Remember when the “#” was just another annoying step to check your voicemail? OK, it still is. But for public relations and marketing teams, integrating the use of the hashtag across marketing campaigns can make a huge impact in the social world of 2014.
Now that nearly every social media platform supports hashtags, running campaigns that utilize them should become the norm, as they’re a simple and inexpensive way to engage consumers, especially millennials, the largest demographic regularly using social media.
Hashtags are the Swiss Army Knife for marketers. They can assist in advertising new products, running contests, asking fans for their input, or directly associating a brand with a hot topic or current event. However, for as simple as they seem, incorporating hashtags into a campaign isn’t as easy as throwing a few words after the old pound sign. Here are a few ways brands are #hashtagging to make the biggest splash:
Using all resources - More and more print and television advertisements feature hashtags prior to launching a social campaign as a way to drive early buzz. While the campaign goals should drive which social channels to utilize, companies have begun utilizing multiple social channels to reach the widest possible audience.
Giving incentives – Consumers are likely to engage in campaigns that offer rewards for a simple interaction, like a tweet. For example, to promote its new Flatbread Grilled Chicken sandwich, Wendy’s asked their followers to tweet a photo of their sandwich to @Wendys with the hashtag #twEATfor1K; each day a customer tweeted a picture of their sandwich using the hashtag they were entered to win $1,000. Simple, fun and traffic-driving.
Understanding the power of social – Let’s not forget the clear winner of the SuperBowl ad sweepstakes. Esurance relied entirely on Twitter for its #Esurancesave30 campaign that generated 1 billion impressions, and increased the brand's Twitter follower count from 8,900 to 155,000 overnight. The biggest surprise? Esurance didn’t even advertise during the game, proving a big budget commercial isn’t the only way to engage an audience on the world’s biggest stage.
Utilizing cross-channel hashtags can do wonders for a brand’s following, but the trick before launch is being relevant, catchy, and unique. When brainstorming ideas, be sure to triple-check your work to ensure hashtags not only meet this criteria, but are clear, concise and manageable. If they’re not (i.e. #susananalbumparty, #McDStories) you’ll be doing a lot of damage control to revive your online reputation.