I have always considered my climbing career as my own personal brand. If you want to be a professional athlete and earn a living from a niche sport, you have to be more than just physically talented. You have to be business savvy: you are essentially the CEO of a one-person company.
That鈥檚 the way it鈥檚 always been in adventure sports. Unlike players in professional competitive sports leagues, career athletes in lifestyle sports聽like climbing, surfing, and skateboarding聽have always relied on individual endorsement deals to make ends meet. National team sports are covered by all the biggest media companies. But in sports like climbing鈥攚here you鈥檙e performing solo鈥攜our accolades, images, and story are the assets you can leverage to forge partnerships with brands.
With social media, we have our own individual platforms to express who we are. Before I went to high school, if you wanted to be known in the climbing industry, an established magazine needed to take interest in you and your story. I distinctly remember the first time that I was in a magazine鈥Urban Climber, in 2002鈥攚ith a photo of me climbing at a competition. I viewed it as a聽huge accomplishment,聽and my mom ordered聽all of the magazines that were in stock.
Today, how many followers, likes, and retweets you get influences some contracts. Collectively over half a million people around the world , Twitter, and Facebook. And although I do sometimes agree with a brand to deliver campaign posts for payment, I don’t follow any sort of algorithm to decide what to post each day. Here are my five tips to defining yourself on social, whether you’re an aspiring athlete or just someone who likes to get outside.
#1. Be Authentic
Reflect yourself and don鈥檛 try to be anyone else in your posts. The more genuine you are with expressing who you are on social media, the easier it will be to maintain that image. You won鈥檛 need to force-post:聽social media should聽serve as a catalog of your day-to-day. If you鈥檙e living the life you want, you will always have content. Just know your audience and try to keep what you post consistent.
#2. Quality Counts
Instagram聽is like a magazine you flip聽through, so聽posting quality content with a consistent aesthetic is key. Put some thought into the layout of your page and the theme of the photos that you post. Pictures and compelling captions can tell a rich story behind an adventure that can be interesting and inspiring. I try to avoid聽“spraying”聽about climbs and instead posting about what’s real. I’d rather read a聽complete story rather than boastful captions.
#3.聽聽 聽Consider Your Purpose
When I am unsure of posting a photo that may be tangential to the rest of my feed, I ask myself why I want to make the post. I am pretty conservative about advertising who I may be dating, for instance, because I like to develop a layer of personal privacy聽shielded from the spotlights on my life.
#4.聽聽 聽Interact with your audience
We now have a platform to speak directly to our audience, so if you鈥檙e an athlete or brand, having giveaways that help show your gratitude for their support are great. Also, consider which posts have more fan engagement (likes and comments) than others and try to find patterns in the positive responses.聽I do read comments. I don鈥檛 respond often, but I sometimes “like” comments that I agree with or find flattering.
#5.聽聽 聽Keep it natural and organic
At the end of the day, we all should put down our phones more often and go play outside. One of my New Year鈥檚 resolutions is to establish one day per week that I designate phone-free. Social media is supposed to be fun, not stressful. My basic philosophy is simple: be candid with who you are, portray what you genuinely love, and create your own source of inspiration through storytelling. If you aren鈥檛 defining yourself or telling a compelling story, no one will be interested in your brand. Values and identity are essential to any business鈥攃orporations and individuals alike.