Social media has become an important part of many people’s daily lives, and it has also changed the way most marketing campaigns run. On top of this, it’s become an essential marketing tool for modern athletes.

Celebrity athletes use social networks like Twitter and Facebook to show their human side, and connect with their fans, and haters.

Social media also has the power to help lesser-known athletes raise their profiles, establish personal brands, and even attract potential sponsors.

The Olympics is arguably the greatest stage for most athletes, and their brands, to showcase themselves to the world.

So who would be the most effective athletes to partner with?

SponsorHub, a company that connects brands with sponsors online, has used a scoring metric based on athletes’ on-the-field performance and social media influence on Twitter, Facebook and Klout to rank their value as corporate marketers. SponsorHub presented their results in an infographic.

Taking gold is Swiss tennis star Rogerer Federer, who remarkably doesn’t even have a Twitter account. Tennis player Serena Williams and basketball star LeBron James take silver and bronze, respectively. Overall, Americans dominated the rankings.

Check out the infographic, and let us know who you think they may have missed, or who you don’t think is any good.

[Source: SponsorHub]