Is Social Media Detrimental to the Health of NASCAR?

In today’s society, social media has become one of the largest marketing tools for businesses and organizations around the globe. It has become so important, companies have entire departments dedicated to their social media management.

Regardless of the size of the company, from Fortune 500 corporations to mom & pop specialty shops, the consensus is the same, ask any marketing rep and they all agree, one must be active on social media to “make it”, at least very successfully. That is a very strong statement that truly indicates the power of this platform.

For as much good results as social media can produce, whether it is promoting one’s company, product, service, or even simply a mission, there is an equal opportunity for bad, even catastrophic results.

If the right person, or enough people, retweet or “likes” one’s post, it can go viral and garner fantastic results. Therefore, it stands to reason, if the right person or enough people post negatively about your organization, it can spell disaster.

I believe we can see this in NASCAR. Last week, there was a social media firestorm about Kevin Harvick’s racecar at Atlanta that many believe led to the penalties handed down by the sanctioning body. Regardless, of whether that is true or not, one fact does ring true, there is so much negative content regarding NASCAR it simply must have an effect on the sport.

Open any post related to NASCAR, regardless of the topic, and I can almost guarantee you will find negative comments. Some may be warranted, some may not, but it will always be there. NASCAR is definitely not perfect. The organization, as with any organization, does sometimes make a mistake or a bad call. After all, they are human just like you and I. However, I truly believe, no matter what they do, they genuinely intend for it to be for the betterment of the sport and to make the fanbase happy.

For example, there has been massive outcry about the level of competition in recent years. NASCAR has made several rules changes to try to improve the on-track product. Did fans jump on social media to say “thank you for trying” or even “it is better, but we want more”? No. While there may have been a small amount of that,  the overwhelming majority of posts were “why do you change the rules all the time” or “NASCAR needs to make it like it was in the good ole’ days” (you know, when drivers won by laps, not milliseconds, those good ole’ days of great competition).

These same so-called fans, will also constantly point out how NASCAR is failing, and losing fans, or not gaining any new fans. So, I ask you, would you come check out something new, like maybe a restaurant, local club, religious organization or perhaps a sport, if every time you looked it up on social media all you read was how stupid or bad it is? Probably not.

I fully support everyone’s right to express their opinion, however, for NASCAR “fans”, if you truly want to see more people in the stands, how about we tell them how exciting it is to hear the sounds, feel the vibrations and even smell the smells at the track? Maybe every race is not a barn-burner, game seven moment showdown, but one cannot truly say the on-track product is terrible. If you watch the entire event there are always good battles and side by side racing during the race, somewhere in the field. Maybe it is not your favorite driver every week, but it is there if you want to see it.

If everyone will band together and make it a point to post something positive about the sport instead of always trying to tear it down, maybe, just maybe, a new potential fan will give it a try. Maybe then, in the near future, you will not be able to complain about the stands being empty.

For the people who, for whatever reason, truly do not like the sport anymore, how about you just move along to whatever you do enjoy and leave NASCAR and the true fans alone? Why must we try to destroy that which we do not like? You actually may be happier if you take all that negativity out of your life. I can promise, true NASCAR fans would be happier. I do not even understand why, if one does truly not like the sport, why would they be reading and posting about it anyway? I content these people probably do not like anything and are not even happy in their own life.

For myself, there are a few sports that I have recently decided not to watch for my own personal reasons. However, I have yet to make even one single negative post about those sports. Why? Because I do not follow and no longer care.

FYI – Stay tuned for the negative comments to be submitted about this post.