There is a new reality. Sponsors will only consider backing teams and drivers who have established a strong social media presence.
After all, if you wanted to utilize motorsports in your marketing strategy who would you offer financial support to: a diver or team that is relatively unknown, or ones who have tens of thousands of followers ready to take their recommendation on sports drinks, insurance, clothing or dish soap? The answer is obvious. The problem for race teams and drivers is navigating and mastering the complex world of social media.
DHG MOTO has prepared an overview and some helpful suggestions for Racers who are developing a social media marketing strategy and some pitfalls to avoid.
Outsource Your Social Media Operations:
Social media has become as complex as managing a race team and keeping up with social media and its’ constantly evolving landscape can feel like a full-time job -because it is. Therefore, partnering with a social media manager is often the key to your brand’s expansion.
Like any marketing campaign, consistency in a social media campaign is the most important factor. That means optimizing your marketing efforts by developing and researching social strategies and publishing and creating content while also engaging with new and existing customers.
Just a few of the marketing goals you should consider as you develop a Social strategy include:
- Increasing qualified traffic to your website
- Optimizing social media for lead generation
- Promoting brand recognition and awareness
- Facilitating dynamic engagement
- Establishing your brand as an industry leader
- Fostering merchandise sales growth online
- Enhancing brand loyalty
Outsourcing your social media marketing functions to a professional with the proper knowledge and experience will allow you to focus on other things, like providing strong customer service to your sponsors and most importantly, winning races.
Include Social Media Marketing in Your 2023 Budget
According to the February 2021 CMO Survey, companies allocated 24.5% of their annual marketing budget to social media. Given the recent expansion of users on social media, paid posts (or social media ads) are the best way for Race teams and drivers to increase followers and support team sponsors.
Without a trusted partnership with a creative agency or social media management agency, many racing professionals fail to include vital line items in their annual marketing budgets, thus resulting in missed opportunities for growth.
A few items to consider on this year’s social media budget are:
- Paid social media campaigns
- Influencer marketing
- Premium content creation
- Social media management
Avoid Hiring Multiple Contractors For Short Periods of Time
By hiring multiple contractors for jobs such as graphic design, branding, and social media, you could be unknowingly putting your brand at risk. Creating a cohesive online social media presence is not only important for building a brand’s authority, but also, it is important for rendering results. To protect your brand and your budget, create partnerships that are a minimum of 3 to 6 months.
Why?
- Hand-offs between freelancers/agencies cost your brand time and money
- Creative campaigns often take 1 to 3 months to fully optimize. By constantly switching contractors, your paid campaigns may never optimize
- On-boarding new contractors takes time out of your schedule
- Working with multiple contractors creates inconsistencies in your brand’s presence, tone, and quality of content marketing
Overwhelmed on where to begin? DHG MOTO is equipped with a team of branding and social media professionals eager to partner with your racing brand to ensure you meet your 2023 business goals.
We’re here to help.