Reggie Torbor was interviewed countless times as a college star at Auburn and as a Super Bowl-winning player in the NFL. Most of the times, those interviews were positive experiences. But every now and then, he came away wishing he could cut out the middleman.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done an interview, and I walk out of the interview thinking, ‘that went really well,’and then you see what’s printed or written and you are like, ‘how did it get that?’ I don’t control the message.
“There are some reporters who do an interview, and before that, they have an agenda. They are trying to get you to say something that fits their narrative and they don’t really care about anything else.”
Empowering athletes to tell their own stories is one reason Jim Cavale created Influencer (INFLCR).
“It’s crazy to me that sports organizations and their athletes are still relying on the middleman to get their message out, instead of embracing the power of social media to run their own broadcasting network of channels,” Cavale says. “Television’s Nielsen Ratings have been replaced by social media followers and engagement that everyone can see for every team and its individual athletes… on their phone.
“A sports team’s total brand reach is a real stat. So are their engaged recruits and fans and their wins and losses. Not just from the team’s social media followings but also from their athlete’s followings.
And the athlete’s ability to compliment their team’s brand, while also leveraging it to grow their personal brand, is well… probably the biggest deal that they’re not doing.”
Social media wasn’t yet a dominant part of society when Torbor played, but he wishes it was and sees a tremendous opportunity for athletes to control their own narratives in a way that helps them long after their playing career ends.
“Social media is an amazing tool because you can cut out the middleman,” Torbor says. “These people (media) have access because people want to go through them to get to you. It’s like anything else. You look at a wholesaler — take out the middleman. You can go straight to the source.
“The problem with social media is it’s like a jet. I could give you a private yet, but you can’t use it because you don’t know how to fly a jet. You have an amazing tool in your backyard that is just decoration. The thing with INFLCR is that it comes in and teaches you how to fly the jet — how to leverage social media responsibly, forward-thinking, in a way that you are able to use it for a purpose that will benefit you now and for years to come.”
ABOUT INFLCR
INFLCR is a SaaS platform for sports team properties to store, track and deliver their content across their influencer network of athletes, coaches, former athletes, media, etc. Each influencer can access their personalized gallery of content on their INFLCR mobile app, which they can use to download and share specific content to their social media platforms, with all influencer user activity tracked back to an INFLCR dashboard for the sports team properties. In its first year, INFLCR has signed and renewed software subscription partnerships with more than 20 college, high school and professional sports team properties, including iconic college sports team brands like the University of Miami Football and the University of Kentucky Men’s Basketball. For more information or to request a demo, visit http://3.80.10.35/
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