TikTok holds educational workshop at Colorado with eye on NIL deals

Five TikTok employees from the company’s content partnerships or athlete partnerships divisions visited Colorado‘s campus last Thursday for an educational workshop. The session provided roughly 40 athletes with content creation tips to help maximize their personal branding and NIL opportunities.

Colorado is the first school TikTok visited and it was the first of multiple visits the company’s employees plan to make to Boulder, according to Colorado Assistant Director of Name, Image & Likeness Sadie Baker.

TikTok’s Ruby Betten, Laura Roberts, Callie Stark, Cayden Kainalu and Brooklyn McDaniels held a hands-on educational session for roughly 2.5 hours at Colorado.

The session included a competition where the TikTok employees divided the athletes into groups and challenged them to see which group could make the best video. They awarded prizes to the winners.

Employees from the social media platform will return in roughly a month for another workshop catered to the football team.

“We were the first school that they started their educational workshop program around so they plan to start partnering with more schools but we were their first one they wanted to partner with,” Baker said.

Baker said TikTok’s sports division formed last October. The employees include content creators who work with collegiate and professional athletes, and various programs.

“Connecting them with TikTok and having face-to-face conversations is going to build more than just NIL,” Baker said of Colorado’s athletes. “It’s networking. It allows our student-athletes to grow and get out of their box and get uncomfortable and introduce themselves.”

Baker said half of Colorado’s women’s basketball team attended the workshop. Plus, athletes from the Buff’s football, lacrosse, soccer, and track and field programs, among others, were also in attendance.

Deion Sanders Jr. previously met TikTok employees

Deion Sanders Jr., who helps document behind-the-scenes content from Colorado’s football program, met several TikTok employees during the weekend of Super Bowl LVII, according to Baker. They stayed in touch and they reconnected when a TikTok employee contacted Baker.

Quarterback Shedeur Sanders and two-way athlete Travis Hunter, who plays wide receiver and cornerback for the Buffaloes, also received individual attention last week, according to Baker. Hunter has 690,000 TikTok followers and Sanders has 261,000 followers.

Hunter was ranked as the No. 2 recruit in the 2022 recruiting class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. As a recruit, he flipped his commitment from Colorado football coach Deion Sanders‘ alma mater, Florida State, to Jackson State, where Sanders coached for three seasons. Shedeur Sanders and Hunter entered the transfer portal to follow Sanders’ father to Colorado in the offseason.

“He actually works with Travis Hunter, Shedeur over at our program,” Baker said of TikTok’s Kainalu. “So he met with them, even individually. He talked with Shedeur and talked through some different ways to utilize his TikTok and continue to grow on that platform.”

Baker said TikTok employees will also meet individually with high-profile football players during the company’s next visit to campus.

TikTok recognizes ‘the momentum’ at Colorado

After Colorado hired Sanders last December, the Buffaloes have received as much media attention as any program in the country this offseason.

Colorado recently accepted an invitation to rejoin the Big 12 Conference starting in the 2024 football season. The Buffaloes’ spring game drew 47,277 fans and ESPN aired the game.

“Just the momentum we had going on here and the eyes we have on us,” Baker said, when asked why TikTok started its educational workshops in Boulder. “And then just the opportunity that comes from that. We have so many high-profile athletes and so many guys that are willing and have the opportunity to really have a breakout season. And really how they can use TikTok to monetize and build their brand.

“Many people want to be in these student-athletes’ shoes and so using TikTok, doing days in the life, showing behind-the-scenes of Colorado football. So many people want to see that content. They’re just really teaching them how to use the platform, how to create TikToks, best times to post TikToks, how to do hashtags, all those different tips and tricks to best use TikTok.”

Deion Sanders’ family embraces social media

The Sanders family has a unique approach to content. Sanders Jr. posts behind-the-scenes videos to his YouTube channel, Well Off Media. That started with Deion Sanders’ first meeting with his new team, when he told them, “We’ve got a few positions already taken care of because I’m bringing my luggage with me. And it’s Louis [Vuitton].”

It appears that Deion Sanders’ players have taken notice of his family’s social media strategy, too. Hunter, for example, announced that he would only reveal his commitment – ultimately to Colorado – after he reached 100,000 subscribers on YouTube. He now has 157,000 subscribers.

Players, programs and schools that leverage large social media followings, and in turn the brand deals that can follow, can achieve high earning potential without needing to rely exclusively on donors or NIL collectives.

“There are just so many opportunities on the app itself,” Baker said. “I mean we even had a student-athlete last year that graduated that would have over a million views on a video and he ended up making so much money off TikTok that he was able to purchase his first car. So there’s just so much opportunity. You can do brand partnerships, ads. It’s not just earning compensation from TikTok but also partnering with other brands and bringing that onto TikTok.

“So there’s just a bunch of opportunity. TikTok is only going to continue to grow. We had a soccer video go viral last week that received like 1.4 million views so we’re seeing it all around, not just football. It was just during our media day, two girls were dancing and they received that many views. And it probably wouldn’t have happened if they weren’t in a uniform and show that they’re a collegiate athlete. But so many people just want to see the inside life of them.”