, Beckman had a meme ready in case Gabbert entered the game. When he did, Beckman pulled the trigger on the tweet.

From a 5-11 start to a Super Bowl championship, Beckman doesn’t take anything for granted. She’s in a position she loves and a job she does well. Hitting one million followers (twice), a boat parade, a White House visit and a ring ceremony in one year has helped make her time with the Bucs a dream come true.