If you are a sponsored athlete, business owner or budding brand ambassador then you need to be doing at least these 5 things on your social media daily! 

After 5 years of building successful social media strategies for companies one complaint that is loud and clear is that companies feel they are no longer benefiting from sponsoring athletes.

There was a time not long ago when having a sponsored rider was a great way to get exposure, most people would follow the world through magazines, which meant that having your athlete with a pretty picture and your product was an ideal way to promote your product. Today, magazines are struggling to stay in business and social media is more powerful than ever.

As a vlogger I have had my videos featured in several equestrian magazines both online and off.

What does that mean for businesses and sponsored athletes? Well, key influencers now have the power and sponsored athletes are rapidly falling behind on their marketing A game. It is no longer enough to just be a name, you need to be a brand, you need to be known, liked and trusted. Which means key influencers are ready and primed to take the stage. So while sponsored athletes rest on their laurels of simply being awesome, eager social media enthusiasts are building massive followings on social media and become more and more influential each and every day in their niche.

Successful Social Media is about more than pretty pictures.

Sponsored athletes are often difficult to work with on social media, from a lack of response, lack of engagement, lack of fan base, it is a daily struggle for companies to try to create content from a winning weekend with a sponsored athlete. Meanwhile, that adult amateur over there with 20 thousand followers… she is happy for all the world to see her winning results.

Getting started on social media takes a bit of time and some skill mastery, but so does everything else in your sport.  If you are a sponsored athlete, consider this your warning, you are on the critically endangered list of marketing influence. If you are a business owner ranting these frustrations, my advice to you is to start looking for professional or amateur riders that are already key influencers and have a following in social media. This is single handedly the best way to improve your social media and increase the excitement about your brand.

If you are a sponsored rider, business owner or key influencer you may want to check out my Facebook Checklist. You can download it here! This is a quick and easy way to make sure you are working your way towards Social Media Awesomeness!