In 2021, the NCAA allowed a ruling creating the opportunity for college athletes to make money off their name, image, and likeness (NIL). With this ruling, college athletes now have a greater need to build a cohesive brand on social media. Social media audiences that follow sports are one of the most engaged audiences out there and college athletic departments are already capitalizing on this interest and engagement. AthleticDirectorU analyzed over 290 NCAA Division-I general athletics social media accounts across the four main platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube) and found that these accounts averaged a combined 200,000 followers over the four social media platforms. Twitter users account for 28% of these followers.
If a college athlete wants to begin capitalizing on these statistics and their image, they need to begin planning how they will generate their own individual brand. An important step to creating a positive brand is to maintain an active social media profile that promotes the values and interests that the athlete possesses. This can allow an athlete to build a strong brand name for themselves beyond more than just their athletic prowess.
The social media brand of a college athlete needs to be developed in a way that casts them in a positive light. To do this, content needs to be carefully crafted to show off not only the athlete’s physical skills and successes in their sport, but their personality and interests as well. A few of the main characteristics that help create a positive brand for social media include sharing their story, posting community involvement, and showcasing their academic success. This kind of content humanizes college athletes, making them more relatable to their social media followers and fans. Many college athletes are already choosing to go this route, and are finding their own success in building their social media brands.
Montana Fouts, a softball player at The University of Alabama, is one of those athletes that has embraced the use of social media to profit from the change in NCAA rules surrounding NIL. She utilizes apps like Instagram, Twitter, and Cameo, an app designed specifically for athletes to profit from sending personalized messages to fans. Her message across her platforms is consistent and she promotes a positive attitude as well as participation in community improvement.
Fouts also uses her social media platforms to promote companies that benefit athletes, like H&R Block, which provides help with the impact of NIL on an athlete’s taxes. Additionally, she stays true to who she is outside of her role in athletics by posting her dog, boyfriend, and videos about her daily life. By showcasing her interests and personality alongside her brand deals and athletic life, Fouts has been able to reach a wide audience ranging from college students to adult softball fans to children. With her individualized blend of content, including her successes and her more relatable personal posts, Fouts has been able to build a positive social media brand for herself as a college athlete.
When athletes create brands, the use of analytics sites like JetStream Social can help streamline the process. JetStream gives college athletes the opportunity to schedule posts, filter followers, and create an organized direct message inbox. Having these options to better organize and plan posts can allow athletes to build a cohesive brand and interact with followers. With the service’s analytics dashboard, users will be able to see what content is hitting the mark with their fans, and what content is not. This insight is invaluable to developing the kind of brand a college athlete wants to build for themself.
College athletes, especially those who desire to go professional one day, need to consider building a brand for themselves just as important as building their strength. Having a strong social media presence and following is vital to staying relevant in today’s world, especially for athletes. Now, their likeability and relatability are just as big a selling point to a professional team as their athletic stats. This may seem like a daunting task for college athletes, especially on top of their training, but it doesn’t have to be. Athletes can take some of the weight off of building their platform and their brand by using JetStream Social.
