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Touched a nerve ey Emily? Do you take everything Donald Trump says literally too?
Your welcome for completing the survey.
Hi Emily
I didn’t fill in your Survey as I felt it didn’t give me all the options that I wanted to see and my answers would not fully represent my personal experiences over quite a few years of going racing.I feel that Social Media has impacted on the way that racecourses sell their co-operate experiences i.e. entertainment laid on during the day for children, in the evening with bands and racing experiences in general i.e. raceday packages including a tour of the course, weighing rooms paddocks and areas not generally open to the public.
My local racecourse is Newmarket and this year has marked for them 350 years in racing dating back to the reign of Charles 11. They have done many many things to celebrate this during the season and one of them was to invite racegoers to share their experiences at the racecourse via Social Media by posting photos they have taken during their visit. This has seemed a great success and photos can be viewed on their website as part of the 350 year celebration.
Being a 100% racing fan and a member of Newmarket Racecourse I go to around 30 meetings a year but only at that particular racecourse. I don’t use Social Media very much and agree that drinking and after racing social events draw in a lot of people who are not at all interested in the horses but who spend a lot of time at the bars drinking Champagne and Cocktails bringing a lot of revenue into the racecourse.
My days at the racecourse including seeing as many horses in the paddock and going to post as I possibly can, hopefully picking two or three winners and enjoying a social get together with my friends over a coffee after the last race mulling over what might have been. Sadly as we leave the racecourse, and especially on a big race day such as 2000 Guineas we have to weave our way through those who are worst for wear having spent their entire day in the bar after putting all their bets on the Tote BEFORE the first race and not even having seen a horse.
At the end of the day beautiful Thoroughbred racehorses that have won Classics that will go down in History are put back into their horseboxes as those that have been tempted to attend the races via Social Media stagger back to their coaches and stretch limos with mobile phones in hand taking constant Selfies of themselves. Enough said…Jacqui
Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...Done as best I can. Don’t use social media for that purpose. Had to put yearly for attendance but it’s probably more like 4-5 times a year. I work Monday to Friday and my local courses rarely race on evenings/weekends.
I don’t necessarily agree with it but I fully understand why they go for the day out/boozing crowd. Few have the time or money to go frequently so you need to get occasional visitors who spend more per visit. Personally I do enjoy a few beers at the races (just as I do when I go to watch other sports) but not to excess. If I want to get plastered and watch racing there are far cheaper ways to do it than at a course. Plus I’m bad enough at punting sober…
No idea if many people I know use social media to follow racecourses but I doubt it. People surely tend to follow things they are already interested in rather than what they think might interest them. So in that respect I’m not sure how much potential there is for attracting newbies in that way. Just my two pennies, I could be completely wrong.
Hi all who have commented. I think there might be a little confusion on my survey, there is no right or wrong answer to the survey I just would like responses from the racing population whether you use social media or not. I am not stating that social media is the key to increasing racecourse attendances it is more an investigation as to whether or not it does influence people attending the races. In actual fact it would seem that the traditional methods of marketing i.e word of mouth is one of the more effective methods within the racing industry rather than social media.
I am not sure I agree with the idea of people who follow social media are those who don’t have any idea or appreciation for racing, as most trainers and jockeys follow all courses on social media for the convenience of gaining information quickly.
Thanks to everyone for completing.
Yep, there’s a very healthy racing crowd on twitter. They add considerably to my enjoyment of an afternoon watching TV as you get instant comment, often from some of the press guys on course, which is well ahead of the formal news.
But mostly it’s just racing fans enjoying themselves. I know that one or two on here have twitter accounts. I’d urge more to give it a try.
I don’t see much racing stuff on Facebook but I use twitter a hundred times to every one of using Facebook, so I’ve little experience of Facebook racing groups. Twitter is king for instant brief comment on any ‘live’ happening. Trouble is (and racing thinks it has problems) they can’t think of a way to turn a consistent profit from 350m users.
Hi all who have commented. I think there might be a little confusion on my survey, there is no right or wrong answer to the survey I just would like responses from the racing population whether you use social media or not. I am not stating that social media is the key to increasing racecourse attendances it is more an investigation as to whether or not it does influence people attending the races. In actual fact it would seem that the traditional methods of marketing i.e word of mouth is one of the more effective methods within the racing industry rather than social media.
I am not sure I agree with the idea of people who follow social media are those who don’t have any idea or appreciation for racing, as most trainers and jockeys follow all courses on social media for the convenience of gaining information quickly.
Thanks to everyone for completing.
Sorry Emily I didn’t mean to link all users of Social Media into the ‘no idea’ bracket. It’s just an observation when leaving the racecourse on a big race day of all the Selfie taking going on.
I think as Joe says Twitter is an excellent place to get instant updates from racegoers and information on how horses are looking in the paddock if you can’t be there in person.I’m just one of those people who leaves my phone in the car when I go racing unless I need it to meet up with someone. I remember winning a competition once to go along to Ed Dunlops yard when he was in Hamilton Road and watch the horses on their early morning gallops. Ed was unable to take us around but I think it was William Haggas’s brother who was there at the time. Mobiles had just become pocket size and he was annoyed at all the calls he was receiving whilst trying to assess the horses on the gallops to the point that he had thrown it in the trashcan.
We made do without them in the past so why do we rely on them so much now. You can’t go to a restaurant without seeing people, sometimes a whole family sitting staring at their tablets and laptops, the art of conversation dead.
Maybe we should have a ‘Leave your mobile switched off Day’ to see how much that would impact on Social Media, I wonder how many would actually be able to resist temptation
JacThings turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...We made do without them in the past so why do we rely on them so much now. You can’t go to a restaurant without seeing people, sometimes a whole family sitting staring at their tablets and laptops, the art of conversation dead.
Maybe we should have a ‘Leave your mobile switched off Day’ to see how much that would impact on Social Media, I wonder how many would actually be able to resist temptation
JacUnfortunately, these days you probably feel like a social misfit if you aren’t using one.
As for instant reaction it will remain Betfair for me. The last thing I want to hear is press reaction. I get quite enough of that supine stuff on the television.
I’ve tweeted the link – let’s hope some respond !
Fab! Thank you so much
I’m still a bit puzzled by the premise of this thread, it’s already been pointed that there was a sharp increase in attendances in 2015 with an almost record total yet there are supposedly, according to this thread many courses concerned about decreasing attendances in the last couple of years.
Any chance of garnishing us with a few facts and figures Emily and which are these “many” courses?
Emily has all the info I hear she’s practically head lass at Godolphin
Ben, I really don’t understand all the aggro towards the OP? All she has asked is for some help by completing her survey, which only takes a couple of minutes.
There was no agro at all from my part. I in no way wanted to offend Emily or insult her. It’s my sense of humour, to be honest I’m the same in real life but in real life you can tell from my facial expressions that I’m just on a cheeky wind up with no malicious intent – more letting the other person know that I myself don’t get offended by things by expecting them to be able to read into my own sarcasm. I guess it can come across crude/rude when read in text.
If Emily had replied with an insult to me it’d actually make me smile, either because it shows she’s game for a fight (which I always respect and would have no intention of getting into an internet war with her) or because it shows she knows I’m just taking the piss and has that sense of humour too.
But when someone gets offended by something I consider petty, it makes me poke that stick a tiny bit harder. But again, this isn’t done in a hurtful or harmful way, more of a jokey/banter way, as said though it probably doesn’t come across that way when read online.
If Emily had replied with an insult to me it’d actually make me smile, either because it shows she’s game for a fight (which I always respect and would have no intention of getting into an internet war with her) or because it shows she knows I’m just taking the piss and has that sense of humour too.
But when someone gets offended by something I consider petty, it makes me poke that stick a tiny bit harder. But again, this isn’t done in a hurtful or harmful way, more of a jokey/banter way, as said though it probably doesn’t come across that way when read online.
Ben, I question what you do in your spare time. It is not in my nature to be insulting and certainly not via a racing forum which was used to genuinely ask for help towards my dissertation. It was not meant to offend anyone just for those who wanted to help.
I’m still a bit puzzled by the premise of this thread, it’s already been pointed that there was a sharp increase in attendances in 2015 with an almost record total yet there are supposedly, according to this thread many courses concerned about decreasing attendances in the last couple of years.
Any chance of garnishing us with a few facts and figures Emily and which are these “many” courses?
I will private message you (When i work out how to do that) if you like of the reasoning behind my dissertation if you are genuinely interested :)
If Emily had replied with an insult to me it’d actually make me smile, either because it shows she’s game for a fight (which I always respect and would have no intention of getting into an internet war with her) or because it shows she knows I’m just taking the piss and has that sense of humour too.
But when someone gets offended by something I consider petty, it makes me poke that stick a tiny bit harder. But again, this isn’t done in a hurtful or harmful way, more of a jokey/banter way, as said though it probably doesn’t come across that way when read online.
You sound just like my husband Ben, not everyone gets his droll sense of humour but your comment made me smile. I read into it that Emily is working oh so hard on her project that a job at Godolphin would be on the cards for her future as she is working so hard on her dissertation.
Start to worry should Nathan start posting up crazy animated emotions on here.
Ben keep you mad sense of humour goodness knows in this game we all need to smile sometimes
Emily it’s so nice that you are replying to everyone and I wish you all the success with your dissertation.
Jac
Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...
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