Social media can be an important tool for many athletes. It helps them stay connected with their fans but there are even more important reasons than that. Maintaining an online presence has proven to be an excellent way for an athlete to earn extra money through sponsorships and commercial endorsements.

Even if they have huge popularity, athletes need to adhere to social media rules and customs to continue growing their online presence. They have to take care of their personal image and brand online, just like businesses do. 

Here we take a look at how you can grow your social media presence as an athlete.

Reveal Their Off-Field Passions

For an athlete, revealing their off-field passions can do wonders for their brand and image. It helps fans get to know an athlete better and helps to create a stronger connection. Social media has made it easy for athletes to share their off-field passions through pictures and videos.

For example, Olympic gold medal winner, Tom Daley recently became even more popular on the internet after pictures of him knitting during the Tokyo Olympics went viral on the internet. Whatever your passion is away from the sport, let people know.

Post Content Consistently

Every social media manager worth their salt will tell you that posting content consistently is one of the best ways to grow a brand. Just as this point is important for businesses, it’s also important for athletes. Even mega-popular athletes with hundreds of millions of followers such as Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo post content consistently. 

However, posting consistently can be challenging for athletes especially when their teams are performing poorly or their form has dipped. Many athletes can find solace in staying away from social media during tough times. At these times it can simply be a good idea to post affirming messages and not check the replies if you want to hide away for a while.

Build Your Brand

It may seem difficult at first but an athlete needs to see themselves as a brand. You only have to look at the likes of Michael Jordan to see what we mean. Creating a logo is a great start which you can do easily with a logo generator.

After that, you’ll also think about what message you want to put across, what personality you should show and what brands you want to be representing. Once you build a brand, more people will start to identify with you and that can increase your social media presence.

It can be off to see yourself as a brand but you need to market yourself to get even better opportunities. The whole world needs to know how good you are so don’t be afraid of a little branding and being proud of your achievements.

Learn How to Manage Online Trolls

It’s unfortunate that athletes have to learn how to manage online trolls, however, it’s a necessary skill. Online trolls thrive by spreading negativity and hatred. In most cases, when teams lose, online trolls use this opportunity to insult or threaten athletes they feel were responsible for the loss.

Online trolling has also evolved. Now when athletes take a stand for a cause they believe in, people who don’t share that same belief usually take this opportunity to troll them online. For example, when Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles decided to prioritize their mental health over sports and national glory many people took this opportunity to troll them.

With online hate and trolling increasing and evolving, athletes need to learn how to manage these trolls for their mental health. Such hate can significantly impact their mental health. Therefore, knowing when to respond, how to respond, and when to back down is important.