A closer look at how racing and performance industry members are using social media to boost their engagement with followers and customers. 

The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) boasts more than 661,000 followers on its SEMA Show Instagram channel and nearly 600,000 on its SEMA Show Facebook page. Additionally, the SEMA Show has accounts on Twitter and TikTok while also hosting multiple other profiles—SEMA News, SEMA Action Network, SEMA Battle of the Builders, SEMA Education—on various social media platforms. 

“We utilize the platforms where our audiences live and do our best to curate content to meet the audience where they engage with us,” explained Sal Nicosia, SEMA social media manager. “Facebook and Instagram are easy choices for SEMA for all of our profiles, as they are the longest standing platforms where we see the most audience and engagement. Twitter is a great tool to engage with polls, give updates, and tweet across our main pages and membership accounts. LinkedIn is a great choice when it comes to delivering news and giving industry professionals a place to engage with networks and councils, and be part of online events and webinars they offer. TikTok is where everyone is, and we use it to continue to publish content and reach a new generation of automotive enthusiast.”

Let’s take a closer look at SEMA’s approach to social media and what tips it offers to other businesses in the industry. 

“SEMA’s social strategy is a blend of show promotion, culture, and lifestyle, as well as stakeholder and initiative collaborations,” Nicosia noted. “The strategy is something we evaluate fairly regularly, as all these things change, and SEMA’s social presence expands. Overall, we strive to produce and publish content that everyone in the automotive aftermarket can resonate with, regardless of their place in the aftermarket industry.”

Patience and consistency are key when it comes to social media—going viral doesn’t happen overnight. Regardless of what content a business may create, keeping it steady over time can lead to success. And don’t grow impatient, as some content takes time to click with audiences, Nicosia noted.

To help your chances of virality, “use the social media platforms’ built-in tools,” he added. The platforms like it when users utilize their features, and oftentimes the algorithm they use will put more weight behind those posts. Additionally, “keep up with trends in your industry, and try to create fun, genuine content that promotes your business/product but also gives your online presence some personality.” 

Current trends include short-form vertical video, livestreaming, social commerce, original content, and more. Hashtags even continue to have some relevance. “Using hashtags on platforms that prioritize them (like Twitter and TikTok) can give the content you publish an advantage in gaining traction,” Nicosia explained. “[Beyond] hashtags, keywording for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become an even more important tool in ensuring your content’s relevancy on social media. Utilizing AI tools like ChatGPT or other SEO/keyword best practices can be crucial in contributing to this.”

SEO keywording is the standard practice of using words in the titles and captions of social posts and YouTube videos that you want your content to be most associated with in searches.

“ChatGPT can help with keywording and other aspects of social media and marketing by utilizing the AI’s ability to scour the Internet for information,” Nicosia said. “Simply ask it for what you want, whether it be a social media post caption, blog post, or any other type of media, and ask it to prioritize keywords. There are a lot of social media tools that incorporate AI features like Hootsuite, Monday, Buffer, and others. However, in my opinion, ChatGPT is the most robust and has the simplest user interface to communicate with right now.”