Race directors, how important is social media to your race?

Ok, that's a silly question.

Maybe a better question is this: How are you using social media to build a community around your race?

It’s easy to think about social media primarily as a promotional tool. Registration opens, so you post about it. Prices increase next week, so you remind everyone. You announce sponsors, share course maps, post countdowns, and eventually flood your feed with photos and videos from race weekend.

All of those things have their place and indeed are important.

But social media can do something much more valuable for your race. It can help you build relationships with the people you eventually want to show up.

And that starts with engagement.

Social media is constantly changing. That is nothing new, and it has been that way from the beginning. Throughout the year, there are constant tweaks to the algorithm. For example, Instagram may emphasize Reels and push that content, only to later pivot toward carousels. We're left guessing and scrambling to keep up. Oh, and then there's AI.

As we forge ahead year after year, with everything happening and changes on the horizon, what does it take to stand out on social media today?

How about authenticity ...

One of the common themes about social media that I hear constantly is that to “crack the code,” you need super-secret “insider-only” info that only a select few marketing gurus know. I regularly see videos about the SECRET TO SOCIAL MEDIA.

Is it really that secretive?