Influencer marketing is about leveraging the power and reach of social media influencers to connect with potential customers you might not have been able to reach before. Influencers can make a very significant impact on businesses, and there is a broad range of different kinds on every social media platform around. Picking the right social media content creators can define the success of your influencer marketing campaigns, but the good news is that there are influencers out there for every brand.

Brands can choose from a huge variety of influencers that appeal to different people. Many will work with home décor influencers, vegan influencers, or food influencers, depending on the type of product or service they are looking to sell. But if you want to go for broad appeal, athletes are a great option.

Numerous professional and amateur athletes have cultivated significant followings and wield a lot of power that brands can use to work for them. Many athletes are even involved in co-branding ventures that are rising trends. Let’s look at some professional and amateur athletes making significant splashes in the influencer marketing industry.

Damian Lillard

Damian Lillard is one of the NBA’s eminent superstars. Basketball is a North American sport that resonates particularly well on social media. Athletes cultivate massive personal followings and develop strong individual brands that they can leverage on social media. Damian Lillard is a strong example of this. Lillard has grown his following to 9.4 million followers on Instagram, making him a massive influencer, and he’s collaborated with numerous brands throughout his career. He’s worked with Tissot, a watch company, playing off his nickname of Dame Time, to create a mixed reality experience he shared on Instagram. He’s also partnered with Hulu on a sponsored ad that generated 170,000 likes on his page.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the greatest soccer players of all time, and he has married his success on the pitch to a secondary career as one of the world’s biggest influencers. Ronaldo is one of the most followed Instagram accounts and the single most followed personal Instagram account. Ronaldo has built a jaw-dropping following of 403 million on his Instagram account, and his ability to change the fortunes of brands is immense. In a famous press conference, Ronaldo pushed aside two bottles of Coca-Cola and urged his fans to drink water. This small action caused the stock price of Coke to drop $4 billion! Ronaldo has also endorsed many brands in his day, ranging from video games to fragrances and underwear.

The Cavinder Twins

The Name, Image, and Likeness rule change in the NCAA signaled a new dawn for collegiate athletes. This rule allowed them to profit off of their own brand, opening the door to an era of collegiate influencers. The Cavinder twins are examples of the benefits athletes can see from this. These twins are collegiate athletes at Fresno State, playing for the woman’s basketball team. They are also social media celebrities that have accumulated 3.9 million followers on TikTok. Before the NIL changes, they wouldn’t have been able to market on their page, but they do it consistently now. They’ve partnered with Vrbo, a vacation home rental platform, Celsius, an energy drink brand, and PSD, an underwear brand.

Paul Bissonnette

Paul Bissonnette is a retired NHL player, and while he stuck around the league for several years, he has found more success in his second job. Bissonnette was more known for his fighting and big personality than his skill in his playing days, but now he is a social media superstar, media personality, and podcast host. Bissonnette, or Biznasty as he goes by on his social media pages, has a highly engaged following of 435,000 on Instagram, but his performance as a brand ambassador has been excellent. He and fellow retired NHL player Ryan Whitney created the co-branded vodka product of Pink Whitney with New Amsterdam Vodka, which has seen stratospheric sales. Bissonnette has also partnered with glove companies, marijuana brands, and more.

Serena Williams

Serena Williams is the greatest female tennis player of all time, a dominant athlete who forever left a mark on the sport she played. Her success on the court led to her becoming one of the most famous female athletes on the planet, which has made her an extremely viable influencer for marketing purposes. Williams is the most followed female athlete on Instagram with 14.2 million followers, and she leverages that massive reach to partner with brands around the world. She recently partnered with Michelob Ultra for a sponsored ad that generated hundreds of thousands of views. She has also worked with Lincoln, the car company, and Nintendo.

If you are looking to launch your influencer marketing outreach into the stratosphere, partnering with a top influencer marketing agency is the way to do it. Influence Hunter is that influencer marketing firm, a team with years of experience helping brands develop customizable, high-performing campaigns. Whether you are looking for Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok influencer marketing, Influence Hunter is the name to know. Contact us today to find out what we can do for your business.