Twitter is an undeniable avenue for athletes, fans, and sports organizations to interact online. The platform’s real-time conversation and penchant for showcasing personality make it one of the premium places for student-athletes to build their personal brands. Recently, David Herman from Twitter Sports Partnerships joined the Opendorse Ready™ NIL Masterclass – an exclusive addition to the Ready program, the leading NIL readiness solution in college athletics. The NIL Masterclass is built to provide student-athletes with live lessons from leaders and brands in the NIL ecosystem including Instagram, the Players’ Tribune, and this lesson, Twitter.
Herman has 5+ years of experience helping partners bring content strategies to like on Twitter. He assists partners in navigating growth, monetization, and executing strategies to join global conversations happening on the platform.
Here are three top takeaways from the NIL Masterclass with Twitter’s David Herman:
1. Join the Conversation
Twitter is the platform to join in on conversations that are happening in real-time. In the sports space; brands, fans, teams, and leagues converse to create a global sports bar-like experience by communicating about big moments happening on the playing surface.
The best way for an athlete to grow their audience is to consistently get involved in conversations and engage with their support. Athletes, followed and looked up to by many, can create conversations by sharing their thoughts, experiences, and asking this community questions.
Herman points to Dwyane Wade as an athlete who has mastered proactive audience engagement. His audience has been steadily built up after pairing years of high performance on the court with consistent performance on the platform.
2. Tap into Tools
Brands and fans both want to see variety in your timeline. Timeline diversity can be achieved by using tools like sharing media (photo and videos), polls, Twitter Spaces, quote tweeting, and more, to keep supporters engaged and show brands you can maximize on your personal platform. Using all of these tools demonstrates authenticity and provides new, interesting ways to show followers your authentic personality.
As athletes do this, it will be clear to see how your audience engages with different types of content and begin to identify what your audience values, and where they’re coming from. Keep the timeline real, continuous, and functional for you.
3. Share what you love
Twitter creates conversation in areas and topics beyond sports. Share your other interests and diversify your following beyond the average sports fan. There are plenty of topics to engage with that will open up opportunities.
From a branding and monetization perspective, Herman has seen many partnerships come from individuals tweeting about brands they love and use on a daily basis. The more natural you can make this brand outreach, the more authentic a potential partnership will appear.
