As a professional athlete, you know how important social networking is. Regularly posting on your social accounts helps you to build up your loyal fan base. You might already use Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to do so.
Sharing photos and videos of your personal and professional life will keep your fans engaged and interested.
But have you ever considered LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a platform that can help you on a professional level, during your active athlete career but also in the years after your retirement.
We all know that nothing is certain in sports and that injuries and performance can easily change the direction of your career.
But besides the uncertainty, a sporting career also comes with an expiration date. Even if you don’t want to think about it right now and just want to focus on your current career, it will come to an end one day.
Whatever you want to do after sports, it is important to already build up your network that can strengthen your future success.
And the perfect social platform to do so is LinkedIn!
You might still be a little bit hesitant. That is why we will present a few reasons to you why LinkedIn is an important platform for you to use.
1. It's a place to network and build meaningful relationships
On every social media platform you use, you try to connect with your fans and followers. But it is also important to connect and build a relationship with people that can help your sporting career or offer you opportunities for the future.
LinkedIn is the platform to build and increase your professional network. It’s a place where you can connect with people that share the same interests, such as other athletes, coaches, sponsors, people with the same educational background as you, etc.
But it could also be interesting to connect with journalists or other industry experts.
2. You stay up to date with what others do
LinkedIn is a place where individuals and companies share their achievements, experiences and opinions. It is an easy way to stay up to date with everything your connections do, all in one place.
If the club you are playing for has a big event or activation, they will communicate it through LinkedIn. If a business gets good results, they will post it on LinedIn.
If your teammate wins an award, she will probably share it on LinkedIn.
Your teammates, club and sponsors are connected to you and everything they do professionally, can reflect you as a person as well. That is why it is important to know what and how they are doing.
3. It’s a place to strengthen your personal brand
At Valenze, we always try to make clear that personal branding is more than just posting pictures of yourself on social media. It is about showing who you are, by highlighting your unique personality and values.
LinkedIn is a platform that can help you to communicate your achievements, to show your personal strengths and qualities, your interests and values, and that you have the knowledge and experience in a certain field of work.
An updated LinkedIn profile and by posting on a regular basis, helps you to stand out from the crowd and to portray the person you are. It will add a sense of professionalism to your personal athlete brand.
4. To find career opportunities
However the content on LinkedIn is changing, it is still a professional platform. Everyone on this platform has a professional mindset and this can help you to create more and better career opportunities.
Opportunities during your sports career
Your network can consist of people working in the football industry. Coaches, agents, sponsors etc. Sharing the achievements of you as a player can help to increase the awareness of your skills on the field and open doors to new sponsorship deals or even transfers.
Opportunities after you sports career
It might not be the most fun thing to think about, but at some point your professional career will come to an end. Your LinkedIn network, and all the business professionals in it, can help you to pave the way for new career opportunities.
It is important to start building that network now, because some people you meet today could be a beneficial connection in the future.
LinkedIn is definitely a very important platform for athletes and has multiple benefits. We hope you are motivated to use LinkedIn more or start using it if you haven’t yet. And if you wish to talk more about this platform and how it can benefit you, don’t hesitate to contact us!
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