thletes have actively utilized social media for brand management and fan engagement. n this study, we investigated how athletes communicate both sport and non-sport brand attributes on nstagram. We also explored the relationship between users’ engagement behaviors and brand attributes. hrough a content analysis of 472 nstagram posts by two professional soccer players, ristiano Ronaldo and ionel Messi, we reveal that athletes tend to share more non-performance-related content than performance-related content. Furthermore, posts featuring performance-related content generated more ‘likes’, whereas those with non-performance content elicited a higher volume of comments. lthough there exists a positive correlation between the number of ‘likes’ and comments, content type distinctly influences the form of fan engagement. herefore, athletes should engage in deliberate and strategic decision-making when curating content for social media, tailoring it to specific customer engagement objectives.
