How social media made Maritime Race Weekend a Canadian “it” race

Social media has been a game-changer in increasing the popularity of running and road races. When runners blog, post race selfies, share running articles and create running-related social media posts, it inspires their friends and family to become runners too. If it wasn’t for social media, I don’t think I could have grown Maritime Race Weekend this fast. For race directors struggling with dwindling registrations, I suggest to spend more time online.

Race directors have asked me how Maritime Race Weekend quickly gained such an engaged group of followers on social media. Initially, it required a lot of hours online but now it takes just a few hours a day to maintain. Sharing photos about the planning process, interacting with runners and having contests makes our Facebook and Twitter account worth following.

Last year, Maritime Race Weekend gave away approximately 500 prizes on Facebook and Twitter. Gift cards, sneakers, buffs, limited-edition swag, magazine subscriptions and running gadgets are great prizes for runners. Our primary focus with sponsors is getting prizes, not money. That way, we can have an abundance of giveaways.

We also give away a lot of race registrations too – our biggest prize is a life-time registration (last year, we gave away two). That’s something we reserve for contests related to big news we have to share.

This week, we just announced another contest. In this month’s issue of Canadian Running Magazine, we were named a Gold Label Race and chosen for the Top Eight Destination Races in Canada. This is a big deal for us and reason to celebrate. Social media is the best way to globally spread good news and it’s also a perfect time to reward our loyal pirates with life-time registration.

Imagine, never having to pay race registration again and guaranteeing your spot in a sell-out race. Pretty sweet right? All our contests are simple to win. Runners take a photo of themselves reading a current issue of Canadian Running, post it on our Facebook page and if their photo is picked as the favorite – they win. Easy right?