NCAA WBIT
Strategy Development, Account Management & Onsite Event Coverage
The squeeze
The popularity for women’s basketball has exploded in the past few years, leading the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to create additional postseason opportunities for Division I players. Ahead of the 2023-24 college basketball season, the NCAA announced the creation of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT), a 32-team postseason tournament to be held annually beginning in 2024.
WBIT partnered with Citrus Social Media to develop and grow a social media presence from the ground up for the brand new postseason tournament beginning in December 2023. The goal was to uplift women’s basketball during the regular season by engaging with division I teams and connecting with women’s basketball fans across the country to bring attention to the inaugural tournament, which tipped off in March 2024.
The zest
Citrus began by developing an in-depth social media strategy for WBIT, providing strategic support across Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok. Citrus was responsible for publishing throughout the remainder of the college women’s basketball season, collaborating with teams, Women’s March Madness and other notable sports accounts such as Togethxr and ESPNW to generally promote women’s basketball, and engaging with target audiences for the final 3 months of regular season play. Following the WBIT Selection Show, Citrus was responsible for publishing real-time social media coverage throughout the five-round tournament, including onsite event coverage for the Semifinals and Final games at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
When the WBIT returned to Indianapolis for 2025, the NCAA reengaged Citrus to expand on the success of the inaugural tournament. For year two, Citrus assumed the same responsibilities, this time managing the WBIT social media accounts for the entire collegiate women’s basketball season (October 2024-April 2025), expanded video production with the new tournament emcee, and overseeing the outreach, contract negotiations and onsite support of influencer partners in the Indianapolis area who would attend the 2025 WBIT and promote the experience to their followers.
Services Provided Included:
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Strategic Development
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Content Planning
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Account Management
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Onsite Event Coverage
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Content Design
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Influencer Management
The juice
Between December 15, 2023 and April 15, 2024, WBIT gained a total of 3.9K+ followers across Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok. Social media content also earned 2.2M+ impressions, 92K+ engagements, 97K+ video views, and a cross-platform average engagement rate of 4%.
Throughout the 2024-25 women’s basketball season, Citrus’ efforts secured the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament more than 2.3K+ new followers (a 89.5% increase compared to the 2023-24 season), 2.6M+ impressions (15% increase), 95.6K+ engagements (4.1% increase), 158.9K+ video views (64.2% increase) and a cross-platform average engagement rate of 3.6%.
“Citrus Social Media exemplifies excellence. Skylar possesses outstanding communication skills, creativity, and the ability to think innovatively. Her responsiveness and profound understanding of the industry have been instrumental in building the WBIT brand. She excels in developing effective marketing strategies and takes immense pride in her craft, consistently delivering exceptional results. I highly recommend Citrus Social Media for anyone seeking superior social media management and event elevation.”
- NCAA WBIT: Jessie Carmack, Assistant Director of Women’s Basketball
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