I did not grow up with the Internet, or indeed any form of portable communication. I bought my first car (and my second and third) before I got my first mobile phone; my first computer was a BBC Micro which required the use of tapes to load very basic programmes. I built my first racing car before I got my first email address. What does any of this have to do with anything? Formula Student makes me feel old, even though I'm only in my mid thirties. When I was at university, social media was a student newspaper passed around in the union bar in Oxford.
Most of the people reading this and taking part in Formula Student these days have grown up with the Internet, mobile phones and other devices, so its a bit of a surprise to me how little many teams exploit the potential of social media. Yes, most teams have a Facebook and Twitter presence of some sort, but they really don't make the best use of them at all. I work for a magazine which is aimed directly at those designing and building competition cars of all sorts including those in Formula Student, yet only a handful of teams regularly make contact via social media. It's the same with sponsors (and potential sponsors); they hardly ever hear from teams either.
It seems to me that teams do not fully realise the potential of what social media can do, and under utilise it. Twitter especially can give direct access to key people in major organisations, and if you are doing it right you will certainly catch their eye.
Some teams, including some of the leading teams in Britain, Germany and the USA use social media to simply send out out dull press releases and updates such as 'Spent a great day at company XXX' next to a posed picture. Tweets like this only get read by the people in the picture, their friends, and if you are lucky a junior staff member at the company mentioned. There is nothing wrong with tweets like this and they do tick some boxes, but they are very boring.
Others use social media to keep followers up to speed on the build of their cars. Nothing wrong with that (and it's a lot more than many teams do). However, although this is a good way to engage with suppliers, it's worth remembering that over 400 Formula Student cars are built each year so what you think is fantastically interesting may not be to others.
The best teams on social media work to engage their audience, and to grow it. They express opinions, engage in banter and rivalries (just look at the teams in Wales if you want to see how it is done). The key to engagement is to have a bit of fun. There are people who will tell you to be super professional on social media at all times, but they are talking nonsense. Look at Mercedes F1, Renault F1 and Red Bull for examples of how social media can be made to work at the top of motor racing; they make it work really well without being too serious. University Press Offices can be a pain here, or a big help if they are talented, but generally they don't really get it.
There may be people asking, "Why does it matter right now?". Well, I'm lucky enough to sit in the meeting each year where the entry list is selected. In the 2016 team selection we had a group of about 25 entries trying to fill the last few spots in the field. In the end it came down to social media; we checked to see how often the teams were updating things and what they were updating with.
It was the deciding factor.
Of course there is a flip side to all of this. You can go too far on social media; remember at all times that everyone in the world can read what you are saying, so
keep it safe for work. Consider that the person interviewing you for a job in the future may have read the tweets; whether too boring or a bit too "fruity", poor use of social media will not reflect well. The MSA covers this well in its
social media guidelines. Formula Student also monitors all teams' tweets, partly so it knows what you are all up to. Teams have been caught out by doing incredibly stupid and unsafe things, which tarnished the reputation of not only that year's team, but also the Institution and future students who participate.
Don't be put off by the above paragraph, however. Appoint someone in your team to handle social media and take pictures, not just of the car and the build, but of the team. Show us, show the world that you are human; if you thought that Alonso's pass on Massa was too aggressive, or that Cardiff's car needs a bigger dragon, say so.
Each year at the competition, one team wins an award for the best use of social media, and the winner gets noticed by employers. That I know for sure!
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