What if the above statement was true? It very well could be, but how would you know? You wouldn’t.  In the motorsports industry it’s becoming more and more common for sponsors to require their teams/drivers to have a strong social following. Social media is no longer optional, it’s a requirement.

Recently I was contacted by a tire manufacturer looking for some female drivers to provide tires for the entire racing season. That’s a lot of money that wouldn’t be taken out of a racing budget or better yet your own personal budget. Their requirements of the drivers was that they were social savvy with a good following, that it was an up and coming driver and that they would do some tweeting/posts about using the tires. Sounds like a good deal right? Of course it’s a great deal. The dilemma came when I started researching to find ladies, who raced in the types they were wanting, that who had a strong social following.

Keys to creating your own social community! It’s all cause and effect.

#1 Create Social Accounts

Make sure these accounts follow your branding based on what you currently use. This makes it easier for current fans to find you and for new fans to find you across the board on any platform they may look on.

#2 Update

At first social media may sound silly and you may feel silly doing it. Everyone feels this way at first but you must push through. The more you get used to updating regularly the easier it will be to keep consistently doing this throughout your career.

#3 Engage

Doing steps #1 and #2 will create you a fan base. Your fan base are those who follow you and want to know more about you. You want as many fans as possible of course. To make these fans feel appreciated you need to engage with them. Follow fans who are following you or seek out potential fans and create conversation.

#4 Reach Out

This goes along with Engage in step #3 but it goes one step further. When your fan base gets to a certain point followers are going to reach out to you, a lot. It’s very important to try to reach out to as many of those followers as possible, answer questions and respond to comments.

Doing this over time will create your core fan base. These fans and followers can be utilized to bring in sponsors and to have a fantastic support system behind you on and off the race track.