Mediaboss Marketing

Posted: Mar. 5, 2013 | 2:36 p.m. Updated: Mar. 5, 2013 | 3:24 p.m.

If "The Bachelor" TV show can post Twitter feeds from viewers during its broadcasts, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway figures it can also offer instantaneous social networking quips at a new social media nerve center at this weekend's NASCAR race event.

Speedway officials are rolling out the social media hub at the Neon Garage for the Thursday-Sunday NASCAR weekend, which will feature guests from Team Lowe's Racing, NASCAR, Sprint and media churning out real-time comments. About 130,000 fans are expected for Sunday's NASCAR main event, the Kobalt Tools 400.

The hub - dubbed the "Kobalt Social Media Command Center" - will host computers and large video monitors that will give fans a live glimpse at the racing luminaries cranking out insights on Twitter and Facebook. NASCAR racer Brad Keselowski is the circuit's famed Twitter man, and was even fined $25,000 for sending out tweets from his car during a race.

"There's no question it's a must-do at this point at every major sports event and property. You have to be active in social media," said Nancy Lough, University of Nevada, Las Vegas professor of higher education and editor of the Sport Marketing Quarterly.

Lough explained that the fans' responses and observations to NASCAR's social media content will allow race officials to monitor trends among their consumers.

"They're putting out content that can be accessed by their consumers and then they can listen to what the response is by taking out the intermediary," Lough said Tuesday. "Twitter is a monitor or meter, if you will. You can monitor what is resonating with fans."

Dave Wills, a radio broadcaster for the Tampa Bay Rays Major League Baseball team, sends out numerous tweets and answers many fans' tweets during his Rays broadcasts.

Wills said it's all about connecting instantly with fans.

"Twitter allows me to have one-on-one conversations with my followers while still broadcasting to the masses," Wills said. "It's all about fan connectivity, first and foremost."

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Social Media At 180 Mph: Las Vegas Motor Speedway Turns To Twitter