Soccer content creators who consistently push out engaging content with scale are a dime-a-dozen. For brands or teams, these influencers are a valuable resource because they’re authentic fans of the sport, they provide a young and captive audience, and are often better brand advocates than traditional advertising in the eyes of their followers. In our latest feature, I chatted with one of the more well-known soccer content creators in the game right now.
For Mo, being invested in the sport was almost a foregone conclusion – his grandfather played professionally at Esteghlal FC in Iran. At the age of 7, Mo went to Canada and played for a team in Guelph, Ontario and had a World Cup veteran coach who Mo credits for helping him grow as a player. Around the age of 20, Mo went to Slovakia and had a brief stint with FC Vion Zlate Moravce before an injury cut short his professional career. Despite having interest from lower division teams in the U.S., Mo decided to focus on his other passion – filmmaking.
A passion that got its start in high school with weekly YouTube videos, fueled by downtime from an injury setback, has transformed into a livelihood for Mo – which was always a dream. While he injured, Mo started reaching out to different players to see if they’d be interested in collabing on content. The first player to take the bait was Kei Kamara, now of the Vancouver Whitecaps. Fast forward to now, Mo has worked with players like Jack Harrison and Neymar, former players turned influencers Lauren Sesselman and Shawna Gordon, professional skateboarder Leticia Bufoni – his favorite person with whom he’s worked – and over 100 pro players. He’s also worked with brands like Puma and Panini.
So what goes into Mo’s content and how do his videos routinely have high engagement (his last 10 videos averaged ~90K views)? It starts with being creative. Mo puts a lot of planning into the training drills he features, trying to vary it up from video to video. The people with whom he working and the locations at which he’s filming certainly help, as well. For Mo, the best way to be viral – if that’s something you can actually plan for – is just to be creative.
Mo is currently in Europe this month working with new athletes as he looks to bring his content to a larger audience.
Categories: Influencer