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(Edited release from the United States Trotting Association)

Among the more positive news for harness racing as it moves into 2015 are the year-end results of the cross-industry social media marketing initiative sponsored primarily by the U.S. Trotting Association in partnership with 13 tracks and other key partners, including the Hambletonian Society and the Harness Racing Hall of Fame and Museum, the Grand Circuit and social media consultancy, Converseon.

The 2014 initiative was designed as a critical first step in what is hoped to be a multi-year effort to rebuild the brand of harness racing and introduce it to new fans, owners and sponsors. The goals in 2014 were to first establish a solid foundation and online social presence that can then be leveraged and scaled more broadly across tracks and regions over time. This required the development of key digital assets to positively position the sport among key audiences, the creation of new content shareable content assets, and the facilitation of increased partnerships among the sports different constituencies.

The results of the effort met or exceeded all goals and has now set the stage for more advanced strategies in 2015 that will build on the momentum and focus increasingly on improving the product experience through digital technologies, increasing product and content distribution, acquiring new owners and continuing to build interest among current and new fans. Specific highlights include:

By every measure, the Social Media Marketing Initiative met or exceeded all key goals in 2014 and laid a solid foundation for growth, said Mike Tanner, executive vice president and CEO of the USTA. As other major sports have noted consistently, social media strategies are central to growth and connections, especially with a new generation of fans. My staff and I look forward to presenting a proposal at the USTA Board of Directors meeting in March that would see the continuation of the program.

Harness racing now has major league digital assets in place and a strong social presence that can now be scaled and leveraged to new audiences, said Rob Key, CEO of Converseon. But this is just the beginning. The next level of strategy provides us an opportunity to leverage these digital and social technologies to build on top of this foundation to drive even greater results in the coming year. But its going to take even deeper industry collaboration and perseverance to make the long-term impact necessary. We thank our partners involved in this effort and look forward to even deeper integration as we move ahead.

As other sports, like the National Hockey League, have noted, social media marketing has become the critical center of gravity for driving exposure, awareness and participation, and is increasingly becoming integrated across other marketing efforts such as television, radio and direct marketing activities.

To help set the stage for 2015, the initiative concluded the year with a first-of-its-kind, comprehensive market research study conducted among current and potential fans to help form the next marketing strategies. The results of the study will be released at a later date.

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Harness: Social Media experiment exceeded expectations according to USTA