The human brands of name, image and likeness (NIL) influencers: A content analysis

Fei Xue, Srividya Karuturi and Monira Begum
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Fei Xue: School of Media and Communication, USA
Srividya Karuturi: School of Media and Communication, USA
Monira Begum: Department of Communication, USA

Journal of Digital & Social Media Marketing, 2025, vol. 13, issue 1, 59-77

Abstract: The name, image and likeness (NIL) market has grown exponentially in the last two years, but our understanding of its impact is still very limited. Building on human brand theory and the concept of self-presentation, a quantitative content analysis was conducted to explore how top college athlete influencers create unique human brands through visual self-presentation and their correlations with brand partnerships and post engagement. Descriptive analyses identified dominant human brand content and self-presentation tactics. Chi-square results suggested differences between male and female athletes. Human brand content type and sponsorship disclosure method were also found to have affected post engagement. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.

Keywords: social media; NIL marketing; college athletes; human brands; self-presentation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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