ATHLETES ARE THE GREATEST INFLUENCERS OF OUR GENERATION

In the age of social media, kids are growing up wanting to be social media stars, YouTube personalities, TikTok celebrities and IG models. We’re living in a digital age and with the 2020 pandemic we’ve seen brick and mortar stores become obsolete. Why go to the store when you can have it delivered to you? Some businesses are even cutting out the middleman and going direct to consumers, all thanks to social media. With millions of followers, video views and likes, these influencers hold a lot of attention; attention that companies want to get their product in front of.

But perhaps some of the most influential individuals today are athletes. Sports continue to lead our generation’s culture with icons like Odell Becham Jr. kick-starting viral dance trends like the In My Feelings Challenge which generated hundreds of millions of views worldwide, NFL star Colin Kaepernick using his platform to stand up against racial injustices in America and NBA stars dictating what’s in fashion from the oversized suits at the 2003 draft to ‘drippy’ pregame outfits entering the arena that we see today. As professional athletes, they garner a lot of influence to millions of people worldwide and offer lots of opportunities for marketers to get their products in front of the culturally hip.

One athlete who’s recognized this boom in influencer marketing is CFL athlete Nate Behar, the founder of ATNMY, a two sided influencer marketing platform that helps brands find, engage and launch ad campaigns with the right influencers faster.

“I think it’s because the average joe can relate to an athlete at a human level” says Nate. “They look at LeBron James and are in awe of the fact that another human being is able to do some of the stuff he does on the basketball court. As fans, we look at the products that he uses and think if I use them too, maybe I can be like LeBron.”

There’s even data to back up the effectiveness of athletes as strong influencers for brands. In a study conducted by Opendorse, of the 36,000 branded Instagram posts published on behalf of more than 3,200 sponsors in sports, athletes were found to generate 3.3x the engagement rate when compared to team, leagues, influencers and media accounts.

Opendorse also found that even with 3.3X more effective engagement, they still receive fewer sponsored post opportunities than less impactful accounts at teams and leagues. It’s our mission at Athlete Tech Group to empower, educate and help athletes start their entrepreneurial journey and one place to start is to begin leveraging their personal brand.