UK HORSE RACING SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE 2018 EDITION
October 2018
CONTENTS ① INTRODUCTION
② RACECOURSES ③ RACING INDUSTRY ④ MAKING A BIGGER IMPACT o Facebook Crossposting o Content Distribution o Instagram Focus
Why Social Media 66% of the UK’s population are active on social media and will spend on average 1 hour 54mins per day mainly on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. In addition, research shows 71% of consumers who have had a good social media customer service experience with a brand are likely to recommend it to others. This highlights how critical social media is for organisations to build connections with customers, strengthen relationships and to promote key events. Racegoers will expect social media to be a vital element of their raceday experience. A plan is needed for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as they are all different, appealing to different audiences and therefore need different approaches. That said, in general social media is used to achieve one of three key objectives:
• REACH: Communicating or connecting with more existing and potential customers by targeting relevant audiences • RETENTION: Building the brand, inspiring, entertaining and keeping customers engaged • REVENUE: Monetising social media by driving sales and growing sponsorship value
INSTAGRAM 1 billion active users globally (23m in the UK). Core audience 18-24 year olds.
TWITTER 12.6 million users in the UK. Core audience 18-29 year olds. Sport is the most tweeted genre (share of 42%).
FACEBOOK 30 million users in the UK. Most favoured by 23-37 year olds. 93% of marketers use Facebook advertising regularly.
Source: Statista (Jan 2018) & SproutSocial (2018)
Introduction & Approach This is the third edition of the social media landscape report for the horse racing industry, published by GBR and Seven League. The report aims to understand the role that social media has in the industry and helps GBR to monitor how the social media landscape has evolved over time. Findings from this report should aid the industry in identifying opportunities to improve communication with racegoers and fans of the sport. For the purpose of this report, the industry has been split into four groups: ① ② ③ ④
Racecourses Racing industry (bodies, associations, broadcasters, media etc.) Jockeys, trainers and owners Influencers (over 50% of social media content is about horse racing)
Seven League has tracked 341 racing industry social media accounts in the UK over the past 3+ years, as well as other sports for benchmarking purposes.
341
UK racing accounts
4
Categories
36
Months of tracking/data
Executive Summary • The UK racing industry has continued to grow in the past year reaching a combined social media following of 16m (up 17.6% on last year) • The industry growth is primarily driven by jockeys and trainers who have developed their social media presence and grown their following by 24% and 49% respectively • Racecourses have continued to grow (+22%), in particular those of large size, although the pace of growth was slower than last year • Twitter remains the dominant platform in the industry when it comes to total number of followers. However, racecourses and industry bodies have grown faster on Facebook and much faster on Instagram • In the industry, BCS remains the organisation with the largest combined following (594k) although the Racing Post has the largest pages on both Twitter and Instagram • 7 of the top 10 jockeys on social media are jump jockeys, and overall the combined following for jump jockeys is 70% bigger than flat jockeys • For the first time trainers have a combined following that is larger than jockeys (5.7% larger)
16m
Industry social media following
+49% Trainers’ growth
+56%
Racecourses’ Instagram growth
8.7 m Social Media Followers* (Excluding Influencers) Racecourses
Racing Industry
Jockeys, Trainers & Owners
2,500,000
2,500,000
Horse racing as a whole has experienced significant social media growth year-on-year – the combined following for racecourses, industry, jockeys, trainers and owners has grown by 2m followers.
2,529,059
2,500,000
2,679,272
2,908,721
3,085,554
2,000,000
2,000,000
30% up
22% up 1,500,000
1,422,754
1,500,000
2,000,000
38% up
1,444,330
1,500,000 1,222,561 1,060,815
1,000,000
1,000,000
500,000
1,000,000
500,000
500,000
195,703
0
263,949
167,587
0
400,046
0
Twitter Instagram
An increasing number of jockeys and trainers have built a significant social media presence and, therefore, more accounts in this category were tracked in 2018. This category has seen the largest growth (up 38% vs 14% in 2017). Racecourses have registered a 22% increase in total following, although they’ve grown at a slower pace compared to 2017 (22% vs 31%). Twitter leads the way in terms of total followers, the platform is particularly popular for jockeys and trainers.
*Summation of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts – NUMBER IS NOT UNIQUE FOLLOWERS Data taken: 13th July 2018 from social media and from Scout, Seven League’s social tracking tool
16.1m Social Media Followers* (Including Influencers) Racecourses
Racing Industry
Influencers
Jockeys, Trainers & Owners
8,000,000
8,000,000
8,000,000
8,000,000
7,022,419
7,000,000
7,000,000
2,679,272
7,000,000
2,908,721
3,085,554
6,000,000
6,000,000
22% up
5,000,000
30% up
5,000,000
6,000,000
4,000,000
3,000,000
3,000,000
1,060,815
1,000,000
1,000,000
1,000,000 400,046
167,587
0
2,000,000
1,222,561
195,703
3,000,000 2,529,059
2,000,000
1,000,000
0
4,000,000
3,000,000
1,444,330
1,422,754
230,746
263,949
155,955
0
0
7% up
5,000,000
4,000,000
2,000,000
2,000,000
7,437,361
6,000,000
38% up
5,000,000
4,000,000
7,000,000
Twitter Instagram
*Summation of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts – NUMBER IS NOT UNIQUE FOLLOWERS Data taken: 13th July 2018 from social media and from Scout, Seven League’s social tracking tool
Racing Channels Grow Faster Than Platforms 60%
59% 56% 50%
46% 40%
43%
37% 30%
31% 29%
20%
21% 19%
18%
10%
10%
2%
0%
Racecourses
Industry
Jockeys & Trainers
The racing industry’s social media channels have grown faster than the platforms themselves. On Instagram, the fastest-growing social media platform in the past 12 months, the horse racing industry has showed a strong performance with average growth above the 43% YOY growth registered by Instagram itself (gain in total followers). Although it should be noted: in general racing accounts on Instagram are starting from a small base.
Twitter’s continued popularity in horse racing is evident by the large growth figures across all types of racing accounts on a platform that has only grown 2% itself in the past year.
*Summation of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts – NUMBER IS NOT UNIQUE FOLLOWERS Data taken: 13th July 2018 from social media and from Scout, Seven League’s social tracking tool
CONTENTS ① INTRODUCTION
② RACECOURSES ③ RACING INDUSTRY ④ MAKING A BIGGER IMPACT o Facebook Crossposting o Content Distribution o Instagram Focus
59 Racecourses Average 45k Followers Each Twitter and Facebook were the drivers of growth for the racecourses.
Average Social Following* (Racecourses)
Total Social Following* (Racecourses) 30,000
18%
1,600,000
1,422,754 1,400,000 1,200,000
21%
Total racecourse followers 2,679,272
18%
19% 20,000
1,060,815
24,114
25,000
Average racecourse followers 45,411
17,980
1,000,000 15,000 800,000 600,000
10,000
57%
400,000
195,703
200,000
28% 5,000
3,317
0
0
All 59 racecourses combined added 218k Twitter followers and 188k Facebook fans in a year. Instagram’s numbers were overall smaller to begin with, therefore the additional 70k combined followers gained in the past year translates into a 57% growth YOY. It is encouraging to see racecourses increasingly using Instagram as a channel to communicate with racegoers while strengthening their presence on Facebook and Twitter.
*Summation of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts – NUMBER IS NOT UNIQUE FOLLOWERS Data taken: 13th July 2018 from social media and from Scout, Seven League’s social tracking tool
Twitter Remains The Dominant Platform June ‘17 – July ‘18
June ‘17 – July ‘18
June ‘17 – July ‘18 While Twitter and Facebook had a similar growth rate, Instagram grew at a faster pace.
21.5% June 2017: 872, 841 July 2018: 1,060,815 Total Growth: 187,974 Facebook growth is 1.4% higher than in 2017
18.1% June 2017: 1,204,601 July 2018: 1,422,754 Total Growth: 218,153 Twitter growth is 19.4% lower than in 2017
56.8% June 2017: 124,840 July 2018: 195,703 Total Growth: 70,863 Instagram growth is 40.6% lower than last year
Twitter’s growth was slower than last year’s (18.1% vs 37.5% in 2017) – this is still positive given the very limited growth of the platform as a whole. Instagram’s growth this year (56.8%) was slower than last year’s (97.4%). This can be attributed to the fact that growth rates tend to be bigger when accounts are smaller to begin with. However, racecourses need to focus on accelerating growth on Instagram as the platform is increasingly being used by racegoers.
Growth of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram across racecourses 58 racecourses for Facebook, 59 racecourses for Twitter and 48 for Instagram Data taken: 13th July 2018 from Scout, Seven League’s social tracking tool.
On Average, Racecourses Have Grown By 22% YOY The trend for all racecourse in the past year has been one of growth but at a slower pace compared to the previous 12 months.
Racecourses YOY Growth 50% 45%
Medium-size racecourses (average raceday attendance between 4,000 and 10,000) were the fastest growing category in 2017 and have shown good growth in 2018 as well, increasing their overall following by 23%.
40%
35% 30% 25% RACECOURSES AVERAGE 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%
Small
Medium
Large
However, large racecourses (average raceday attendance > 10,000) have registered the highest YOY growth percentage in 2018 (26%). It is worth noting that generally it is more difficult to achieve high growth rates with large accounts, therefore 26% is very positive.
Small size racecourse (average raceday attendance < 4,000) also showed growth although this happened at a slower pace (20%).
*Summation of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts â&#x20AC;&#x201C; NUMBER IS NOT UNIQUE FOLLOWERS Data taken 13th July 2018 from social media and from Scout, Seven Leagueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s social tracking tool
Strong Female Audience On Facebook Rugby Club
31% Football Club
35%
65%
69%
Cricket Club 4%
Average across 6 Racecourses*
7%
92%
On Facebook, racecoursesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; audiences are strongly dominated by female fans (65% is the average of the tracked racecourses). The gender breakdown in horse racing tends to be significantly different from other sports, where audiences on Facebook are often primarily male.
96%
*Seven League has access to 6 racecourses on Facebook Insights. In the Football benchmark, 1% of the clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s followers indicated a gender other than male or female. Data taken: July 2018
Twitter Is Increasingly Male Cricket Club 9%
Football Club
29%
91%
71%
8%
Tennis Tournament 14%
92%
Twitter remains a maledominated channel for the racecourses (71% is the average of the racecourses that have been tracked). This trend is not unusual in sport. However, the benchmark of horse racing with other sports shows that despite the large percentage of male followers, horse racing still has a more balanced gender split.
Average across 8 Racecourses*
86%
*Seven League has access to 8 racecourses on Twitter Analytics Data taken: July 2018
Racing Maintains A Broad Age Range Facebook Age + Gender Breakdown Racecourse Example* Male
A 6% decrease in males aged 18-24 following on Facebook vs 2017
Female
25%
20%
Facebook Age + Gender Breakdown Cricket Example
19% 18%
Male 50%
Female
47%
The followersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; age split in horse racing is more balanced than other sports.
45% 40% 36%
25-34 and 35-44 years old are the largest age groups, however there is a significant portion of fans who are under 24 and over 45.
35% 30%
15% 13%
25% 10%
10% 7%
7%
15% 5%
5%
10%
4%
6%
3% 2% 2% 1% 0%
0%
13-17
5% 0%
18-24
25-34
35-44
Interestingly, the female audience is becoming slightly younger and the male audience slightly older compared to last year.
20%
9%
45-54
55-64
65+
4% 0%
13-17
1%
1%
1%
18-24
25-34
35-44
2%
1%
45-54
0% 0%
55-64
1%
0%
65+
Source: Facebook Insights *Average of 6 racecourses
Racecourse Followers Are Predominantly From The UK vs Other Sports Racecourse Facebook followers live in the UK 88% of(a major benefit when trying to sell tickets)
6% 70%
of a leading Cricket Clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Facebook followers live in the UK
of a Premiership Rugby Clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Facebook followers live in the UK
Source: Facebook Insights
Top Racecourses By Following Ascot remains by far the racecourse with the largest Facebook following (12.3% growth in the past year).
157k
128k
41k
64k
111k
32k
56k
59k
14k
Cheltenham has the largest Twitter following and the second largest presence on both Facebook and Instagram. Ascot’s Instagram following has almost doubled YOY going from just over 20k followers to 41k – the largest following amongst all racecourses.
*Summation of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts – NUMBER IS NOT UNIQUE FOLLOWERS Data taken: 13th June 2018 from social media and from Scout, Seven League’s social tracking tool
Top Growth Rate By Racecourse Size 2017 2018
Medium
Small
Large
8,000
18,000
60,000
7,000
16,000
38% up
14,000 12,000
49% up
6,000
40,000
5,000
10,000
42% up
50,000
4,000
Cartmel Racecourse registered an impressive growth in total following (up 49%), however this was entirely driven by Facebook and Twitter.
30,000
8,000 3,000 20,000
6,000
Looking at growth percentage (rather than absolute numbers) in each size category, Chelmsford, Cartmel and Goodwood were the racecourses that achieved the largest growth YOY.
2,000 4,000 10,000 1,000
2,000
0
0
0
Instagram Size categories based on average raceday attendance.
*Summation of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts â&#x20AC;&#x201C; NUMBER IS NOT UNIQUE FOLLOWERS Data taken: 13th June 2018 from social media and from Scout, Seven Leagueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s social tracking tool
Content Examples Small
Medium
Large
CONTENTS ① INTRODUCTION
② RACECOURSES ③ RACING INDUSTRY ④ MAKING A BIGGER IMPACT o Facebook Crossposting o Content Distribution o Instagram Focus
Top Racing Industry Channels In the ‘Industry’ category, BCS remains the account with the largest combined following (594k). Facebook has been the key driver of growth for BCS as the number of fans went from 300k to 430k in the past 12 months (+43%). The Racing Post has the largest Instagram page with 51k followers (up 32% YOY), although the fastest growing Instagram account was GBR’s, which quadrupled from under 8oo followers to over 4,000. Overall growth on Twitter has been more moderate in this category. ITV Racing stands out with an 18.7% YOY growth. 0
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
Increased Jockeys’ Social Media Presence Average Social Following* (Jockeys)
Total Social Following (Jockeys) 16,000
1,400,000
14,238 1,200,000
1,152,147
1,000,000
Total followers 1,351,906
23% up
800,000
14,000
12,000
The average increased from last year
10,000
8,000
600,000 6,000 4,939 400,000 4,000
200,000
120,685
79,074
3,424
Twitter is by far the jockeys’ biggest social media channel for engaging with fans – combined following has grown by 21% YOY. 62% of jockeys who are on Facebook have a private page. It is positive to see that the combined Instagram following has doubled from 59k to over 120k in the past 12 months, showing that more jockeys are using the platform.
2,000
0
0
*Summation of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts – NUMBER IS NOT UNIQUE FOLLOWERS Data taken: 16-28th June 2017 from Scout, Seven League’s social tracking tool
Jockeys On Twitter: Flat vs Jump 21% rise in total Twitter followers YoY
Total Twitter Following 2017 800,000 688,557
700,000
Total Twitter Following 2018 800,000
600,000
500,000
500,000
400,000
400,000
400,414
Hayley Turner makes up 16% of total growth in the Flat jockeys category (her account was added for 2018 after she came back from retirement).
300,000
264,855
200,000
200,000
100,000
100,000
0
0
Flat
The overall number of jockeys tracked on Twitter this year has increased (34 flat jockeys vs 26 in 2017 and 47 jump jockeys vs 42 in 2017) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this had an impact on the overall growth of combined following.
700,000
600,000
300,000
751,733
Jump
34 flat vs 47 jump jockeys on Twitter
Flat
Jump
Top Performing Jump Jockeys Largest Twitter Following
Fastest Growing on Twitter
140,000
14,000
120,000
12,000
100,000
10,000
80,000
8,000
60,000
6,000
40,000
4,000
20,000
2,000
0
0
Ruby Walsh
Barry Geraghty
Sam Twiston-Davies
7 out of the top 10 jockeys on social media are jump jockeys.
389% up
Harry Skelton
82% up
Nico De Boinville
47% up
Danny Cook
Of the 3 jump jockeys with the largest followings on Twitter, Ruby Walsh has seen a slight decrease (2%) YOY due to inactivity while Barry Geraghty and Sam Twiston-Davies have grown by 4% and 9% respectively. Harry Skeltonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Twitter account has been the fastest growing amongst jump jockeys (+389%) going from 2,515 followers to 12,272 in the past 12 months.
Top Performing Flat Jockeys Largest Following (Twitter/Instagram)
Fastest Growing (Twitter/Instagram)
70,000
14000
60,000
12000
50,000
10000
40,000
8000
30,000
6000
20,000
4000
10,000
2000
0
0
Hayley Turner
Jamie Spencer Twitter
Frankie Dettori
72% up
71% up
38% up
After coming out of retirement in 2018, Hayley Turner has grown her Twitter following to be the largest amongst flat jockeys. The combined following for the 3 top flat jockeys represents 37% of total flat jockeysâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; combined followers. Aside from Hayley Turner, it is positive to see that 2 other female jockeys had the fastest growing social media accounts.
Josephine Gordon
Hollie Doyle
Pat Smullen
However, the following for the 3 top flat jockeys is less than half the following of the 3 top jump jockeys.
Trainers Are More Followed Than Jockeys Total Social Following* (Trainers) 1,600,000
Average Social Following* (Trainers) 45,000
49%
1,400,000
1,227,046
1,200,000
1,429,388 total followers
15k higher average than jockeys
40,000 35,000
60%
30,000
29,222
15%
1,000,000 25,000 800,000 20,000 600,000
400,000
51%
16% 7,770
119% 200,000
The adoption of Instagram is growing amongst trainers.
39%
10,000 168,935
All trainers’ social media pages 1% are 5.7% bigger than all jockeys’ pages. A similarity between trainers and jockeys is in the fact that Twitter dominates in both categories.
22,847
15,000
For the first year the total combined following for trainers has surpassed that of jockeys.
4,003
5,000
It is likely people follow trainers in the hope for betting tips.
33,407 0
0
Total
*Summation of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts – NUMBER IS NOT UNIQUE FOLLOWERS Data taken: 16-28th June 2017 from Scout, Seven League’s social tracking tool
Jump Trainers Lead On Social Media Largest Following Overall 140,000 120,000
Facebook 100,000
Paul Nichols remains top of the list of trainers on social media (145k total followers). 6 of the top 10 trainers on social media are jump trainers.
80,000 60,000
The average jump trainer has 19% more followers than flat trainers.
40,000
Twitter is the dominant platform for trainers. Only 13% of them are also on Instagram.
20,000 0
Paul Nicholls
David Pipe
Gordon Elliott
Owners Use A Mix Of Platforms Average Social Following* (Owners)
Total Social Following* (Owners) 361,660 total followers
160,000
34%
57%
152,037
149,866
140,000
47% 60,000
47%
120,000
54,929
77% 50,000
45,751
34%
109,857 38,009
40,000 100,000
60,000
All 5 owners who are active on social media are both on Facebook and Twitter. 3 of them are also on Instagram.
89%
This shows that compared to jockeys and trainer, they’ve embraced using multiple platforms.
29,973
30,000
80,000
Only 5 of the tracked owners are active on social media (all 5 are flat owners).
20,000
Owners is the only category where Twitter’s growth has been faster than Facebook’s or Instagram’s.
40,000 10,000 20,000 0
0
Total
*Summation of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts – NUMBER IS NOT UNIQUE FOLLOWERS Data taken: 16-28th June 2017 from Scout, Seven League’s social tracking tool
Influencers Landscape Is Growing Total Social Following* (Influencers)
6%
8,000,000
7,022,419 7,000,000
Total followers 7,437,361 (77 influencers)
Influencers are people who talk about racing at least 50% of the time in their social media feeds.
2%
Besides Michael Owen (3.8m) and Clare Balding (789k), Victoria Pendelton (410k) and AP McCoy (291k) are the horse racing influencers with the largest followings.
6,000,000 5,000,000
All tracked influencers combined have over 7.4m followers (46% of all social media accounts tracked).
15% 4,000,000 3,000,000 2,000,000 1,000,000
58% 2%
68%
230,746
155,955
0
This shows how important it is for racecourses and other organisation in the industry to strengthen their relationships with influencers as they can help to amplify reach for their content.
*Summation of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts â&#x20AC;&#x201C; NUMBER IS NOT UNIQUE FOLLOWERS Data taken: 16-28th June 2017 from Scout, Seven Leagueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s social tracking tool
Racecourses vs Cricket vs Rugby Total Social Following* by Platform
Average Social Following* by Platform
3,000,000 250,000
2,500,000
Cricket has grown by 19%, while racecourses and rugby have both grown by 22%.
200,000 2,000,000 150,000
Horse racing has the advantage of being able to communicate with a UK-based audience, while cricket and rugby clubs tend to have larger international audiences.
1,500,000 100,000 1,000,000
50,000
There is room for growth on Instagram for racecourses.
500,000
0
0
All 59 Racecourses
Facebook 18 Cricket Counties
12 Prem Rugby Clubs
All 59 Racecourses
Facebook 18 Cricket Counties
12 Prem Rugby Clubs
*Summation of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts â&#x20AC;&#x201C; NUMBER IS NOT UNIQUE FOLLOWERS Data taken: 13th July 2018 from Scout, Seven Leagueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s social tracking tool
Racecourses Are Growing Faster Than Cricket & Rugby 3,000,000 2,620,830
2,697,937
2,500,000
The total following size for the top 12 racecourses is half that of the top 12 cricket counties and rugby clubs.
2,000,000
1,500,000
1,392,592
However, it is positive to see a significantly faster growth for horse racing.
1,000,000
500,000
23%
15%
14%
Top 12 Cricket Counties
Top 12 Prem Rugby Clubs
0
Top 12 Racecourses
*Summation of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts â&#x20AC;&#x201C; NUMBER IS NOT UNIQUE FOLLOWERS Data taken: 18th July 2017 from Scout, Seven Leagueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s social tracking tool
CONTENTS ① INTRODUCTION
② RACECOURSES ③ RACING INDUSTRY ④ MAKING A BIGGER IMPACT o Facebook Crossposting o Content Distribution o Instagram Focus
FACEBOOK CROSSPOSTING
Benefits of Facebook Crossposting Facebookâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s algorithm prioritises video content and in particular videos that are posted natively. Establishing a crossposting relationship with other pages can be easily done via your Facebook pageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s settings. This allows these pages to re-use a video that is made available to them by the contentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s owner in multiple posts, without having to share it or upload it again.
BENEFITS OF CROSSPOSTING The video is posted natively on each page and does not appear as a shared post All the data and insights for the video are aggregated together on original video The video can be used for remarketing Crossposting the same piece of content at the same time is more likely to increase its organic performance
Crossposting – Horsing Around GBR regularly produces high-quality video content for key campaigns that is made available for crossposting to all racecourses at no cost. Crossposting this content will benefit the whole industry – if all racecourses crosspost the same piece of video content, this is more likely to reach more potential racegoers than it would have if it had been shared/posted individually. This is also an easy way for racecourse to have more content on their channels and maintain high levels of output frequency.
HORSING AROUND SERIES
5 46 40 4.1
EPISODES ACCOUNTS CROSSPOSTED AT LEAST 1 VIDEO RACECOURSES INVOLVED*
AVERAGE NUMBER OF POSTS PER ACCOUNT
* The other 6 accounts that crossposted videos were industry accounts
Crossposting – Horsing Around Total Video Views 350,000 300,000 250,000
Crossposted Views
The initial video (Episode 1) was crossposted 35 times while the following episodes were used less frequently.
GBR Views
200,000
On average, each account used the Horsing Around videos in 4.1 posts, however usage varies significantly from 1 single video used to 19 posts containing any of the 5 videos.
150,000 100,000 50,000 0 Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Number of Posts by Episode 18
35
Episode 1
The crossposting activity by racecourses and other industry accounts gave the Horsing Around series a boost helping GBR to reach more racegoers and potential racegoers with the Under 18s Race Free message. Organically the 5 videos generated a combined 62k views via crossposting alone – this is in addition to the views generated on the GBR page via organic and promoted posts.
Episode 2
25
Episode 3
29
31
Episode 4 Episode 5
GBR Facebook Insights – correct as of 27/07/18
CONTENT DISTRIBUTION
Content Amplification Working with influencers, media and commercial partners allows racecourses to get their content/messages in front of new and bigger audiences. INFLUENCERS MEDIA
Engage with people who have a genuine interest in or connection with the sport (inside or outside racing) Strengthen relationships with local and national media outlets and set up content syndication agreements
PARTNERS
Think of opportunities with commercial partners and local organisations (e.g. universities)
PAID MEDIA
Utilise paid advertising to target specific audiences with relevant content
Why Influencers? BENEFITS OF WORKING WITH INFLUENCERS They reach audiences that racecourses generally do not reach directly They have an authentic voice and can speak genuinely to their followers They can talk about more aspects of the industry and sport than racecourses could Building an ongoing relationship can be relatively inexpensive for racecourses
Example: NBA Europe Advocates The NBA in Europe has created a network of advocates which it regularly provides with content that is ready to be used on their channels. These relationships (helped by free tickets and merchandise) take time to build but helps the NBA promote itself to new audiences.
@Benmendy23 French footballer 776k followers @LacazetteAlex French footballer 887k followers
@PauGasol Spanish NBA legend! 7.6m followers @SebastianMila11 Polish footballer 71k followers
Work With Media & Partners Identify the best platforms to syndicate your content to â&#x20AC;&#x201C; these could be local media, specialists websites, existing or new partners. This activity requires coordination with your PR team.
Paid Media Online Ads and paid activity on social media allows you to target the right content and message to the right audience. This is an opportunity to amplify the reach for content that works well and talk to specific audiences that might not be currently on your channels.
Analyse Data
Understand your audience
Demographics
Behaviour
Income
Likes/Dislikes
Interests
Racing Motivation
Racing fans / Socialisers
Channels & Devices used
Target ads to key audiences
INSTAGRAM FOCUS
Understanding The Algorithm Instagram is the fastest growing social media platform and the social media channel that offers the greatest potential for growth in sport. Therefore, it is essential for the horse racing industry to grow its presence on the platform. The newsfeed algorithm of any social platform is based on multiple factors, and is never fully disclosed. Instagram is no different, but through our work with multiple clients, we have a very good sense of the areas it is important to understood and excel in. These areas are essential for us to reach out existing audience, and grow our following. Engagement - If a post proves popular (more likes, comments), Instagram will show it to more people. However, if a user has shown repeated interest in an account, the user should see the post even if it has low engagement. Timeliness – Like all social networks, Instagram no longer orders its newsfeed purely on a ‘reverse chronological’ basis, but the algorithm will prioritise recent posts with the highest engagement. Relevance – The algorithm quickly understands genres a user is interested in and interacts with, and will show more of that type of content, including in the Explore tab (a key area to find new followers) Relationships – When an Instagram user shows repeated interest in an account, posts from that account will appear near the top of that user’s newsfeed and Stories list
The Importance Of Video Whilst technically, Instagram does not prioritise video within the algorithm, in effect it does because the algorithm will push posts which have the greatest engagement, views and watch-time, all of which video tends to deliver. In particular, Instagram will push posts within the explore tab that have the greatest engagement and watch-time, and we know this area of the app is where new followers can be found, as the algorithm will show anyone who is interested in a specific genre, content that shows signs of high engagement. This means that posts with video content are most likely to earn new followers, by gaining leverage with our existing audience, and as a result, succeeding within the algorithm and therefore being presented to new fans. Instagram also remains the photo app it started life as. We know that worldclass photography, especially in a sport as visual as horse racing, will achieve success on the platform, and racecourses should continue to plan for this. Photo carousels are a fantastic way to showcase several photos in one post, which could be useful on race days when we have a lot of content but do not want to flood followersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; feeds.
The Importance Of Interaction Instagram’s algorithm prioritises posts with high engagement, and one of the factors which determines engagement is the number of comments a post has. This gives us an incentive to ask questions of our followers, in such a way that encourages the highest number of responses.
Ask questions to your followers – these can be related to your racecourse or can be topical. Make sure most post captions are aimed at sparking conversations. This approach will drive more engagement and attract new followers.
Use polls, quizzes and new features that Instagram has introduced to maximise the levels of engagement.
Responding to and liking fans’ comments will encourage more fans to engage and grow overall engagement levels.
Introducing an element of gamification will make your content more appealing for your Instagram audience.
Be fun and use Instagram (Stories in particular) as a channel to show your brand’s personality
Making The Most Of Stories The Sports industry has an average Story completion rate of 67%, but this is influenced by the number of posts within a Story
0-10 frames within a Story is the ideal number. Completion rate is lower for Stories containing more than 10 posts
Evenings after 8pm are the best time to publish a Story in order to get the highest completion
However, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more important for sports organisations to post when the content is at its best and most live
Source: Delmondo - Instagram Stories Benchmark Study Summer 2018
What Else Is New On Instagram? STORIES @MENTION
STORIES SHOPPABLE TAG
MUSIC STICKER
QUESTIONS
Share Stories from other accounts when you’re tagged
Tag products in Stories – 1 click to go to the website
Add a track (7 sec) to your photo/video in Stories
Ask followers questions and post responses
Vertical Long Form Is An Opportunity INSTAGRAM TV IGTV is a new app for watching long-form, vertical video. There is a stand-alone IGTV app, but it is also available to watch from within the Instagram app. Videos are full screen and vertical, so can be shot on a phone natively, and content can be separated out into specific channels. So far weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve seen a number of sports organisations embracing IGTV primarily as a channel to take fans behind the scenes.
Conclusions • In the past year, the horse racing industry has continued to grow its presence on social media. This has become an essential channel to communicate and engage with existing and potential racegoers. • It is positive to see that while racecourses have kept growing at a healthy pace, other key players in the industry (trainers in particular) have taken on a key role to accelerate the overall growth in followers. • Twitter is horse racing’s most popular channel, although growth has considerably slowed down both in the racing industry and for the platform as a whole. Therefore, it is necessary to shift the industry’s focus to growing a strong presence on other platforms. • Instagram is becoming a leading platform in sport and it is natural to see more racegoers using it. The racing industry has been able to keep up with the platform’s growth in the past year, however, the overall following is still limited. • The industry has an opportunity to work together to grow. Collectively it is possible to reach larger audiences of potential racegoers and convert them to fans of the sport. The industry should also look outside of racing (e.g. influencers) to amplify its content’s reach and therefore generate exposure for the sport to new audiences.
THANK YOU For more information please contact Gregg Taylor GTaylor@greatbritishracing.com