Sponsors
What sponsors value, and how to show it.
A sponsor is buying attention from people they want to reach. You do not need a huge following. You need to show that the people who follow you care, and that you will do what you promise.
What sponsors look for
- Real engagement, not just followers. 300 followers who like, comment and share beat 5,000 who never react. Engagement rate (likes, comments, shares and saves divided by reach) is the number they will ask about.
- A local or relevant audience. A garage in your county cares more about local race families than a national following.
- Consistency. Posting every race weekend and building up to it shows you will keep up your side of the deal.
- Results and a story. Podiums, progress, a young driver working their way up. People remember a story.
- Proof, month after month. A simple monthly report with the same numbers each time. VLTA builds this for you from the figures you enter.
- Honest, tidy partner posts. Tag the sponsor, keep #ad where it applies, and say thank you. They notice.
- Post on race weekends: build-up before, result after. Use the Builder for both.
- Reels and stories reach people who do not follow you yet. A short clip from the grid or a kart-cam view is enough.
- Tag your track, club and series. Tag every partner in the picture and in the caption.
- Reply to comments within a day. Replies count as engagement and build the habit.
- Save your best posts to a Highlight called Partners, so a visiting business sees them first.
Local businesses and owners are on LinkedIn, and it is where sponsorship decisions get made. A parent or the driver's team (not a child's own account) is the place to post.
- Write like a short business update: what you raced, what you learned, what the season costs and what a partner gets.
- Thank partners by name and tag their company page. Their staff see it, and so do their customers.
- Post a few times a month, not daily. One good post after each race weekend is plenty.
- Connect with local business owners, then send a short note and your sponsor page link. Do not send a mass message.
- LinkedIn is for people aged 16 and over. For a younger driver, a parent or guardian posts from their own account.
Your monthly routine, about ten minutes
- On the last day of the month, open each app's insights page (below).
- Take a screenshot of each one and keep it. If a sponsor asks, you can show it.
- Go to your driver's Sponsors page in VLTA, scroll to Social figures, pick the month and the platform, and type in what you can see.
- Partners see these on your sponsor page and in their monthly report, marked Reported by driver.
Where to find each number
| Box | What it means | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Followers | People following you at month end | Profile, tap Followers | Page admin view, Analytics, Followers |
| Posts | Posts, reels and stories you published | Count them on your profile | Count them on your page |
| Reach | Different people who saw your posts | Professional dashboard, Insights, Accounts reached | Analytics, Visitors, or Content, Unique impressions |
| Views | Total times content was seen | Insights, Views | Analytics, Content, Impressions |
| Engagements | Likes + comments + shares + saves | Insights, Accounts engaged, or add them up | Analytics, Content, Reactions + comments + reposts |
Menu names change from time to time. Use the 30-day view and the calendar month if the app offers a choice. If an app does not show a number, leave that box empty. Never guess or round up: sponsors check, and being exact is what earns the next deal.
Using ChatGPT for your posts? Read what a lazy ChatGPT race post can do to your sponsor first.
Why you type them in
VLTA does not yet read LinkedIn, and reads Instagram and TikTok only if you connect them. Typed-in figures are labelled Reported by driver so partners know where they came from. Figures read straight from an app are labelled with the app's name.