Jutta Leerdam at lonely height in the Netherlands
Jutta Leerdam is by far the most popular Dutch Olympic athlete on Instagram. With 2.4 million followers, she is four times the number-2 ranked athlete: Suzanne Schulting (686,000 followers). Another striking fact: on Nov. 23, 2021, Jutta reached the milestone of 1 million followers. It took her only less than 12 weeks to more than double this number.
Part of the explanation of her success, is by sharing that same success. The post in which Jutta Leerdam thanks her fans for getting her 1 millionth follower has now been liked 3.3 million times. Due to the popularity of this post, the short video ended up in the "Discovery" of a lot of people, who then clicked on the famous heart. So sharing success, in turn, creates more success.
Did the number of likes increase proportionally with her follower growth? No. This was not the case. With the exception of a video capturing a training ride in slow-motion, which garnered nearly 1 million likes, Jutta Leerdam does not suddenly score more likes after her follower growth. On the contrary, her reach is growing, but the love she was used to getting from her fans will decrease slightly proportionally.
Kimberley Bos garners praise, Itzhak de Laat receives support
Notable was the commitment Kimberley Bos achieved after her participation in the Olympics. The tough skeleton star, who thundered down a bobsled run at 120 km/h headfirst and won bronze, stirred up a lot of interest among new followers. A great opportunity to take the sport to the next level with Kimberley and ride the wave of her popularity!
Itzhak de Laat saw the other side of the coin. He came a few millimeters short of making it to the finals with the short trackers. His post on social media received a lot of comments expressing support. This is another thing where social media shows its power, when a setback needs to be processed.
Suzanne Schulting is crowd favorite
The most number of likes goes to Suzanne Schulting. The winner of 4 medals got almost 800,000 likes and about as many comments on her posts in just two weeks. More than Jutta Leerdam.
Success or failure: relevance and rhythm is the key to success
And so it turns out; accomplishments and emotions always score. Followers want to see sincere people, and then reward this with a heart or a comment. Sharing success, sharing setbacks, asking or offering support or taking your followers into your daily life, are still the best scoring type of posts for any brand or person. Nevertheless, remember, not every post has to be a hit, but a constant rhythm in visibility is also worth something.
Digital content strategy with the NXTLI Dashboard
Jeroen Westermann is Digital Strategist at NXTLI. With the NXTLI Dashboard, developed by NXTLI, we provide insight into the results of a brand, club, person or organization on its digital channels. We connect this with value and with commercial results. Based on this we strategize and develop digital campaigns that accelerate and optimize growth. Interested? Get in touch with us!
