3 Steps to Start Promoting Your Race Team on Social Media
The single most common question I hear from racers is, “how do I get started with marketing and promoting my race team so I can get sponsors?” In this post, I’ll show you 3 steps you can take today to use social media to promote your race team.
Step 1 – Pick a Social Media platform
If you’re not using social media, that’s a good place to start promoting. More likely, you’re on social media in a personal capacity, but may not have approached it as a team or a business. The approaches have many similarities, but they are different, and I will give you some tips.
Some marketers will recommend doing market research to determine where your fans are spending time and then suggest that you put effort into that platform. I recommend something a bit different.
Which social media platform do you enjoy the most? Facebook? Twitter? Instagram? I recommend starting there. If you already have a platform where you hang out, it is easier to make the transition and to spend time on your favorite platform rather than learning something totally new.
Now, if Facebook is your platform of choice, start your effort by creating a business page for your race team. The biggest reason for this is that a personal profile maxxes out at 5000 friends. A page is unlimited. In addition, you will have access to demographics and performance statistics that can help your efforts when you’re ready to start conversations with potential sponsors.
Check out my getting started with Facebook series
If you choose Twitter or Instagram, you may choose to have a separate profile or you may not. That is up to you.
Some important notes about Instagram–make sure you have a public (not private) profile and change the type to a business or creator account so that you can have access to stats.
Step 2 – Prepare Posts for Social Media
If you’re just launching your race team social media account, prepare some posts in advance. Post 1-2 times a day for a week or two. This will build up content on your page so that there is more than one post to view for your new followers.
After the initial blast, decide how often you will post. If you can keep up with daily posting, that is ideal and will help you grow the fastest. If that’s too overwhelming, choose how often you will post and stick with it.
For posting ideas, pick from 3-5 main categories to post about and rotate through them. Here are some suggested topics:
- Welcome post.
- Intro post. This is one you can repeat on a regular basis.
- You can post about your racing including schedule updates of where you are racing next, life at the track, and how you finish.
- Post about the driver. What are the drivers hobbies? What does he/she like to do besides racing?
- How about the team–who’s involved to make it all happen?
- Behind-the-scenes posts are always a fan favorite.
- Where do you live? What is special about your area of the country?
- Any other special interests or causes.
Any one of these categories allows you to make a multitude of posts. The idea is to let the audience to get to know you.
Write for your audience
I mentioned in the intro that there is a difference when posting on your personal profile versus posting as part of promotion. The key is to always focus on your audience. What is interesting for them? Rather than focusing on ourselves, focus on the fans.
One example I see quite often is,
“I’m looking for marketing partners to support my racing.”
See how self-absorbed that post comes across? In my role as a retailer, I would never put out a post that says, “buy this because I want to make money.” It just wouldn’t work.
Instead, view your post through the eyes of your fans and potential sponsors. A better version of the statement above could be,
“Going into the new season, I’m really looking forward to adding new members to my team. I enjoy working with companies and brands to help them reach new audiences and I love sharing new products with my audience. If you’re interested, send me a message and let’s start the conversation.”
See how that presentation is focused on the audience and the value you have to give rather than what you’re trying to take? Always always always focus on the audience.
If you’re someone who’s crunched for time, Facebook offers Creator Studio for pages. It allows you to create posts in advance and schedule them for the future. There are also third-party services that offer schedulers for several platforms.
Step 3 – Cross Promote and Ask for Shares on Social Media
If you already have a personal profile, share your posts from your page onto your personal account if you’re on Facebook. Also ask your audience to share. I often end my Facebook posts with, “Feel free to SHARE or tag a friend.”
On Twitter, ask people to retweet.
Instagram doesn’t have a share function like other platforms, but you can ask people to tag a friend.
Conclusion
These 3 steps can help you get started. The most important part is to get started. Take a small action today. And another small action tomorrow. Growth will happen if you continue to show up, provide valuable content, and connect with your audience.
Start by Starting!
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