Live Tweet Live-tweet during sporting events

People use Twitter to keep tabs on their favorite athletes, sports writers and teams, but they can also follow every goal, home run or touchdown as the scoreboard lights up. They can talk up their team (or goad their rivals) in the heat of the moment, or find company for their misery after a loss. Engaging with these fans on Twitter during games and events is a great way to increase the social conversation.

Live-tweet game action and more

On Twitter, you can provide both the play-by-play of a game and the color commentary. Sports teams and clubs can also live-tweet big off-the-field moments, like drafts, press conferences and the unveiling of new players.

The @RedSox live-tweeted games throughout their 2013 World Series run, providing in-game statistics, photos and videos in addition to standard play-by-play.

You can also tweet quotes from players and coaches at press conferences or in the locker room.

Have a celebrity take over your account

For leagues, networks and especially teams, you can have celebrity fans take over your account and live-tweet during games too. In fact, based on analysis from Twitter’s Media Team of five MLB teams’ live-tweeting, account takeovers led to the highest increase in follower growth (+125%) of all the strategies employed in the study.

For example, the @Ravens handed over their account to decorated Olympian and Baltimore native Michael Phelps to live-tweet a December game. As a result of his witty and enthusiastic commentary, fans stormed to his live-tweet session: @Ravens saw 2.6 times as many Retweets as its daily average, 3.9 times as many favorites and 4 times as many followers, according to Twitter internal data.

Use hashtags

To draw attention to your real-time tweeting of events, make sure you use a dedicated hashtag that allows users to search for the topic and join the conversation. Hashtags can set you apart or help you be part of a larger dialogue.

During the 2014 BCS National Championship Game, in addition to the use of common hashtags like #FSU and #Auburn, the Tigers rallied its fans around the hashtag #AllforAuburn.

Additionally, when @kobebryant live-tweeted an @NBATV re-air of his legendary 81-point game, he employed the hashtag #countonkobe, which was mentioned more than 80,000 times that day and continued in popularity over the course of the NBA season.

Share pictures

Pictures add color and texture to your Tweets — think of the visual impact of a packed football stadium under the lights. Our research shows that Tweets containing photos from verified sports users get nearly 50% more Retweets than they would normally expect to get.

This Tweet from @Spurs gives a sense of what it’s like to be courtside.

Create Vine videos

Like with photos, Vine videos help you capture the moment in a different way. You can post clips of game action, interviews and more. For instance, the @RedSox tweeted Vine videos of their World Series victory celebration.

Vine videos had the greatest impact on mentions of all the strategies used in the MLB study by Twitter’s Media Team, with an 81% increase over the average.

Go behind the scenes

Fans love to get up close and personal with the teams they support. Posting snapshots of the players boarding the bus or providing key information during the build-up to a big game are great ways for sports teams to connect with fans live via Twitter.

Tips

Whether you are a sports team, league, network or an athlete, you have an insider perspective that you can share on Twitter. Answer questions, be an expert and share your story. Also, don’t forget to show personality in your Tweets. Followers learn that your voice on Twitter is unique and authentic, and they’ll be game to join you again next time.

There are no set number of Tweets you should send during a sporting event, but you can approach it like you’re at a dinner party: You don’t want to dominate the conversation, but you don’t want to fade away.