There’s no getting away from the fact that racing is expensive, whether it’s just your weekend hobby or a lifelong passion.
Therefore it comes as no surprise that there are so many riders out there looking for some kind of sponsorship to help towards those costs, and with so many companies trying to get their name out there in the motocross market there are certainly plenty of opportunities for those who can offer the full package.
Sponsorship isn’t just a results based business. Yes, it’s certainly a big factor and will help if you’re at the sharp end of your class, but things like social media presence are also becoming a big consideration now as companies sift through all the applications they receive ahead of the new season.
Bridgestone are one such company who are looking to get their name out there in a big way, and the new Battlecross range is winning a lot of riders over to the brand. However, there’s always room to do more, and the Japanese manufacturer recently signaled their intentions to take things to the next level when they announced a 2-year sponsorship deal with the British Masters starting in 2018.
Recently MX Vice caught up with Bridgestone’s Mark Fereday to find out about the importance of a rider’s social media presence to their brand.
Do you look at how an athlete performs on social media prior to approaching them?
“We will look to see if there are any pages already created for the rider and also whether they talk about their racing on their personal social media pages. This helps to give us an idea of the tone of voice they use about their racing and whether they have a community of people who are responding. This is really just for information though, if they don’t have a social presence, it gives us the opportunity to create and lead the conversation and tone.”
What factor of importance is this for Bridgestone now?
“The social media presence of our riders (whether created by us or the rider) is important as it gives us a platform upon which to shout about our rider, our activations within the sport and our product. We have a large number of themes to get across on our social media channels and so having a dedicated motocross channel that has an engaged audience gives us the opportunity to be targeted with our messaging.”
If they had no social media, would this have an impact the monetary package a rider would have? Would they be paid less?
“This would affect the package we would offer, as it limits the return on investment we would receive.”
How often do Bridgestone check social media for mentions, tags and other forms of engagement?
“We check our social media pages and that of our riders on a daily basis, as well as having notifications to set up to see when we are being mentioned or tagged in content. It is essential for us to stay up to date with any mentions, messages and comments to ensure that all messages are being responded to properly but also that the Bridgestone brand is being communicated in the right way.”
Do Bridgestone use any social media tools to check how many times a rider has tagged them? If not, will you in the future?
“We use a platform called Engagor to track all mentions of riders, as well as mentions of Bridgestone across the rest of the business.”
You can check out the responses of some other leading companies in the MX market here.
Find out more about Bridgestone’s latest Battlecross range here.
