Western Kentucky student-athletes took it upon themselves to promote the Hilltopper Exchange almost immediately upon launch of their INFLCR platform.
After testing the link promotion with a few student-athletes, WKU’s Senior Associate Athletics Director, Zach Greenwell said other student-athletes decided to do something similar after seeing the initial success.
Student-Athletes realized high engagement on social media posts and started receiving deals through the Local Exchange directly from posting the link.
WKU is the biggest show in town – so there is a pretty good chance that businesses have personal attachments to a particular sport or athlete. The different SAs posting this shows that NIL opportunities aren’t only for Men’s Basketball and Football – which I think is so important.
Promotion Engagement
Here are few notable examples of the impressive engagement seen from student-athletes posting links to the Hilltopper Exchange platform:
Volleyball
Men’s Basketball
Posted to 1,866 followers. Received 8 retweets, 94 likes.
Posted to 19.1k followers. Received 15 retweets, 302 likes.
Women’s Basketball
Posted to 732 followers. Received 3 retweets, 15 likes.
Results From Promotion
Student-athletes sharing WKU’s Hilltopper Exchange link on social media saw direct results in building their NIL business. Jamarion Sharp received a significant Local Exchange deal shortly after announcing his return to WKU and has expressed to WKU staff that he is engaged with at least 10 Local Exchange clients since promoting the Local Exchange link through his social media platforms. Dayvion McKnight also has ongoing deals completed through the Local Exchange.
Transactions weren’t the only outcome from the promotion. Nearly 20 new businesses registered for the Hilltopper Exchange since the posts went live, bringing WKU’s registered business total to 36.
We felt it was a good idea for student-athletes to help build a direct, personal connection with these businesses by bringing them to Local Exchange themselves, instead of us trying to only sign up the businesses themselves and then they find the athletes. If a business owner has an emotional connection to the athlete and their personal social post, it’s our belief they will be more highly motivated to sign up and actively seek out that athlete for a deal.
Expect new features coming from INFLCR that will create personalized opportunities for athletes to engage in NIL activity.
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