Manchester United footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first person on earth to have 400 million Instagram followers.
Also, Ronaldo’s number of Instagram followers now allows him to earn £780,000 or about 435 million Naira per post.
This is according to FXexchangerate’s calculation on Tuesday morning.
Although the footballer is only following just 501 persons on the social media app, his page has reached 400 million followers.
But what has been his followership journey?
Ronaldo’s followers’ growth journey:
As at August 2020, Ronaldo’s Instagram followers were only 233 million.
Meanwhile, before that, he was the first person on earth to reach 200 million followers on Insgram.
This is regardless of the fact that there have been millions of people already on Insgram before he joined.
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Not even Elon Musk who has a knack for influencing crypto prices and crypto world with his Tweets has such followership.
Although Elon Musk’s tweets on Twitter gets many engagements that run into thousands, it is not to compare with Ronaldo’s Instagram post engagements.
Ronaldo has an average of 10 million likes on each of his posts on Instagram.
Similarly, before September 2021, Ronaldo’s followers were just about 237 million.
However, within a space of Five months alone, the football superstar grew his Instagram followers almost double the previous number.
The Manchester United superstar’s followers have grown by nearly double since September 2021 – when he had 237 million.
Meanwhile, following him on the number of followers is celebrity, Kylie Jenner who has 308 million followers on Instagram.
She and Messi, another football superstar, are Instagram users with followership above 300 million.
However, the question remains: What does Ronaldo do to grow his followers on the social media app?
If you are an influencer on Instagram or plan to grow your own followers too, then you might want to take some few tips from Ronaldo.
What Ronaldo Does On Instagram To Grow Followers:
Although many people might think that Ronaldo’s followers grew to that level because he is one of the world’s best footballers.
Far from that!
Also, many people may think that he has such a large followers because he plays well in the football pitch.
Well, to some extent, you might be right. Nevertheless, that is not only why his Instagram followership grew.
In fact, the football superstar revealed his already open secret in his reaction on reaching the followership mark.
His secret lies in the kinds of post he does which centre on family, fashion, setting hair style and fitness routines.
While celebrating his 37th birthday, he had shared a snapshot of himself alongside his partner Georgina Rodriguez.
He had said that, “Life is a roller coaster. Hard work, high speed, urgent goals, demanding expectations.
“But in the end, it all comes down to family, love, honesty, friendship, values that make it all worth it.
“Thanks for all the messages! 37 and counting!”
In analysing his comment during his birthday, you would gleam his secret which says, “But in the end, it all comes down to family, love, honesty, friendship, values that make it all worth it.”
This is evident in the type of his posts that followers engage with the most.
Kinds of Posts Ronaldo posts on Instagram to grow his followers:
According to Forbes, “…fans and consumers” troop to Ronaldo’s posts because of the following:
- His advertisement posts about shampoo or poster-boy good looks.
- Also, his trend-setting hair styles.
- His impeccable fashion sense
- The footballer’s softer side as a family man whose toddlers pop up on his social media posts.
- His advertisement posts about health shakes.
Fans engage more with his posts about these areas than those about football.
For instance, in 2020, 10 million of his Instagram fans liked the topless picture of him leaning against a Bugatti.
This was way more than the likes he got on his pictures with his 32nd career trophy.
Pictures of him playing for Juventus then attracted only about six million likes.
Also, selfies and photos of him relaxing with his family, or working out in the gym get more engagements from his followers.
Also, in making his money, the footballer engages in many endorsement deals with brands such as Nike and pharmaceutical maker, Abbott.
Others are Pitches for Clear shampoo, Herbalife HLF +5.8% and many others.
They have all helped to raise his endorsement ratings to $45 million.
For instance, Nike pays him upwards of $20 million annually and signed him to a lifetime deal in 2016.
Meanwhile, social media marketing expert George Coyle, said of Ronaldo thus:
“He could go to be an influencer for the rest of his life, if he wanted to, not play [soccer] and still make millions.”
“But there aren’t there aren’t that many in [soccer] specifically that use influencing as a second profession in the way that he does.”
Meanwhile, because of his social media exploits, he became the first soccer player to earn $1 billion in June.
With his large social media following, Ronaldo is clearly a media channel with a global reach bigger than many brands, including football clubs.
Why Ronaldo’s huge Instagram followers is a big deal:
Football clubs and many other brands have continued to exploit the marketing power of international soccer stars.
In fact, both brands and clubs are now more willing to embrace a player who cultivates a remarkable online following.
For instance, Italian giants, Juventus had acquired Ronaldo for €100 million $118 million.
The club did not blink twice because they knew they were bringing in a sporting asset.
Evidently, Ronaldo is a media channel with a global reach bigger than Juventus itself.
Also, a year before he joined, the Bianconeri got 1.8 million television viewers per game.
Shares in Juventus went bullish by around 15% just on the mere speculation that Ronaldo was about signing deal with the club.
In fact, reports had it that news about Ronaldo signing for the club added close to €300 million ($354 million) to the club’s market value.
Implication:
Ronaldo’s huge Instagram followers is a money-spinner for him.
This is because, even football clubs know the benefit of having star players with strong social media followings.
Brands, for example, use these kinds of stars with huge social media following to reach their target market.
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