While you may be excited by the imminent sound of galloping hooves, (hopefully) winning cash and, lets face it, the sheer glamour of the glitzy parties and events during the upcoming spring racing season, you’ve got to keep things together on social media.
More and more these days, our social media virtual profile is an important attribute of our real life actual reputation, with 85% of employers Googling potential candidates before they even get to interview stage. You can imagine what happens if they don’t like the look of your updates.
Social media is supposed to be fun, and it can be a great place to network for both your personal and corporate life. With that in mind, here are some things to remember when you’re trackside with a champagne flute in one hand, your phone in the other and your social media channels just a click away.
1. Social Media technology is a powerful beast
There’s more computer grunt in your humble iPhone than was packed into the NASA control room that launched the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969.
Everyone knows how fast computer technology has boomed, yet people are complacent about what this boom actually means. Think about it this way: Would the head scientist at NASA in 1969 have let someone operate the moon-landing mission while quaffing their fourth glass of Boli?
Be aware of how powerful social media networking is – and the magnificent ease it allows anyone to publish, and instantly distribute to the world, a hastily taken photograph of a celebrity, or friend, or both, in a compromising and unflattering position.
2. Chill out and smell the roses
Constantly texting, updating or taking photos isn’t a good look – better to concentrate on enjoying yourself rather than trying to extensively document and share everything that floats before your eyes. Being compelled to share everything will only condemn you to a sad day spent in a corner, bag clasped under armpit and tongue between teeth, as you blindly jam everything onto Instagram and Facebook.
3. Social Bragging really ain’t nothing
You might have just won $2000 on a group one race, but try and keep your enthusiasm contained to whoops and hollers done in the old school way. You don’t really have to broadcast your win to all and sundry. A win on the horses should be a shouting, champagne cork-popping, high-fiving, hugging and jumping around celebration, not an opportunity to quickly get the thumbs into device multi-prodding overdrive. Social media celebration is a poor cousin to the tactile enjoyment of celebrating something fantastic in the moment with the people around you.
4. Subtly Get Amongst It
However, if done well, discreet use of social media at an event can be a great way to connect with others.
If you have a stake in a horse, or are a guest of a corporate sponsor, look up all the key names, spellings and social media handles and store them to your accounts the day before. That way you can easily Tweet, update Facebook or Instragram quickly and accurately connect and communicate with what’s on your radar.
If you’ve been a guest and experienced generous hospitality (or in other words, you’ve drunk the bar dry for free) thanking people via your social channels can give them due recognition and thanks online. It’s not too much to offer in return for a great day out!
5. Keep It Classy
If you have drunk said bar dry, think twice about your next update online. Just like the drunk text, it might seem amorous/hilarious/furious at the time but the next morning you might find yourself in regretsville. You don’t want your ex, the boss, nay the world wide web seeing you worse for wear via Twitter, so, for the most part, if you do find yourself veering into enjoyable ‘light-headedness’, keep your phone in your pocket or bag, and only use it to call a cab.
So there you have it, just a few things to think about this racing carnival and beyond. But most importantly, have fun and don’t take yourself too seriously. No one likes a tweet. I mean twit….don’t tweet that!
