Posted by Ann Bernard

Friday night I went to see the Washington Capitals play at the Verizon Center.  They played against the New Jersey Devils and won 3-1. I tweeted while at the game…came home and started doing some homework on how well (but found how bad) the Washington Capitals leverage twitter. 

Don’t get me wrong, the Washington Capitals have a twitter account; they just aren’t doing anything useful with it. 

Twitter is a powerful communication, promotional and grassroot marketing platform for organizations, businesses and corporations…but it’s a KILLER communication, promotional and grassroot marketing platform for a team like the Washington Capitals.

Twitter is most powerful when used to do the three following things:

1. Delivers interesting and timely information/news
2. Connect a community of fans, loyal customers or people of similar interest together
3. Act in support other grassroot efforts – inner and outer connectivity
   

If I Were Tweeting for the Washington Capitals
The First Basic Steps

1. Tweet the Games.  There is no live tweeting happening from the @washcaps account.  I know…I mean come on!?!?  That’s a pretty basic way of delivering interesting and timely information/news. 
2. Follow Fans Back. This is seriously basic. Follows your fans back…get into the a conversation with them.  How do you suppose to turn your fans into bigger fans and supporters (hence promoters) if you’re not communicating with them. 

Here’s how I would do it – let the fans know that during each games (at home or away – watching on tv or at the game) that anyone who tweets @washcaps during at game will be followed back.  That way you find your active game twitterer.

 The Next Steps

1. Tweeting in-Between Games: Break the news (at least some) of what’s happening over twitter. Run facts about the players, information about practice and other happenings within the organization.
2. TwitPic: Send out some twitpics during the games and in-between the games.
3. Post Fan Blog Posts: Find who is writing up the games, NOT mainstream media wirte-ups…but your loyal fans who blog their heart outs about the Washington Capitals. Send traffic and fans their way. 
4. Engage with Fans: Send out questions, ask for feedback and communicate with the twitter followers.

Going the Distance 

1. Washington Capital Fan Tweetup:  Once the Washington Capital Fan start coming together over twitter…arrange a Washington Capital Fan Tweetup – be it before the game or going the real distance and brining them all together in one of the suits at a game.
2. Show the Live Tweeting on Screen: How cool and encouraging would it be to have some live streaming of people tweeting the game at some point on one of the screens?
3. Find Who is Tweeting Sponsorship:  During the games, prizes are given out that are sponsored by different companies…so run a contest where the answer is delivered over Twitter with a HashTag and make someone a winner that way.

The Benefits of Good Twitter Usage

Do I really need to spell this out? Really!?!?

1. Awesome crowd engagement
2. Bringing together of your fans/community
3. Engaging in communication with your fans/community
4. Discover your major influencers
5. Excellent and extremely inexpensive marketing
6. Bringing the hockey and Washington Capitals experience to a much wider audience which will generate greater ticket sale.

Filed in utilization

Comments: 2