The Super Bowl. The biggest American sporting event of the year. Some watch it for the game, while others prefer the commercials. Some people like to just get together to eat snacks and spend time with friends. Super Bowl XLVI was a doozy. It featured a powerhouse team from New England that had muscled its way through the season and a team from New York that got hot when the time was right.

For players who made big plays and big wins in the game, the rewards can come in sponsorships, TV appearances, and more. But what about the social media payout? Well the verdict is in and it’s no surprise that Mario Manningham would grow his fan base on social media due to the huge game-changing catch he made in the 4th quarter. Manningham increased his Twitter followers by 27% and Facebook Likes by 16%. With an underwhelming performance compared to Manningham, wide receiver Victor Cruz was still able to gain an additional 19k followers on Twitter, an increase of 12%. Even Ahmad Bradshaw, whose social media strategy is a bit sparse (to put it lightly) increased his Facebook Likes by 10% and Twitter followers by 15% after scoring the winning touchdown. Eli Manning scored big on Twitter by increasing his followers by 28% and pushed up the Likes on his already huge Facebook page by 5%.

Sometimes, creating great content that’s engaging will help drive your numbers up as an athlete. Other times it’s your performance on the field that contributes towards building your fan audience. As an athlete, all you can do is work your tail off to perform to the best of your ability and let the numbers speak for themselves.