Sports sponsorships and in particular athlete endorsements are one of the most under-utilized social media marketing tools. The opportunity for brands to tap into influencer marketing - not just through athletes but also through an ever-growing number of self-made vloggers, Tik-Tokkers and fitness fanatics, is greater than ever before.

Below is a list of our top 10 athlete influencers, both current and retired, who have maximized use of their social media platforms to not only to boost their personal brand, but also to bring attention to important social justice movements.

Repurposing the content that comes from the athlete influencer deal is really important. We have written a lot on the topic of how to get the maximum ROI from athlete influencer campaigns by whitelisting the athlete social platform to boost ads, adding the athlete content to an email marketing campaign to increase click through rates, or adding the content to areas of your website to reduce bounce rates. 

Regional marketing is important for all brands as it allows you to be more nimble, targeted and see a great ROI on your marketing spend. Influencers and particularly athletes influencers are a great way to develop your regional marketing strategy. Why use athletes for regional marketing? They LIVE in your regional market, they come on TV week after week competing and WINNING for your regional market, their followers on social media are mostly likely to be your regional CUSTOMERS. 

After a long summer filled with questions about the fate of 2020 sports seasons, the NFL's return is just a week away and I know I can confidently speak on behalf of sports fans everywhere when I say I cannot wait to see these players take the field again. Now is the perfect time to sponsor NFL players, and where else to do so but OpenSponsorship? Here's just a few reasons why OpenSponsorship should be your one-stop shop to sponsor NFL players:

Many cosmetic brands use influencers as a significant component of their marketing strategy. Not only do influencers validate the brand's products, but they also expose the brand and its products to the influencer's large followings, creating many potential customers. Athletes are social media influencers with loyal followings that want a peek into these athletes' daily lives and routines, making them ideal candidates to partner with cosmetic brands.

A sometimes overlooked aspect of a sponsorship deal is the opportunity to be able to repurpose the content that the athlete influencer creates. By agreeing to a deal with an athlete on OpenSponsorship, you can request the rights to that content to be able to repurpose it in your marketing strategy, whether it be email marketing, including it on your website, or best of all, whitelisting the athlete's Facebook and Instagram accounts to run paid ads with the content.

Off the field, athletes are just like the rest of us in many ways. They have their own interests and hobbies that they enjoy during their free time, whether it be video games, their favorite TV shows, food and drinks, or music. Athletes sometimes use these interests as a way of connecting with fans on a more personal level as well, typically through social media platforms like Twitter and YouTube.

The world of Extreme Sports is a treasure trove of surreal and engaging content. Countless times large prints of photos from extreme sports have caught the eyes of consumers when they’re posted on walls of retail stores and outlet malls. When shopping for outdoor lifestyle gear, equipment, and clothing, I personally find myself more drawn to purchasing an item if it has a photo of someone wearing in its appropriate climate or terrain. As consumers, we have come to trust the validity of a product through reviews, photos, and videos of individuals using it prior to our purchase. Brands such as GoPro, Red Bull, and Anheuser-Busch have been taking advantage of this form of consumer behavior.