Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Donahue can become a personality if he uses Twitter right

Steve Donahue has been a breath of fresh air around BC basketball. However, that didn't translate into increased interest. With his transitional year now becoming a full rebuilding year, ticket sales and excitement is not likely to grow this season. That has a chance to change via his new foray into Twitter.


The nascent social media platform still doesn't have the power of Facebook, but Twitter is a better avenue to two important constituencies -- the media and college students.


The media loves a good quote or a good angle. A major conference coach who "gets" twitter and can provide them with some good sound bites will get a lot of play. Just look at former BC assistant and current Hofstra head coach Mo Cassara. In a crowded media market and from a midmajor school, the new coach has used Twitter to make a name for himself. He regularly interacts with the media via his tweets and retweets things that he likes. It shows he's engaged and the media and bloggers following his team eat it up. Donahue could do the same and since he is at a higher profile school, he could reach an even bigger audience.


The other group that has the potential to react to his tweets are students. One way to get some of the bandwagon SuperFans caring about losingrebuilding basketball might be to build a cult of personality around the coach. Think Bruce Pearl (minus the rule breaking). If Donahue is interacting and engaging BC students on Twitter, they may show a little more passion and loyalty to him during the season.


I don't think Twitter is going to change the face of BC basketball, but it is another path. We've tried other things without success. Maybe Donahue can do it himself in 140 characters or less.

3 comments:

mod34b said...

I would luv to see Donahue take some media lessons from Doc Rivers...I think Rivers is among the best at media relations of ALL coaches in all sports ....

Nice too see D realizing he needs to get the word out and for actually taking steps to succeed in the media dept.

Erik said...

I'm excited about it. It's a lot better than waiting for one of his 3 interviews per year to hear interesting things that happen to the team outside of the gym.

Crill said...

After the lottery last night, Chad Ford's Mock Draft on ESPN Insider has Reggie going to the Rockets with pick 23...

Analysis: Kyle Lowry is coming of a career year, but Jackson would give them a very different look. Jackson is a terrific athlete, has a ridiculous 7-foot wingspan and shot the lights out his junior year. He has virtually every quality you look for in a modern NBA point guard and would likely be a good complement to Lowry.