Tweeting @ 200 miles an hour


If you haven't heard the story yet, but at the Daytona 500 this year, one of the drivers-- Brad Keselowski (#2) actually tweeted during the race and sent photos of the track taken from inside his car.  

Getting the word out-- Keselowski's own crashes the genesis for carrying phone in race car

He was quick to point out that he doesn't actually tweet while driving (which would be a scary thought considering at Daytona the cars reach speeds of over 200 mph while racing inches away from other cars); but he did sent out updates during red flags and other breaks in the action.

Although this was rather ground breaking news in itself, probably the more amazing detail is that he picked up 160,000 followers during the race!

For those of you who don't follow NASCAR racing, one of the biggest differences from other sports is the heavy reliance of the drivers on corporate sponsors which the drivers always do their best to acknowledge any time they can in interviews, post-race photo ops and so on ("well, the Post Toastiesâ, Red Roosterâ, Days Innâ, Coronaâ, Days of our Livesâ car she ran real good all day but..."). 

Now combine those last two statements and think of the enormous impact social media can have in how companies advertise. Imagine 160,000 brand new, loyal followers receiving frequent tweets that drop small mentions of a sponsor ("just finished the race. now i'm off to drink some..."). Or mentions of special events and promotions by the sponsor. What makes this advertising even more potent is that it's directed to interested listeners and ones who trust and are willing to listen to the promoter (their favorite driver). Plus it's timely-- a real time commercial.  Lastly but not least-- it's free!

I know a lot has been written in the past couple of years regarding the role social media is starting to play in how companies advertise; often though this is focused on how companies are learning to follow social media to monitor and protect their presence.  Many are using Facebook and now Google+ to advertise or at least leave a footprint.  I think NASCAR's experiment (or at least that of some of their drivers) is going to provide even more creative ways we learn to advertise.