Athletes’ struggle on social media platforms

Mark
Written By Mark

Athletes chasing gold medals at the Paris Games will be looking to gain social media engagement and new followers as the battle for fame begins at the start of the Olympics.
Social media activity will be hectic over the 16 days starting July 26, as Olympic athletes look to exploit a narrow window to connect with fans through platforms such as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.
American rugby player Ilona Maher rose to fame at the Tokyo Olympics and now has more than a million followers on TikTok, even though her sport is less popular than others in the United States.
Fellow athlete Ariana Ramsey wants to follow a similar path at the Paris Games, hoping the four videos she will produce each day will help her ambition to one day start her own sportswear brand.
“It’s a lot of pressure because there’s only a limited amount of things you can really plan for,” she said.
“I can create a list of content ideas and try to implement them there, but it would be more like what’s happening at the time? What can I capture? How would it relate to what’s happening?” she added.
Like many other Olympic athletes who work second or even third jobs, Ramsey has used social media to supplement her income.
She struck a one-time deal with brands and was paid around $100 for a short video on Instagram and $50 for a daily post on the platform.