You might not know Lewis Hamilton in real life. But you can always (try to) connect with him on LinkedIn.
The Ferrari F1 driver is among a larger influx of athletes who have joined the platform in the past five years or so, according to Laura Lorenzetti, LinkedIn’s senior director and executive editor of global editorial. The trend started largely among retired athletes as they moved onto the next stage of their careers, Lorenzetti said, but athletes on the platform now include current pros. In addition to Hamilton, Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry and tennis star Sloane Stephens are both on the platform, as are a number of college athletes.
“They are ultimately business people,” Lorenzetti told Marketing Brew. “They are professionals. Their first career is going to be their sport, [but] it is not going to be their last career. They are super savvy, and they understand that they need to be setting themselves up for whatever comes next, and they’re starting to do that earlier and earlier.”
We spoke with Lorenzetti to unpack why athletes are leveraging LinkedIn and what it means for the players and platform.
Big deals
The rise of social media and nontraditional sports outlets has given modern athletes more control over their own brands and storytelling than ever before, and LinkedIn is no exception; Lorenzetti said one reason she thinks athletes have been using the platform is to break news about their careers themselves, as opposed to relying on more typical methods like press releases.
Hamilton, for instance, announced his move from Mercedes to Ferrari on LinkedIn in a post that included the hashtag #newjob. Stephens, who hasn’t been competing lately due to injury, recently used the platform to share that she’d be covering this year’s French Open as part of the TNT Sports team.
“For these big-name celebrities, they themselves are brands,” Lorenzetti said. “You want to continue to position yourself as the leader, to be seen in a positive light, to be going directly to the consumer.”
Another reason why some current and former athletes may want to embrace LinkedIn: many of them are also no strangers to investing in—or starting their own—companies. Tom Brady announced the merger of his fan loyalty platform Autograph with fitness platform Future on the platform, Carmelo Anthony regularly posts about his wine company and entrepreneurship, Alex Morgan shared the news about her move from San Diego Wave player to investor, and San Antonio Spurs point guard Chris Paul recently used LinkedIn to help spread the word about his new production company.
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In at least one instance, an athlete says they used LinkedIn to help land their next gig. Stone Garrett, an American baseball player who currently plays professionally in South Korea, indicates on his profile that LinkedIn helped him get his spot on the MLB team the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2021.
Big wins (and Ls)
LinkedIn isn’t just about entrepreneurship or business deals, and it’s common for athletes to post about wins, losses, and lessons on the platform. When Rafael Nadal reflected on his time playing at the French Open, he racked up more than 1,000 comments and more than 800 reposts, and retired six-time NBA All-Star Pau Gasol received hundreds of reactions on a post about an award he received for work done through his foundation.
As any athlete knows, though, sports isn’t all about wins. Alpine ski racer Lindsey Vonn recently got vulnerable on LinkedIn, posting about a fall she took during a race. That kind of post is something of a “sweet spot” in terms of the content the LinkedIn team tries to cultivate, said Katherine O’Hara, a group manager for the platform.
“She’s taking us behind the curtain,” O’Hara said. “She’s sharing something that she learned, and that then, in fact, helps someone who might be going through a similar setback in their career.”
In general, athlete posts “definitely get outsized engagement and conversation,” Lorenzetti said, since “people are hungry to engage” with pro athletes. While Lorenzetti and her team do offer athletes and their teams tips on how to best make use of LinkedIn, she said that largely, she’d like to see the trend of athletes using the platform progress naturally.
“Once you get a few key people, they’re all watching each other,” she said. “The minute Dwyane Wade’s on here talking about his business and what’s coming next, Carmelo’s team is calling up…We definitely see athletes watching other athletes and taking cues from each other.”
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