Why athletes are the best influencers for social media campaigns

With business success now so closely tied to the effectiveness of a brand's digital presence, building positive relationships with influencers is more important than ever.

Start-up businesses and big corporates alike have had huge successes booking elite athletes for their campaigns. Not only do athletes provide tremendous exposure through their profile, but brands also benefit from the association sports stars have with success, fitness, and wellbeing.

Here is why now is the perfect time to secure a sports star for your next social media campaign.

If there's one thing nearly every Australian has in common, it's sport. In 2017, around 16.4 million Australians said they were interested in one or more sports, while approximately 60 million hours per week were spent watching a sport at home.

This level of engagement with sports makes elite athletes a great option for brands looking to boost the reach of their next campaign. Sports stars have huge fan bases and social media followings with high levels of engagement that cuts across a variety of demographics. This not only provides an opportunity to boost exposure but selecting the right athlete that can tap into your target market can deliver a fantastic return on investment.

Sports stars also have the freedom to be humorous, fun, adventurous, and even cheeky, qualities that drive engagement. This was Sportsbet's experience when they engaged Adam Cooney to do a 'Twitter Takeover' - Adam wasn't afraid to add some tongue-in-cheek gags to his commentary on a match between the Bombers and Bulldogs (his two former clubs).

Sports stars embody certain qualities which can reflect positively on brands they affiliate themselves with.

Reaching elite levels of sport requires great persistence, perseverance, determination, and hard work, while the ups and downs of major sporting events build great resilience and character.

It's these qualities that millions of fans respect in their sporting idols, and how sports stars are able to build so much trust with consumers.

Life in the public eye also affords sports stars the skills required to use and benefit from social media and cultivate a positive public image.

The right sports star matched with the right social media campaign can generate huge engagement and drive sales. Beverage company 3i Black Water's found this to be the case for their social media campaign featuring Olympic swimmer Shayna Jack, Australian beach volleyballer Mariafe Artacho Del Solar, and former AFL player Jay Schulz. The three athletes' posts with 3i Black Water products on social media generated over 60,000 views and thousands of interactions and sales with new customers.

You don't necessarily need the biggest sports profile to execute a successful social media campaign. It's been proven just as worthwhile for small local businesses to hire up-and-coming talent. Killer Koala Coffee found this in 2018 when they booked AFLW player Abbey Holmes to promote their product.

Another PickStar success story is that of Australian Olympic swimmer James Magnussen’s partnership with European company Arena, which saw the brand quickly flourish in the Australian market.

“My most recent one [brand relationship] was with a company called Arena who essentially are the Speedo of Europe. Again, it was their first big breakout into the Australian market and they've since pretty much flooded the market and almost overtaken Speedo on the back of that initial relationship," James said of the partnership.

Through Pickstar, you now have access to over 1300 athletes and sports personalities who can be the star of your next social media campaign or influencer partnership.

Our new and improved filtering system allows you to refine your search based on sport category, gender, location, social following, and more.

Pickstar works with ANY budget ANYWHERE in Australia. Get started here.

#Business #SocialMediaCampaign #Influencer #BrandAmbassador #BrandPartnership #SportsMarketing