by Kristin Swartzlander | Aug 16, 2012 | Racing Social Media
Donny Schatz was the big winner at the Knoxville Nationals last week, banking the $150,000 check that over the nearly 100 teams gunning for the coveted A-Main win. But who was the big winner on social media, specifically on Twitter? Since Schatz doesn’t participate in the Twitter conversation, we know it wasn’t the #15 team. Looking at the pre- and post-race data from last week’s Knoxville Nationals Driver Twitter list, I’ve highlighted a few of the racing social media standouts below. Number of New Followers: Standouts: Kyle Larson (+372) and Shane Stewart (+256) Surprises: Justin Henderson (+105) Although Larson and Stewart are the two standouts above, Brad Sweet actually gained the most followers with 429 new Twitter fans. But, I don’t classify that as a standout performance as Sweet’s many new followers only made up 2.7% of his followers versus Larson’s gain of 5.8% or Stewart’s gain of 8.9%. He also only tweeted twice throughout the entire Nationals week, while Larson was active 59 times and Stewart put out 75 tweets. Sweet’s gains were based solely on his name, and not his social media performance. Larson and Stewart supplemented their fantastic on-track performances with great information online. Larson had a stream of commentary on the event and other drivers’ performances, autograph session announcements, and a photo. Stewart did the same, tweeting responses to fans and other drivers, Larson included, and more photos. Henderson was a surprise gainer last week as a Knoxville, gaining 105 new followers or 13.8% of his Twitter fan base. Henderson did so with a combination of on-track performance, winning Friday night’s A-Main, and providing racing...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Aug 9, 2012 | Racing Social Media
Yesterday, I posted a comprehensive list of sprint car drivers competing in the Knoxville Nationals and their Twitter handles. If you enjoy hearing sports information directly from athletes, there are definitely some racing social media heavy-hitters on that list. Today’s list will focus on the people that cover dirt track racing, whether they’re in the media or are involved with a track or series, and will be providing updates and commentary from Knoxville this week. Just like the drivers, some of them are motorsports social media professionals while others are a bit more unfiltered. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and if you’d like to be added to it, please provide your information in the comments section. If you want to get more information from anyone and everyone who is tweeting about the Nationals this week, I recommend periodically check the #KnoxvilleNats and #KnoxvilleNationals hashtags. You’ll probably find some gems in there. Feel free to retweet them! Media and Officials (alphabetically): Brad Doty – @braddoty18 — If you’ve seen him on Speed Channel or heard him announce, well, anything, you know that Brad Doty provides great commentary. The author’s Twitter feed offers equally great gems in the form of firsthand information, retweets and responses to comments. You won’t get any pictures from Doty, though, as his self-proclaimed ‘old phone’ won’t take them. Chris Dolack – @ChrisDolack — As the World of Outlaws and DIRTcar Racing public relations rep, Dolack offers a bit more than the official feed, answering questions and providing information about drivers from the tour during their run for the Knoxville Nationals trophy. Jim Chiappelli...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Aug 8, 2012 | Racing Social Media
If you’re a sprint car racing fan, there’s no doubt that you’re tuning in to the Knoxville Nationals this week. One of the best ways to keep up with the many events is on Twitter – you can follow the track, media, commentators and, of course, drivers. Below you’ll find a list of the drivers on Knoxville’s pre-entry list and their Twitter handles, broken into groups based on their qualifying night. A few drivers have been highlighted as notable Tweeters to follow. Read on to see why. Wednesday Qualifiers (by car number): 0 Jonathan Allard – @allard0 1K Kyle Larson – @KyleLarsonRacin — You already know that Kyle Larson was 2011’s breakout kid, and 2012 has been no disappointment for the young star. Larson’s social media skills aren’t lacking either, and he’ll likely be one of the more avid Twitter users during the Nationals. You can expect to see updates on his progress, photos and fan responses from this account. 1X Randy Hannagan – none 02 Mike Reinke – none 2K Kevin Ingle – none 2L Ed Lynch Jr – none 2s Lee Sowell – @leesowellracing 2x Dustin Morgan – @dmracing2 4D Danny Smith – none D4 Danny Holtgraver – @HoltgraverD4 5w Lucas Wolfe – @lucaswolfe5w 6R Ryan Bunton – none 7 Craig Dollansky – @dollanskyracing 7c Critter Malone – none 7K Jeff Swindell – @JeffSwindell 7s Jason Sides – @SidesMotorsport 7x Dustin Selvage – @sprntcar7 8 Casey Mack – none 9 Joey Saldana – @joeysaldana 9P Rager Phillips – none 11 Steve Kinser – @stevekinser 12 Lynton Jeffrey – @lyntonjeffrey 13v Seth Brahmer – none 13x Paul McMahan...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Jun 2, 2012 | Thoughts and Rants
What is DirtyMouth Communications? To put it in simple terms: it’s motorsports marketing, unfiltered. But what does that mean? DirtyMouth Communications is the motorsports marketing arm of my consulting business, and although this post marks the launch of the DirtyMouth Communications blog, DirtyMouth has been around, in some form or another, for quite a few years. So who am I? This isn’t an ‘anonymous’ meeting – not for me anyway – but I’ll start out the same way: my name is Kristin Swartzlander, and I’m a public relations, social media and marketing consultant. I grew up in the Pittsburgh area, the fourth generation in a long line of race car drivers and innovators. My great-grandfather Neal raced so long ago I can only find information about him in (now fading) stories. My grandfather Melvin raced in the sixties and seventies, before and after a tragic fire that shortened his life. My uncle, Brian, is a legend in his own time, having dominated the dirt modified scene in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. My dad, Jeff, has designed and produced many of the parts that make modified and sprint car racing what it is today. As a trained engineer, I love statistics. I’m a total sports junkie, and have worked in the football and racing industries. I enjoy reading about marketing communications theories and tactics, in addition to creating successful campaigns for my clients, who are mostly small businesses, entrepreneurs and athletes. I’ve held the title of racetrack promoter, advertising agency executive, and NFL publicist, to name a few. So, what’s the purpose of this blog? I hope that...
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