The Future Of Racing

When you hear the words, “car race,” what comes to mind? I would assume NASCAR is your first thought or perhaps Formula One racing. For me, when I hear “car racing,” I think of the Tudor United Sportscar Championship. It is a much smaller series than what most people are familiar with. If you have ever heard of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, many of the cars from the Tudor series race at the 24 Hours.

This kind of racing is nothing like NASCAR. The tracks are nowhere close to round and there are four different series of cars racing simultaneously. They are competing with the cars in their class while they strategically maneuver through cars belonging to the other three classes. 

The final race of the season, Petit Le Mans, takes place at Road Atlanta in Braselton, GA (about 40 miles northwest of Athens). Although it is a decent sized race, many people who are unfamiliar with the Tudor United Sportscar Championship are surprised to find out this race takes place fairly close.

Road Atlanta uses extensive social media marketing to advertise the race to current fans as well as prospective fans. Social media is a great resource for Road Atlanta because their demographic is so wide, especially when it comes to Petit Le Mans. Attendees consist of males and females of all ages and many people coming from out of state and even from out of the country.

Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are Road Atlanta’s main social media platforms. Although there is a lot of overlap in content among the three sites, their posts are still quite valuable to fans. They consistently post extremely relevant race information as well as exciting facts, videos, and updates in order to keep fan engagement high.

There are many other events held at Road Atlanta throughout the year but Petit Le Mans is by far the biggest. Regular posts regarding the race began about three months ago. It is obvious that their time and effort has gone into making social media a place where fans can go to build excitement for the race.

Road Atlanta team members have traveled to different areas throughout Georgia to promote the race and raffle off tickets. They used all three social platforms to inform fans of the different locations they would be raffling off tickets at. Some of these locations included a UGA football game and a car show at Perimeter Mall. The use of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram allowed fans to know where Road Atlanta representatives would be so they could try and win tickets.

Road Atlanta has had success with social media because they post content that captures the intended audience. Along with this, they are very responsive to followers. They retweet and favorite many fans’ tweets and they comment back on Facebook and Instagram. This makes fans feel very connected to the brand. Not only has their success led to increased fan engagement, it has also allowed them to reach new fans and inform more people about the wonderful sport.

Snapchat & Exotics

One of my favorite activities to do is attend car shows. Out of all the car shows I have been to, Caffeine and Exotics is one of my top picks. This event is held at Lenox Square Mall on the third Sunday of every month. Around 300 owners of high end and exotic automobiles register for the event and it’s a blast walking around and seeing the variety of cars that are present.

Caffeine and Exotics is utilizing current social media tactics to capture its audience on a regular basis. Popular social media outlets (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) are used frequently to keep fans updated and engaged. Snapchat is a newer social media platform for Caffeine and Exotics, but it has been great because they post a “My Story” during the show every month. It is fun to look at the story if you attended the show in order to recap some of the best cars and even see some you may have accidentally missed. Snapchat is also great for those who could not make it out to the show. The ability to view countless photos and videos allows people to really feel like they are there in the moment and it gives them a chance to view many cars that were a part of the show.

It seems like Snapchat has been a success for Caffeine and Exotics. They occasionally post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. for people to follow the Snapchat account but I think it would be really beneficial if they advertised it more. It would also be effective if they place signs in noticeable locations throughout the show that contain the Caffeine and Exoitcs “Snaptag” (individual QR code for adding Snapchat accounts). This would make it extremely easy for people to pull out their phones and add the account while they are attending the show.

Snapchat provides a way to gain a follower’s full attention because of the self-destruct nature. Because of this, another way I think Caffeine and Exotics could enhance their marketing efforts through the use of Snapchat is to advertise their sponsors in a few pictures throughout the “My Story”. Since follower’s will be fully engaged in what they are watching, they will be sure to see advertisements for sponsors.

Video Marketing On The Rise

Video marketing has become an essential aspect of reaching consumers in all industries. According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index, by 2017, video will account for 69% of all consumer Internet traffic. Many of the automotive YouTube channels have taken advantage of this trend in social media marketing and used it to benefit the industry and its followers.

What makes YouTube an ideal place for this? Simple: it provides such easy access to consumers. The automotive world brings together many people who have the same passion for cars. YouTube channels are a great way for people to learn more about their passions and share their knowledge with others. They provide a way for consumers to get to know and understand various car brands and specific vehicle models in a much more interactive and engaging way than before. Instead of reading an article or viewing pictures of a car, video allows viewers to feel like they are experiencing some of the most exclusive cars in production, firsthand.

Motor Trend is an example of a successful automotive YouTube channel. It is ranked number one on the top one hundred most subscribed autos & vehicles channel rankings list by subscribers. Motor Trend is a well-known name due to the success of their magazine that has been around since 1949. This allowed the company to take their already existing expertise on automobiles and turn car reviews and comparisons into exciting video content.

The number of subscribers has grown at a rapid pace over the last couple years and is now at 3,432,855. In an interview with Motor Trend’s Editor-in-Chief, Ed Loh, it is obvious they have spent a great deal of time figuring out what viewers want to see. “We were trying to sell the reality… we weren’t trying to sell the dream.” He states that their goal with YouTube is to entertain and inform. This has led Motor Trend to focus on higher end vehicles that are categorized as dream cars for many viewers.

Motor Trend is doing an excellent job using YouTube to engage its audience. The company capitalizes on covering their stories on all social media platforms. The consumer can read about a specific story on a certain model in the magazine one month (or on Facebook for example) and then watch a coordinating video on YouTube in order to become more engaged with a particular story or vehicle.

I think it is important to look at the success of the Motor Trend YouTube channel and apply their strategies to more automotive channels. They have made apparent what consumers want to learn about, making it easier to market and connect with viewers through a medium that is becoming more and more popular everyday.

Mercedes & Millennials

In the past, Mercedes-Benz has generally appealed to an older demographic. Within the last several years, the company has refreshed their strategy in order to market to Millennials. Mercedes-Benz saw the younger demographic as a new area of opportunity for several reasons. For one, the market size is quite large. There are now more Millennials than there are Baby Boomers so companies want to attract the massive demographic at an earlier age. Another reason for marketing to Millennials is to provide them with a product throughout their lives with progressively higher priced products as they move up in income brackets. They want to develop a sense of brand loyalty in young adults.

A great example of a campaign that appealed to Millennials was when Mercedes-Benz released their first compact SUV, the GLA, about a year ago. The company used a combination of Instagram and Facebook to turn a hashtag into a digital marketing phenomenon. Mercedes-Benz recruited top “Instagram Influencers” (celebrities, athletes, and photographers) each with at least half a million followers. They were equipped with a GLA to embark on a cross-country excursion where they were encouraged to document their road trip on Instgram using the hashtag #GLAPacked.

As this campaign was being executed, there was a related contest taking place for Instagram users. The rules were to find a clear 54” x 54” space, lay out your cargo, and take a picture and share it. The individual with the most creative cargo layout would win a 3-day road trip with the GLA inspired by their cargo (flights, luxury accommodations, and spending money would be provided).

Mercedes-Benz USA general manager of marketing services Eric Jillard said in a case study detailing the campaign, “Using Instagram as part of our digital advertising mix means we can meet young buyers on their home turf. With branding advertising on both Instagram and Facebook, site visits jumped more than 50 percent. Combine that with our direct response Facebook campaign and the impact on lift was tenfold, driving users to our GLA model page to further interact with the product.”

I think a large portion of the success of this campaign was due to the fact that Mercedes-Benz went out on a limb deciding to market their new vehicle to a rejuvenated demographic. They used the right social media mediums in doing so, and they successfully recruited all the right influencers to make the GLA seem like the next hot product on the market.