Light Up Racing held its second event in as many weeks on March 5 to help educate and unite industry professionals to spread a positive message about horse racing.
The first event, held on February 26 at Fasig-Tipton, was so successful that the website crashed when people signed up to become members. The intrigue was still alive as hundreds of industry professionals gathered at Keeneland’s Limestone Café to hear how they could join the team.
“Our job is to empower you, but ultimately, it’s up to you,” said Vicky Leonard of Light Up.
In his first presentation, Leonard focused on how people on social media tend to trust individuals more than organizations. In this second presentation, Leonard explains how industry stakeholders can use Light Up to turn negative opinions into positive messages.
Leonard mentioned four pillars of action that will guide engagement when discussing horse racing’s difficult questions: transparency, awareness, community and accountability.
“We all need to come together and achieve this goal as a grassroots community,” Leonard said. “We need to ensure that our leaders are held accountable and that we hold each other accountable.”
Light Up has three levels of engagement that anyone can join: network, community, and cohort.
The network involves as many people as possible. Through email and the Light Up website, resources will be shared to help equip members with the arguments and data needed to help answer difficult questions.
The first phase of the community group will see a group of about a thousand people working together to use social media algorithms to promote positive messaging and reduce misinformation. When negative messages are posted by people outside the industry, industry members need to be present to counter with accurate information to attract those who are “just there to comment”.
Cohorts are the final level of engagement and what Leonard says will be the most time-consuming for participants. Light Up is looking for about 100 people to take part in a formal communications and social media training course.
“What we need (for the cohort) is people who are willing to be true influencers in our industry,” Leonard said. “We will build a curriculum that empowers people in these groups with the tools, confidence and support to deliver content marketing strategies to the industry.”
Leonard’s Australian-based marketing company Kick Collective launched a similar program called Kick Up for Racing in 2022. She provides example videos from Australia on how questions can be answered Difficulties for the media thanks to the information provided by the organization and how to use social networks.
A full recording of the presentation will be uploaded to Light Up Racing website.
