Leverage major events and hot topics to your advantage on social media.
By Kristin Pitzer
On August 17, 2019, fans crowded into the South Point Arena and watched, along with a broad online audience, as Cade McCutcheon and Craig Schmersal slid to a tie for the first-ever Run for a Million championship under the bright Las Vegas lights. It was the culmination of a season’s worth of buildup for followers of The Last Cowboy, a reality show that showcased reining at the top level.These entities—the TV show and the Million Dollar Invitational, with their huge global presence—brought reining to more non-equestrians and non-reiners than any event before them. The resulting social media buzz from both the TV show and the event sparked an unprecedented wave of interest in the sport—a wave that professionals, even those who weren’t involved with either event, could—and should—take advantage of. From the Run for a Million and beyond, major horse events that have everyone talking are great ways for you to boost your own training businesses through social media and digital presence.
In this series of posts, we’ll discuss how to leverage these types of events, even if you’re not in the main spotlight. Topics include:
Part 2: Bettering Your Content
Bettering Your Content
Events like the Run for a Million tend to generate a lot of buzz, and when you can insert yourself into conversations, you can quickly become synonymous with the sport, regardless of whether or not you’re part of the event itself. Making yourself available as an expert for published pieces surrounding the event can do a lot to open your business to new followers.
“One sure way to grow your audience is to take on interviews from equine blogs and websites, accept an invitation to join a podcast, even write a guest post for another site,” Gauger suggested. “If you’re out there and creating relationships online, you’re creating opportunities for yourself to step into already-established arenas. All of these are opportunities to share your social profile and be seen by others as an expert in your field.”
Even viral “challenge” posts, though not directly part of an event, can push you to the front of the dialogue. The bareback spin challenge from earlier in 2019, for example, might seem quick and simple, but it could provide an introduction to reining to a newcomer who stumbled across your post.
Have fun, and let people see your personality. Show yourself in action, tell the story of what you do rather than offer a hard sell. Showcasing your abilities can generate an authentic connection. Plus, those videos will help meet Facebook’s post diversity requirements, which will make it more apt to increase your reach. In addition to videos, the platform encourages using text-only posts, photos, and link posts. Post diversity also helps you gauge which posts are most favored by your audience.
“Original videos, text, and photos—all of this together is at the absolute core of Facebook,” Gauger said. “Original, witty, funny, opinion-producing content is key. There’s no one answer on how to do this because every audience is different.”
The most important thing to remember is that page likes aren’t everything. It’s much more important to have a quality presence, which will keep new followers, than to just try to build up numbers that may not stick around.
“Don’t obsess about a small follower count,” Gauger said. “Continue to engage with your audience authentically, and they will come. Smaller, engaged audiences are better than a larger, less-interested audiences.”
Read the rest of this article at the links above.
