Five Years of Twitter

I started my Twitter account @onehorsestable in June 2009. I read about Twitter in several business books and decided to dive into social media. I have always enjoyed business and marketing books; I think they keep me one step ahead. As I experimented with Twitter, I tweeted about my favorite past-time, horse racing. Horse racing has never been an early-adopter of anything. Author and horse breeder Jim Squires once referred to racetracks as “some of the country’s worst-run and least-profitable enterprises.” As I became an influential voice for the horse racing industry, I began to blog about the social media highs and lows of the horse racing industry. Below is a collection of social media thoughts from the last five years. Keep in mind these are events from the past five years. Many companies placed a higher priority on social media and improved their game. These are stories to entertain. You might even learn something. Enjoy.

A Single-Person Media Empire

In 2009, more news about the Keeneland September Yearling Sale came out of suburban Minneapolis than from Keeneland. With a laptop and an internet connection, one person can build a media empire. That is the power of social media. For two years, the most prestigious thoroughbred auction company in the world couldn’t keep up with me as I operated a Twitter account from my one bedroom apartment. And now Keeneland was admitting defeat. In early 2012, they began looking for a digital media person. But the Keeneland job advertisement worried me. The posting for a Director of Marketing and Digital Media Coordinator concerned me because it mentioned everything from Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and FourSquare to HTML coding and PowerPoint. Looking at the posting, it was obvious that the emphasis was on a variety of qualifications. When you seek someone well-rounded, you rarely find greatness in anything. But I was more troubled by how they violated the first rule of social media before the resumes were ever collected. By attempting to have a presence in too many social media channels, you end up doing none of them well and everything suffers.

How to Fail at Social Media

Scott Stratten wrote the classic social media handbook, titled Unmarketing. If you are hiring for a marketing/digital media position, any candidate who has not read Unmarketing should not make it past the initial screening. Stratten is a legitimate expert on social media and the author of one the best marketing books I have read. According to Stratten, the most fundamental truth of social media is this: don’t try to be everywhere. Stratten states it this:

“Build a small stage- your platform- that your’re going to stand on and get people to come to. Pick one place where you want people to find you and play your best ‘show’ there for as long as it takes to build a solid following. If you tell people to come find you on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook, read your blog, and watch your videos on YouTube when you first encounter them, they’re going to run the other way.”

When the horseracing industry attempts to dive into social media, they can be tempted to try and do it all. Keeneland posts a position for Digital Marketing and Communications Coordinator and immediately starts talking about implementing plans for Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and FourSquare. Listen to the professionals. Another social media expert, Chris Brogan, wrote the following:

“Remember that there are all kinds of platform-making choices. You can do blogs, video, newsletters, social networks, and many more avenues. What you can’t do is do ALL of those well. Pick a few and work from there. One, maybe two, is a good start.”

If you want to fail at social media, try and be everywhere. If you want to succeed, pick one platform and play your best show there.

Facebook and Cat Photos

If you are not on Facebook yet, forget it. It is too late. Leave the Facebook fan pages to the local restaurants and bars. Everyone is on Facebook. The Facebook audience is a much more mainstream one. On the other hand, Twitter has been embraced by several writers, analysts, and key people in the media world. You can even find Tweets running along the bottom line of ESPN. Twitter is a better platform for horseracing. That’s my opinion. In the book Zarella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness, the author researched the most shareable words on Facebook. You know what number one was? Facebook. As Zarella explains, “Yep, Facebookers love talking about Facebook.” How Facebook went from college students posting photos and listing themselves as available to mothers friend-requesting their teenagers, is a phenomenon in itself. Forget Facebook and focus on Twitter or blogging. Zarella continues, “Everyone is on Facebook. Both your mom and your college roommate are.” Create great content and add to the conversation via blogs or Twitter. Blogger and best-selling author Hugh MacLeod writes “the only people who are left blogging are the people who REALLY want to, who ACTUALLY have something to say. Everyone else is uploading cat photos on Facebook. I think this is a good thing.”

Three Simple Keys, If You are Going to Jump into Social Media

Be consistent, do it long-term, and do it right. Doing it right entails a number of things that hopefully are addressed throughout this series of articles. So, let’s talk about being consistent. In social media, traction is key; you have to build traction and traction leads to momentum. But as Stratten writes, “When you are building traction, consistency is very important.” Be consistent. One thing that may help a racetrack or large breeding farm is to have more than one person involved in your blog or your Twitter account. Brogan advises to “have more than one twitterer at the company. People can quit. People take vacations. It’s nice to have a variety.” Life gets in the way. So, having more than one person is okay if that helps with the consistency. On Twitter, there are no shortages of inactive accounts. In my opinion, it would be better to stay off Twitter than to be on the platform but absent. Stratten agrees, and he writes, “your existence of the account makes it look like you want to be part of the conversation, but your actions show otherwise.” Chris Brogan adds, “Be consistent and be willing to do it long-term… Building a platform takes time. Years. But you have to start somewhere. Doing the work requires more time and effort than not doing it. Unemployment is also easier than working.”

“Facebook isn’t social media if you just run a fan page and then don’t interact with the people who join in.” That is solid advice from Scott Stratten. You have to start topics of conversation- help people out. Tweet regularly and Tweet quality content. No one cares what you are doing or watching. Give us relevant content, be consistent, and commit to it long-term. If you are not going to do that, then save your energy and stick to launching t-shirts into the crowd.

Be More Than an RSS Feed

To be successful at social media, there needs to be some attempt to engage and communicate with others and not just merely regurgitating information. Find your fans, your loyal track attenders, and your horseplayers and engage with them. A racetrack’s presence on Twitter can come from someone in media relations, marketing, or perhaps the track announcer. It does not matter. But, make sure he or she can produce good content and not just resort to a news feed. If all you do is tweet out news briefs or snippets of information with related links, then you are missing out on the bigger picture. Ask questions, converse, make predictions, comment on the industry, don’t just puke out information in the form of 140 characters or less. Show some personality and focus on writing good, though brief, content. Scott Stratten warns, “I see people using Twitter as a glorified RSS feed for their blog or an ad-puker. So absent of personality, I wonder why they even try.”

Focus on Quality Not Quantity

Don’t focus on number of likes or number of followers, but the quality of those followers. Remember, it is the engagement that matters. Better to have 500 followers that you engage with and converse with than 10,000 followers that you never respond to. Stratten writes, “it’s not about how many followers you have, but your engagement with them. Don’t look to build quantity, build quality.”

DO NOT AUTOMATE

If you are tempted to automate your Twitter or Facebook updates, don’t do it. All the experts will agree on this. Stratten writes, “as soon as you throw automation into your relationships, they stop being authentic.” People can tell. Be authentic, be real, or don’t bother. Automation interferes with the ability to be real.

Not All Followers Are Created Equal

Let’s face it. Some people on Twitter or Facebook have more influence than others. Not all followers are created equal. Instead of chasing followers, chase the right ones. During the Dubai World Cup Carnival meet, I began to get connected with people in the UK that followed the Meydan meet. When you start tweeting about the race and using #Meydan hashtags, you easily gain followers who have the same interests as you. Out of this meet, I gained a follower in @Sir_Back2lay. A major source of info for the flat season, this Twitter account also had over 2,800 followers. When he started to follow me, this follow was more influential than 10 or even 20 ordinary followers. Sir_Back2lay started to retweet many of my tweets. Because of this new connection, he was passing along a good deal of my messages to a network of over 2,800 followers of his. Just like in the real world, in the social media world, some people have more influence than others.

Unless You Are An Award-Winning ESPN Analyst, Follow Somebody

ESPN College basketball analyst Jay Bilas has over 235,000 followers and follows nobody. (That was as the time of the original post. He now has 698.5K followers and follows one person). Now there are two sides to this. The first being that if you follow no one, not even other ESPN personalities, you don’t care about the conversation or the engagement on Twitter; you just use it as a place for your opinions and comments. However, Bilas does reply to others and does engage. But, to some degree, you need to (or should want to) follow people that you are interested in. So for the horseracing industry, I recommend to follow some tracks or track announcers or industry people that interest you. The second side to the Jay Bilas zero followers story is that Bilas very intelligent and a bit eccentric. I can see him having zero followers just to be different and to make a point. The guy received a degree in Political Science and then graduated from Law School from Duke University. This isn’t your average guy. Unless you are an award-winning ESPN analyst, follow some people that interest you.

Nobody Cares How Many Followers You Have

Don’t talk about how many followers you have. It sounds arrogant or desperate or both. When Simon and Christina from TVG talk about how many followers they have, it sounds so uninteresting and self-absorbed. And when Claire Novak cheers her followers on to get her to break the 4,000 follower mark, that is equally desperate. We appreciate your writing Claire and your work in the industry, but instead of making desperate pleas to break the 4,000 mark, put your effort into some great content and post a link for us to read it. Anytime, we think we are reaching a pinnacle for how many followers we have and how much supposed influence we have, just remember @toasterpup. Yes, entrepreneur Kevin Rose’s dog has more followers than you.

Having A Social Media Presence Means Being Available When There Are Problems

It was a random Wednesday, and I did not have to work. I had the greatest set-up any horseplayer could hope for. With my Sprint HTC EVO at my side (my phone of choice at the time of the article. I now enjoy using my iPhone5), I was ready to send out tweets on the phone while watching live racing via TwinSpires mobile on my iPad 2. All of the sudden, I logged onto TwinSpires and only had two options for live racing. On my day off with everything prepped and ready to go, TwinSpires was having technical problems. Wednesday afternoon should provide more than two options and I knew Tampa Bay Downs was running a ten race card with two turf races. Yet, I only had two live racing options and both were harness racing. Time to hit the twitter feed and see what the issue was.

Through a few tweets and a few direct messages on twitter, TwinSpires was able to communicate with me on the problems they were having that day. I was even able to send a screenshot via Twitter so they could see what my main page was showing me. When a customer has a problem, be available on your social media networks. Be available for your fans or don’t bother having the account. Though I did not have a stopwatch going, TwinSpires must have made initial contact in less than seven or eight minutes. Hats off to you TwinSpires. Well played. Incidentally, Tampa Bay Downs failed this minor test. The first tweet I sent out was directed at the Tampa Bay Downs Twitter account. I thought maybe weather had delayed racing because it was not showing up on my live racing screen. Another horseplayer responded that he was watching via TwinSpires. The NTRA commented that I could watch on the Tampa Bay Downs website through the live feed. Then TwinSpires began helping me. But in all this action, Tampa Bay was a no-show.

Twitter has proven to be a valuable way for companies to communicate with their customers. One of the most well-known success stories of social media helping a company communicate with its customers is the story of Frank from Comcast. Frank is the man behind the handle @comcastcares and is a superhero for what he started at Comcast. In addition to being featured in business and marketing books, Frank has been featured in the New York Times, Business Week, the Wall Street Journal, Wired magazine, the USA Today, and ABC News. One online article described Frank this way:

“In the pantheon of social media, Frank Eliason is certainly something of a celebrity. He was the start of a social media craze from Comcast, chasing down and responding to online complaints from customers. In the history book of social media, Eliason, who popularized Twitter handle @Comcastcares, will be among the forefathers of the movement.”

The article later went on to describe that Twitter allowed Comcast “to move a mountain of negative perception with a relatively small team of persistent web-based professionals.” That, my horseracing friends, is the power of social media. And as I update this series of articles in May 2014, Churchill Downs Incorporated is undergoing a run of bad publicity unlike the industry has ever seen. And their Twitter account remains deathly silent. Track conditions are updated, daily changes are posted, and the occasional family fun day event is promoted. But their is zero interaction with the disgruntled owners and horseplayers that are wreaking havoc on their brand. What a difference it would make if Churchill Downs, like Comcast in the days of Frank, would chase down and respond to online complaints from customers.

Frank Eliason eventually left his post at Comcast’s Center City headquarters for a similar position with Citi. He went to Citi with the task of starting the process of building an online brand all over again with another industry reviled by consumers. The horseracing industry is full of articles and commentary on the need to attract new players and take care of the current horseplayers whose wagers play a major role in financing the game. What better way to educate new fans and engage with loyal fans than with social media. Through something like Twitter, an individual or a small team can make a large impact on racetrack fans, horseplayers, and the industry as a whole, if only they would get involved.

A Twitter Success Story From Altoona, Iowa

One example of social media done right comes from Altoona, Iowa. Not only did Prairie Meadows lead the way in the Racino era, but they also provided me with a pleasant experience via social media. When planning my first ever trip to see live horse racing at the Altoona, Iowa track, I contacted Prairie Meadows via Twitter. When I visit a track, one very key component of the visit is where to sit. I want a reserved table in a clubhouse-type area where the serious horseplayers would be. I like being away from the grandstand crowd and near the simulcast regulars and the owners. At my home track of Canterbury Park, my wife and I have this down to a science. After several years of live racing at Canterbury, we know the perfect table for the two of us. For us, table 424 is home. But when you go to another track, all that familiarity is gone, and it can be a poor experience unless you plan well. So when we needed guidance for a visit to Iowa, I contacted Prairie Meadows via Twitter. They succeeded by providing all the information we needed to plan a successful weekend trip. We received information for the different seating sections that would interest us and a phone number to make reservations. Because of their willingness to interact on Twitter and be a source of help, we had an enjoyable weekend of quarter horse racing.

A Failing Note from Churchill Downs

Churchill Downs failed at the exact same scenario. Believe me, this was no test. We were contemplating a trip to Churchill Downs for the fall meet centered around the Downs After Dark Friday night of racing. I’ve never been to Churchill for live racing and wanted some guidance for an out-of-state horse racing fanatic that wanted to visit and wager on their product. When you are considering driving 12 hours to spend a week in Louisville, you want to make sure you are prepared. Despite contacting them directly on Twitter, Churchill Downs provided no response. If you are not going to engage with a proven horse racing tweeter who is hoping to visit your track, then don’t even sign up for a Twitter account. Our interest in the trip faded, and we did not visit Churchill Downs for the fall meet.

I don’t expect Churchill Downs to reply to every interaction they get via Twitter. But I do expect them to pay special attention when it comes to people who will visit and wager on their product. I repeat, you don’t have to reply to every tweet. Chris Brogan advises likewise. Brogan writes:

“You don’t have to read every tweet. You don’t have to reply to every @ tweet directed to you (try to reply to some, but don’t feel guilty).” To build traction you need to have a consistent presence and engage to some degree. You need to balance some degree of engagement, without feeling the need to respond to every person that contacts you. Dan Zarella has broken down the numbers and actually found that the data shows that people with a large impact on Twitter aren’t always conversational. While this seems somewhat shocking, he is quick to follow up by writing, “I’m not telling you to ignore everyone. Conversation has an important role in customer service and public relations online.” And that is the point of Prairie Meadows’ success story and Churchill’s failure. Be ready to interact and be a source of help. Horseplayers in the simulcast and ADW era have a myriad of options to choose from. It is in the best interest of tracks to engage and be a source of help when people are looking to visit or wager on their product.

Bobbleheads and a Social Media Power On the East Coast

Tioga Down is the heavyweight champion of the world when it comes to Twitter. This harness track is getting huge recognition for their commitment to the horseplayer through their industry low takeouts. For that reason, I love Tioga Downs. But their presence on Twitter is also solid. When See You At Peelers was tearing up the ranks of the harness world in the summer of 2011 a discussion broke out between harness fans and the thoroughbred fans. And of course, there were thoroughbred fans that came off a little condescending. In the middle of it all, Tioga Downs was right there to defend See You At Peelers-the current star of the industry and a horse that would be running at Tioga later in the summer.

But where Tioga Downs takes the prize is how they went above and beyond the call of duty. Yes, this story involves me, but the point is that Tioga Downs went out of the way for someone (me) who had been known to tweet the praises of their track. I found out, via Twitter, about a Tim Tetrick bobblehead doll giveaway happening at the end of August. I live in Minnesota, so attending Tim Tetick bobblehead day in upstate New York was not an option. Yet, through Twitter I expressed my interest in a bobblehead, and Tioga said they would reserve a bobblehead just for me. I made my request several months before the actual giveaway. I gave my mailing address not knowing what to expect when the big day finally came. After the August event, Tioga Downs mailed me a Tim Tetrick bobblehead doll. For a racetrack to set aside one bobblehead doll and make the effort to mail it to a fan several states away is something to talk about. Tioga Downs has a good product when it comes to harness racing, but they really go beyond expectations when it comes to taking care of the fans and the diehard horseplayers. This harness track is a shining example of how to use social media to engage the fans and start conversations. And through their presence on Twitter, they showed the type of customer appreciation that legends are made of. As my Tim Tetrick bobblehead sits proudly on display in the Minnesota home office of onehorsestable.com, I thank Tioga Downs for paying attention to the fans and the bettors. They are a model to follow when it comes to lowering takeout, showing fan appreciation, and engaging fans via social media.

The Two Best Horse Racing Personalities on Twitter

It seems that many folks were late to the social media party. As an industry that has been much maligned for shunning television in the early days, we must be quick to embrace social media and digital technology for the good of our sport. So when I talk about my two favorite tweeters among horse racing personalities, I give these two men credit. They were early adopters, they post often, and they are accessible. Two of the best horse racing personalities on Twitter are track announcers John G. Dooley and Ken Middleton. While many in our industry continue to ignore or underestimate Twitter, these two provide great examples of how to use Twitter to add value to the great sport of horse racing.

Year after year, my main interest as a horseplayer involves the Arlington Park meet. I have followed Arlington for many years in my young horseplaying career. I am more comfortable with the racing there than anywhere else in the game. The majority of my bankroll goes to the Arlington meet, and I have seen more success at this track than anywhere else. I like the quality of horses, jockeys, and trainers I see at Arlington, and there is nothing better than being able to tweet with the track announcer.

I love playing the horses as much as anyone, but I am also not afraid to admit my weaknesses and seek guidance when needed. When Arlington Park’s two different finish lines became a point of confusion for me as I sat in the Canterbury simulcast center playing Arlington Park, I simply tweeted John G. Dooley who provided the insight I needed. When I was curious about the iPad for handicapping purposes, I tweeted John G. Dooley after seeing Jessica Pacheco using an iPad in the pre-race show and in the paddock. Sure enough, Dooley responded with a comment about her iPad and how she uses it for handicapping. On many other occasions he has been available for questions, comments, and insight. He is a frequent tweeter and that helps the Arlington Park brand. A big reason I follow Arlington Park year after year is obviously the quality of racing, but I also have a great deal of respect for Dooley and Jessica Pacheco as race analysts and insiders. Dooley’s accessibility and willingness to engage in the horse racing conversation makes a noticeable impact on the sport.

The harness racing world has their own star. Ken Middleton is among the top racing personalities on Twitter, beating out many others in the world of thoroughbred horse racing. What was stated about Dooley can also be said for Ken Middleton, the track announcer for Woodbine Harness and Mohawk. He will tweet often and in high quantities like Dooley. He tweets picks of the night and consistently puts together a Pick 4 ticket and posts his selections on Twitter. Always looking to help the horseplayer and share insight, Middleton will often include links to race replays when tweeting his pick of the night. He will respond to tweets, answer questions, provide race insight, and engage in the harness racing conversation on Twitter. By doing this, Middleton helps to build the WEG brand. Middleton and Dooley are easily the best examples of how track personalities can build their brand and add value to their racetrack by participating in social media. They are consistent posters and take the time to engage in the horse racing conversation on Twitter. Thank you Dooley and Middleton for your presence and your accessibility on Twitter.

Tough Love for Keeneland: Don’t get out-tweeted at your own event.

The biggest yearling sale in the world is the September Keeneland Sale. From a one bedroom apartment in Minneapolis, Minnesota I watched the Keeneland September sales via the live feed. The fact that I can do that is a technology victory for Keeneland. I attended the sales live for one year but have watched the live feed via a laptop and internet connection for at least three years. From a lofty apartment in the Twin Cities, I tweeted about the Keeneland sales more than all of the Keeneland Twitter accounts combined. I wasn’t attempting to; my passion and excitement for the event was evident in the build up and my attention to the event itself. I had my catalogs in PDF form, I had done the research beforehand, and I was ready for the event. But Keeneland should never get out-tweeted at their own event. I am just a horseplayer with a blog, a Twitter account, and an interest in the September sales; Keeneland has employees whose very profession is horse racing. Don’t get out-tweeted at your own event. The number of tweets is not where the victory is won. Just don’t let someone else provide more meaningful content than you do. Twitter means engagement and conversation and news. And if someone in Minnesota is tweeting more about your premier sales event than you are, something is seriously wrong.

And Keeneland, you can’t tweet once a day during your January breeding stock sale either. This is unacceptable. With their excellent track record of innovation in technology, I was disappointed when I saw only one tweet all day while I was watching the January sale. If I was in charge of that Twitter account, I would be in the barns, in the sales pavilion, everywhere. I would be tweeting from the time I woke up at home until I laid my head down on my pillow that night. I would be making predictions, tweeting after every sale went final, and commenting on current trends. I would have my HTC Evo fully charged with the back-up battery in tow tweeting sales results, making predictions, getting comments from owners, trainers, veterinarians, and others. I would be tweeting as I grabbed a bite to eat and as I slipped into the bathroom for a restroom break.

Tweeting during a live event, can also increase your followers. I learned this personally when I began tweeting content during the Dubai World Cup Carnival meet. I was shocked to find I had added 13 followers in one day. The trend continued on Friday January 20. I added 22 followers. And after touting Singapore-shipper Ip Man to win Saturday January 21 in Dubai, I gained 14 followers. These numbers may seem small and irrelevant to you, but I am just one person in the Midwest with a passion for horse racing. The point is not how to increase your followers. The morale of the story is don’t get out-tweeted at your own events. During your events you have a powerful opportunity to connect with people who are passionate about your product. Why would you not have a constant presence throughout the day? As Smarty Jones was experiencing one of the biggest falls from grace in the history of breeding, it was not Keeneland documenting the sales results of his progeny. Keeneland was not documenting the sudden emergence of then undervalued stallions like First Samurai. It was me- tucked away in an apartment in Minnesota with a high speed internet connection and a laptop. The power of social media is giving the individual the tools to communicate his or her message to the masses. That is all I was doing. How much more effective would it be for the major players to embrace the same tools so their message and their product can spread throughout the digital world.

Tough Love for Keeneland Part II

If you only tweet ten times in forty days, “Roll Tide” cannot be one of your tweets.

I know that we all have seasons of life where chaos sets in; life gets in the way and you just don’t tweet like you did previously. Looking over my tweet history, there have definitely been periods where I disappeared or was not as consistent because of outside factors. However, I am not employed by the industry. For most of my tweeting days, I was a guy in Minnesota with a passion for horse racing that dove into the twitter scene as a pleasant distraction from selling mattresses.

If I listed the Top 10 social media crimes of 2012, Keeneland may have the number one slot for an incident last January. The day after the 2012 BCS national championship game, the Keeneland Select twitter account posted the following, “ Congrats to Bama! Who was the other team that showed up in the LSU uniforms?” As I read that last January, I was appalled. When your presence on Twitter has been sparse to non-existent, you don’t come out of hibernation with a comment about college football. And just to set the record straight, I am a bigger Nick Saban fan than 99% of the horse racing world. The last time I had a favorite NFL team, I was a young boy with a passion for the Cleveland Browns. Before they turned into the Baltimore Ravens, the Cleveland Browns had a head coach named Bill Belichick and a defensive coordinator named Nick Saban. I followed Saban’s career closely as he went on to Michigan State, LSU, the NFL, and then to Alabama. I have read Saban’s book, and I have an Alabama hat I wear to the racetrack. I have been a Saban fan for years. However, when you have only tweeted 10 times in the last 40 days, you cannot send out a tweet about the BCS title game. You haven’t earned the right to do that. At the time of this offense last January, the Keeneland Select account had only have 211 tweets total! I think I tweeted more than 211 times on a winter Thursday of the Dubai World Cup Carnival meet.

You better have an overwhelming, mostly horse-related, presence on Twitter prior to sending out your Roll Tide message. Even if you are an Alabama graduate, just do your job. Tweet about all things related to the upcoming sales, tweet interesting trends in the sales and breeding industry, tweet about something you see in the sales catalog, tweet about Keeneland sales graduates and their track performances. Thoughts on the Alabama-LSU game are not relevant to the horse racing world. Tweet relevant content. Be consistent. And engage in conversation. Only 10 tweets in 40 days means you are missing opportunities to engage.

NOTE: Sometime after I wrote the two articles about Keeneland, I was contacted by Keeneland through Twitter. I imagine the new social media manager had taken over and had stumbled upon my articles. The individual said that my points were valid and that Keeneland will do better. Indeed they have. In the last two years, their social media presence has improved. I even won a Wise Dan poster because of a contest they ran through their Keeneland Select Twitter account. So, I definitely want to give credit to Keeneland for a solid turnaround.

Ray Paulick, Michael Dickinson, and Another Social Media Success Story

I think the story of Da Hoss is one of the best stories in the sport of horseracing. After reading about Da Hoss in the book The Home Run Horse by Glenye Cain, I instantly become a fan of Da Hoss’s trainer Michael Dickinson. As a horseplayer I had the chance to see his horses run in the later stages of his training career. His famous Tapeta surface was installed at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai where I enjoy playing the Carnival Meet. So when I stumbled across a link to an interview that The Paulick Report had conducted with Michael Dickinson, I was anxious to learn more about his love for racing surfaces. The brief description of the article enticed me even further when it talked of Dickinson’s mentor- O’Brien- the father of Aidan O’Brien, another trainer I keep a close eye on.

The link to the much sought after article was faulty. I found the link on two different horseracing sites promoting the article, but both links were bad. The links failed. Even a google search failed. Here I had found an article about an intriguing personality in my favorite sport, but I could not get access to that article. The solution came via Twitter. I follow Ray Paulick on Twitter and have found him to be consistent in his tweets, accessible, and helpful. Why not go directly to the source and ask him if the article is still available.

So, when I was struggling to locate the interview about Dickinson, I sent Ray a message via Twitter. Another victory for social media. I should have had a stopwatch timing this event. I am guessing less than fifteen minutes passed before Ray responded with a link- that worked- to the article. Thank you Ray. Paulick demonstrated several things that are good and helpful in the social media world. He was accessible. He was helpful in that he linked me the information I was searching for. And because of his consistent, frequent presence on Twitter, this all happened in a timely manner. Because of Twitter, I had a resource to go to; because of Twitter, I had a connection with the author. If there is no interaction via your Twitter account, then you are just a news feed. If Twitter helps people connect in horse racing discussion, if it helps turn casual horseplayers and casual fans into passionate horseplayers and passionate fans, then it is worth every bit of time and energy we spend tweeting.

A Missed Opportunity for Canterbury Park

Many times companies and racetracks miss golden opportunities that could improve their brand awareness. Companies say that social media is important and that they want to commit to having a presence. Yet they trust social media to the unpaid college summer intern. It makes no sense. You need to hire a talented content creator. You need to give him or her autonomy, and you need to be prepared to capitalize when the opportunity arises.

Twitter records for January 10, 2012 will show a huge missed opportunity for Canterbury Park. It was a chance for the type of word-of-mouth marketing that you cannot fabricate. They had the chance to be a purple cow in the words of Seth Godin. And when you are Canterbury Park, with a low-level of racing, key trainers departing (Ness, Robertson, Domenosky), and you are coming off a season where the state shutdown kept the track closed for 41 days, I would think you would want to standout.

On this random Tuesday over one year ago I had interacted with the @CanterburyPark Twitter account. They had been very helpful in giving me information about how to cash a voucher that was nearly 365 days old. So, I thought I would engage them once again with a request. Every time we attend live racing at Canterbury, we reserve a table in the third floor club house level. There are no exceptions. We know the table system, we know Amy our server every summer, and my Evernote app has a note for the two best table locations for the two of us. This is not my first rodeo.

My question revolved around how to get a table for the entire season or part of the season. I didn’t know if that was an option, and I obviously had no idea what that would cost. I can appreciate the @CanterburyPark Twitter account not knowing that information and not having that information at arm’s reach. However, what a golden opportunity to go above and beyond in the name of taking care of a loyal attendee. The response was well-intended and said something about how you can reserve tables in the clubhouse level and here is the phone number to call. Well, I know that. That number has long since been programmed into my phone. I was hoping for a little more than that.

But the real tragedy was yet to come. Canterbury Park had the chance to go down in customer service history, like the stories you hear about Nordstrom’s return policy. Shortly, after I posted my initial question a Twitter user named Mark posted this:

@onehorsestable @CanterburyPark “You talk about them online so much they outta put a little reserved sign on a table for you, free of charge.”

I loved it! Completely unsolicited. I know Mark from Twitter and that is it. His profile doesn’t even include a photo. Without knowing this person, he hit the nail on the head. I’ve tweeted from the paddock at Canterbury, I have tweeted from Table 424, and I have tweeted from my home office where I was preparing for the day of racing. Mark had noticed that I give a lot of attention to our beautiful horse racing facility here in Minnesota. The level of racing is definitely of a lower caliber, but it’s my home track. Obviously, I would have hoped for Canterbury to get the wheels in motion and reserved table 424 for me for the season. News of that sort, would have far surpassed Tioga Downs and the Tim Tetrick bobblehead incident (see previous post entitled Bobbleheads and a Social Media Power in the East).

With a real chance to set off some social media buzz and make a name for yourself, I was a little disappointed with a pat reply that went like this: “Short answer is yes, you can reserve a season table. Many options available. Please call Jackie at (952)-555-5555 for info!”

This authentic, real-life scenario is a textbook example of what social media can do for you. But companies must be willing to seize the opportunity. Why are companies still paying for print media campaigns and television when social media-done correctly- can give them a wave of publicity for a fraction of the cost. Unfortunately, this scenario was a missed opportunity for Canterbury Park. If you really prefer the $10 per night revenue for that obstructed view table, you will constantly miss out on many of the ways that Twitter and Facebook can give your brand an incredible buzz at a fraction of the cost of “traditional advertising”. Do something worthy of being “retweeted”. If Canterbury would have taken Mark’s advice, just imagine the impact. Mark’s account currently has 1,295 followers and mine has 1,137. That act would have been spread virally through the social media empire. Other racetracks would have noticed, and other people in the industry would have taken note of how Canterbury Park takes care of their players. With numerous bloggers, industry personnel, other writers already following my account, there is no telling how the story could have spread- The Paulick Report, HANA, Bloodhorse, etc. And just imagine how many times I would have rehashed that story over the course of the racing season. With over 60 days of live racing, I am confident I would not have been able to sit at that table without retelling the story of how Canterbury hooked me up. Is that kind of word-of-mouth marketing worth more than the $600 it costs to reserve a clubhouse table?

Now that horse racing personnel and racetracks have a presence on social media, be more than simply present. Be strategic about your presence on Twitter. Embrace the non-traditional marketing options available in this web 2.0 era and demonstrate your commitment by the time and money you commit to things like Twitter. Be so outstanding in your quality of racing or your customer service or your low takeouts or your full fields, that people cannot help but rave about you to their loyal Twitter followers. When your racetrack is talked about and mentioned in every corner of the Twittersphere, your gamble will be worth every dollar.

Conclusion

Since the original series of posts, things have improved. Plus, I had tremendous experiences when I visited Hoosier Park, Indiana Downs, and Arlington Park. All three visits were a success because of the people I had connected with on Twitter. Seat reservations, parking passes, media guides, dinner, vouchers, etc. People wanted to do whatever they could to make my visit memorable. I enjoy meeting the people behind the Twitter handles that I interact with. And I appreciate them being accessible online and when I visit their tracks. The blog series was always intended as a way to help the industry embrace social media. The intent was never to berate or badmouth. The intent was to take social media lessons from the world of business and marketing and apply them to horse racing. Horse racing was not an early adopter of Twitter, and we still have improvement to do. But I appreciate the horse racing personalities, the writers, the horseplayers, and the racetracks that continue to embrace Twitter and engage in the horse racing conversation for the good of the sport.

About the Author

Scott Raymond is a writer, an avid reader, and a horseplayer. He writes for the horse racing world at the Twitter handle @onehorsestable and on Medium at the same handle. His all-time favorite horses are Monarchos and General Quarters. And his favorite racetrack is Arlington Park. He can be reached via Twitter or by e-mail at onehorsestable at gmail dot com.