I used a link-in-bio page for years as a player. It did the job. So let me be fair before I am critical: Linktree is an excellent product for what it was designed to do, and if you are a creator sending people to a shop, a newsletter and a YouTube channel, it is probably still the right answer.
It was just never designed for an athlete.
The problem is what a brand does next
When a brand is deciding whether to sponsor you, they are not asking "does this person have links". They are asking three questions:
- Is this really who they say they are?
- How many people actually see their posts?
- What have they actually done in the sport?
A link-in-bio page answers none of those. It is a list of buttons. Everything on it is typed in by the person who owns it, which means a brand has to take all of it on trust — and brands do not hand over budget on trust.
What we built instead
Your results come from official competition data. Caps, clubs, honours. Not typed in by you, which is exactly why it counts for anything.
Your audience numbers are measured. You connect your Instagram yourself through Instagram's own login. We never see your password, and we cannot invent a follower count — it comes from the account.
The verified tick means ownership was proved. Not that we checked a box. It means you completed the connection yourself, from your own phone. An agency cannot earn it for you. That restraint is the entire point: a tick anyone can obtain is worth nothing.
Reach stays private. Your page shows who you are. Your reach, impressions and engagement live in a media kit you send to one brand at a time. Those are the numbers you negotiate with, and publishing them to the whole internet weakens your hand.
An honest comparison
| Linktree | octa.social | |
|---|---|---|
| Links in your bio | Yes | Yes |
| Built for | Creators, shops | Athletes |
| Career record | You type it | Official competition data |
| Audience figures | Not shown | Measured from connected accounts |
| Verification | Not offered | OAuth — you prove it yourself |
| Media kit for brands | No | Yes, private and link-shared |
| Partner logos with tracked clicks | Paid plans | Yes, UTM-tagged |
Where Linktree is still better
I said I would be fair. If you sell physical products, want deep e-commerce, or need dozens of integrations, Linktree is more mature and it is not close. We do one thing: make an athlete legible to a brand.
If you are an athlete looking for sponsorship, that one thing is the only thing that matters.
What actually gets you sponsored
The page is not the work. I have watched good players lose deals to worse players who were simply easier to say yes to. A brand has a budget, a deadline and five athletes to choose from. They pick the one whose numbers they can check in ten seconds.
Make yourself easy to check. That is the whole game.