How Social Media is Changing the Future of Sports Marketing

I have thought a lot in the last few months about athletes and personalities, especially in a role where we are looking towards social media more as player appearances are being used less.

It is a tough area to get right and we are still learning everyday in how it works and what we should/shouldn’t be doing. Businesses are certainly looking more towards their assets beyond the TV adverts and on field performances.

Sure it is still important that an athlete has the right profile and fits in with the brand, the same as it always has been. But their online presence is becoming more important and will certainly have a say in who gets signed up and for how much.

Will we see them taking a money-per-tweet approach? Not for quite a while I think and that would only be for those with significant presence. In future, we could see athletes from individual sports where sponsorship is so important gaining much of their income this way and being able to set their own fees.

Where this does lead us into is the responsibility on athletes to look after themselves online and realise it is not only a platform to show their personality but their extended brand. Yes, I know we don’t want them to become robots who only say what they are told to and spam it full of sponsor messages. But what would have happened to Beckham, Owen, Gerrard, etc who have large endorsements if they were impeccable on the field but mouthing off to everyone when away from it…. they wouldn’t get touched.

This is especially prevalent when you see examples of footballers being caught saying what is really on their mind, whether it be Carlton Cole, Danny Gabbidon, Ryan Babel, etc, etc…. it is becoming almost boring now to read the same headlines in the Metro every week!

Now we see the likes of Michael Owen on twitter, do you think he will be prone to any outbursts? No, I think it is safe to say he will be a cautious tweeter. Having spent so many years being squeaky clean he wont be one to let it all go now, no matter how close to the end of his career he is. He still needs to bring in money post-career as well, maybe in the media.

The onus is on the clubs, agents, sponsors and players themselves to realise where to draw the line between banter and insults, and to get their house in order.  Youngsters such as Jack Wilshere, Cesc Fabregas and Wojciech Szczesny (many of the Arsenal players)and older patrons such as Rio Ferdinand, Ian Poulter and Robbie Savage are showing the way forward, hopefully others will follow their lead.

About author

Daniel McLaren
Daniel McLaren 820 posts

Dan is the Founder & CEO of Digital Sport. Can be found at sports industry events and heard every week on the Digital Sport Insider podcast. @DanielMcLaren

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