In November 2012 the team responsible for promoting the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Manchester UK were considering how best to bring in new audiences to the sport and how to share the excitement in the velodrome. There was extensive conventional media coverage and the BBC would broadcast the final day live on TV but die-hard fans would have little access in the preceding days. A co-ordinated social media programme that included a giant hashtag and twitter handle on the track and eighty videos edited and shared in near real time changed the way the event was promoted. Millions of fans were able to engage and watch the event in near real time without a conventional broadcast channel. Amongst those engaged via Facebook Twitter, YouTube and a live blog was Sir Chris Hoy, former track cyclist and winner of five Olympic Gold Medals. The programme delivered nearly 150 million impressions via Twitter. The team behind the programme will explain exactly how it was done.

1. UCI Track Cycling World Cup Manchester 2014
Social Media

2. Live reporting
We treated social channels as an additional
live route to the audience
A track centre team reported live through
Twitter, Facebook and a Live Blog
The track was prominently branded with
the Twitter name and hashtag
We had a dedicated video editor
• Short videos of the action were uploaded to YouTube
and then shared across the social channels throughout
the weekend
Over 80 separate videos were uploaded
within minutes of the action

4. Weekend results
There were over 100,000 views on the UCI YouTube Channel
Just under 1 million watched the BBC coverage on Sunday
Extensive national media coverage with over 400 articles appearing, including front page of
The Guardian
There were 19,500 twitter posts containing either #twc, @trackworldcup or ‘track world
cup’
The combined social media reach for these three terms was 147 million
An engaged and interactive social media audience contributing to content and conversation

6. Hourly social media reach
Hourly reach for both the hashtag
#twc and the phrase ‘Track World
Cup’ peaked at nearly 7 million

7. Cumulative social media reach
Cumulative reach for the hashtag
#twc, the phrase ‘Track World
Cup’ and @trackworldcup
reached over 147 million.

8. Key learnings
Traditional PR
• Athlete availability is key to pre-event coverage and press event
attendance
• Competitions worked well to secure space in key titles. An optimised
competition budget would allow for greater guaranteed reach
Social media
• Live-blogging stats will help determine which platforms and content
drive greatest click-throughs to site
• Unique behind-the-scenes content performs best
• Quick turnaround of live-action footage worked well with crash
footage proving the most widely shared