By Will Hendrick, LifeBrand
Social media is a tremendous tool, especially for athletes in the NIL era who can now leverage their social media platforms to further their professional brands. As beneficial as social media can be, it can also cause irreversible damage to student athlete brands, earning power, and future opportunities when old posts with questionable content resurface. Should students be judged off posts they made in their adolescent years? Unfortunately, that is not up to me to decide… although I think we have all seen that the world is not always forgiving. Here, we dive into 5 reasons why it’s more important than ever to audit your social media RIGHT NOW.
Everyone Has a Brand
In the digital world we live in today, everyone, whether they like it or not, has a personal brand. The first impression someone has on you has tremendous influence over your brand and brand perception. For athletes taking advantage of their NIL, it can be that first impression that determines if companies want to engage in business with you. With social media and the ease to which we can be “googled”, it allows people to judge us off of something we posted on social media before we were old enough to drive. This can sound scary considering most of us can’t remember what we had for breakfast yesterday, not to mention what we tweeted 5 years ago. Completing a thorough audit of your social media channels will help protect your brand and future opportunities.
Cancel Culture is Real
The rise of cancel culture has proved devastating to those in its cross fire. An important lesson that students must learn (hopefully not the hard way) is that when you start reaching your potential, there will always be someone who wants to bring you down. Just ask former Villanova basketball player, Donte DiVincenzo, who got burned for tweets that resurfaced from 2011 & 2013. These tweets dropped his draft stock considerably. Don’t let an irresponsible social media past provide anyone an opportunity to jeopardize your future.
Social Norms Change
“Oh how the times are a changing.” As most of us know, what you were able to say five years ago is not necessarily acceptable in today’s times. The average college student has used social media for eight years. That means most students entered these platforms when they were in middle school! Auditing your social platforms ensures your content is compliant with the times.
Posts are often Misinterpreted
The major problem with social media, and any online platform for that matter, is that posts often lack context, tonality, and meaning. 70%-90% of all communication is nonverbal according to Lifesize.com. WOW! Just the other day, I heard someone on a podcast say “There are 7 billion people on earth, but we all live in our own world.” This goes to show you that regardless of how we meant for a social media post to come off, there will always be someone reading it through a different and potentially negative lens.
Life Beyond Athletics
98% of college athletes will not play at the professional level. So…what’s next? Most likely, a professional job in the “real world”. With that being said, did you know that 90% of employers look at potential employee’s social media profiles? Did you know 79% of employers have reported not hiring a candidate based off social media content alone? Scary numbers…I know. Protect your personal brand and future opportunities with frequent social media audits using a tool like LifeBrand.
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Meet the Expert Contributor
Will Hendrick is an Account Executive at LifeBrand. LifeBrand is a brand protection tool that makes removing cringeworthy content from your social media page easy and safe. LifeBrand’s technology empowers users to scan, detect, and provides the option to edit or delete any potentially harmful posts from your social platforms. Utilized by colleges, professional sports organizations, and businesses, this tool has proved viable in today’s digital world. Visit https://www.lifebrand.life/to learn how you can cleanse your social media and protect the brand you’ve worked so hard to build.