The Social Angle: Rob Boobyer, Newbury Racecourse

Rob Boobyer

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More and more businesses in the Thoroughbred industry are using social media to strengthen their brand and reach out to current and potential customers and clients. Rob Boobyer, Head of Marketing at Newbury Racecourse, shares his insights on their strategies for social media marketing.

TDN: What are the benefits of social media marketing for businesses in the Thoroughbred industry?

RB: From a racing point of view, which is what we use it primarily for, social media is very much a direct access to customers. It is a way for us to communicate our messages and to engage with customers and potential customers. The more we can engage people the more we can spread our message to their associates.

TDN: What are the aims with your social media marketing?

RB: On a very basic level, it is to try to encourage people to come racing. Secondary, it is about communicating messages to our customers about what goes on during a raceday. The third objective is more about educating and providing informative content about things that our followers might want to know. It could for example be a video of us watering the course, or a panoramic shot from the inside of the parade ring prior to a race.

TDN: What social channels do you prefer, and what type of content do you post on each platform?

RB: We primarily use Facebook and Twitter. We are using Instagram a lot more but it is very much linked to our activity on Facebook. We try to push similar content across the three platforms. The content we put on Twitter tends to be a little bit more about the racing. Instagram is of course heavily picture led and Facebook is a mix between the two. We also use Facebook more for advertising purposes, as we can target specific demographics and tailor our messages to different groups.

Generally, people find videos more interesting than static photography, but it depends a lot on the content as well. We have posted videos of, for example, the watering machine going around the course and the sprinklers in the parade ring, and they get an amazing amount of engagement. Those little glimpses of what is going on behind the scenes, what it takes to prepare a racecourse, are very popular.

And sometimes, posts you wouldn't expect to have a massive reach get picked up. For example, we posted a photo a while back of a horse that jumped going over the finishing line in a flat race, as a caption competition, and that got a lot of engagement.

TDN: Do you look at other organisations, inside or outside the Thoroughbred world, for inspiration?

RB: Yes, we are looking at what we can do differently and how we can improve what we do. If a racecourse does something particularly well, we look at what they are doing to see if we can do something similar. And the same in other industries, if there are things that we feel we can use. Most industries have embraced social media and individual companies are using it in different ways: some as a customer service tool, some as a promotional tool. We are trying to use it as a mix between the two. But the nature of social media is that it changes on almost a daily basis, so we have to constantly evolve to maximize our reach.

TDN: How do you measure success? Can you convert social media followers into customers?

RB: That's the challenge! We can measure click-through rates. The ultimate ideal is that we can engage someone on social media and that conversation will lead to a ticket purchase. We then get their data, which allows us to speak directly to them through email or post.

TDN: What are the biggest mistakes to avoid making?

RB: Make sure everything that is sent out is proof read and make sure that your links work. It is the same with more traditional marketing: you have to make sure it is accurate. The thing with social media is that everything is such a fast pace and anything you put out there is amplified massively so you must be aware of the content you are putting out, making sure that you don't open yourself up for having errors amplified.

TDN: Going forward, what social media trends are you looking forward to?

RB: I think more user-generated content. Particularly from a racing and racing experience point of view. The more people enjoy what we offer and share that with their followers and friends, the easier it will be for us to convince people to purchase tickets.

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