NBA Best Practices: Boston Celtics Unite Their Fan Base with a Twitter #Hashtag

Do you struggle to get Twitter?

It's ok to admit it -- you're in a safe place here.

I was in the same boat, and maybe I still am in that boat -- trying to figure out how to best use the power it brings.

Check a few of these stats, via the Next Web:

• 1 Billion Tweets per week, worldwide
• Twitter posts are up 3X last year
• There are an average of 460,000 Twitter accounts opened each day
• Mobile use is up 182% over last year. Meaning people are addicted.

Goodness.

But what's that mean for us? In theory, this all sounds great -- Twitter is an easy way to unite people around topics. And to do so on topics that are timely and, well, spontaneous. But what's that mean for teams or in sports?

Today's best practice comes from the Boston Celtics.

The Celtics have found a way to unite their fan base around the chase for their 18th title, all via Twitter.

Hit the Celtics Twitter page (here), and shown below. You'll note the "It's All About 18" banner on the left-hand side.

But dive a little deeper into their posting style... As you can note below, the Celtics are using this hashtag consistently, around Playoff related posts. And they are asking fans to use the same hashtag.



Is it working? The best way to do this is to click onto the Hashtag, #AllAbout18, which I'll do for you here. Your first glance shows that 3 posts are Twitter Top Tweets!

But wait, is that good? What's a top tweet? According to Twitter, they've built an algorithm to tell which posts are the most re-tweeted or shared. And those surface in the moment as Top Tweets. They pop out of the stream with the Top Tweet badge -- getting you even more attention. (Read more here)

In short, the Celtics united a fan base around the Title Chase and they did it through a hashtag.

How could this be better? Consistent Emotion. There's so much emotion in the statement "AllAbout18". That emotion comes through loud and clear in their post "The Sweep is Complete." That's fantastic. But it doesn't connect as clearly in their post "It's 29-23 Celtics after the 1st." Both tweets are fine -- but the opportunity is to encourage fans not just to use this hashtag, but rather to use this hashtag wisely. To use it to express passion, emotion, hunger, and courage -- not just to report a score. They are onto something and I can't wait to see it evolve!

Come back next week as we lock down the final week of best practices from the NBA. And as always, you can follow me on Twitter (I'm @pawlow34) or on Facebook (Digital Hoops Blast).

Thanks!

Andy