A lot of sponsors are interested in popularising their products via Instagram. Sponsorship-deals on Instagram often happen as a result of Product Placement - meaning that the products are visible somewhere in the picture and sometimes even mentioned in the description. Instragam-sponsorships are classic barter-deals more often than not. Athletes would recieve sportswear or supplements and are allowed to keep them if they post a picture of them on instagram. When it comes to bigger Instagram-Accounts, it is not unusual for the sponsee to receive financial support as well (see Influencer Marketing).
Instagram becomes an interesting option for a sponsorship once they have more than 10.000 Followers. If the followers hail from a targeted group that is hard to reach, or the value of the sponsored products is relatively small, it is not uncommon to complete Instagram-sponsorships for a lesser amount of followers.
Sponsoo has an Instagram-Account as well, where we post the best pictures of our athletes and teams. We're always happy to find new followers: @sponsoo.