On September 1, Twitter announced the launch of their newest monetization feature: super-follows.
Having built a sizable portion of my Twitter following while still as a college athlete, I can see the immense value this new feature will have thanks to NIL.
In a nutshell, it’s a new way for creators to earn monthly revenue by sharing subscriber-only content with their followers on Twitter.
Through Super Follows, athletes can set a monthly subscription of $2.99, $4.99 or $9.99 a month to monetize “behind-the-scenes” content for their most engaged followers on Twitter. And followers get extra special access to their unfiltered thoughts, early previews and subscriber-only content.
Twitter introduced Super Follows yesterday – a simple way for athletes to monetize their NIL value. (fans can pay small monthly fee for exclusive content) To access feature, Users must tweet 25x/mo The challenge? Avg athlete tweets 6x/mo 👋Hey athletes, 🗣GET YOUR TWEETS UP
1. Recurring Revenue
The beauty of Super Follows is the ability to make monthly recurring revenue on a social media platform you’re already active on.
In high school, I ran an NBA highlights YouTube channel that provided me with roughly $600/month just from the advertisements. It ended up getting removed from YouTube because of copyrighting issues, but that’s a story for another day.
I loved seeing that new $600 every month in my account. College athletes are REALLY going to like seeing a few thousand in their account every month.
How Much Can Athletes Make With Super Follows?
Let’s use Miami’s starting QB D’eriq King as an example.
He’s already killing the NIL game, so Super Follows on Twitter would be a viable option for him.
When looking at his profile I immediately notice:
- Verified on Twitter – good for recognition
- 25,000 followers – solid amount for Twitter
- Website link in bio – directs to his socials and apparel store
- Pinned tweet took off – engagement is there from followers
- An NIL deal with BioSteel Sports – people enjoy seeing NIL deals
There are some things I would change to help D’eriq increase his NIL brand value such as the design of his website, twitter bio, and even changing his location to Miami – but overall it’s solid.
How Much Would D’eriq King Make With Super Follows?
The first thing he needs to do is start posting behind the scenes content publicly on Twitter. This will help when he decides to release his super-follows as fans will expect to get all of that and more after subscribing.
D’eriq also needs to tap into the Miami U fanbase and make sure all of them are following him on Twitter.
It is very reasonable to expect him to have 35,000 followers at this point.
Being super-conservative let’s assume only 3% of his followers convert to super followers.
I think $4.99 is the most reasonable pricing plan so let’s go with that.
35,000 followers x 3% = 1,050 super followers
1,050 super followers x $4.99 = $5240/month
…or about $63,000 for the year if he doesn’t lose or add any more super followers
Not too shabby at all.
If I’m D’eriq, I would hire a photographer/editor to capture more behind-the-scenes content and a social media manager to grow all of his accounts.
The revenue and additional opportunities would far outweigh the costs associated with hiring a small team.
2. Increased Fan Engagement
Super follows will lead to super fans.
Look at any super successful YouTube channel (Jake Paul, Nelk Boys, Danny Duncan) they have turned their fans into super fans thanks to behind the scenes content.
You feel like you really know them. You want to support them.
Super-follows is no different.
There are thousands of parents that would pay $9.99/month to learn from college athletes on how they can help their kids get to that level.
And there are millions of kids that would pay $4.99/month to see the lifestyle you live.
And there are thousands of fans (sometimes over the top) that would pay $4.99/month to learn inside scoop within your program.
College athletes realistically only have 4-5 years to take advantage of these opportunities. Don’t wait!
3. The Power of Social Media
One of the best things about super follows is it doesn’t matter if you’re the starting QB at a Power 5 school or a women’s tennis player at a small Division 3 institution.
If you have the audience on Twitter, you will be rewarded.
Don’t get me wrong, the starting QB is going to have the advantage of a much larger University fan base, but ultimately it comes down to how savvy you are on Twitter.
People want to see the behind-the-scenes lifestyle and learn what it’s like to be in your shoes.
When I was in college, people from my hometown were always so interested in what it was like to play _____ , what my days looked like, and how I got to Boston University.
Make them feel like they know you personally and you’ll win big with super-follows and NIL in general.
(Related: How to Set Up and Use Twitter Super Follows to Start Making Passive Income)
