In today’s digital age, thanks to the advancement of technology, nothing is as it once was and the same goes for horse racing which has galloped on into the vast arena of social media. There it has transformed and morphed into something more modern and much more engaging.
The various social media platforms where horse racing is discussed don’t just serve as places for fans to debate the latest Belmont stakes odds or offer their tips for the Grand National. Instead they are places where stories are told, debates are held and content is created and that couldn’t have come at a better time for horse racing.
Over the past twenty years or so the popularity of the sport has been dwindling as younger audiences have looked elsewhere for entertainment, but social media has helped to make the sport more relevant with younger demographics.
In this article we take a deep dive into the role that not just social media, but specific platforms have played in horse racing’s recent resurgence.
Marketing and Fan Outreach
Advertising is vastly different to what it used to be. At the turn of the millennium advertisers targeted potential customers through television and radio adverts, through billboards and double feature spreads in newspapers.
Nowadays much of the most influential marketing is done on social media platforms and it is done far more subtly. Scroll through TikTok for an hour or so and soon enough the lines between content and adverts will become sufficiently blurred.
Fortunately for lovers of horse racing, this is a trend that the sports’ head honchos have capitalised on. Organisations, events and even trainers and jockeys have all used social media effectively to market themselves and their sport to the platform’s various users.
In addition to that, social media has proved to be an excellent way for the sport to reach out to existing fans of the sport, giving them exclusive access to their favourite personalities within the game.
The Various Roles of Social Media Platforms
There is no catch-all way to describe the impact of social media on horse racing in a generalised way. The truth is that each and every social media platforms impact on the sport varies, according to the various trends and demographics of the platform.
In general though, the role of the various platforms can be summarised as such:
Facebook: This platform is the bread and butter of social media and in terms of horse racing has proved a valuable tool in fan outreach and engagement. The vast majority of Facebook’s 3 billion monthly users are over the age of 25 so therefore likely to have an existing interest in horse racing.
Horse racing content on this platform then has traditionally looked toward increasing engagement, with an emphasis on exclusive style content that increases fans bonds and ties with the sport.
X: Or Twitter as it will forever be known in the majority of our minds… This platform differs from Facebook in that it is the best place to have real-time discussions and as such, is the ideal platform for fans of any sport.
During high profile events Twitter is awash with users predicting races, sharing their tips and reacting in real time to events out on the course.
TikTok: The final platform of our three to discuss is perhaps the most interesting of the lot and that’s because of the intention behind the horse racing world using it. The app has 1.7 billion active monthly users and the biggest age group is 18-24 year-olds.
TikTok is therefore being used by the wider horse racing world to appeal to younger demographics and secure the next generation of racing fans. What makes this approach interesting is that, more so than any other platform, success on TikTok relies on the creation of engaging content.
As a result we’re beginning to see a new wave of modern and compelling horse racing content emerge on the platform.
(A look at some typical horse racing TikTok content.)
Influential Horse Racing Accounts
To allow you to peek behind the curtain for a moment, we were asked in the brief for this article to finish up by surmising some of the most influential horse racing accounts on social media. Ultimately however, that would be entirely subjective and based upon our preferences alone.
Social media provides such a vast melting pot of ideas, opinions and preferences that it would be churlish to tell you who to follow and who is the best content creator as largely, that depends on what you’re looking for.
Our only advice would be to open up the social media platform of your choosing and search ‘horse racing’ and sure enough, you’ll find something that appeals to you…