Athletes Who Tweet Have More Brand Influence On The Fans That Follow Them

Though Donovan McNabb might disagree. There’s a method to some of Chad OchoCinco’s madness. The 2011 Catalyst Fan Engagement Study was just released and it’s findings indicate that sports’ fans who follow athletes on twitter are 55% more likely to purchase a brand if it’s mentioned by them in social media. That number is significantly higher among young (18-34), non-white fans (75%) and those with kids at home (62%).

The fans are listening. It’s almost as if the athletes are providing one-on-one personal lifestyle advice. And who doesn’t love THAT treatment. Other key points uncovered in the study:

• People who follow NCAA basketball are the most digitally connected.  NBA fans were second.

• 80% of fans use Facebook, 30% use YouTube and 23% use Twitter to follow athletes.

• People are likely to participate in fantasy leagues, purchase brands mentioned by athletes, and say they have become even more involved with sports since they started using social media to follow or discuss their favorite sports.

• Young, non-white fans engage with their favorite athletes, teams, sports – and fellow fans – through mobile devices and social media channels more than any other demographic group. According to the survey, they are more likely to use social media to meet people with similar interests, and to share information and pictures with other fans.

• Within this group, 81% have experienced at least one of the following in the past six months: watched sports live on a laptop, tablet, mobile or smart phone and used any location based services to enhance the viewing experience. That is compared to compared to 51% of all fans who participated in the survey.

The survey did not mention which athletes had the most influence via their Twitter and Facebook destinations. However, among the most active on Twitter and with the largest number of followers are, Shaquille O’Neal (nearly 4 million), Serena Williams (more than 2.1 million followers), Chad Ochocinco (2.1 million), Dwight Howard (2 million) and Paul Pierce (more than 1.8 million followers).

There’s power in your tweets! It doesn’t always have to end up negative!