Why Players’ Social Media is Valuable for Teams

Social media connects teams with their fan base, keeps them informed, and shows fans behind-the-scenes footage. The same is true of athletes’ social media. Sports stars use social media as a window into their lives — showing support for their team and national team, taking fans through training sessions, and giving visibility to direct sponsors and those of their team. 

The numbers athletes’ drive from their social networks are often higher than their teams because players have more followers or fans feel closer to them. Measuring players’ social media impact is essential for sports organizations, especially if the club’s sponsors appear in an athlete’s post. 

For this to happen, it’s beneficial for teams to share images like training and game day shots with their players. Our partner Greenfly offers a seamless and collaborative digital-sharing experience where a team’s social media department will upload posts for players to use on social media.

An extra asset for teams

To show you the importance of a squad’s social networks, we used Blinkfire’s Global Ranking. Below are the most followed players on Instagram for Brighton & Hove Albion. While the English team has 929,000 followers, their star player, Mac Allister, exceeds 4 million followers.

The follower figures are also reflected in engagement generated by Brighton’s squad social media posts. One example is this post from the Argentine champion, which earned more than 1.1 million engagements. These interactions can directly impact exposure received by brands — many which are official sponsors of Brighton. 

Full sponsorship view

Using our Sponsorship Report, you have a 360-view of brand partner exposure, as it not only covers your networks but also those of your players, other entities, and media companies.

Across media and other teams’ social media, you can measure the impact your sponsors receive, but on your players’ networks you can go further. Using a platform like Greenfly, you can share images of matches, training, or travel with your players, so they can post on social media. This helps them stay connected with your fans and their millions of followers, and at the same time, your organization earns valuable sponsorship exposure which they can track directly in Blinkfire.  

Many athletes have communication agencies that help with social media management. One of the most recognized agencies in Spain is ImagoSport, which advises and manages top athletes and coaches such as Carlo Ancelotti and Juan Mata. 

For Imago, this relationship between team and player is essential, as is monitoring the performance of athletes in networks. 

It’s essential to measure the impact of your players’ posts on social networks in order to enhance their value. And, above all, to measure them in depth, to be able to compare and analyze them. In this sense, Blinkfire is a very complete and accepted tool in the soccer business that we have been using for years with very good results.

Nacho Silván, ImagoSport

For teams and athletes, social networks are an essential element, not only for the fans but also for building a brand image. If an entity gets its stars to share the organization’s values on social networks and give visibility to the club’s image and to the brands that sponsor it, it is a triple victory: for the team, for the athlete, as it opens up new opportunities, and for the brand.

Track Your Team’s Players with Blinkfire

To achieve the goals you set with a sponsor you need accurate, transparent data across your owned and operated channels, players, and media companies. 

Want to learn more about how Blinkfire can help you monitor your workforce networks? Contact our team today.