College athletes have a lot on their plates, but now they can add “social media influencer” to their resumes. Thanks to NIL, macro and micro influencers alike can now cash in on brand partnership opportunities. The best part? Follower count and the college's reputation do not play key roles in an athlete's marketability if they are smart about their brand.

Last summer, the NCAA announced new policy changes regarding name, image, and likeness rights for college athletes. Consequently, athletes from all divisions can now profit from their NILs. Companies are now offering sponsorships and endorsements in exchange for brand exposure, but there are a few caveats. For example, athletes must alert their colleges of company deals and cooperate with preexisting state and school policies. Additionally, to keep team sports fair, students still cannot accept pay-per-play deals.

Many of the 460,000 athletes currently competing in the NCAA have since found endorsements from small businesses or temporary deals with bigger corporations and oftentimes use social media to get their brand out there. No matter the athlete's following or clout, they  can use Instagram to market their NIL and in the process learn advertising skills, such as social media positioning, using a posting schedule, and SEO keywords. If you're camera-ready, here are a few ways you can use Instagram to cash in.

Set Yourself Up for Success

College athletes looking to make it in the NIL market should create an athletics-focused account rather than using personal accounts or rebranding an old account. Why? Instagram positions accounts to see relevant Explore Page content, so without a platform-recognized topic, athletic accounts will see less related content. This equates to less student account visibility.

Put Yourself Out There!

Additionally, be sure to make your account public–these accounts receive access to creator and business accounts and Instagram offers paid ad services to maximize visibility. Influencers see the percentage of accounts reached in specific time frames and creators see their most-viewed posts and stories. They can then sell directly to Instagram shops and receive free marketing plans.

Keep it Brief

Concise Instagram usernames are key. These handles should have no special characters and ideally will consist of one word. Username generators create personalized screennames with pertinent adjectives. Short, direct handles help followers remember influencer brands, so keep it simple!

Activating a Posting Schedule

Business accounts see when followers log into Instagram and creators see these statistics on a bar graph with scales of day and time. This is important information as activity analysis allows for increased post visibility. However, many creators do not manually post. Instead, influencers use websites like Loomly or Later to automate posts. These websites offer free trials and paid plans for services.

Set Limits

It may be tempting to post rapid-fire content but successful influencers stick to limits on the number of posts they publish per day. They do this because followers should not feel overwhelmed by posting rates. There's no set in stone number here–for Instagram stories, marketers might suggest two to five posts. For actual posts, they might recommend one to three posts. Regardless of your personal quota, experts concur that it's  key to produce content every day.

Content calendars can assist influencers here by outlining post subjects and needed materials in bullet points. Often, calendars feature color-coding to enhance optical comprehension. Influencers use calendars for reference and management ease.

Related: Rate your Coaches, Facilities, and Campus Visits

Utilizing SEO Keywords

‘SEO' stands for ‘search engine optimization.' Keywords allow for account visibility in organic searches. Influencers conduct research through websites like Moz and WordStream thatrank terms via internet traffic. Creators then apply these words to captions and hashtags for optimal reach and exposure.

Effective keywords for athletes often include the sport and team names. Other terms include verbs like “bounce” for basketball or “kick” for soccer.   If you'd like to learn more about SEO and which keywords might work best for your brand, AnswerThePublic.com offers free SEO lessons, search alerts, and keyword analysis.

Write Effective Query Letters

Often, influencers query companies in emails. Written introductions include the student's name, year, college, and sport. A student-influencer should also include their target audience. In addition, they could explain their brand angle. For example, if a student wants to promote healthy eating through their sports page, they should mention that in a query letter. Lastly, the student should give contact information so brands can follow up.

Look for Opportunities

Students often find partner businesses through brand interests. For example, an influencer might query a health foods store for a brand promoting nutritious eating or a creator might message a women's athletics store for a brand centering female athletes. If you're looking for a partner brand, WayUp.com assists students in finding campus representative opportunities and the Heartbeat app matches influencers with brands based on interests.

The bottom line? With some hard work, even small market college athletes can become big time influencers. Utilizing advertising techniques, setting limits, and looking for opportunities are just a few strategies that can go a long way. 

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* Originally published on November 1, 2022, by Britt Trachtenberg