I am the first to admit I am not the biggest NASCAR fan – by a long shot. I am however, a huge fan of any brand that uses relationship marketing to better engage with its fans.
Such is the case with NASCAR, who recently re-launched their digital platform. Seeing the need to engage and relate to their very large and impressive list of fans, they entered into an agreement with Livefyre, the leading provider of real-time social software which allows fans to have conversations in real-time across NASCAR.com, whether it be on a PC, tablet or mobile device, to discuss everything NASCAR from the latest in-depth news to live action on the race track.
NASCAR fans will also have the option to bring others into the conversation by tagging friends on social media networks like Twitter and Facebook. Fans can also share comments out to those networks for additional viral impact.
According to Marc Jenkins, NASCAR’s vice president of digital media, utilizing technology such as LiveFyre’s was a natural extension of fan engagement and adds a new dimension for fans and their NASCAR experience.
“NASCAR’s digital platform is all about deeper engagement and providing the ultimate second screen experience for our fans,” said Jenkins. “Utilizing Livefyre on NASCAR.com allows us to give them a social experience to connect with NASCAR content and with one another.”
For Jordan Kretchmer, Livefyre founder and CEO, it’s all about engaging with and relating to consumers where they spend a good chunk of their time: online. “Driving user engagement online is critical for marketers today and NASCAR.com is a great example of how brands are connecting with audiences to drive specific business goals.”
The Pitfalls And How To Avoid Them
Kretchmer says that brand managers, brand marketers who are struggling with the concept of having real engagement with their audience need to remember that size matters.
“Start small. You don’t need to embark on a herculean effort to overhaul your entire consumer engagement strategy at once,” he said. “Find one real-time application that makes the most sense for your business, integrate it into your site and test it to see how it performs for you. When you see your key performance indicators increase, you can create a business case for engaging consumers in other ways.”
Kretchmer also sees brands making the mistake of limiting their social marketing efforts to engaging consumers on social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest, which as he puts it, ” is only half of the equation.”
“According to WebTrends, ⅔ of the Fortune 100 lost an average of 23% of their website traffic from 2010 to 2011. Meanwhile, traffic to Facebook grew by 600% during the same period,” he added. “This shift in user behavior is happening because people like to get news and information about the people, topics and brands that they care about in real-time. Companies can create a more balanced relationship with social networks by continuing to use them for awareness building, viral impact, and new customer acquisition, however they must complete the loop by making their owned properties just as social and engaging so that they can keep those consumers coming back.”
My Two Cents
First off Kretchmer is 1000% right when he says brands need to “complete the loop.” Make your website just as engaging and social as all the 3rd party social media networks are – you own your website, right? So why would you not use it to its fullest advantage?
Secondly, the need for real-time engagement is paramount. Consumers today want and quite frankly, expect to be able to get off their chest and converse and relate to others in real-time especially across social media networks. Make it easy for them to do that when it comes to your brand with like other like-minded devotees of your brand.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly is to constantly evaluate and analyze and make changes in, yes, real-time. Or as close to real-time as possible. If something is not working; if people are not engaging across one application, try another. Don’t throw up your hands in disgust and say “Well at least I tried to get my fans engaging in real-time with one another.” This is still marketing at its core kids, which means we test, test and test some more.
Nascar (Photo credit: Charles & Hudson)
Named one of the Top 100 Influencers In Social Media (#41) by Social Technology Review and a Top 50 Social Media Blogger by Kred, Steve Olenski is a senior creative content strategist at Responsys, a leading global provider of on-demand email and cross-channel marketing solutions. He is a also a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Digital & Social Media Marketing and co-author of the book StumbleUpon For Dummies. He can be reached via Twitter, LinkedIn or Email.