Women professional athletes and their personal brands on social media: an analysis of 2020 and 2021 WNBA player photos on Instagram

What is it about?

Given the growing importance in academic literature and industry practice of developing athletes as brands, the purpose of this study was to examine how women professional athletes choose to build their personal brands on social media and how followers engage with their posts through likes. A content analysis of 1,405 Instagram photographs of all WNBA players active in the 2020 and 2021 seasons was conducted. Results indicated that the majority of pictures posted were of their athletic-self (51.89%) and personal lives (37.30%). Concerning their self-presentation within those categories, dressed but posed led pictures with 34.74% (n=435), followed by non-sport setting 30.03% (n=376), athlete action 15.97% (n=200), mixed message 9.74% (n=122), femininity 7.03% (n=88), and sexual 2.48% (n=31). Although the sexual category had very few pictures, those received the highest number of likes. Practical implications for marketers with regards to the personal brands of women athletes in social media are discussed.

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