2024 NFL Draft Social Media Report

2024 NFL Draft

Every April, 250+ young men are drafted to the NFL…

And every April, I track their social media following before and after the big day. Today’s newsletter will break down which athletes positioned themselves best on social, which NFL teams are most valuable to an athlete’s following and other social takeaways.

I do this annually for the NBA Draft as well so make sure to subscribe or share with a friend who may find this content interesting.

Biggest Risers

Big winner: Drake Maye

Drake Maye, the 3rd QB selected in the draft by the New England Patriots, received over 100,000 followers from Thursday at 5pm until Monday am. The only player to receive a 6 figure boost.

Big loser: Marvin Harrison Jr.

I’m pretty shocked that MHJ earned only 30,000 followers across IG and Twitter. The 4th pick in the NFL draft came into the draft with the 2nd highest IG following in the entire draft class behind only J.J. McCarthy. He even received a reaction video from Kyler Murray (no tag) who has 371K followers on Twitter.

Honorable Mention:

The Caleb Williams Boost for Rome Odunze. Odunze was drafted 9th overall to the Chicago Bears. The rule of 3s played out amazing here.

1. Caleb Williams attention for being drafted #1 overall

2. Bears fanbase starving for success/big media market

3. Caleb x Rome content. Caleb and Rome were the only teammates both selected in the Top 10 and both were at the NFL Draft. Collaboration is key!

NFL Teams Social Media

We know the value of being drafted to the Miami Dolphins (no state income tax!) or the Dallas Cowboys (America’s team!) but what about the social value in being drafted to a specific team?

The Popular teams DOMINATE:

While QBs are going to gain the largest followings, these teams had the biggest risers: Chicago Bears, New England Patriots, New York Giants, and the Philadelphia Eagles.

It’s not necessarily the biggest markets but the teams with the most passionate fanbases.

On the other side of the coin: Washington Commanders, Arizona Cardinals, and even the Atlanta Falcons (who had the biggest shocker of the draft) all seemed to underperform.

@NFL Remains King

While amazing social content, a well positioned social profile and a high draft choice can all positively affect your social following, there is no doubt that a collab from @NFL (30M followers on IG) remains the easiest path to social growth.

The content that performed especially well were draftees reacting to video messages sent in by family, friends or teammates.

This resulted in a ton of growth for Drake Maye, Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze.

Other Social Takeaways

I am sad. As a Snapchat creator. As someone who knows the talent team at Snap. As someone 7 years older than these kids who grew up using Snapchat. As Snap creators made a TON of $ posting content over the last 24 months.

NOT A SINGLE DRAFTEE WAS ON SNAPCHAT!!!!

Bleh.

I couldn’t locate any players having a YouTube channel. Just interesting to note given the NFL & YouTube’s MASSIVE $2B/Year deal for NFL Sunday Ticket. Anthony Black who was a lottery pick in last summer’s NBA Draft had one and shared his journey through draft night.

Only 4 draftees in the study were on Tik Tok and Caleb Williams is the only player to post since being drafted.

Caleb Williams: Content Creator

While I’m dissapointed in Snapchat and surprised by the low usage of Tik Tok and YT, I could not be more excited about Caleb Williams.

The #1 pick in the NFL Draft is also by far the #1 content creator in the draft class. We will see the same thing when Jared McCain is drafted this summer as a lottery pick. But the fact that it’s the best player in the draft is so special.

Caleb has also shown he’s unapologetically himself (similar to McCain) - painting his nails, crying in his mom’s arms and being vulnerable. Caleb has the potential to not only turn around the Chicago Bears franchise but also bring attention to the value of Social Media + Content creation and in affect bring more resources to those undermanned departments within the NFL Organizations.