Miley Motor Sports/ Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway

Social Media Marketing Plan

April 18th, 2015Cathleen Jones

Presented to Matt Miley

By:Daniel Hammond

Lea ChrismanKimberly KuhnTravis Marzina

Ethan WeirMatthew Wieseckel

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Assigned Parts

Combination Section NameA Executive Summary, 1 &2 Travis MarzinaB 3 Kimberly KuhnC 4 Daniel HammondD 5 & 6 Lea ChrismanE 7 Matthew

WieseckelF 8 Ethan Weir

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Table Of Contents

Section Page(s)

Executive Summary 4-5

Background/Assessment 6-9

Competition 9-14

Objectives 15

Strategies 15-19

Design 20-22

Event 22-28

Analytics 29-38

Recommendations 39-43

References 44-46

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Executive Summary

Miley Motor Sports is the current owner and operator of the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway (PPMS). Opened in 1979, the track is home to a weekly racing series that showcases 6+ divisions of racing every Saturday night from April through August. Average attendance for weekly racing events is approximately 1,000 people, and a usual season maximum attendance is approximately 2,000 people. PPMS prides itself on being a family friendly entertainment option and provides excitement for people of all ages. As a weekend entertainment option, PPMS faces a large array of various competitive forces throughout the summer months. A competitor of PPMS was defined as any type of venue or event that a consumer could choose as opposed to visiting PPMS on Saturday night.

A set of objectives was set for PPMS to increase event attendance and overall awareness of the facility as a weekly entertainment option. The first objective is to increase attendance by 10 percent in 2015. Owner Matt Miley voiced his concern over the lack of awareness PPMS has between high school and college students, and this was taken into account. To accomplish this, a focus will be placed on the promotional efforts that are put into effect, specifically with people ages 18-24. Communication between PPMS social media accounts and recognizable and popular college oriented social media accounts is needed as a part of this. The second objective is to increase general public awareness of PPMS. Moreover, the objective is to make the general public aware that PPMS is a fun, exciting, affordable and relevant entertainment option on Saturday nights. To achieve this, added efforts will be put into increasing social media presence and activity. Research on the target market will be conducted with the implementation of keyword searches. Also, there will be a plan to monitor customer feedback, problems, questions and other inquiries to enhance customer service value. Focus will be placed on social media sites Facebook and Twitter because of their popularity and usage rates among the target. Regarding Facebook operations, we will attract and engage with fans of racing by starting conversations based on mutual interests. With other types of racing events taking place on different nights, it would be beneficial to interact with those fans to educate them about the PPMS product. Additionally, an emphasis will be placed on photos uploaded and shared. This will be done to show atmospheric value, as well as the similarities and differences between products. Twitter operations are also vital in accomplishing the mentioned objectives. In addition to establishing official hashtags, similar research will be conducted by searching for keywords and hashtags. Not only will PPMS be able to respond to direct inquiries, but indirect prompts as well. It is important that uses comments, questions and inquiries get answered in a timely manner.

Recommendations to accomplish and monitor these objectives include the hiring of a social media intern. This person will be in charge of all social media platforms in regards to promotions, prizes, picture/video uploads and interacting with users. This person should be briefed in full about current track information, and able to attend every PPMS event. Overall this person would be required to put an average of 10 hours per week into the position, 5 on site and 5 off site. From March first to October first. As a majority of

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PPMS’ events take place during the summer months, it is necessary to offer monetary compensation to the student if school credit is not applicable. At a rate of seven dollars and twenty-five cents per hour, the social media intern would cost approximately one hundred and forty five dollars per two-week pay period. This compensation would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, as school credit will be offered as initial compensation.

It is also necessary to monitor the progress of these objectives in the form of analytics. It is recommended that PPMS implement the use of several analytical tools, beginning with Marketing Grader. This free site gives feedback and suggestions to help accomplish the goal of a complete marketing strategy. It also provides a checklist that is sorted into categories to help PPMS see its current online standing. Another recommended analytics tool is tweetchup, which is a free and easy to use metric tool. Tweetchup’s setup is easy to understand and it allows businesses to view key elements of engagement with followers. Sendible is another recommended analytical tool that helps narrow down specific posts that may require immediate attention from any social media site. This site offers a free thirty-day trial, during which PPMS should use and evaluate its true usefulness. At the conclusion of the thirty-day trial, track officials should convene with the social media intern to derive a true value of the tool. Lastly, it is recommended that PPMS take advantage of the newly updated twitter analytical software. This application is internal, and can be activated by visiting analytics.twitter.com.

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Background/Introduction

Miley Motor Sports is the proud owner of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway

(PPMS) located in Imperial Pennsylvania. Opened in 1979, PPMS is classified as a half-mile

semi-banked oval racetrack with clay based racing surface. The total seating capacity of the

facility is listed as 10,000, and the track is home to 6 weekly divisions as well as a number

of other race classifications and events. Weekly racing action takes place on Saturday

nights, with the gates opening at 5pm and racing features set to begin at 7pm. In addition to

race action and other entertainment, fans also have a variety of food and drinks available

for purchase (ppms.com). Average attendance for weekly racing events is approximately

1,000 fans, with a maximum attendance topping 2,000 spectators on busy nights. Track

owner Matt Miley regards PPMS as the minor league of racing. The track prides itself on

being a family friendly atmosphere with special seating dedicated to families. They

consider their target to be race fans of all ages, as well as anyone in the Pittsburgh area

seeking some sort of entertainment on a Saturday night (Miley, 2015).

Current Social Media Usage

Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway currently has active accounts on 4 social

media sites. The track’s Facebook account (Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway)

currently has over 10,000 likes and includes photos of past racing action and events. The

page also includes promotions for upcoming events. More recently, there have been a large

amount of posts centered on the upcoming season schedule, as well as sponsored events

that will take place during the 2015 racing season.  The page is active on a semi-weekly

basis. Another social media site that PPMS utilizes is twitter (@PAmotorspeedway). The

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PPMS twitter account currently has over 2,000 followers and has drafted and posted over

1,800 tweets since the account was first created in 2009.  Like Facebook, tweets include

photos of past events as well as promotions for upcoming events in the 2015 schedule. The

profile also includes direct links to track information as well as a short description and

general directions to the track’s location. Other social media sites that PPMS utilizes that

are not as active or detailed include Google+ and Pinterest. As far as Google+, there is

virtually no active presence. The page is listed as a public community, however it only has 5

members. There has never been a post that originated from the PPMS account, and there

have never been any pictures or events listed on the page. PPMS’ Pinterest account

currently has just fewer than 150 followers, and pins include pictures from previous racing

action and feature various racing divisions. The PPMS Pinterest account has created 14

boards and has just fewer than 300 pins. Boards and pins include pictures and information

that deal with the types of cars that run at PPMS, sponsorship information and upcoming

schedule information.

Strategies Currently In Place

There are 3 levels of pricing for a weekly racing event at PPMS: Adult, Student and

Child. Adult admission charge is listed at $13.00; student admission is $9.00 and children

ages seven through twelve can gain access for $5.00. To help alleviate some of the cost,

PPMS offers many price discount options or special admission features throughout the

season. Additionally, PPMS offers free and discounted admission to a number of groups and

organizations. Management encourages groups and clubs of all affiliations to inquire about

group admission rates, and advanced planning of special activities and events. In addition

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to the weekly racing series, PPMS also plays host to a monster truck show every

September. They generally generate interest by playing off of the very popular “Monster

Jam” show that comes to CONSOL Energy Center in February. This event features similar

and independent monster trucks to the indoor show, and the competition area is much

larger than the area inside a typical arena show. PPMS must be careful with how they plan

and promote this event, because there are certain terms and names associated with

monster trucks that are trademarked.

Assessment Of Current Social Media Position

There are certainly strengths to the current social media strategies employed by

PPMS. They have a respectable amount of followers and fans for both Facebook and

Twitter, and they convey information about their upcoming events very well. The racing

community often promotes PPMS in their tweets and posts as well, which certainly helps in

spreading the message about the track. PPMS also has a number of weaknesses of their

current state of social media. There is no differentiation between posts on separate social

media sites, meaning that many times posts are shortened or cut off. Posting identical

content on separate sites is acceptable at times, however it is important to tailor your

message to the social media site you are using. Unlike Facebook, Twitter has a limited

number of characters available so the message must be formatted in a way that is easy to

follow for consumers. In addition to post differentiation, PPMS lacks real-time updates and

statistical information in their current social media strategy. Social media is growing as one

of the most up to date sources for news. People log in to Facebook and Twitter daily to get

updates on the biggest news stories, and keep up with current happenings on a local,

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national and global scale. The current social media strategy specializes in promotions,

focusing on special events and discounts. Owner Matt Miley confirmed that when

promotions are offered, PPMS normally sees a spike in attendance. This is reassuring,

because it indicates that fans are getting the message that is being put out. In conclusion,

PPMS has some effective

Competition

PPMS operates every Saturday night from April through August. With only one night

of competition per week, it is important that the marketing strategy makes the track stand

out to consumers. A competitor of PPMS would be identified as any type of activity or event

that could be attended by a consumer as opposed to attending an event at the track. Many

events in the greater Pittsburgh area have a relative price to PPMS. A local competition

description and comparison can be found below.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball team that plays out of PNC Park

in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. The Pirates schedule conflicts with the PPMS schedule between

10-15 times each year from April to August. The approximate start and end time of each

game is similar to the events at PPMS, and their target market is similar in the fact that the

Pirates promote a family friendly atmosphere. An additional incentive that the Pirates

provide to attract fans on a number of Saturdays is a special feature or promotion such as a

giveaway concert or firework night. The Pirates average attendance in 2014 was

approximately 30,155, and the team is experiencing an upward trend in interest based on

recent success (Pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com) The Pirates currently have over 316,000

followers on Twitter, 160,000 on Instagram and over 991,000 likes on Facebook. The

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Pirates generally use social media to link ticket sales and information about promotions.

They also provide up to date news, as well as live information regarding statistics and in

game updates. The Pirates are considered one of the strongest competitors of PPMS

because of relative price and entertainment category. Pirate tickets begin at $18.00 for a

Saturday night contest, and can fall even lower on the secondary market based on

perceived value as the season progresses (pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com)

A competitor in the immediate area of PPMS is the First Niagara Pavilion located in

Burgettstown PA. First Niagara Pavilion is an outdoor amphitheater that hosts concerts,

shows and other events between April and September of every year. The venue holds

approximately 23,000 fans, with events geared towards high school and college students as

well as adults (firstniagarapavilion.net). The First Niagara Pavilion has over 14,500 likes on

Facebook, but only 245 followers on Instagram and 285 on Twitter. All 3 accounts

exclusively promote upcoming shows and events at the outdoor amphitheater. The twitter

account goes a step further by retweeting certain tweets from soon to be featured artists,

but all three accounts are synchronized otherwise. This venue is considered a competitor

because of its close proximity to PPMS, and its attractiveness to consumers during

weekend show times.

Another form of competition to PPMS is movie theaters local to the racetrack. There

are currently two separate movie theater chains located within 15 miles of Imperial:

Cinemark and Big Phoenix Cinema. Their pricing structure is as follows:

Theater Name Location Adult Ticket Price Child Ticket Price

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Cinemark Robinson

Township

$11.25 $9.25

Big Phoenix Cinema Bridgeville $10.00 $7.00

Sources: Cinemark.com/theatre-detail, phoenixtheaters.com

Many movie production firms pay top dollar to advertise movies as they are released. For

this reason, these theaters do not utilize social media locally. No comparison or assessment

of social media can be applied to these two theaters. These locations are considered

competitors to PPMS because of their close proximity to PPMS and their relative pricing

structure.

Another professional sports team that has a conflicting schedule with some PPMS

events is the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins play at the CONSOL Energy Center in

downtown Pittsburgh, and their potential playoff schedule conflicts with PPMS’ weekly

racing series into June if necessary (penguins.nhl.com). The Penguins have over 615,000

followers on Twitter, 311,000 followers on Instagram and 1,891,775 likes on Facebook.

Like the Pirates, the Penguins use social media to promote upcoming games and provide

live updates on game day. They also spend a fair amount of time promoting merchandise

sales, and corporate sponsorships. The penguins are considered a competitor based on the

category of their product. Like PPMS, the penguins provide family entertainment through

sport and atmosphere. An advantage that PPMS has over this competitor is ticket price.

Another professional sports team in the area that plays a number of home contests

on Saturday night is the Pittsburgh Riverhounds of the USL. The Riverhounds play their

home games at the new Highmark Stadium on Carson Street in the south side of the city.

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The average attendance in 2014 was 2,686, which is down from 2013’s average of 3,504

(uslsoccer.com). The Pittsburgh Riverhounds are currently active on 3 main social media

sites: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. They use Facebook and Twitter in similar fashion,

actively posting several times a day. Both of these sites are used to tweet in game updates,

news, recaps and highlights of previous games. Currently, the club has just fewer than

6,800 likes on Facebook, and over 7,300 followers on Twitter. The least followed account of

the 3 used by the Riverhounds is the teams Instagram account, which currently has about

1,300 followers. The team posts their game day lineups and warm-up videos before each

contest, and promotes upcoming events.  They are considered a competitor because of

their relative price, and relative schedule.

Theme parks in the area are also an alternative to families and others that are

looking for weekend entertainment. Kennywood is a historic amusement park located in

West Mifflin PA, and it attracts families of all ages, groups, college students and more. The

park opens during the first week of May, and operates daily through the end of August

(kennywood.com). Like many other competitors, Kennywood uses 3 main social media

sites: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. All 3 sites post similar content with small

differences between each one. Many of the pictures and videos are similar, however

Facebook posts are generally more detailed. A majority of the parks interaction with

visitors and fans comes through comments, likes and mentions on Facebook. The park

seems to emphasize more detail and post frequency through their official Facebook

account. All 3 accounts often engage in cross promotion of other Kennywood social media

sites. Kennywood currently has just fewer than 3,000 followers on Twitter, approximately

5,800 followers on Instagram and 307,025 likes on Facebook.

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A relative form of entertainment that could be considered competition is the Rivers

Casino. Located on the North Side of Pittsburgh, Rivers Casino offers a variety of

entertainment options. Over 2,900 gaming options, live entertainment, food and beverage

operations and trade shows are all offered throughout the calendar year

(riverscasino.com/Pittsburgh/). Local bars and restaurants to PPMS would also be

categorized with Rivers Casino as an entertainment option on Saturday nights.

In conclusion, we have identified 7 major types of events or venues that would be

considered a direct competitor to PPMS. Factors that identified these competitors included

relative pricing structure, similar start and end times and relative perceived value. In

addition to the competitors listed, there are a number of immeasurable other forms of

competition such as shopping malls, retail outlets and other generic recreational summer

activities. Due to variable scheduling and the frequency of events among competitors, it is

hard to place a ranking on the strength or relevance of each completive force. Competition

for the family and college market will differ from week to week, as different events

associated with competitors will vary.

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Competition Social Media Statistics ComparisonAs of 3/30/15

Name Location Twitter Handle/# Of Followers

Instagram Username/

# Of Followers

Facebook User Name/

# Of Likes

Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

Motor Speedway

170 Kelso Rd. Imperial, Pa

15126

@PAMotorSpeedway2,259 Followers

N/A PPMS10,000+

Pittsburgh Pirates

PNC Park115 Federal St. Pittsburgh, PA

15212

@Pirates335,000 Followers

Pittsburghpirates195,000 Followers

Pittsburgh Pirates

966,832 Likes

First Niagara Pavilion

665 Route 18 Burgettstown,

PA 15021

@FN_Pavilion284 Followers

Fn_pavilion245 Followers

First Niagara Pavilion

14,532 Likes

Kennywood Park

4800 Kennywood Blvd West Mifflin, PA

15122

@Kenny_Kangaroo2,931 Followers

Kennywoodpark5,872 Followers

Kennywood Park

307,027 Likes

Pittsburgh Penguins

CONSOL Energy Center1001 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA

15219

@Penguins637,000 Followers

Penguins350,000 Followers

Pittsburgh Penguins1,821,305

Likes

Pittsburgh Riverhounds

510 W Station Square Dr.

Pittsburgh, PA 15219

@PghRiverhounds7,321 Followers

Pttsburghriverhounds1,342 Followers

Pittsburgh Riverhounds6,800 Likes

Rivers Casino 777 Casino Dr, Pittsburgh, PA

15212

@WinBigRivers4,278 Followers

Riverscasinopgh714 Followers

N/A

Overall, the largest competitors to PPMS include the Pittsburgh Pirates and First Niagara

Pavilion. With both venues hosting high profile events, it is important to emphasize the

importance of special events at PPMS, and pricing benefits as well. With many high profile

events coming to PPMS this summer such as Tony Stewart’s racing series or Monster

Trucks, the “you need to see this” mentality must be promoted via social media. It is

important that atmospherics and excitement are expressed in social media posts to help

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combat smaller local competitors such as movie theaters, bars and restaurants etc. Since

the PPMS pricing structure is similar to those competitors, it is crucial that we express and

persuade that attending an event at PPMS should be the only option for Saturday night

plans.

Objectives

The first objective that was set is to increase attendance by 10 percent over the span

of seven weeks for the current 2015 race season. With the current average of 1,000 people

every race night, increasing attendance by 10 percent will result in gaining 100 new

customers per race. Measure attendance from May 9 through June 27 to see if PPMS is

averaging at least 1,100 customers per race. The second objective is to increase awareness

of PPMS Saturday night racing events. Use a seven-week time frame to measure how many

new followers on Twitter were gained, and the number of new likes the PPMS Facebook

page gained in that period. PPMS currently has 2,298 followers on Twitter and 1,114 likes

on Facebook. The new target number for each is set at 2,413 Twitter followers and 1,172

Facebook likes. This results in a 5% increase. Also, measure the amount of retweets the

Twitter account gained and the amount of times someone shared a link from the Facebook

page.

Strategies

In this section objectives will form into strategies. We took the stated objectives and

developed a strategy to pursue them.  Detailed information will be provided to

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demonstrate the necessary process to have an effective social media plan. As stated in the

objectives section, the three main strategies are as follows:

1. Increase attendance ages 18-24

2. Increase social media awareness

3. Retain customers

The strategies set to achieve these goals are to increase social media numbers by

appointing a social media advisory team. The social media team will take care of customer

feedback, problems, questions, or any other related concerns. The team will consist of a

college intern(s) and other track officials who will have the knowledge on all social media

practices. The interns could not only operate the PPMS social media for the summer, but

can also teach members of the PPMS staff on how to improve social media skills. In order

for this strategy to be effective, Twitter and Facebook must be the mediums we pursue.

Both Twitter and Facebook are straightforward informative social media tools. The target

market we are going after is very active on these sites.

Facebook

A starting point is to create a well-developed Facebook page. Facebook continues to be the

highest used social media site, and is growing among adults (Pew Research Center). Given

these facts, it is important to utilize this medium and reach out to fans of all ages. Facebook

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not only can be used to reach out to existing fans, but with the help from a trained social

media team, Facebook can be used to recruit fans from other local racetracks. This can be

done by visiting pages and viewing friends. From there, we can acquire new fans from the

Pittsburgh region who are fans of racing but do not have information about PPMS. These

people are attainable and will be retained through effective Facebook operations such as:

1.           Facebook messaging- message fans from relevant market research

(Facebook searching) and offer promotional incentives to attend events.

2.           Facebook photos- post photos of PPMS atmosphere. Fans of the sport will

want to see the difference between venues. These photos should present

PPMS as a well-kept venue.

This goal of reaching new customers in our relevant market is very attainable. It can also be

said that the retention rate will be high. Fans of this sport are loyal and will travel for

events.

Twitter

        Twitter will be used to inform, persuade, and attract fans with short simple

messages. This medium is quick and simple, but highly effective. Twitter is booming and

users are on the site frequently (Pew Research Center).  The use of hashtags is critical for

effective promotions. Using #PPMS as a way to connect fans in a discussion room will serve

as informative and promotional. Such as Facebook, our goal on twitter is to reach out to

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current fans and consistently inform them, and reach potential fans by searching for

related hashtags. For example, we would search for the hashtag (#Pittsburghracing) and

would be able to view people using that hashtag. From there we would follow them and

reach out with promotions for upcoming events.  Once we have potential fans interest, we

will present them with upcoming events. Given that they will attend, afterwards we would

like to follow up and see if they enjoyed their experience. Below is the step-by-step process

needed to obtain other racing fans in the Pittsburgh region.

Step 1: Search for any racing related hashtag in the Pittsburgh region

Step 2: Engage in those hashtags by responding to posts

Step 3: Follow all people posting about racing

Step 4: Message them with details about PPMS racing

This step-by-step process on Twitter can be done every day. Our relevant market consists

of people searching for something to do on Saturday nights. We will be able to reach those

people in advance, giving them time to prepare for their night out with. For acquiring new

fans to racing, the same step-by-step process will be taking place with an exception of

searching race related hashtags. Instead, we must search for (#saturdaynight) hashtags.

We need to reach out and follow the people who are looking for things to do on the

weekend. We need to first inform them and then engage them in our product.

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        Twitter will be a great opportunity for PPMS to provide instant feedback. We want

our fans to bring all of their questions and concerns to Twitter.  We will post about

upcoming events with reminders leading up to the event. Because our events require nice

weather, we will also keep the fan base up to date with the weather forecast.

       Once we acquire new followers and fans on social media, we believe those followers

will translate to ticket sales. Racing in Pittsburgh is rare. There are not a lot of outlets for

sprint car racing. With this being said, once racing fans become aware of our service, they

will consider attending an upcoming event. V `

Twitter Plan:

Discover relevant market Interact with themInform them on upcoming events

Present them with promotions Have them attend race Customer retention

At this time, we don’t believe it’s necessary to pursue any other social media sites. In order

to have an effective social media plan, we need to stick with the platforms that involve

informing and teaching. We are in the beginning phase of developing an effective social

media plan, therefore must stay focused on our short-term goal of increasing awareness

and attendance.

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Design

Social media design is very important; if you can’t catch the eye of a potential

customer, how will you get them to be an actual customer? Without any help of the social

media team, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway already had an up-and-running

Facebook and Twitter. These two medias, Facebook and Twitter, are most effective for

PPMS. The appearance and layout of their Facebook and Twitter pages is working – photos

are colorful and not too busy, bios contain just enough information without being wordy,

and the content posted is up to date and yet again, not too wordy. For these reasons, the

social media team made no changes to the pages. (See photos. Top: Facebook. Right:

Twitter)

As far as other social media websites go, including LinkedIn and Blogspot, they are

unnecessary. Being in the entertainment industry, a LinkedIn profile would be of little

benefit to PPMS, as well as a blog. People interested in racing aren’t going to read a blog

about a small racetrack in Imperial, Pennsylvania. They might read a nation-wide NASCAR

blog or a blog sponsored by Dale Jr., but not by PPMS. Besides, the PPMS website and

Facebook are basically blogs already, containing updates from the latest race, tons of

information about racing in general, and Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway, of

course.

The PPMS Facebook page is booming, with 10,687 likes and 3,169 visits as of April

1, 2015. The Miley's post basically everyday with either a post about PPMS or a current

event going on in the race world. There is always something going on in the racing

industry, whether it is a change of cars, a new sponsor, a new owner, new driver, anything

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– the Miley's inform their fans about it. Also, a lot goes on at PPMS that many do not realize.

For example, all the different series of racing that they host; the ULMS Series, RUSH Series,

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, and more. They also include lots of pictures with their

posts, which keep things interesting for fans and followers. In addition to pictures, relevant

links and news articles are posted, which shows that PPMS is up-to-date on their

knowledge, which ultimately makes them a credible source for this type of information. If

someone were to visit the PPMS Facebook page for the first time, he would see an eye

catching, relevant photo, with a to-the-point bio, with lots of current, interesting posts. We

encourage PPMS to keep their Facebook design and posting as-is.

With 2,299 followers as of April 15, 2015, the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor

Speedway Twitter page is doing well, despite a confused owner. Matt Miley has exclaimed

his confusion with Twitter; he knows it’s important, but he just doesn’t understand it.

Therefore, throughout the past couple months, the social media team was retweeting and

interacting with PPMS using our own personal twitter accounts in order to gain followers

in the sought-after target market. The team also used the PPMS account to interact with

different racing accounts, by retweeting and mentioning them when applicable. In addition,

we have incorporated the hashtag #PPMS in order to create an archive of not only Miley’s

tweets, but tweets others have posted with #PPMS as well. The PPMS Twitter page has a

bright, contrasted header photo of the track, and a “twic pic” that is consistent with that of

the Facebook page. There is also a simple bio, with the ppms.com link included in it. We

found nothing wrong with the existent photos, bio, or content, and encourage PPMS to keep

their twitter page as is.

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An example promotion the social

media team came up with this past February

was in regards to the Daytona 500. (See

screenshots. Top: Facebook promotion. Right:

Twitter promotion) The promotion was run

on both Facebook and Twitter; viewers were

prompted to like/follow the page and

share/retweet the post (dependent on which

media) and then comment/reply with their

Daytona 500 winner prediction. Guesses

were due before race start time on Sunday,

February 22, 2015. Those whose predictions

were correct won two tickets to a race of

their choice. If there were more than one

correct guess per media, winners would be

chosen at random. Luckily, there was only

one winner per website.

Event

In order to help the Miley's with their

number one goal of raising PPMS awareness

and attendance of eighteen to twenty four

year olds, an event called RMU Tailgates &

Races – Saturday at the Racetrack is

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currently in the process of being planned. This social event will take place on Saturday,

April 18, 2015 at the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway (PPMS) at 180 Kelso Rd.

Imperial PA, 15126.

First and foremost, we had to go to Student Life to get the event approved – which it

was – and so the planning began. The day will begin at 4:00 PM with tailgating in the

parking lots; this will attract and reel students in because of the similarity it has to Robert

Morris University’s (RMU’s) famous “Super Saturday.” Super Saturday is a day where

students come together for a long day of volleyball, hanging out, and drinking to end the

school year off. Alcohol is, and always will be, the moneymaker when it comes to college

students; we knew that it would be a good idea to include a bit of tailgating in the plans for

RMU Night.

Doors will open at 5:00 PM, with practice starting at 6:00 PM and the race beginning

at 7:00 PM. Robert Morris University students, faculty, staff and alumni will be permitted to

enter the gates at any time after 5:00, and will be granted free admission with the showing

of a valid freedom card. Pit tours will also be available to students who wish to get up close

and personal with the action, as well as discounted food prices; again, with the showing of a

valid freedom card, or other Robert Morris Identification card that staff/faculty may have.

In preparation of the event, much will be done in the way of marketing and

advertising. To be more specific, the medias we will market and advertise on are Facebook,

and Twitter, but in addition we will also use email and paper flyers.

Since the event was approved by student life, flyers will be hung and placed in the

hallways of Nicholson and Hale. Also, an email with the flyer attached will be sent to all

students, courtesy of Nancy Thomas in Student Life. Flyers are used all over campus for all

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sorts of events, they are an easy way to advertise that do not take up much time. They are

an easy way to reach the students who 1. do not have Facebook and Twitter and 2. do not

click on the posts or tweets. (The flyer is on the following page.)

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Tailgating @ 4:00

Gates open @ 5:00

Saturday, April 18, 2015. 4:00 PM

RMU Tailgates and Races Saturday at the Racetrack

It’s RMU night at Pittsburgh PA’s own motor speedway!Come & tailgate with friends, then go inside and enjoy

somegood ‘ole American racing, food & adult beverages!

**must be 21 years old to drink inside

170 Kelso Rd. Imperial, PA 15126Your Freedom Card gets you:

FREE admission DISCOUNTS on food

Like and follow us!25

@PAMotorSpeedway Change up your usual Saturday, we’ll see you there

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For Facebook, there will be an event page created called “RMU Night at the Track,” with

all of the aforementioned details of the night; the date, place, address, directions, start times,

official title, discount details, etc. The PPMS page will invite fans, and page administrators, Lea

Chrisman, Travis Marzina, Kim Kuhn, Dan Hammond, Ethan Weir, and Matt Wieseckel will invite

their Robert Morris Facebook friends. In addition to the event page being made, and people

being invited via Facebook, the event will be shared on various Robert Morris sponsored pages.

The pages that will be posted on include but are not limited to: RMU Class of 2015, RMU Class

of 2016, RMU Class of 2017, RMU Class of 2018, RMU, RMU PanHellenic, and RMU Fraternities

and Sororities.

On Twitter, the following Robert Morris sponsored Twitter pages will be tweeted at and

invited to RMU Tailgates and Races – Saturday at the Racetrack: @RMU, @RMUCrazies,

@RMUGreekLife, @RMUSentryMedia, @RMUnow, @rmualumni, and @RMUAthletics. In

addition to those Twitter handles, each specific Fraternity and Sorority Twitter page will be

interacted with as well, including Zeta Tau Alpha, Sigma Kappa, Delta Phi Epsilon, Delta Zeta,

Kappa Delta Rho, Alpha Chi Rho, Phi Delta Theta, Delta Tau Delta, Alpha Phi Delta, Phi Sigma

Kappa, Sigma Phi Beta, and the honors and band fraternities. The event details – location, date,

time, directions, promotions and discounts – will be included in one of the many tweets sent

out. Also included in the tweets sent out will be #RMURaceNight. Throughout the whole week

and during the event, #RMURaceNight will be used on both Twitter and Facebook.

The week leading up to the event, there will be trivia questions pertaining to knowledge

of Robert Morris University and also knowledge of the NASCAR Sprint Cup on both Facebook

and Twitter. Those who are first to tweet or comment back the correct answer to the trivia

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question will receive a prize or a special offer to use at RMU Tailgates and Races – Saturday at

the Racetrack. Prizes will include, but are not limited to waving the green flag at the start of the

race, a ride in the official pace car, press box seating, RMU themed prizes, and PPMS themed

prizes. The trivia tweets will take place twice per day; one RMU question and one NASCAR

question. If no one responds with the correct answer, the correct answer will be tweeted, and

then a replacement question will be given. Prizewinners will be direct-messaged with the list of

prizes, and will be prompted to choose their favorite. In order to receive their prize, they have

to attend RMU Tailgates and Races – Saturday at the Racetrack; they will be able to claim it

from one of the social media team members, or will be notified otherwise of where to pick it

up.

In addition to trivia, another way we were planning on keeping RMU students engaged

throughout the week is to inform them about the racers. However, there had been

cancellations and rain delays in both weeks prior to RMU Night, which caused a lot of confusion

in not only who was racing, but also what cup/car series would be present. This would have

given attendees an idea of what each racer is about, where he’s from, how well he has been

racing, and details about each one – in hopes of having students pick a favorite. Connecting

with a racer on some type of level, whether it be being from the same state or because that

racer is number one, will encourage them to come out and root for the man they’ve selected.

We planned to get the list of racers from Matt Miley and then look up information about each

one on Google, however as aforementioned, we will not be doing this anymore.

These methods of social media marketing will increase attendance of eighteen to twenty

four year olds at the racetrack. The fact that the event is “free,” and that PPMS has its liquor

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license is a huge incentive for attendance, especially on a warm, April evening. Students and

their friends will have a fun time at the track, and in the future will return back to the track for

more fun times to be had!

In order to evaluate and measure attendance at the RMU Tailgates and Races – Saturday

at the Racetrack, we plan to keep track of the number of RMU students that walk through the

gate/show their freedom card. Or, if we find this to be too difficult, at the end of the night, we

will subtract the number of tickets bought from the total attendance, which yields the number

of RMU patrons that were in attendance – since they would not have had to purchase a ticket.

We can then divide total RMU patrons by the total number present and figure out the

percentage of the crowd that was there from Robert Morris.

As far as evaluating the success of the social media marketing, on Facebook and Twitter,

the tactics we will use are as follows. For Facebook, we will simply check the PPMS page for

increases in likes, visits, and post reaches between the weeks of March 29 – April 4 and April 12

– April 18. If the numbers go up, we seemingly did our job. We can also see specifically who

liked the page; we will recognize if the “likers” are from Robert Morris. For Twitter, we will use

Twitter analytics. Twitter analytics shows the user how many views and engagements each

tweet gets. We will compare the tweets from before the event (March 29 – April 4) to tweets

during the weeks leading up to RMU night (April 5 – April 18) to see if there is a significant

increase in engagements or not.

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Analytics and Measurement

The two main objectives Miley Motor Sports has for its Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania

Motor Speedway is increase the attendance of the younger, ages 18-24, demographic at

their races and to increase awareness of their Saturday night events. The use of social

media marketing analytics is a way to support and measure whether PPMS’s social media

usage is producing the desired outcomes.

The Internet provides a wide range of both free and paid forms of analytics for

businesses to engage in. Among them are Marketing Grader, Tweetchup, and Sendible.

Analysis of these tools in reference to social media metrics should be looked at by PPMS to

support their social media activity. See the following table:

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Specific Metrics for Social Media Analysis

Facebook Reach: Allows you to see how many people have viewed the PPMS page or any

posts associated with it. High reach posts or events need to be accounted for and their success

repeated during future events and social media strategy Engaged users: Anyone who:

Clicked Liked Commented on Shared your post

Capture demographic information to see if PPMS and its social media posts are reaching target audience

New Likes/Unlikes: Monitor likes and unlikes, more specifically the dates when you saw spikes in activity and see then reference what you did on those dates.

Negative Feedback: When you publish a post it draws engagement that will reach users that do not already like your page – which can increase your negative feedback. Look at the positive and negative feedback together in order to sort out true negative feedback.

Post hides Reports of spam

Twitter Follower growth: How many new followers you gain.

Daily Weekly Monthly Yearly

Provides detail for the growth via social media Impressions: How many users see your tweet.

A good measurement for awareness Engagement: How many users interact with your Tweets.

Measurements Favorites Retweets Follows Mentions

Facebook metric source:

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o http://www.meltwater.com/blog/facebook-metrics-you-should-be-measuring-

on-facebook/

Twitter metric source:

https://business.twitter.com/basics/measure-your-impact

Marketing Grader is a free service provided by HubSpot to evaluate its user’s

website’s sales and marketing funnel, from top to middle. The benefits of PPMS using this

specific social media tool are:

Marketing Grader generates an overall marketing score that is based on a 100-

point scale.

Currently PPMS has a score of 42/100, which is a middle of the road

score.

The Top of the Funnel Sector is comprised of 4 elements:

1. Blogging setup, sharing and subscriptions

2. SEO on-page optimization, indexed pages, and inbound links

3. Mobile website setup

4. Social media reach, activity and influence

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When you access the social media checklist, Grader shows you

what information it was able to find by simply entering a company

URL into the prompt screen.

The social media checklist for PPMS is completed because it has

satisfied full criteria.

The Middle of the Funnel Sector has 2 elements:

1. Blogging, calls to action and landing pages

2. Social media conversation and content linked to lead capture

The following image is an example of the grader website analysis.

Marketing Grader gives feedback and suggestions for incomplete categories, as well

as information on why each category is important or relevant to company success. The

mobile category was one of the 5 incomplete categories for PPMS. The mobile category also

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includes a mobile preview tool that allows you to review your progress as PPMS attempts

to complete the checklist.

Overall, Grader will allows PPMS to analyze what they do well, what they can

improve on and how to make those improvements. Using Grader will help PPMS capitalize

on what aspects of their social media provide the most success. From the Grader

information PPMS will be able to create new promotional social media strategies that will

fit best for what the target audience is and what outcomes are desired.

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PPMS official Marketing Grader website:

https://marketing.grader.com/report/www.ppms.com/overall

Another tool PPMS will use in its analysis is Tweetchup. Tweetchup is a free, and

easy to use analytic metric tool. Tweetchup is also a fast growing tool and ranks as the

second most used Twitter analytics tool, the highest ranked tool is a paid tool and in order

to save PPMS money use Tweetchup instead. The website generates over 50k monthly user

visits (similarweb.com) with an average run on website time of 4:38 (similarweb.com),

which is beneficial to see that in under five minutes you can view a detailed analysis of your

social media measurements. Half of Tweetchups’ traffic is directed from desktop users and

38% comes through the use of a search engine (similarweb.com).

The Tweetchup setup is simple and easy to understand. It will allow PPMS to view

key elements to engagement with its followers in terms of who mentioned PPMS, how

many times the PPMS account has been mentioned, and how many times PPMS has been

retweeted. Mentions are an important part of the analytic tools to use. Benefits to looking

at mentions will help PPMS understand its followers in terms of their demographics, trends

and references to their activity with PPMS, and helps them engage their interests. Mentions

also shows PPMS when its followers are most active and what PPMS tweets are the most

interesting to its followers.

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Tweetchup connects your Twitter

profile to a dashboard with three tabs:

Connections

Profiles

Key words

Tweetchup allows searching

of tweets using key words to

help identify popular tweets and the impact they had on your reach.

Tweetchup statistical references:

http://www.similarweb.com/website/tweetchup.com#alsoVisited

Tweetchup login page:

http://tweetchup.com/

Sendible is a third social media analytics tool PPMS is recommended to use. Sendible

is a great site to use when engaging customers, and monitoring your company’s reputation

through all social media platforms at once. The benefit of gathering all PPMS’s social media

platforms into one analytics tool will save time and is convenient to view how Facebook

and Twitter posts react differently to PPMS social media activity. Being able to link

Facebook and Twitter together will allow Sendible to pull in different posts from the social

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media sites that allows you to respond to them from one place, thus forming a consistency

to PPMS’s social media usage.

Analyzing data across multiple social media profiles and channels will make it easy

to view full reports with extended details on specific analytics. One of the beneficial

features of this aspect of analytics is a report builder that will create useful reports to

analyze data gathered from the PPMS Facebook and Twitter accounts. These reports

measure the success of every piece of content PPMS posts on Facebook and Twitter. The

reports are an important aspect to prove the effectiveness, of every piece of content that is

distributed from the PPMS social media sites.

For example, specific posts on social media help PPMS quickly identify messages or

engagement that applies best to its specific audience, or to reach the most amount of

people within the PPMS target audience, which for PPMS is the age group of 18-24 and

motor sport fans.

One final way that PPMS will manage its social media page via Sendible is by

monitoring what is being said about its brand online. This is monitored by information that

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can be collected through different blogs, news, and social networks. Sendible’s automatic

sentiment analysis is used to highlight any specific posts or comments that need the

company’s immediate attention. PPMS will then react to specific posts and comments in

order to engage with its followers and fans.

This is an especially important tool for PPMS, because it can find or narrow down

anything that involves fans opinion on events, and any specific questions on anything

related to PPMS. This information from the fans can pop up from any platform and now can

be easily seen and reacted to.

Sendible login page:

http://sendible.com/

Specific Social Media Analytics Recommendations:

PPMS needs to look at these metric sites to see any significant increase or drop in

the metrics. Also, take advantage of any of the free trials for other social media analytics

tools. Even over a short period of time during the free trial will provide valuable feedback

from your Facebook and Twitter sites.

In reference to budget information, PPMS should continue or sign up for the

recommended social media metric tools explained above, as they are free. Time is the main

issue regarding the analytics budget. It will take periods of time to compile data from the

sites and understand them in a manner that produces the optimal benefits regarding

awareness of the social media sites. With time being a limitation for PPMS in regards to

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social media, PPPMS needs to designate a person within its company, perhaps even a social

media intern to perform the following duties:

Monitor any and all social media tools at least once a week.

Remember that comments and posts on the PPMS Facebook wall and Twitter

feed are public information and are a reflection of your business and need to be

handled in a professional and timely matter.

One of the benefits of social media is its immediacy, and users want

instant answers and feedback from comments, posts and inquiries.

PPMS will want to monitor these tools pre and post events. The metrics will lead

to PPMS being able identify any problems that may be hurtful or beneficial to

their social media activities.

Monitor spikes in attendance, and trace back to activities you have conducted on

social media

Contests

Promotions

Giveaways

Review what has worked for PPMS in the past. If PPMS runs a certain promotion

for an event that occurs every year during a certain weekend, then make note of

what you did and repeat the following event or calendar year.

A benefit of designating a specific person to handle social media activities is consistency

with messages to the social media audience. Also, having a specific person work with social

media will save time. They will know what metric tools to use, how to identify success and

areas that are in need of improvement.

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Recommendations

This section will discuss all of the necessary steps to follow so that all PPMS events,

social media pages, and budget are all made to the highest quality necessary.

Long Term Objectives

By the end of this upcoming racing season, one important objective to follow is to

increase the attendance and awareness of people from the ages of 18 to 24. This will

happen by promoting to local universities in the Pittsburgh area through means of

communication like Twitter and Facebook. On Twitter, incorporate hashtags for almost

every tweet to link any conversations about PPMS. By doing this, it helps to generate

awareness of #PPMS. Tweets need to be incorporated with #PPMS especially when

tweeting or promoting about any upcoming event at the track. On Facebook, make sure to

keep up to date with posting as much information regarding upcoming events. Encourage

fans to “like or share” a post especially if it’s regarding an upcoming event so that it will

help to generate more excitement.

Another important long-term objective is to assign a person to keep up with all

social media sites. Hire an intern to be in charge of social media promotions, prizes, wall

posts, video/picture uploads and interacting with followers by responding to any feedback,

questions, etc. This person should be able to attend every PPMS event, to post on social

media what is going on. In addition, they should be able to make posts multiple times a day

regarding any news information or to talk about upcoming events. This person should be

available to work at least 10 hours a week, including on event days. They should have to

arrive up at least four hours before the event begins.

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Budget

One aspect of the budget when it comes to PPMS and social media is to hire an

intern, and have this particular person use their time the best way possible, when it comes

to posting. This person should be available up to 10 hours a week and not be paid, but will

receive school credit. This internship opportunity should be posted on all PPMS social

media pages, their main website, and other career internship sites like teamwork.com. This

person should also be available from March 1st through October 1st, which covers when the

racing season usually is, plus a few extra weeks, and any weekdays if necessary to come

into the main offices. If credit is not applicable, monetary compensation should be

considered at a rate of $7.25 per hour.

During event days, this person should come to the track no later than 3pm, for a

7pm race. In addition, they should be available all day of the race to respond to any fan

comments or questions, along with making at least a few posts geared at getting people

excited for the night. Another important factor is weather. PPMS should keep in contact

with this intern so that there can be posts made on social media regarding what the latest

information on if the event will be happening or not. Once the intern arrives at the track,

they should take a few pictures to post and make at least one or two other posts to

continue to get fans excited right up to race time. There should be two to three posts during

the race keeping fans informed of all the action happening on the track. After the event,

both on Facebook and Twitter, there should be some kind of post mentioning the winners

from the night, thanking fans for attending, and giving information on the next PPMS event.

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On non-event days, this intern should be the one to make at least a few posts a day

on social media mentioning information about an upcoming event, PPMS news, or any

major racing news in general that might interest fans. These posts do not have to be made

from the track offices, but the intern should be able to come in early each week to discuss

possible posts for the upcoming week, including any contests that PPMS wants to be run.

Facebook Recommendations

There should be consistent posts that include the latest news, upcoming events, and

fan photos from all PPMS events. Post pictures of past events and upcoming events, videos,

and any weather related conditions that may impact the event. During the main events

season there should at least one to three posts per day. These posts should talk about any

news, upcoming events, or even pictures of fans at the track enjoying an event in order to

gain overall excitement about PPMS. When making posts, it will require some constant

attention to keep aware of any comments, questions, or messages from fans that might

require any attention, so that they do not go unnoticed for a long period of time.

Twitter Recommendations

There should be just as many posts on Twitter daily as there are on Facebook, if not

more, because Twitter is more of an instant, quicker way to receive news. Just like

Facebook, after any posts it is vital to always remember to monitor and acknowledge any

comments, questions, or messages from other followers, so nothing from fans goes

unnoticed for very long. A very important fact to keep in mind is to make posts similar, if

not exact to Facebook posts because followers may not have a Facebook account. Always

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remember to keep all tweets short, simple, and right to the point. Never forget to make

posts promoting upcoming events, contests, or anything to inform and excite followers

about PPMS. Posting pictures of events and fans is a great way to promote excitement both

on Twitter and Facebook.

Future Events Recommendations

For any future events, it is important to always make sure to advertise for an event

one week before it occurs, at the absolute latest, and continue advertising right up to the

day of the event. Advertising for an event in this case means to always make posts on the

Facebook and Twitter pages. Having contests and prizes are excellent ways to get people

excited for an event. When there is a decision to do a contest for a fan or multiple fans to

enter to win free tickets to that upcoming event, it is important to make that announcement

at least four to five days prior to the event. That way fans will have plenty of time to make

plans and be able to attend the event they won tickets for. An example of when the four or

five day process may have to be changed is when the contest involves predicting who will

win a NASCAR race. Since PPMS events usually occur on Saturdays and NASCAR races are

Sundays, it will be better to adjust the contest promotion accordingly. This type of contest

would involve the first person to predict correctly on Twitter and Facebook who the

winner is would have the opportunity to earn a free pair of tickets to any future race. For

all races and events, it is extremely important to consider weather conditions and have

alternative plans for delays or cancellations of events, including compensating fans. For any

event day, there should be heavy monitoring of the weather, especially if it predicted to be

inclement weather near the event start time, and posts on Twitter and Facebook to keep

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fans updated if races are going to go on as scheduled, will be delayed, or cancelled. These

kinds of updates should happen at least five to six times during the day of the event,

starting with morning and continuing every half hour or so leading up to the originally

scheduled event start time.

Analytics Recommendations

PPMS should look at the metrics sites suggested in the previous section to see any

significant drop or increase in the overall metrics. Even over a short period of time during a

free trial of any of the sites recommended will provide valuable feedback from your

Facebook and Twitter sites to make them even better in the future.

In reference to budget information that relates to any metrics sites, PPMS should

continue to sign up for the recommended social media metric tools explained in the

previous section, as they are free. Time is the main issue regarding the analytics budgets. It

will take periods of time to compile data from the sites and understand them in a manner

that produces optimal benefits.

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