Impact of Sponsored NIL Posts on Social Media Engagement (Refresh)

In May 2023, we published a blog post titled “Do Sponsored Posts Decrease Engagement” after we conducted a detailed analysis of athletes who had “Traditional” vs. “Sponsored” posts. 

18 months later, as the NIL landscape has become perhaps even more convoluted but the NIL deal types have become even more intricate, CleanKonnect conducted a refresh of the analysis.

💰 Sponsored Post = any post in which the athlete is promoting a product or service
🏀 Traditional Post = any post that shows the athlete in their day-to-day live or playing their college sport

The study looked at 12 Division I athletes, half male and half female, across a handful of sports with multiple Sponsored and Traditional Posts over a six month period. The data showed a substantial drop in likes and comments when the athletes posted a Sponsored Post, to the tune of 31% fewer likes and 44% fewer comments on average.

The trend was consistent across almost every athlete analyzed, regardless of the athlete's gender or sport played.

There was one exception to the trend: Duke basketball freshman forward Cooper Flagg who saw only a small decrease in likes and an increase in comments on his Sponsored Posts, largely driven by the high quality production of his groundbreaking NIL deal with New Balance.

The key takeaway for college athletes who want to ensure high levels of engagement on their social media posts:

1) Be thoughtful about how many Sponsored Posts you share compared to Traditional Posts. Too many sponsored posts in a row could lose buy-in from your followers.
2) If the partner brand is open to doing a collaborative post, you can pick up incremental likes, comments, and followers by being exposed to the brand's social audience.
3) When producing Sponsored Posts, try to make it look and feel like a Traditional Post in a way that adheres to the brand standards. Sponsored Posts that look like Traditional Posts can be a win for the athlete and the partner brand.