Few names are as synonymous with auto racing as Goodyear. The manufacturer serves as both a sponsor and supplier for NASCAR. That unique relationship is what fuels a lot of Goodyear’s social media content. Goodyear GM of Brand Marketing Todd Macsuga (@Goodyear) said, “We push social content during the week to both engage and excite fans. We talk about our racing history. We have relationships with current and former drivers, especially Dale Earnhardt Jr. We use that time to not only excite fans about the sport but also educate them around the upcoming race and the tire technology that goes into it.” The weekly content is managed by Goodyear’s brand communications team. On weekends, the keys are turned over to Goodyear’s racing operations team. Macsuga: “You have to have a balance of messaging that’s the appropriate levels of tech for the highly engaged fan and you have to have more of the entertainment value for the more casual fan.”
SOCIAL SNAPSHOT
Must-follow: Sports talk radio hosts locally and on the national level. I tend to relive the moments at night through social media.
Favorite app: ESPN+. I’m a big fan of it.
Average time per day on social media: I try to stay limited because it can take over your whole life. I’d say an hour is typical.
Using science to engage fans:
We found over time that the more educated a fan is about any given sport, the more engaged they are, the more loyal they become to the sport and the brands affiliated with it. It’s a big part of what we do. While we appeal to race fans in general, we tell a tire technology story and all the strategy -- not only race strategy but all of the technology that goes into a racing tire, which is pretty dramatic. Because we are so integrated, we are able to test new technologies in the most grueling conditions that NASCAR represents. We apply those learnings to our consumer tires. So it works on many levels and we tell those stories on social media.
Who is the brand’s audience:
It’s a bit of everything, but our primary goal is to appeal to race fans. I’m often surprised the engagement we get beyond the sport from a social media post or video that is grounded deeply in the sport.
Balancing with racing operations:
We have regular meetings reviewing content calendars to make sure we are coordinating messaging. With each track being unique, there’s a lot that goes into making each weekend different in a NASCAR environment.
Most challenging moment:
The first was a few months back when there was what was called the L.A. Sports Equinox where all five major professional sports teams had games in Los Angeles on the same day. We put together a program with the blimp including an ESPN personality Desmond Howard and a military veteran. It was arranged for the blimp to transport them to all five sporting events. That was challenging, not just from moving around, but to translate that into a social media story. The other was at the CFP National Championship game. It was the first time we did a megacast where there were two ESPN reporters in the blimp above the stadium in Santa Clara for the duration of the game, and they simulcast their own call of the game from the blimp.
Difference in voice for Goodyear Blimp:
The blimp is so much about generating amazing photography content from that perspective in the air. That’s unique to Goodyear. The blimp’s social media is perhaps more playful. When the blimp flies by our corporate headquarters in Akron, everyone stops working and watches it. It goes by all of the time. People who have worked here 40 years still stop dead in their tracks to watch it.
Activating around Cavs:
Basketball is a big part of what we do. Last year, as an example, we celebrated our 100th year in basketball with a throwback jersey and we were able to amplify that through social media working through the Cavaliers and their handle, through our own and working with Cavaliers players and giving them Wingfoot jerseys. We were able to really blow that out across our handles, and were very pleased with the result.
If you know anyone who should be featured for their use of social media, send their name to us at jperez@sportsbusinessdaily.com.
