5 reasons female athletes should engage online

If you’re a female athlete (or you represent female athletes), I have provided five key reasons you should get online and start talking about your life, your sport, and maybe even your brand.

1) You’re creating and controlling your own voice. Today, athletes can no longer rely on traditional media to cover their stories and extend their brands. Instead, I’m afraid you have to do it on your  own, ladies. Some of you are doing it really, really well. Even when you  get cut.

Take for instance Chantelle Anderson who tried out for the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream and got cut. She, prior to getting cut, not only created a name for herself by blogging on Yardbarker, but also continues to voice her opinions about the situation  to a huge audience of followers. Personally (and I know this is not right) but I think the Dream should have kept her, in addition to her talent, she has a following that (maybe) could have transitioned into ticket sales and increased attention, something the struggling league desparately needs.

2) Your fans want to hear from you. I’ve had this argument before with other bloggers – I’m a firm believer that female pro athletes need to engage directly with their fans online. Why? Because they want you to.

Take for instance Kathleen Hessert’s recent post on female racecar phenom Danica Patrick‘s entrance into the Twitter-sphere. In this post, Hessert, CEO of Sports Media Challenge, mentions that prior to her first tweet, Patrick had 2,700 followers, which, she says, “illustrated the demand for her to communicate and connect with her fans in this relatively new medium.”

I agree with Hessert. Patrick’s list of followers (now over 15,000)  indicate that she not only has a brand, but also a following. To take it to the next level, all Danica has to do is engage and participate.

3) Your advertisers may want you to do it. Danica Patrick is, according to Hessert, “the first person to launch on Twitter in conjunction with, and backed by a sponsor.” If this becomes a trend, it must be done so authentically and transparently, as there is high risk for backlash from the community. For example,  in a comment on Hessert’s post, sports media blogger Jason Peck says,

“I’m not sure how everyone feels about the term “sponsored tweets.” That term makes me think that her messages are somehow being influenced by Tissot. I think Tissot can occasionally be wrapped into messages, but not sure they should dictate what she actually says about them. If they are, make sure to be transparent about it.”

I wholeheartedly agree with Jason. The trick will be finding a happy medium between good branding and authentic participation in the online space.  It’s going to be tricky, but I think we’ll get there.

4) You’re joining a niche community. By blogging and tweeting, without even knowing it, not only are you communicating with your fans, but you’re joining an online community of other female pro athletes and advocates. By talking with this niche community, you’re developing relationships that the world can see, and that type of exposure reaches further than any advertisement in a print magazine can say about you.

5) You’re pitching your brand to a whole new industry of journalists. By becoming active online, you’re also talking to sports bloggers, who I like to call the  “sports journalist replacements.”

As previously mentioned, traditional media is on the decline, and the journalism industry is starting to see the effects. Newspapers can no longer afford their journalists, and popular sites  created by fans (and former journalists), known as sports blogs, are rising out of the woodwork and taking control of conversations. They’re filling gaps that traditional media doesn’t cover. We all know that traditional media doesn’t cover genders equally when it comes to sports, so this is our opportunity to shine.

I hope you find these helpful. I’m looking forward to seeing some comments with your reasons.