by By: Caroline Wilson
Popular professional athletes underestimate the power that they have in their social media platforms. There are many athletes who are missing out on important opportunities that social media holds. Not only do these athletes have the power to influence their fans with their opinions, they also have the power to make money with brand deals and get company endorsements or collaborations.
Athletes like Oregon’s own Justin Herbert is an NFL player with an extremely loyal fanbase. While the Los Angeles Chargers aren’t necessarily the best team in the league, they are known for having long time and loyal fans who love having Herbert on the team. And on top of that having the entirety of the Oregon Ducks fanbase behind him makes him an extremely popular and influential person.
The reason why I bring up Herbert when it comes to social media use is because he is not known for being very active on his accounts. For example, his verified Instagram account has 621K followers but only 97 posts. So far this month he has only posted once, but for the month of September he had a seemingly record high of three posts and one of them being a reel. But while looking at his posts from the months before that he had two in August, one in July, none in June, and one in May, etc.
Herbert does not seem like the type of guy who especially cares about followers and posting, which there is nothing wrong with that. But what he needs to learn is that he can use his account for more than just followers and likes. Herbert has a charity that is very dear to him, Kidsports, and he does showcase a few posts a year about the charity but I believe that if he made it a bigger theme on his page he could gain more traction and attention to the charity. By posting consistently about it, even on his Instagram stories could help them more than he might realize.
While these are only my recommendations and/or advice for Justin Herbert as well as other athletes not utilizing their social medias in the way they could be. I hope that eventually they can learn how to use their accounts to do good and that they can accomplish what they want to with their social medias, whether that means hiring a social media expert to help them or not.
I hope that you enjoyed this blog and please keep up with my professional progress on my LinkedIn.
Hi Caroline, I really enjoyed your article! I appreciate how you highlighted the importance of professional athletes using their platforms, even if they’re not typically active on social media. By sharing their passions with their follower base, they can make a significant impact and do a lot of good that they might be missing out on.
-Mia Barnett