Mia Rogan, a sophomore distance runner for Michigan State Track and Cross Country, has built a strong social media following and NIL presence during the first two years of her collegiate career. Like many collegiate athletes, Rogan has benefited from social media and the emergence of NIL which she credits in helping her career at MSU.
Rogan, a native of Ann Arbor, got her love for running from her parents, who both ran varsity Track and Cross Country at the University of Michigan. She started posting on social media towards the end of her senior year at Saline High School, by posting race day videos on TikTok that included her meet hairstyle.
What started as posting prom pictures with her friends in high school has turned into videos featuring Rogan getting ready for practice, weekly training videos, and meet day transition videos on her Instagram and TikTok handles @mia_rogan.
Rogan has 105K followers on Instagram and 13.2K followers on TikTok.
“It’s a really good source of income, especially as a college athlete, social media is my job right now. It’s really cool having an online community with all these younger athletes,” said Rogan.
On Instagram reels, Rogan will get anywhere from 15K views to her most popular reel of 12.9 million views. Her social media posts have gotten attention from athletes from different states where Rogan and MSU compete. Rogan wasn’t very involved with Instagram until spring semester of last year, and has seen social media essentially become her job.
Social media is a double-edged sword, as it provides fame and challenges for college athletes like Rogan. For her, it was the fear of being judged by people that know her.
When Rogan first started posting a day in her life reels on her Instagram, she would immediately shut off her phone for the rest of the day with fear of being judged. Over time, Rogan has learned not to think about how others may view her social media content as she posts everyday and it doesn’t bother her.
Rogan also uses social content creation to promote the MSU Track and Cross Country program. Recruits from out of state have visited MSU because of Rogan’s social media influence.
“We have a very successful women’s distance program here, being able to help promote that even more and help bring more attention to our university and our program is really cool,” said Rogan.
Recently, Rogan reached a milestone of 100K Instagram followers. When she first stepped foot on campus, Rogan had a little under 2,000 followers on Instagram. She never would’ve thought she would have such a huge following on social media.
“This was not at all in the picture of what I thought my college experience would be like and I’m so grateful that it is because it’s been so cool,” said Rogan.
While Instagram is Rogan’s main platform for social media content and where she receives the most engagement, Rogan is also very active on TikTok. Rogan shows her personality a little bit more than she would on Instagram, as she’ll post trendy videos on the platform.
TikTok was banned in the U.S. for nearly a day, starting on Jan.18, meaning Rogan didn’t know what to do with herself. The reels she posts on Instagram are created on TikTok
Rogan was worried that the ban would make it more difficult to post videos to her Instagram account, especially when adding sound to the videos. She uses CapCut to edit her videos on TikTok, a software app, which was included with the ban.
“I was more worried about creating videos, that’s what I create videos through, I’ve been doing it since Musical.ly was a thing. I’m very familiar with the app, learning how to create content on a new app I wouldn't have liked it,” said Rogan.
Darien Harris, Michigan State’s Assistant AD/NIL and special advisor to athletic director, has been impressed with Rogan’s social media talents and what she’s been able to accomplish in such a short time at MSU.
“She’s been consistent with the work which is why she’s had so much success in growing a social media following. She expressed interest in becoming an influencer and growing a social media following where she could consistently bring in NIL deals,” said Harris.
MSUFCU has been one of those NIL deals that Rogan has brought in through social media content creation. MSUFCU at first only offered NIL deals for the MSU women’s basketball team before expanding it to two athletes from other female sports programs through their Women of Sparta initiative.
Rogan was one of the two female athletes from the MSU Track and Cross Country team selected by MSUFCU at a seminar last year and has enjoyed the partnership she has had.
“As a female athlete, I feel like I have to work harder than some of our revenue sports like men’s basketball and football just because we don’t get enough media attention. Being offered a deal that is pretty high paying from them compared to other deals I’ve done is pretty cool, especially bringing marketing to female sports,” said Rogan.
Rogan's deal with MSUFCU lasts a year. Part of the partnership requires Rogan to equip her social media skills where she posts once a month to promote MSUFCU. She has also received financial seminars and her own financial advisor, which have helped her plan financially for after college.
“All the financial resources that they offer to help prepare me for beyond college and how I can maximize my NIL opportunities while I’m in college to be able to buy a house hopefully and come out of school debt-free would be amazing,” said Rogan.
Harris believes that it is important for female athletes like Rogan to have financial resources with NIL deals that are high paying.
“For somebody like Mia, who is monetarily able to take advantage of NIL, it is important to have those financial literacy resources because nobody that is necessarily that age knows exactly what to do with their money, it’s just they were never making it at that level before as it is now,” said Harris.
Social media has helped Rogan connect with high school athletes during their recruitment process in high school. Athletes that are being recruited in high school will reach out to Rogan on Instagram seeking advice on the recruitment process.
Rogan, who is the oldest in her family, wishes she had someone to look up to during her recruitment process as the process is much different than when her parents were in college. Rogan’s goal with her social media following is to make it easier for high school athletes and for them to have someone to look up to.
“I wish for me, when trying to go through the recruiting process, I had someone to look up to and ask questions. Having someone I could’ve looked up to and talked to would’ve been really helpful,” said Rogan.
Female athletes with large followings on social media, like LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne and UConn basketball star Paige Bueckers, have been targeted by stalkers because of their fame and social media.
Harris said while stalking situations don’t happen often, there are protocols in place to protect female athletes at MSU.
“That’s the number one goal and focus for us is to keep our student athletes safe, especially in this day and age with social media and putting yourself out there. We certainly have protocols in place to ensure our student athletes, especially our women student athletes feel safe and if anything were to come up or if we were needed to act accordingly we would be well equipped to do that,” said Harris.
With Rogan balancing academics, athletics, social media, and NIL, Harris and the MSU NIL department help athletes with their time management skills and what Harris likes to call the one track of success plan.
“It’s something we’re talking about constantly,” said Harris. “It’s a lot of pieces of the pie that you have to balance out. We talk about creating time in the day, which is as easy as just getting up earlier. You can pour one hundred percent into the one hundred percent of the things you do and whatever is the pinnacle of what you reach is going to set you up for success.”
Rogan plans to pursue an accelerated nursing program after college and become a nurse. On social media, she plans to post more lifestyle content that’s less athletic and more focused on her future career as a nurse, with videos like the different hairstyles she does, meal preps for work, or a “day in the life of a nurse.”