Taylor Phinney: A Social Star, Healthy or Injured
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@taylorphinney
From the beginning, the Taylor Phinney story sold itself: Prodigal son of Olympic cycling gold-medalist mother and Tour de France stage-winning dad takes up family pastime and immediately excels, winning multiple national and world championships.
Success has been more fleeting since his 2011 jump to the pro ranks, where he rides for the BMC Racing Team. The 25-year-old is in the midst of a long rehab following a horrific crash at last year's US national championships. But Phinney remains one of cycling's most popular riders in person and online. His quirky, part goofball, part coiffed-hair-cool persona has netted him a significant following: roughly 123,000 on Twitter and 46,000 on Instagram.
Phinney is usually good for at least a tweet a day, posting 11,400 times since joining in 2008. But he says he's not a "slave to likes."
RELATED: Video: Phinney Shows His Serious Side
"You can't focus on that stuff too much," says the Boulder, Colorado-based Phinney. "At the end of the day it's meaningless. You don't get anything from it except a little ego boost." Here is Phinney's strategy for social-media domination:
Recognize you're part of a community. "Have a sense for people and be able to read a room on a much bigger scale. Some people never get that and don't connect with people. I used to get more negative messages, but I made some small changes as I grew my internet persona. You'll get a sense of what works on Twitter and what doesn't, and what is the best time to post. I aim for that time when America is just waking up, but Europe hasn't gone to sleep yet."
Be relatable by being yourself. "Everybody has a story or something interesting to say. For me, just being real and a little weird and a little goofy works because that is who I am. I'm not afraid to share difficult moments or inspiring things or funny stuff. That is what social media is about, putting forward a part of yourself that people can relate to."
It's about give and take. "Post a lot of bike shots. I know they'll get more likes than art or music or the other things that interest me. You just have to find a balance. Post what you know people want to see, and also what you really want to share. Find that middle ground between pleasing your followers and pleasing yourself."
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