At Road Race Management 2013, Heather shared 20+ trends and tools to help event managers socialize the experience -- from registration and pre-event promotion, to race-day mobile communication ideas and real-time marketing opportunities. Whether you're planning a marathon or a 5K even series, this presentation is for you. And, if you're an event planner who has nothing to do with racing, you'll still find the tools and tactics in this presentation very applicable.

1. socializing the event experience:
Digital Trends
Heather Whaling
heather@gebencommunication.com
prtini.com • @prTini
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9. 67%
PR innovation is lagging
10%
PR is highly innovative
Source: Holmes Report
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Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/86979666@N00/

11. influencer relations
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12. 65%
50%
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Brands participate in
influencer marketing
Influencers report being
paid for a sponsored
post/article

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Source: flickr/com/photos/cristiano_betta

14. infuse
creativity:
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15. Live Facebook Q&A: Facilitate conversation among
marathoners and provide training tips and advice from running
and training experts
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16. socialize registration
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17. • Social "following” – connecting friends, teammates, training buddies,
family & fans to race participants.
• Showcase & share which events they're doing.
• Includes event branding
• Built-in social marketing & promotion
• Automatic social and email notifications to athletes’ followers
when they sign up for an event, have an event update, and complete
an event.
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18. AthletePath | Portland Triathlon
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19. pre-race
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20. crowdsourcing
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21. digital education
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22. mobile/SMS
• Share course updates, winner
names/times with media
• Be accessible during the event, to
answer questions and not have
them need to haul over to the
media tent
• Provide “happy running” wishes to
participants
• Provide course updates and
changes to participants before the
race
• Emergency notifications
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23. forward-thinking mobile opps
• Offer sign-up offers exclusive via SMS for the next year’s
race within 48 hours of the end of this year’s race.
• Offer “friend’s discount” via SMS to currently signed up
participants (track code redemption)
• Send viewing stations, or link to web viewing page via
SMS to participants to share with friends and family
• Use SMS mobile imaging to share photos of the finish
(or other key photos) with link to download to media
• Use SMS to notify water station volunteers of crowd
movement, when to expect swells of runners, time for
cleanup, etc.
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Thanks to @Cloudspark
for offering these mobile ideas

24. visual storytelling
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25. “pinterestification” of the web
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26. photo apps
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27. instagram | launch
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The Power of the Networks
• Instagram “correspondents”
• Pre-event promotion
• Live photos at the event
• Interaction between accounts
• Result: @CbusMarathon had
300+ followers within 1 week
of launching

28. be social. have fun.
RunFest Photo Booth
• Pick an accessory
• Strike a pose
• Snap a photo on their phone
• Share with #cbusmarathon
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29. IG ambassadors
Countdown to race day:
• Launched 2013 “Instagram
Ambassador” program 50
days prior to race day
• Ambassadors share weekly
training photos for
@cbusmarathon to regram
and share on the blog
• Result: 700 followers in 3
months
•
•
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Pittsburgh Marathon: 720
followers in the last year
NYC Marathon: 445 followers

30. IG Ambassadors
Prompts:
What’s your favorite training tech? • Where do you run?
What do you wear while training? • What motivates you?
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31. video brings an event to life
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32. video opportunities
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33. real-time
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34. real-time customer service
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35. race tracking
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37. #prParty
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38. Heather Whaling • @prTini
heather@gebencommunication.com
subscribe: bit.ly/prTini
Disrupt the status quo.
Build awareness.
Acquire customers.
Excel in the social world.
Increase sales.
Innovate best practices.
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