As the school year begins, college athletes begin to take the court or field in their respective sport. In addition to their athletic performance, athletes can also build and develop their own brands or image. The addition of name, image and likeness, or NIL, into the college athletics landscape has allowed athletes to leverage the opportunity to compete on a national level to showcase who they are as individuals and develop their brand.
The rise of social media has given new insight into the lives of athletes both inside and outside of sports. Social media can be a useful tool for branding as it gives athletes and other individuals the opportunity to share about their interests, personality, values, and much more.
Social media has given brands the chance to grow their audience through partnerships with athletes through NIL deals, using athlete endorsement and an extended platform to their advantage. Endorsing a brand can highlight some of the things that the athlete enjoys, needs, or values; it can also show fans a side of the athlete that they may not get to see on gameday. For example, Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green recently highlighted a headphone company on social media where he shared what types of music and music artists he listens to in certain situations.
NIL has also created ways for athletes to invest in their communities through supporting charity events, fundraisers, youth camps, and other causes that are meaningful to them. These opportunities can promote interaction between fans and athletes. This gives athletes the opportunity to personally get to know a small fraction of their fanbase and present themselves in a more relational setting. Additionally, through NIL, athletes are able to sell their own merchandise, which can generate support for individual athletes and teams as a whole. Athletes will often post links to stores where fans can purchase items like jerseys and shirts representing the athlete’s name. Sites, such as Athlete’s Thread, set up pages for many schools across the nation. There, fans can select an athlete and purchase their merchandise while giving back to them. Furthermore, athletes can create and design their own merchandise.
College athletes achieve a great deal for universities through their performance and commitment to the team because college athletics generates revenue. In addition to generating excitement for fans, they can create a legacy and build their brand through their name, image, and likeness while playing the sport they love.