What's your take on this? Social Media bashing vs tracks taking responsibility

[HoosierDirtFan]

What's your taking on this? Social Media bashing vs track promoters & Touring Series / sanctions taking responsibility for the lack of running a good track / series.
Link to article
http://www.tjslideways.com/2015/12/31/social-media-is-a-scapegoat-for-unsuccessful-racing-endeavors/

[Clayton_Wetter]

Run a good track and program and you don't have to worry about the media. That promoter must have not.

[ptown]

They all want to blame their failures on social media.

[JinxNC]

It's the way of the world present day. Plain and simple.

[70satomic]

Similarly situation happened at Smokey mountain speedway at the start of the season, the weather people had said all week long that it was going to snow on the race day but the track decided to go ahead with plans to race well guess what it snowed and people traveled long distances came to the track and got pissed when the race was calledBetter planning should have been used along with common sense

[Josh Bayko]

Well run tracks get little bashing on social media. Poorly run tracks get a ton.

[blncfn57]

Well run tracks get little bashing on social media. Poorly run tracks get a ton.

That depends. I know one track that you and others praise for their specials that was poorly ran during weekly races.

[Zonks32x]

Poor reviews on social media isn't what's killing dirt tracks. Tracks that fail to provide an updated website, return phone calls or mantain any semblance of a social media presence at all is what's hurting them. People don't just magically show up. They have 100's of options competing for their entertainment dollar.

What does it say about how a track maintains itself and operates its facilities in 2017 if they can't or won't do facebook or twitter when it's FREE.

Seriously, how can a track owner/promoter beat a free way to communicate and positively promote their facility and events to the entire world, not just those that see a flyer at a gas station located near the track.

The method has certainly changed over the last 20 years, but it's still called promoting.

How many tracks use 4m to promote events??? and they've provided an entire section of the msg board for it, again for free.

The increased cost to own/run a car plus a lack of new butts in the seats is what is hurting tracks. Two options, cut cost or attract new fans.

[klemmabyna]

this is just me: i'm not likely to bash any track/promoter on social media. more likely to talk in person to someone from the track. I will go on social media to praise what I consider to be effort made in an attempt to put on a good show. doesn't always work, but if I see a track crew busting butt, i'm going to give credit.

the problem with social media is kind of like reading online reviews for other products. those who spout the most are usually those who are dissatisfied. people like to complain, but no one takes the effort to give praise.

take a trip through 4m. doesn't matter sanction/track/promoter/driver, etc... by the second page of posts it's a bitchfest.

JMO

tracy williamson
Delavan,wi
(ex-Prescott,ia)

[Barbecueboy]

That depends. I know one track that you and others praise for their specials that was poorly ran during weekly races.

Some tracks are just like that I think.......

[Krooser]

Sticking to social media and ignoring the traditional means to advertise means you are missing a large % of your potential audience. The majority of guys I know over 40 don't own a computer or do social media at all. The listen to the radio, watch tv and still read newspapers.

Four years ago I surveyed my track audience one night... 6 out of ten had a zero on line prescence...that's men and women.

I have had four teens living under my roof in the last three years...FB is obsolete to them...they Snapchat or simply text to stay in contact.

[ptown]

Sticking to social media and ignoring the traditional means to advertise means you are missing a large % of your potential audience. The majority of guys I know over 40 don't own a computer or do social media at all. The listen to the radio, watch tv and still read newspapers.

Four years ago I surveyed my track audience one night... 6 out of ten had a zero on line prescence...that's men and women.

I have had four teens living under my roof in the last three years...FB is obsolete to them...they Snapchat or simply text to stay in contact.

That's hard to believe except I do know teens don't do Facebook.

[ptown]

Because a teen don't want the family in on their business. If they block mom and dad then things get really hairy...

Brilliant deduction.

[Zonks32x]

I'm not gonna get into a debate about what social media apps teens use or don't use, I'll simply say this. I have one in college, one in HS and I see 1400 teens every day in my job as a HS teacher, so I think I have a good handle on the subject.

My point was tracks need to find a way to get new fans in the stands.

Krooser...old balls that you surveyed at the track who doesn't own a computer is already in the stands. They already know the deal, time, place, cost, etc.

Teenagers...think really hard about how many teens you see in the stands at a racetrack. Very few if any, groups of teens. Maybe a couple boyfriends who dragged their girl along, the rest are with Dad or Grandpa. I see more teens in the pits racing, than in the stands watching...and that's ok.

It's the 22-39 age group. How do tracks reach them and attract them, their kids, and their $ to the track??

Team old guy is doing his part (thank you) but that's because an even older guy (Dads) took us to the racetrack and we did the same with our kids.

Dirt tracks need to find a way to connect with disgruntled nascar fan (there everywhere) and get them in the stands. All it takes is one night, and they'll be hooked. And if they like it, they'll tell their friends.

[Duke100]

I would try giving out more free tickets, or deep discount coupons. This would only be good for the tracks that keep all of their concession money. Then keep them there with track prep! LOL

[Highwayman]

I can see both sides I suppose. I've been to tracks that time and again promise they are gonna do better and yet the surface is still junk, single file, sand-storm dusty by the end of the heats. I mean you get to the track and at 5:30 its still bone dry and hard as the local granite with the rubber still on it from the week before... Then you get on the InterWeb and their PR and a few dilussionals are touting how awesome the racing was. After being duped time after time you become jaded and less sympathetic to promotors who don't really promote, they manage like an accountant and the whole thing death spirals. People complain on the web about it, fewer peeps return, the gate gets smaller, the promoter begs, whines, threatens, promises, but nothing improves and the completion times get later and later until your hauling the car from the track to church hoping you make it in time for the sermon, this week...

On the other hand some people use the web, social media and the like as their entertainment. They don't actually add to the conversation or want to help with anything they just like to swap insults with anybody who crosses their path, be it a race, a track, a fan, a promotor, someones death, grand parents and on and on. I'd like to see less of the "free" message boards and social media be replaced with pay sites. I think if some of these quacks had to pay to post and risk losing money if they start getting stupid, things would get better. But as long as 4m and others are free there's gonna be idiots saying dumb stuff for a laugh or revenge. Another thing that detracts from things and makes people want to say negative things is the censorship that goes on. Your not allowed to say negative things about anyone who has ad space on these message boards because they pay the bills, even if its true, especially if its true. We need a new 4m type place that raise the bar of entry a little to dissuade people like, "Black I" and others from using the board for narcissistic entertainment.

[PRCKartRacer9]

If you want to get people in the stands, add classes that are cheap to race in and have good racing no matter the surface. I started racing 4cyl and we would have 80-90 mini stocks a night. If each racer brings 2 people to watch then the stands fill up quickly. We also had a V8 cruiser class that would have 40-50 a night as well. We never had entry fees, only pit passes. Each class ran 2 features if you transfered with the A paying $250, $25 to start and the B paying $150, $25 to start. The fans loved watching these classes because there was racing front to back and always entertaining. The amount of kids racing was more than a 1/3 and the grandstands actually had family areas because of the amount of kids there watching. We would have kids night a couple times a year where the kids got to ride around the track in the cars. As the season would get longer, the more new faces you would see in the crowd simply by word of mouth. It cost adults 14 and older $10 for gen admission. Stands were full every Friday and that's competing with high school football later in the year. My point is if you keep gate costs to a minimum and have support classes that are just that, you don't have to charge an arm and a leg to make sure you cover the purse for the latest and what not. People were going to the track because they heard the racing was good and the whole family could go. The track was a bullring so the lates never really put on the show that the minis and cruisers put on. I've read on social media where people miss going to this track because there was always excitement. Everyone knew what the track surface was going to be each week. Horrible. Turns 1 & 2 had a natural spring in the middle and was never smooth. Let the racing promote itself and dont try to sell people on a great surface with great racing. Sell them on the experience and the stands will always be full. Pennsboro was always packed with people and the racing was the same year in and year out.

[Krooser]

ptown... I would say I can ask 25 of my friends and biz associates and at least 15 would say the same thing... no computer or they have a very limited internet presence.

My race fan buddy Tracey is 52... he does FB now but has a tuff time figuring out how to do a good search on Google... he's no dummy. Never been on a tracks web page. In the auto parts biz for 20 years... his brother doesn't own a computer. There are lots of folks just like those two and they are everywhere. They are our neighbor's and friends...

If online promo's were so good no consumer goods would be advertised on TV... no business would advertise at the local track... no business would buy naming rights to a ball park or speedway.