Why Social Media Planning Should Be Included In Your Off-Season Preparation
Hey BracketLifer’s! It’s Rachel back this week to chat all things Social Media. As we are almost halfway through the winter off-season, I’m sure that many of you, like myself, are gearing up for the 2022 Race Season. One thing that I personally spend a lot of time preparing for the upcoming season is social media… which I know, sounds absolutely CRAZY! But I promise I’ll explain why below.
When it comes to social media, there are two really important factors to success: having a developed niche and posting consistency. People want to know ‘who’ and ‘what’ your page is about. If they can’t find those two things out within the first 10 seconds, they are less likely to engage with your account. You want people to engage with you, because this opens up SO many other opportunities for you (which I’ll come back to later). Secondly, if you don’t post on a consistent basis, then your audience (followers) won’t know what to expect from you. You don’t need to post every single day, but you should post on a regular basis enough so that your followers don’t forget about you.
Ok so why do I prepare for social media? What does this even mean? Well, most importantly, you need to create a social media strategy. Having a social media account on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Tik Tok, etc. is a great start – but once you have the account you need to have a strategy to keep it active ALL year!
As you know, drag racing is a seasonal sport, so we typically only have about 6 months to race (unless you live in a southern state). Majority of racers are fantastic at posting throughout the racing season, but then when it comes to the off-season, they go radio silent. But when you think about it, when do us racers spend the most time on social media? Usually during the off-season when we are bored. So this is when we should be posting, and where you'll actually see the most success!
Ok so how do I create a social media strategy? Well, the first thing to note is that your strategy needs to include consistently posting on social media ALL YEAR. Which means that you will essentially be creating double the content you are currently creating. Once you realize how much content you’ll need to create, this is when you can narrow down how frequently you want to post on social media and how you want to post. Do you want to post pictures, videos, reels, stories, a mixture of everything? Ok, now you can get to work.
The easiest way I know how to execute on my social media strategy, is by creating a content calendar – AKA a calendar that showcases everything you want to post to your social media page for the year. I always start by looking at the year as a whole – usually with holidays and big race events. These are things I KNOW I want to post (talk) about. Then, I get more specific and plan out each quarter and/or each month.
For YouTube, I plan our video topics out each quarter, for Instagram and Facebook posts, I plan those out a few weeks to a month in advance. Once I have planned out the topics/events – now I have an idea of what footage I need to capture. For example, if I plan on making a vlog for our YouTube Channel during Opening Weekend, then I know I need to take a few minutes out of the race day to grab my phone and shoot an introduction video and multiple shots of things happening throughout the race day. I can edit it and write the caption later, but the content needs to be taken then. When it comes to off-season posting, my biggest advice is to just ALWAYS be taking random pictures and videos at the track throughout the season. You can use this content in the winter months to share a throwback, funny story, etc.
The most important thing to note about social media as a whole is to just, BE YOU. Stick to topics that represent who you and your racing team are. Don’t post just to post. Aim for posts that either educate or entertain your audience. Provide VALUE to your audience and engage with other fellow racers in the community.
Social media can also be a great tool to advertise your sponsors to a wider audience, share your racing wins/accomplishments, and potentially monetize your channel to make an income. Be sure to include these in your social media plan and never be afraid to ‘gloat’ or talk about yourself too much. People want to see what you’re doing and how you do it. Give them exactly what they want – a behind the scenes look!
I hope this blog post helps put into perspective why it’s important to have a social media strategy and what you can do to get started. Happy social media planning!
Catch you next-next week,
Rachel Barker
